28 May 1982. Operation Sutton - the ground offensive to retake the Falkland Islands has been running for 15 hours. You are part of VIXEN, a flight of up to 4 Sea Harriers stationed onboard HMS Hermes. You have been at 5 minutes readiness to scramble the whole day, but the terrible weather conditions have made flying impossible - much to yours and the ground troops frustration. An urgent call has come in from the 2nd Parachute Regiment (2 PARA). They are attacking Goose Green and have come under intense artillery fire. In addition, the Argentine defenders are using their 20mm and 35mm air defence guns as heavy machine guns. The Paras are pinned down and need air support now! Fortunately, the weather has just changed, and, in a risky move, HMS Hermes has been brought to within 70nm of East Falklands to reduce your flight time.
Features:
- Works with 1-4 players
- Voice acting by humans!
- News report from 1982
- Historically modelled
- Mission duration: 40 mins
- Custom Kneeboards
VERSION 1.1 - 2nd July 2022 (see below)
Historical Mission based on the diaries of Squadron Leader Pook, an RAF Harrier pilot who flew this sortie over Goose Green. The routes, timings, payloads, weather, and enemy troops are all accurately modelled. Some of the procedures flown on the actual strike have been changed to give your pilots something to do enroute!
MISSION:
Scramble from HMS Hermes and head to Goose Green to support 2 PARA.
As you get close to the Islands SABRE 74, an SAS Forward Air Controller, will contact you with accurate target information. Select one target for each member of your flight (of 1-3 Harriers) before heading to the Initial Point. Dive down low and put all your training to use as you aim for either artillery, mortars, or a AAA emplacement.
Once you have completed your bombing run you need to decide whether or not to try the secondary mission - locating the Harrier, piloted by Sqn Ldr Iveson, shot down over Goose Green earlier in the day.
When you are done head back to HMS Hermes for medals and a cup of strong Navy Rum!
LOW-MOD VERSION: I have posted two versions of this mission with DCS. This version requires the minimum of cosmetic Mods to replicate the different units based on the Falklands. All of the mods are free and none of the mods will cause integrity issues when placed in your savedgame folder. Hopefully when the South Atlantic asset pack is launched I can update this mission and reduce the mod count. even further!
HMS Hermes – (updated 26 Jun 2022) - Watch out for the ‘hump’ just before the start of the ramp! Apparently this was on the actual ship too. Place in SavedGames / dcs.openbeta / tech.
https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/files/3324686/
SAM Sites Asset Pack (beta version 19):
https://forum.dcs.world/topic/275571-sam-sites-asset-pack-a-3d-assets-mod-to-populate-you-sam-sites-farp-and-other-bases/
OPTIONAL SKINS
- Put the skins in "Saved games / dcs.openbeta / liveries / AV8BNA" – the AV8BNA bit needs to be in block caps or it doesn’t work! These skins are optional, if you don't use them then the aircraft will default to the USMC ones.
Royal Air Force 1987-1995 style (Two-Tone Green) skin pack. I used the 1 Squadron skins for the players Harriers
https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/files/3314968/
Royal Navy 800 Squadron Sea Harrier FA2 – Skin for the parked Sea Harriers.
https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/files/3312074/
V1.1 Updated 2nd July 2022
- Custom kneeboards added to show waypoint information.
- Small adjustments to the HMS Hermes layout.
- Harrier skins updated.
