29 October 2023 - Operation Enduring Resolve Week 16

[MrBean]

ISIL forces have been pushed our of southern Syria and across the border into Iraq. Coalition forces set up a new base of operations in the border town of Al Tanf, but had come under increasingly frequent attacks by ISIL armor and mobile artillery making incursions back across the border.

VFA-41 Hornets were tasked with patrolling the areas around Al Tanf in order to respond to any calls for assistance by coalition forces on the ground. Just as the CAS package was launching, however, a flight of two Chinese J-11 aircraft were detected inbound to the CSG at low level. DEALER 1 launched immediately and intercepted the two J-11s as they approached the carrier and then tailed them until they flew past and circled back towards land. The Chinese aircraft posed no immediate threat other than to temporarily interfere with launch/recovery operations.

The remaining DEALER flights subsequently launched and all three flights proceeded to their assigned patrol areas. At approximately 17:45 the group was notified of an ISIL incursion targeting the Al Tanf firebase. Multiple groups of light armor were inbound from the Northeast and South, with the compound coming under artillery attack by ISIL forces from the Northwest. All three DEALER flights were ordered to proceed to the area to engage any enemy forces encountered.

DEALER 1 arrived on scene first and began hunting for the ISIL artillery. Multiple self-propelled artillery units were located on the outskirts of a small village several miles to the Northwest. At least four units were destroyed by LGBs before DEALER 1 had to depart the area to refuel.

DEALER 2 detected several moving targets on their GMT radars and began engaging a column of ISIL BMPs, dispatching several. Unfortunately, the Hornets' targeting pods had difficulties at times locking on to some of the moving targets that displayed erratic DCS-related warping/rubber banding features.

DEALER 3 was the last to arrive and remained anchored overhead until the previous two flights cleared the area. Once DEALER 1 and 2 departed for the tanker, DEALER 3 attempted to clean up the remaining ISIL forces, along with some enemy AAA units that had been observed to the NE. Unfortunately, the continued ground unit warping behavior continued, making targeting and weapon delivery difficult and several bombs missed their targets, resulting in very few additional enemy units destroyed.

All three DEALER flights refueled on their way back to the CVN, with one Dealer aircraft diverting to coalition-held Damascus due to airborne refueling issues. All other DEALER aircraft recovered safely aboard USS GEORGE WASHINGTON (CVN-73).

Dealer 1
Mr-Bean- Ground targets, trapped
Crash- Trapped

Dealer 2
Hedgehog- Ground targets, trapped
Sabot- Trapped
Rhino- Ground targets, trapped

Dealer 3
Chaos- Trapped
Shaft- Diverted Damascus
Maniac- Trapped

[Hedgehog]

Evidently Tacview shows that we hit several friendly units as well. (I am guilty.) We probably need to lean on the intel weenies to provide us some more effective means of separating friendly and enemy units. 'Northwest of XX waypoint' doesn't help a lot when you're sweeping the area with your FLIR zoomed all the way in trying to find something to drop on. Once you see it, it's nearly impossible to tell where it is in reference to something you can't see.

[Hedgehog]

Pilot records and Greenie Board updated.