That thought did strike me but I felt I wanted to fly this first attempt as "standard" as possible.
Unchecked HQ for my squadron also feels more like a multiplayer thing like when we flew Balkans etc.
But I might go there later on.

Now, I did my DBond moves this time and surely everything went much better (almost).

Checked the package and noticed I actually have this Prowler joining us and looking at the flightplan more in detail I realised I am supposed to hold at stp3 for 6 minutes

Reaching stp3 on autopilot I activated Hack and let my ride just orbit watching my surroundings and biding my time.
Pushing comms button to see my package members now and then I could clearly see they held position too.

Some 20 seconds late I could see the other flights had started moving north and I hurried up to join them (hiding behind that EA-6B )

You can see the lack of "2" on my RWR now so I guess the Prowler jammers did their job!

As I made good progress those very bright flashes from AAA fire started to convert my cockpit into a disco so Jammer on and zig-zag hoping for the best.
Then, my HUD went out and all <bad word> blinked and warning sounds told me my flight was over once again.

Downed by AAA at 25000 ft, can you believe it!

Anyhow, reading up and digging into what's actually planned made a lot of difference.
I didn't even feel the need for HARM this time.

I hope for better luck next time but this sure is an awesome sim (as if we didn't know already)