This is from a Rolling Fire campaign mission in Falcon/BMS 4.33
My flight (call sign Stud 2) is part of a 5-ship package tasked with on-call CAS to friendly ground forces advancing against the DPRK 13th HART artillery batallion.
Since the distance to the target is rather short and the ingress to target is pretty clear of enemy SAMs I decide to load up for bull: 4x AMRAAM and 8x CBU-97 SFW. God help me if I run into Migs...
I start at Osan AFB and quickly got through the start up procedure. When all system are running I adjust the CBUs' settings and wait for my scheduled time to start taxiing. Osan AFB is bustling with activity and I'm getting a bit nervous after repeated calls by the tower to wait for my turn, but finally I get the clearance for taxiing.
I watch flight after flight take off then, 20 seconds before the scheduled take-off time, I roll onto the runway with my wingman close behind. A final check, then I push the throttle forwards and accelerate down the runway. Since I need to conserve fuel I don't use the afterburner and consequently I need almost all the runway to lift off. With the gear up the viper accelerates well enough and I start climbing.
Passing Seoul I start checking in with AWACS and start scanning the skies with radar. Before I've dropped my bombs I'd rather avoid A2A combat.
As I close in on waypoint 4 I check in with the FAC and ask for targets. I get a bullseye call and start searching for targets with the A2G radar along the FLOT. I spot three concentration of vehicles in the vicinity the FAC radioed me. I double-check the location compared to the radio call and am pretty sure that this is what the FAC wants me to hit. I give my wingman the 'weapons free' command and start setting up my attack. I lock a target up with the A2G radar, acquire it visually, then switch to CCIP mode to deliver my CBUs. The plan is to make two passes, drop 4 bombs each, then burn for home.
Two passes later:
Lots of secondary explosions down there, I definitely hit something! Got fired at with IR SAMs from a HART site, a direct hit with a CBU brought an end to that. AWACS warns me about incoming MIGs so we turn tail and race back South across the FLOT!
It now becomes pretty confused. There's 4 F-16s in the area, the FAC in an A-10 and three flights of Migs.
I get a good lock on a Mig-23 and fire off an AMRAAM, FOX 3! Hit!
My wingman gets another Mig then I have to evade a missile fired at me! Phew, that was close! I split-S, hit the burner and race South. Then I turn back, find another Mig and splash him! Confusion reigns with aircraft zipping past each other, frequent "
Buddy Spike!" and "
Fox 2!" and "
Fox 3!"calls. One of the vipers gets hit, I can see a chute.
But after the other F-16 flight kills another Mig, the rest of the Migs finally turn tail. I check my fuel status, not good. Same for my wingman. Too much afterburner during the dogfight, time to head home. But hey, what's that? A flight of IL-28 tries to sneak South, can't have that. My wingman fires first, good kill, then my AMRAAM finds its target, despite the IL-28's pilot heading for the deck.
Now it's
really time to head home. Especially since AWACS informs me of more Migs coming...
I realize somewhere along the way I must have gotten hit since my flight control system warning comes on. Can't use the up front panel to change frequencies. My backup radio doesn't work either. I can't contact the tower at Osan AFB and I am very cautiously eying the runway before I make my unannounced emergency landing.
Touch down, back home!
Phew! That was an intense mission. I'm excited about what the debriefing will say.
3 AA kills (2xMig23 and 1x IL28)and 30 AG kills! Among them 8 tanks, 15 artillery pieces and 2x ZSU 23-4s! Not bad, not bad at all. Brass is impressed, too:
The boys on the ground should be happy, too. The DPRK 13th HART artillery battalion has been rendered combat-ineffective.
Time for a beer.