09 October, 2022 - Operation Noble Tempest Week 1

[Rhino]

SITUATION

The fighting in Georgia has been at a stalemate near the de facto borders between Georgia, South Ossetia and Abkhazia for several weeks now. The United States has suffered an aircraft downed and a warship sunk, both in international spaces, at the hands of the Russian Federation and the President has authorized Operation Noble Tempest in response. Due to flaring tensions in the INDOPACOM area of operations, our carrier strike group, embarked aboard USS Harry S. Truman, is the only major U.S. Military presence in the region and has been tasked to spearhead Operation Noble Tempest. Unless and until the U.S. can negotiate our carrier's passage through the Turkish Straits, a tactical naval aviation contingent will forward deploy to the Georgian AOR to begin combat operations as soon as practicable.


MISSION

Living up to our squadron motto “First to Fight, First to Strike'', VFA-41 has been assigned by CAG, at the direction of 6th Fleet, to forward deploy our squadron to Tbilisi International Airport in order to begin combat operations against Russian and separatist forces that have invaded Georgia. To that end, two USAF C-17s (Chevy Flight) have been loaded with stocks of ordinance, spare parts and tools to support our forward deployment period. The C-17s, which are also transporting a large portion of the squadron maintainers, as well as a contingent of Navy SEALs, took off from Souda Bay, Greece earlier this morning and we will rendezvous with them just off the northern Turkish coast at WP2. The briefed rendezvous altitude is 33,000 feet. Once joined up, our task is to escort the C-17s all the way to Tbilisi International. Once both transports have landed, all Dealer flights will be cleared in to land there as well. The Georgians have designated our parking areas as spaces 02-05, 06-09 and 11-14 on the main apron. Be sure NOT to attempt to land at Vaziani military airfield. The base was attacked several days ago and the runway has been cratered.

So far Turkey has been skittish with their support. They are allowing airspace overflight and have allowed one of the Turkey based NATO E-3 AWACS (Callsign Wizard) to establish an orbit track in their airspace near the Georgian and Armenian border. Turkish F-16’s (Enfield Flight) are providing escort for the AWACS, but don’t expect them to come to our aid unless the Russians violate Turkish airspace. There is also a Turkish Navy frigate operating in the eastern Black Sea off the northern coast, but aside from Search and Rescue ops, don’t expect much support from it either.

***Two KC-135's (SHELL 1-1 and ARCO 2-1) out of Incirlik will meet us at WP1 and fly along our planned route at Angels 29 until WP3, at which point they will break off and return to Incirlik. The tankers will be available for refueling if desired between WP1 and WP3. They should arrive at WP1 approximately ten (10) minutes after the first Dealer aircraft reaches the Marshall area at WP1 and will proceed immediately along the planned route.***

This will be a lengthy transit with minimal tanker support, so all pilots need to carefully monitor their fuel states. Batumi International is available as a divert if required (Fuel only).


THREATS

We can expect to encounter Russian combat air patrols on radar/datalink. The Russian Air Force is operating Su-27’s out of Gudauta, Su-27’s and Su-30’s out of Krymsk and a multitude of airframe types out of Mozdok. Additionally, there is a Russian MiG-29 squadron stationed at Erebuni Airbase in Yerevan, Armenia just to the south of our operating area.

As far as ground threats, numerous SAM batteries, including SA-10, SA-11 and SA-6, protect the Russian and Abkhazian coasts. Our flight plan should keep us well outside their engagement zones, so it is imperative that we not deviate from the assigned course unless engaged by enemy aircraft. You can also expect numerous AAA of various types and calibers to be dispersed throughout the entire AO.

While not a threat, be aware there is still some civilian airline traffic in the area and our flight plan is in the vicinity of an east-west civil air traffic corridor.


ROE

Weapons Hold unless fired upon.


MISSION OVERVIEW

DATE: 9 October, 2022

TIME: 0745

SUNRISE: 0740
SUNSET: 1850
MOON:

TASK: Ferry/Escort

WX: 320@10kt / Broken Overcast 3,000-9,000 / Broken 20-22 & 32-34 /T 13 / Q29.74

FLIGHT DURATION: 750nm
(Recommended Loadout: 9X*2, 3 Fuel Tanks, AIM120C*2, AIM7P*1, ATFLIR)

*I test flew this mission with 2 tanks and 4 AIM-120’s and landed with just under 3,000 lbs fuel, but given the poor weather, it’s probably best to have that extra ~2,000 lbs of gas the third tank provides in case anyone misses their approach or some other unforeseen event causes more fuel usage.*


AVAILABLE SQUADRON ASSETS:
Dealer 1: 4 x F/A-18c
Dealer 2: 4 x F/A-18c
Dealer 3: 4 x F/A-18c


CARRIER:
USS HARRY S. TRUMAN (CVN-75) / BRC ° / Freq 127.5 [6] / TCN / ICLS:
*Landing area is blocked so once launched, won’t be able to return to the ship.*

SUPPORTING UNITS:
AWACS / E-3A / WIZARD/ Freq 266.000 [4]
Mission Tanker / / / Freq: []/ TCN:
Recovery Tanker / / / Freq [] / TCN:



DIVERT:
BATUMI [WP4]
Rwy: 13/31
VOR:
ATC: 131.000 [16]


BULLSEYE: Batumi Airport [WP4]

Russian EW and SAM Threats

Route Overview 5.png (2.28 MiB) Viewed 1052 times

Launch Point

Route Overview 1.png (33.3 KiB) Viewed 1052 times

Rendezvous Point

Route Overview 2.png (471.56 KiB) Viewed 1052 times

Feet Dry Point

Route Overview 3.png (3.53 MiB) Viewed 1052 times

Final Leg

Route Overview 4.png (3.3 MiB) Viewed 1052 times

Parking Diagram

W_Tbilisi Parking Diagram.png (643.57 KiB) Viewed 1052 times

Z_Mission Data Card.PNG (58.57 KiB) Viewed 1006 times

TACAN Approach Plate 31L

Y_31L Approach Plate.png (127.74 KiB) Viewed 1052 times

[Rhino]

MISSION DESIGNER NOTES:

We obviously have to simulate launching from the northern Aegean Sea as it's not quite included on the map. So, were actually taking off from the far western Black Sea. We'll just have to suspend our disbelief a bit. Catapult 1 will be unavailable due to parked aircraft.

Depending on aircraft weight, it may not be possible to get to the RV altitude early in the flight. Don't worry about cruising below Angels 33 prior to WP2.

Mission Commander and flight leads are encouraged to let the C-17's get established on their outbound leg after rendezvous before trying to join up on them. They can be a bit unpredictable as they come out of their orbit.

The extended forecast for Tbilisi is low clouds near the airport. Good thing we practiced instrument approaches recently Note the included approach plate uses Vazaini's TACAN, but it's only for guidance and line up. You will fly over and past that TACAN station on your final approach. We will be landing and basing at Tbilisi-Lochini International. If you land at Vazaini, you will damage/crash your jet as the runway is in fact cratered from bombs. Hopefully Mr. Bean can explain the approach a little more clearly either in here or at the brief. Also thank him, as he made these custom approach plates for us.

[Lion]

CAPT Trim assigned as Mission Commander

CAPT Hedgehog on standby/alternate

[MrBean]

The extended forecast for Tbilisi is low clouds near the airport. Good thing we practiced instrument approaches recently Note the included approach plate uses Vazaini's TACAN, but it's only for guidance and line up. You will fly over and past that TACAN station on your final approach. We will be landing and basing at Tbilisi-Lochini International. If you land at Vazaini, you will damage/crash your jet as the runway is in fact cratered from bombs. Hopefully Mr. Bean can explain the approach a little more clearly either in here or at the brief.

Rhino has a good eye as that approach to the west at Tiblisi has to use Vaziani's TACAN since there is not another navaid that works well for approaching Tiblisi from the East. Hedge actually noticed that one of the approaches into Guam International is the same in that it has to use the Nimitz VORTAC due to there being no suitable station on the airfield itself.

In either case, you do overfly the navaid on the inbound approach course (DME will count down to almost 0.0) and then continue to fly outbound along the same course (DME will start counting up again) to finish the final portion of the approach. Nothing else is different really from the one we practiced last week at Andersen, just that your TACAN DME will count all the way down to ~0.1 miles and then start counting back up for the final couple of miles until you either see the airfield or get to the Missed Approach Point (2.5 miles PAST the TACAN)

[Rhino]

Original brief updated to reflect addition of refueling tanker support. Mission Data Card updated with frequencies and TACAN info. Unfortunately, the tanker sortie was added after the maintainers pre-programmed the jet's radios, so manual tuning of the tanker freqs will be necessary. Loadouts at Mission Commanders discretion.