A highly-dynamic and always changing air-to-air combat DCS mission for the F-14 Tomcat (and friends). Operating off the "Big Stick" (CVN-71, the USS Theodore Roosevelt; Supercarrier module needed) in the Black Sea, your primary mission is BARCAP (Barrier Combat Air Patrol) on "CONDOR" station, over the Kolkheti Plain and Gori Valley region of Georgia. Your objective is to protect Georgian and NATO air and ground transport from air attacks carried out by Abkhazia (and possibly Russia) who are trying to enforce a non-UN sanctioned "no-fly"/"no-drive" zone over Georgia. You have full authorization to engage and fire upon any confirmed non-friendly aircraft in Georgian airspace, but be careful not to violate Russian or Abkhazian territorial boundaries. In the event of an attack against the carrier battle group, you are to immediately switch tasking to carrier defense, and intercept and shoot down aircraft and/or missiles threatening the carrier. [REQUIRES: SUPERCARRIER]<br /><br />
A carrier task force is tasked with enforcing a no-fly zone over Georgia to protect ground transport convoys from enemy attacks. Forced to operate in very tight confines on "Condor Station" in the eastern Black Sea, the task force has to not only carry out its mission, but defend itself from possible attacks as the situation escalates. Strap on an F-13 and step up to the ramparts.
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Features:
* Uses the wonderful MOOSE library for complex scripting of both allied as well as enemy asset deployment and behavior.
* Designed out-of-the-box for both SP or small number (1-4) of multiplayers, but easily scalable up for larger groups by increasing enemy activity levels. Players can also spawn escorting wingmen using F-10 menu.
* Randomized yet realistic enemy activity:
+ Enemy attacks launched either at randomized schedule or probabilistically in response to player/allied activity.
+ Enemy attack tasking randomized, covering, for e.g., ground interdiction, ground strike, air interception/interdiction, anti-ship strike, etc. Strikes have specific targets, while interdiction patrols are roaming/marauding patrols that attack targets of opportunity.
+ Enemy package compositions randomized (helos, attack, bomber, and fighter aircraft), and may or may not include escorts.
+ Attack mission profiles modeled with randomized (but at the same time realistic) take-off, marshal, fence/push points, ingress points, egress points, etc.
+ "Pop up" attacks are also possible, simulating package flying low or masked by terrain en route.
+ Enemy patrols come from random directions, at random speeds, and random altitudes.
+ Enemy aircraft drawn from limited inventory, that dynamically changes in availability (as aircraft go on mission) and allocation, which gets permanently depleted as aircraft are lost due to being killed or crashing.
* Automatic cycling allied CAP:
+ Four CAP missions: three to defend carrier against attack, one for primary air cover mission.
+ CAP mission deployment occurs automatically and in the background, drawing from limited inventory of aircraft. As aircraft run out of fuel, ammunition, or crash or are killed, they will be replaced, subject to the inventory availability.
+ BLUE side players can control CAP deployment by adding or scrubbing CAP sorties using F-10 player menu.
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[[[ WELCOME TO CONDOR STATION! ]]]
Operating off the "Big Stick" (CVN-71, the USS Theodore Roosevelt) in the Black Sea, your primary mission is BARCAP (Barrier Combat Air Patrol) on "CONDOR" station, over the Kolkheti Plain and Gori Valley region of Georgia. Your objective is to protect Georgian and NATO air and ground transport from air attacks carried out by Abkhazia (and possibly Russia) who are trying to enforce a non-UN sanctioned "no-fly"/"no-drive" zone over Georgia. You have full authorization to engage and fire upon any confirmed non-friendly aircraft in Georgian airspace, but be careful not to violate Russian or Abkhazian territorial boundaries. In the event of an attack against the carrier battle group, you are to immediately switch tasking to carrier defense, and intercept and shoot down aircraft and/or missiles threatening the carrier.
[[[ BACKGROUND ]]]
The diplomatic disagreement between Abkhazia and Georgia has escalated suddenly and radically out of both proportion and expectations into a shooting war.
Both the Georgian air defense system as well as its air force capacity to generate sorties have been disabled overnight by a rapid series of mass strikes against air bases, ground radar, and missile launch support facilities. These strikes were launched from Sukhumi and included Abkhazian liveried Su-25's and MiG-21's, but there is evidence to suggest that Russian Su-24's and Su-17's may have participated as well, flying in to Sukhumi from their bases in Nalchik and Mozdok earlier in the night and taking off and striking from there after refueling to hide their origins.
Immediate diplomatic intervention by NATO, backed by the implicit promise of direct military intervention, resulted in a ceasefire, allowing for diplomatic discussions to be resumed. During this respite, Georgian ground forces rushed to build up defense concentrations at the Abkahazian border around Zugdidi, in anticipation of the almost certain ground invasion should the negotations fail. Recognizing that the siutation was precarious, and that diplomatic measures would fail if the Russia-backed Abkhazia saw military action against a vulnerable Georgia as an easier option to resolve the conflict, NATO is delivering quantities of fuel, ammunition, and other critical supplies to Georgia in support of their defnese. These supplies are being sent by ship to Batumi and Poti, as well as by air to Tblisi. To get these supplies to the defense supply depot just outside of Zugdidi, the UK has committed Chinooks to transporting the supplies from Batumi, while Georgian civilian air and ground transport has been recruited to ferry the supplies from the Tblisi, Poti, Kutaisi, and Senaki stockpiles to Zugdidi.
Abkhazian response to this defensive build-up was aggressive. Abkhazia immediately declared a "no-fly"/"no-drive" zone over Georgia, warning that any aircraft in the air --- meaning not just the Georgian civilian transports, but also the NATO aircraft --- will be assumed to be materially supporting acts of war against Georgia and be shot down. They have committed their Mig-21 fighters to enforce the "no-fly" policy, and their attack aircraft (Su-25's) and helicopters (Mi-24's) to enforce the "no-drive" policy. Russia has openly backed these measures stating that NATO interference in "regional affairs can only serve to escalate the violence and suffering of a sovereign nation and will not be tolerated". Ostensibly, this support is only "moral", but reports of increased activity at Russian airbases beyond the Caucasus indicate a possibility that Russian aircraft may also start taking part or already may have taken part in these attacks against Georgian transport and infrastructure.
We (the Roosevelt battlegroup, consisting of CVN-71, the USS Theodore Roosevelt, a Ticoconderga missile cruiser, two Arleigh Burke destroyers, and a Perry class frigate) had already been deployed in the Black Sea some weeks previously, just before the tensions between Abkhazia and Georgia began, to help with NATO earthquake relief efforts in Bulgaria. At the persuasion of the German chancellor, the President of the United States has agreed to commit us to protect the NATO efforts to supply the Georgian defenses. And so, we have been ordered to take up position off the eastern Black Sea coast to break the Abkhazian "no-fly"/"no-drive" zone.
Denying all suggestions that any of its military has taken any material part in any of this crises, and claiming its involvement has only been in an "advisory and diplomatic capacity", the Russian Prime Minister has assured the US President that he, too, wants peace in the region, and no US assets will be threatened or attacked as long as the US does not violate Russian or Abkhazian territories. The US President believes this, and, reluctant to endanger his ties with Russia, he has strictly prohibited any incursions or attacks by US forces in Russian or Abkhazian territories while carrying out the NATO mandate. Initially, in fact, the President declared that only aircraft directly firing on Georgian civilian transports would be subject to attacks by US forces. Only after much discussion did the US Navy command manage to persuade the President to modify the restrictions so as to allow them to respond to *any* hostile aircraft in Georgian airspace that are threatening (not just attacking) Georgian or NATO assets, as well as, crucially, and to the Navy's great relief, to any perceived threats against the battlegroup over the Black Sea.
[[[ IN THE READY ROOM, AFTER THE BRIEFING ... ]]]
Tension is very high on the Roosevelt. We are operating in extremely tight quarters: the Black Sea, a veritable puddle for a blue water carrier battlegroup. Even worse, we are also less than a couple of hundred miles from several squadrons of dedicated marine strike Backfire and Bear squadrons, equipped with deadly giant "carrier killer" air-launched anti-shipping missiles, belonging to he world's second most powerful military, who have been rattling sabers with us more and more aggressively over the last few weeks.
That's not just "extremely" tight quarters.
That's INSANELY tight quarters.
We essentially have a potential foe with overwhelming lethal capability that can be launched from heavily-defended bases *within* what would normally be our outer defensive perimeter. As some snark muttered in the briefing: "Forget about doorstep! That's *inside* the house!" The higher ups have been told that we are not under threat of attack from Russian strikes, and we should focus on supporting suppression of hostile air attacks over the Kolkheti Plain in Georgia. But even they are not big enough chumps believe that. And down here we are not even pretending to. We can see the Backfires and Bears take off and land on exercises, ferry flights, and what-not on our AEW radar surveillance. At any time, any (or all) of those flights could suddenly turn around from their "routine peacetime activity" flights and swing into an attack run on us, and we will only have minutes to react. Of course, the sane course of action would be to take out the land airbases from which attacks against us could be launched, either by airstrikes or more likely Tomahawks, and only then turn our attention to counter-air over Georgia. But it seems that sanity is out of fashion. Appallingly crippled by a senseless ROE that endangers American life and assets, while making our assigned jobs not just difficult but almost suicidal (business as usual, I guess, since, oh, about Vietnam? Korea?), we are forced to make do the best we can. Fortunately, we *do* have authorization to attack any "perceived threats" over the Black Sea if not in Abkhazia or Russia itself, and you'd better bet that we are not just anticipating but actually planning for such threats!
We have set up three CAP missions: DURANGO, DALLAS, DIEGO, and CONDOR.
DURANGO (callsign: "Springfield"), DALLAS (callsign: "Enfield"), and DIEGO (callsign: "Uzi") will protect the battlegroup from anticarrier strikes, covering the northern (315 to 45 degrees), and eastern/southern sector (45 to 180 degrees), and western/southern (180 to 315 degrees) respectively. These missions will intercept and shoot down any aircraft that appear to be posing a threat to the carrier group (which, under the circumstances will be *any* aircraft in the air), *AS LONG AS THE AIRCRAFT IS OVER THE BLACK SEA*.
CONDOR (callsigns: "Colt" and "Pontiac") will discharge our primary responsibility of protecting the NATO aircarft and Georgian air and land transportation vehicles and infrastrcture against all and any attacks by any aircraft from any nation as long as they are in Georgian airspace. We know we will encounter Abkhazian Mi-24's and Su-25', as well as MiG-21's, as these are already operating in the area. We have assets on the ground watching the airbases from which they take off and land, so we can get advance notice of their patrols and some damage assessment, but frustratingly we are not allowed to attack their airbases, and, worse, cannot continue to pursue or attack the aircraft once they cross into Abkhazian or Russian airspace. It is also not just possible but, if intelligence reports are accurate, highly likely that we will encounter other types of attacking aircraft. These are almost definitely going to be Russian, and might be a mix of Su-17's, MiG-27's, or even Su-24's, and we can expect them to be escorted by MiG-23's, MiG-29's, or even Su-27's. We are not going to regard or acknowledge or explictily react to the national origin of these aircraft in any way. Instead, as long as they are in Georgian airspace and positively identified as non-friendly, we are going to treat them as hostile and cleared for attack. At the same, time, we recognize that there are a lot of friendly aircraft operating in the area --- the assets that we are supposed to protect, in fact! So we have to be absolutely certain of the non-friendly identity of the contacts before engaging.
All this missions are rotating CAPs: aircraft will cycle through these missions, with new flights replacing previous ones as these latter run low on fuel, ammunition, or, in the worse cases, get damaged or shot. Instead of the traditional lauch/recovery window cycles, the carrier deck will be set as a "flex deck", to allow for launch and recovery on a per-need basis: launches will be restricted to Cat 1 and 2, as Cat 3 and Cat 4 will not be used to keep the angle deck free for recovery.
*IF* the carrier comes under attack, then priorities change. Immediately. The code word for this condition will be "WKT" ("WHISKEY KILO TANGO"). If this is announced, then *all* resources and efforts --- I mean down to those paper airplanes sitting on top of the cookie jar in the ready room --- will be thrown into the carrier defense. This includes the CONDOR mission flights. On the Whiskey Kilo Tango call, we will leave CONDOR station and, as long as you have fuel and ammunition, head right for the carrier defense zones to swat down the incoming swarm. If you need fuel you can top off fro either the northern or southern support tanker, whichever works out better. If you need to rearm, then you will have no choice but to recover, and only after that head for the ramparts.
[[[ MISSION OBJECTIVES ]]]
The battle group is charged with:
(1) Protecting NATO and Georgian aircraft operating in Georgian airspace from any and all (air) threats.
(2) Protecting Georgian ground transport vehicles, infrastructure, supply, and other resources from air attacks. In particular, protect convoys delivering food, fuel, and other critical supplies to defensive forces in the Zugdidi area.
(3) Protecting US naval assets from land-based air attacks.
[[[ AIR TASKING ORDER ]]]
PKG UNIT MSNTYPE MSN CALLSIGN ACTYPE ACQTY
- VF-32 CAP DURANGO Springfield F14B 2
- VF-32 CAP DALLAS Enfield F14B 2
- VF-32 CAP DIEGO Uzi F14B 2
- VF-32 CAP CONDOR Colt F14B 2
- VF-32 CAP CONDOR Pontiac F14B 2
- VAW-124 AEW AWACS Overlord E2D 1
- VS-24 AR AR Arco11 S3B 1
- 22 ARS AR AR Shell11 KC135 1
- 22 ARS AR AR Shell12 KC135 1
[[[ RADIO NAVIGATION ]]]
USS Roosevelt
* TACAN: 71X / RHR
* ICLS: Channel 6
Tanker, Recovery
* TACAN: 101Y / RTR
Tanker, Support, South
* TACAN: 103Y / MSS
Tanker, Support, North
* TACAN: 104Y / MSN
Tanker, Support, Forward
* TACAN: 105Y / MSF
[[[ COMMUNICATIONS ]]]
* CAP, CONDOR:
- 313.050, Colt (Channel 1)
- 313.050, Pontiac (Channel 1)
* CAP, DURANGO:
- 301.250 Mhz, Springfield (Channel 1)
* CAP, DALLAS:
- 303.100, Enfield (Channel 2)
* CAP, DIEGO:
- 309.225, Uzi (Channel 3)
* USS Roosevelt:
- 228.150 Mhz (Channel 10)
* AWACS:
- 239.475 Mhz, Overlord 1-1 (Channel 11)
* Tanker, Recovery:
- 279.125 Mhz, Arco 1-1 (Channel 12)
* Tanker, Support, South:
- 271.100 Mhz, Shell 1-1 (Channel 13)
* Tanker, Support, North:
- 276.050 Mhz, Shell 2-1 (Channel 14)
* Tanker, Support, Forward:
- 273.150 Mhz, Shell 2-1 (Channel 15)
[[[ ROE ]]]
Clearance to attack any Abkhazian and Russian aircraft encountered over Georgian airspace or over the Black Sea threatening the carrier group *ONLY*. Under no circumstances are US aircraft permitted to engage any aircraft over Abkhazian or Russian land territories.
- Weapons free on any definitively identified non-friendly aircraft in Georgian airspace. Note that there is significant friendly air traffic operating in the area.
- Weapons free on any definitively identified hostile aircraft over the Black Sea approaching the carrier.
- STRICTLY NO CROSSING INTO ABKHAZIAN OR RUSSIAN (LAND) TERRITORIES.
[[[ GAME NOTES ]]]
* You are flying the BARCAP mission, "CONDOR".
* Your primary tasking is to intercept enemy (or, to be precise, non-friendly) aircraft over Georgia, especially over the Kolkheti Plains and the Gori Valley.
* You will take-off from the carrier and first head toward the rendezvous with the south mission tanker ("Shell 1-1" on 271.00 Mhz AM, TACAN: 103Y/MSN), just off the coast of Georgia south of Batumi, to top up your tanks.
* You will then proceed to CONDOR station over the Kholketi Plain in Georgia (see briefing map). Here you will monitor the airspace, identifying all contacts and shooting down any non-friendly aircraft, prioritizing those deemed to be a threat to NATO and Georgian air and land assets (i.e., attack aircraft, bombers, and fighters).
* You can consider any definitively identified non-friendly aircraft in Georgian airspace as "enemy" and subject to engagement, BUT be careful to:
- NOT shoot down any friendly aircraft; there will be a significant amount of friendly traffic (including other Tomcats assigned to CONDOR station, as well as NATO and Georgian aircaft, which you are charged with protecting), so definitive identification of "non-friendly" is required before firing.
- NOT violate Abkhazian or Russian territiorial boundaries. There WILL be consequences!!!
* A Marine tanker flying just over the border in Turkey will provide refueling support while on station.
* If you need to fly back to the carrier to rearm, you can summon a replacement BARCAP flight to temporarily take your place on CONDOR station. (You can do this by using the F-10 Radio Menu: call up the menu using the "/" key, choose the "F10 - Other" option, then "MISSION COMMAND ...", then select "CONDOR ...", then "Launch".)
* Russia will (probably) not threaten or attack the carrier group as long as Russian or Abkhazian borders are not crossed. However, it is possible that this might change rapidly (or even instantly) due to unknown and unpredictable political developments or due to actions of your battlegroup! If the carrier battlegroup comes under attack (which might be potentially massive!), your task is to DEFEND THE CARRIER! You will receive the signal "WHISKEY KILO TANGO" if a threat or attack on the carrier is detected. In this event you receive this signal, as long as you have fuel and ammunition, you will leave CONDOR station (if still there) immediately and head for and intercept any and all threats to the carrier group as per your judgement. If you are low on fuel or ammunition, head back to the carrier, land, refuel and rearm, and take off again to take up the defense. The carrier deck will be organized as a "flex deck" to permit both launching and recovery operations.
* Your success will depending on you depleting the enemy resources sufficiently to degrade their capacity to generate the interdiction sorties ... as long as your carrier is not sunk! In other words, you can win the game by knocking out enemy aircraft, but you will lose the game if you lose the carrier!
* Notes:
+ While spawning on deck will give you the most most authentic experience, it does involve making the long flight over water for some 15-20 minutes before the action begins. To bypass the long flight into your vul zone (in terms of after-work hobby flyer; in real life you would expect much longer "commutes"), you can opt to spawn in one of the air start positions instead.
+ The deck spawn slots include both cold and hot start slots
+ There are slots that give you a wingman (labeled "2-ship") and other slots that do not.
