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Cornel Perrault flipped a coin again to decide our next mission, much to the complaint of everyone in the squadron. (Especially
Chopper). This coin flip came up as heads again.
“Well, this is it. Our ground forces will engage in a decisive battle with the enemy’s main force in the Jilachi
desert. If our army wins this showdown of military might, we'll be just a hair away from total victory. We've so got so more
for you too. So don't slack off now.”
“This mission will be referred to as "Operation Desert Arrow".
The operation will be spread across the entire northern part of the Jilachi Desert. Its final target is a two-separate-strategic-positions,
the field HQ in the northern region of the mission area and the airfield in the western region. A bomber squadron will attack
the field headquarters, while the army force tank battalion will advance towards the airstrip. Your mission this time is to
protect both units from defending enemy forces. This operation is spread out across the entirety of a wide command area. You'll
be up against a large number of enemy forces, so choose your opponents carefully. Don't try to take on all of them. Destroying
a certain number of enemy forces within your allowed time on station will be considered successful completion of the mission.
"Operation Desert Arrow" commences today at 1050 hours.”
We took off in four Gripons, and headed for the combat area.
“Man, this is ridiculous. I can't believe they chose our next mission with a damn coin again!” Chopper complained.
“This is Thunderhead, Captain Davenport, how many times do I have to tell you to cut the chatter?”
“Thunderhead, this is Razgriz 3, Roger that.” Chopper said, exaggerating the ‘Razgriz’
“What did you just say?”
The ground forces then requested support, and I ordered a disperse. Chopper and Grimm would escort the tanks to the Airfield,
while Nagase and I would escort the bombers to the field HQ.
We only had to wait a few seconds before the first enemies showed up. MiG-29 ‘Fulcrums’ and SU-35 “Super
Flankers’ where what Nagase and I faced, while Chopper and Grimm mixed it up with some X-45s.
The first batch of Fulcrums where easy to take down. They made an immediate, deadly mistake. They simply came head-on, fixated
on the Bombers, not us, and we both shot them down with out Sparrow Missiles. The Super Flankers where on the same path, but
after we shot down the Fulcrums, they smartened up; although, I wondered what had taken them so long to do it.
The Flankers fired there long-range Phoenix missiles, but those where quickly seduced by our ECM jamming and hard manoeuvres.
I went in close for a sidewinder lock, and fired. The Gripon rocked skyward a little as the missile blasted away.
The target started making hard manoeuvres, trying to evade the missile, while at the same time dumping clouds of chaff to
confuse the Sidewinder’s heat-seeking warhead.
I got a lock on that guy again, but he twisted away, almost too hard and fast for my aircraft to follow.
Whoever this guy is, he’s good! I thought, as I managed to get a lock on him again. I fired again, but this time, the
guy went into the sun, killed his engines then slipped away as the sidewinder ‘locked on’ to what heat seekers
deem as the mother-of-all-targets. The Sun.
I was wasting too much ammo on this guy, so I decided to switch to the QAAM missile.
The QAAM is an extremely good dog fighting missile, as it turns extremely well, and it has Fire-and-Forget guidance.
The missile arrowed off my wings and went after that plane. A fireball erupted only a few meters away, and I dove for the
deck. Strangely, the other aircraft bugged out, including the ones that where still coming on the attack.
“Enemy plane confirmed down!” Thunderhead chimed in. “apparently, that was their captain! Good work, Wardog!”
I stayed with the bombers for a few minuets more until they where about three quarters of the way there, not even being tested,
until two B-52s, and two AVRO Vulcan bombers appeared.
I went after those, and fired. The lead bomber exploded with tremendous force that sent out shockwaves as the bombs they where
carrying cooked off. The remaining three bombers started to pull tighter turns then I’d ever seen a bird that size turn,
and tried to now evade the four of us.
Although, perhaps I should take this time to mention that a Bomber trying to evade a missile is like a snail trying to evade
a flyswatter. The three remaining bombers where mopped up very quickly.
After the enemy bombers where shot down, I focused on the allied bombers that where now just starting to attack the Field
HQ.
The four of us now started attacking everything in sight. I destroyed the Field HQ, as well as a hanger that seemed to be
placed in the middle of nowhere.
“Mechanical parts discovered in destroyed enemy facility. We’ll have the ground forces retrieve them later.”
Thunderhead said.
Eventually, the only evidence of anything existing was rubble from the Field HQ, and I then moved to support the ground forces
taking the airfield. This target was harder because of the revetments the Yukes put in.
Essentially, revetments for those of you who don’t know are essentially underground hangers protected by Earth and concrete.
They are very hard to destroy unless you have some Bunker-busting bombs.
We ignored those hard targets, and concentrated on the above-ground hangers, blasting them to splinters with our rocket pods.
Eventually, like the Field HQ, there was nothing left of the Airbase. We where about to RTB, when Thunderhead said: “This
is Thunderhead. Enemy AWACS detected. Destroy it and maintain our air superiority over the battlefield.”
“What, MORE bad guys!” Chopper demanded.
I target the tanker aircraft first, and fired! The first KC-10 exploded in a massive fireball that seemed to engulf the entire
sky as the fuel it was carrying ignited in a huge explosion. The smoke and fire cleared after a few minuets, and I saw that
at least 70 of the enemy fighters where caught in that blast. I fired another set of missiles into another tanker; this explosion
was smaller, but still quite large.
The enemy AWACS started trying to get away from us, but Chopper fired the last of his missiles and destroyed the aircraft.
Since the AWACS and the tankers came in, we where almost at bingo fuel, and we had to land at the airbase that the ground
forces just captured. The runway was hard to see because of the smoke, but somehow, we all managed to land safely.
Operation: Supercircus
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