Boctok 18th Jan

[john (scooby)]

Here's the mission from my pit with timestamps, I was part of the West pair for cap

[Matt]

1(F) AAR

we departed at 0457 as fragged, we destroyed the roki tunnel using JDAM with no issues the proceeded to search and destroy targets along the MSR.

We identified a vehicle group travelling south from the crossing (obviously passing through the tunnel just prior to friendly callsigns crossing the border compromised of approximately 8/10 BTR type variants we engaged and destroyed that vehicle group then proceeded down the MSR finding a group of 3x T80 main battle tanks which we promptly destroyed before finding a small static group of BTR's parked on the outskirts of one of the small villages along the MSR, so we destroyed those for good measure too.

All in all not a horrible night for us.

[Alien]

11F AAR

11F KUTAISI - M/VODY BARRIER CAP
CAP 1 ( WP1) Funky / Scooby (UZI 1
CAP 2 ( WP2 )/ Alien / Father ( UZI 2

Uzi flight departed Kutaisi to put in place a 2 x CAPs south of the Min Vody and Nalchik. UZI 1 & UZI 2 both anchored approx 10 miles shy of their CAP locations until H-hour ( 05.10 )

UZI 2 Crossed had Mig 29's on their RWR / TID at approx 90 + miles and proceeded to push forward to engage however there were multiple friendlies also engaging, UZI 2-2 fired x 2 AIM 54, no hits recorded as the Hostiles had already been engaged by friendlies. UZI 2 then disengaged and made their way back to their CAP location. UZI 2-1 had Hostiles IVO Nalchik on his TID and turned North to engage, however he pushed too far into SAM territory and was consequently shot down.

UZI 1 were to engage and secure the airspace south and east of Min Vody. x 6 Mig29's were shot down and air superiority maintained, good skills, good effort from UZI 1. After a short time of maintaining a CAP ' Knock it off ' was given and RTB to the Carrier, UZI 2-2 had earlier required to refuel and had returned to Kutaisi where he remained, UZI 1 & UZI 2-1 made their way to the Teddy and END EX

https://youtu.be/9Nljk6st6Ac

[Black-Witch]

892NAS AAR

892NAS comprised 2 flights, 2 a/c as SEAD and a strike package of 4 a/c. holding south of the Border until 0510z, both flights then ingress'd at low level using 2 different routes, the SEAD taking the shorter route and at a higher ground speed to ensure arrival at the target before the Strike a/c.

SEAD attack went well with all 3 SAM sites destroyed just as the strike package reached their IP 10 miles away.

Strike package hit the runway, Fuel dump and Munitions area as tasked.

What we didn't see were the 4 Migs that took off just before the strike package arrived. 1, because we didn't "expect" to see them for another 3 or 4 minutes, poor intel doesn't excuse us not seeing them. 2, if we "did" see them we mis-identified them as the strike package coming in or the SEAD a/c over the target and finally they didn't appear on our SA page, maybe the AWACS was too low too far away to see over the mountains into Nalchick? For whatever reason they did not engage us.

A lesson learnt.

Very enjoyable mission, the "new" IADS makes this more interesting.

[Flyco]

In accordance with the well known axiom, the mission went well until we made contact with the enemy. The Shilka was destroyed by a Mav, and all 3 A-10s entered their allocated "Valley of Death".

Unfortunately, the number of targets greatly exceeded our expectations, and they all had bloody big guns. I have not counted but I would guess there were over 50, against an expectation of 20-30. With the valleys width 1-4 nm, and the clearance between the ground and the 7/8 cloud base being 3000-6000, there was nowhere to hide (I know, I tried!). Consequently the 2 ac that went North (Richard and I) got hammered. Paul had a slightly easier time in the SW part of the valley but still came home on one engine, and leaking like a sieve. Richard and I never got home (twice!).

Paul knocked out about 10, Richard 4-6 and I 3-4. The LG Rockets were poor, and it proved easier to use them unguided, with guns as backup.

[0405 Andrew]

Many thanks to everyone for flying and writing up your mission.

[Flyco]

One additional point. The TacView replay shows around 8-10 helicopters flying up and down the valley, during our attacks. These were not mentioned in the brief, and none of us recall having seen any helicopters during the sortie.

Were they real or a figment of TacView's imagination?

[0405 Andrew]

They were mentioned but were not necessarily a target for 97Sqn. Just a TOO.

[Grillman]

Really enjoyed the mission.

At some stage, we need to come up with a standard procedure with regards to intra-squadron CAP protection. It is virtually impossible to safely protect strike flights, when they have merged with Red Air. The risk of blue on blue is simply too high. We try our best to offer assistance but when our radars show a furball, there's very little we can do.

My penny's worth on the subject:
1) Strike aircraft should actively avoid merging with Red Air. They must discontinue their task and egress to a safe distance until CAP clears the area.
2) In the event of inadvertent merge, instead of engaging the bandits*, strike flights should ask for help and head immediately towards the direction of the CAP friendlies. That will mean that Red Air will be in their tail. That is fine as long as it is well beyond "visual range" (5-6NM). The CAP jets will be scrambling, high aspect to the enemy with very good parameters for BVR shots.

*Unless of course the rails are empty of AG ordnance and the strike jet can engage Air to Air safely and with good parameters.

Grillman

[Duke]

That sounds like a good idea to me, only other thing I thought of was to have dedicated cap amongst each squadron capable of doing cap. So 3f could have some of flight on ground attack/sead with a couple of them on cap say covering a certain area. Then likewise for OCU, 892 and 11?