SITUATION
With the Truman Carrier Strike Group passing through the Dardanelles and Bosporus Straits and into the Black Sea, coupled with the continual arrival of additional U.S. and NATO units in the combat theater, it has come time to end the forward deployment period for VFA-41 and return to the Truman. As the Carrier Strike Group arrives on station in the central and eastern Black Sea area, the U.S. and our NATO allies can begin focusing combat power on the other front in this conflict:
The second breakaway region in Georgia, called Abkhazia, is both larger geographically and stronger militarily than South Ossetia. Abkhazia enjoys direct road and rail connectivity to Russia without the impediment of high mountain passes and tunnels. In addition, Abkhazia benefits from direct access to Black Sea ports for commerce. While South Ossetia’s military consisted of a mostly border guard type force with some older generation tanks and light armor, the Abkhazian military is significantly larger and even operates a small air force consisting of a handful of Soviet Su-25’s, a couple of An-26 transports and a handful of Mi-8 and Mi-24 helicopters operated out of the Sukhumi Babushara airport.
The Russian military presence in Abkhazia before hostilities broke out in September was also substantially larger than in South Ossetia, as the Russians operate the 7th Guards Military base at Gudauta which housed a mechanized brigade in addition to rotational fighter and attack aircraft. All this allowed Russian and Abkhazian military units to pour across the Enguri River (the de facto Georgian-Abkhazian border) at Zugdidi and push over 40 miles south into Georgia proper, where they are now threatening the regional capital of Kutaisi, considered the 2nd most important city in Georgia after Tbilisi.
MISSION
VFA-41 is scheduled for a late morning departure from Tbilisi to ferry out to the west for a fly-on to USS Harry S. Truman, which is currently steaming east across the Black Sea from Istanbul, Turkey. This will free up limited ramp space at Tbilisi for additional USAF and other NATO air forces who are continuing to arrive in the region. Once we launch, the accompanying squadron maintainers and other personnel will board a chartered Georgian Airlines aircraft for the short trip to Batumi, where they will subsequently be ferried out to the Truman by COD flights and helicopters over the next day or two.
Since most of the ordinance brought in to support our forward deployment are compatible with other NATO forces, and the Truman just stocked up at Naval Support Activity Souda Bay before transiting the Straits, the majority of our stocks will be left behind for others use. However, 6th Fleet Command and the Strike Group Admiral want our more exotic (and expensive) unused ordinance brought back to the ship with us. Accordingly, we will need to load up with and bring back the four AGM-84K SLAM-ER missiles and the six AGM-145C JSOW’s from inventory. The Mission Commander will need to spread this ordinance out among the flights to minimize the weight of each airframe as much as possible as each aircraft will also need to travel with two external fuel tanks and a standard air to air loadout (AIM-9x *2, AIM-120c *1, ATFLIR) at a minimum. The “double ugly” loadout of fuel tanks (one centerline, one Right Inboard pylon) is one method of freeing up an extra hardpoint if needed.
Once the squadron reaches WP5, aircraft should be in range to pick up the ship’s TACAN, which will be operating at highly reduced broadcasting power in order to help maintain as low profile as possible in the confined waters of the Black Sea. The ship will launch fighter CAP, recovery tankers and other assets to cover our arrival. All flights are to transit at Angels 26 and best endurance airspeed as per the FPAS page for deconfliction with additional arriving U.S. and NATO aircraft.
THREATS
Russian fighters from Mozdok have been nearly completely depleted by our actions over the last several weeks. However, the coastal area of operations has not had much activity from us. A handful of forward deployed fighter aircraft are still stationed at Gudauta and may be flying CAP patrols. Additionally, ELINT indicates a SA-6 SAM system in the vicinity of the Russian and Abkhazian controlled Senaki airbase and active S-300 batteries stretching up the coast towards Sukhumi. The flight path should keep us clear of these threats so it is imperative that we stick to the waypoints as much as possible.
ROE
Weapons Hold unless fired upon. Be alert for enemy air activity, but avoidance is the name of the game today.
MISSION OVERVIEW
DATE: 4 December, 2022
TIME: 11:00 local
SUNRISE: 0844 local
SUNSET: 1747 local
MOON:
TASK: Ferry Flight/ Fly-on
WX: 096@ 04kt / SCT-BKN 9500 and 24000 /T10.5 / Q30.21
***note the prevailing wind has shifted. Take off from Tbilisi will be from Runway 13R***
FLIGHT DURATION: ~460nm
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) / Freq 127.500 [6] / TCN: 75X / ICLS: 5
SUPPORTING UNITS:
AWACS / E-3A / WIZARD/ Freq 266.000 [4]
Mission Tanker / / / Freq: []/ TCN:
Recovery Tanker 1 /S-3B /TEXACO 1-1 / Freq 253.000 [19] / TCN: 61Y
Recovery Tanker 2 /S-3B /TEXACO 2-1 / Freq 254.000 [5] / TCN: 62Y
DIVERT
Kutaisi [X]
Rwy: 07/25
VOR: TACAN 44X
ATC: 134.000 [18]
Secondary divert is available at Batumi (WP4) for fuel only.
BULLSEYE: Gori [WP 2]
ROUTE OVERVIEW:
ROUTE DETAIL:
Mission Data Card:
Ordinance:
04 December, 2022 - Operation Noble Tempest Week 9
04 December, 2022 - Operation Noble Tempest Week 9
Last edited by Rhino on Fri Dec 02, 2022 6:10 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Re: 04 December, 2022 - Operation Noble Tempest Week 9
CDR (Mr)Bean assigned as Mission Commander
CDR MadDog on standby
CDR MadDog on standby
Re: 04 December, 2022 - Operation Noble Tempest Week 9
Maintenance Report
With the pending departure for the ship, our heroic maintainers have been working round the clock, begging, borrowing and stealing from the newly arrived Air Force contingents and have managed to reduce some of the recent maintenance issues we’ve been experiencing. Pilots can expect a 30% reduction in failure likelihood from last week.
With the pending departure for the ship, our heroic maintainers have been working round the clock, begging, borrowing and stealing from the newly arrived Air Force contingents and have managed to reduce some of the recent maintenance issues we’ve been experiencing. Pilots can expect a 30% reduction in failure likelihood from last week.
Re: 04 December, 2022 - Operation Noble Tempest Week 9
postponed to December 11
Re: 04 December, 2022 - Operation Noble Tempest Week 9
CDR Mad Dog re-assigned as Mission Commander from standby
LCDR Lion on standby
LCDR Lion on standby