19 November, 2023 - Operation Enduring Resolve Week 19

[Rhino]

VFA-41 Black Aces launched on afternoon sorties in poor weather to tackle multiple taskings in the Syrian Area of Operations. Dealer 1 was assigned a High Value Airborne Asset (HVAA) escort mission requiring them to rendezvous with an Air Force C-32 transport aircraft off the coast of Cyprus and escort it to the Syrian/Jordanian border. The C-32 was carrying diplomatic personnel on an undisclosed diplomatic mission to the King Hussain Air College in northwest Syrian. Dealer 1 aircraft successfully located the C-32 and took over escort from a division of Turkish Air Force F-16's. The escort continued without incident all the way to Jordanian airspace were Dealer 1 was relieved by another division of Jordanian F-1 Mirages. Dealer 1 then climbed back to altitude and RTB'd Mother. Dealer 1-2 was able to trap after several passes in terrible, stormy weather with visibility below minimums. Dealer 1-1 had a couple of bolter passes and had to rejoin on the S-3 recover tanker for fuel concerns. Unfortunately, the recover tanker closed up shop and RTB's itself after passing only about 1,000 pounds of fuel to Dealer 1-1. Given the critical low fuel state and all the other returning Dealer aircraft also struggling in the soup, Dealer 1-1 was vectored to a nearby KC-135 operating north of the carrier group. Oddl, the KC-135 appeared to be attempting speed records on this flight and were cruising in excess of 350 KIAS during the attempted rejoin. Dealer 1-1 successfully plugged at the high speed, but was only able to take minimil fuel due to some connectivity/rubber banding issues that caused the tanker to jump around the sky at random. With critical fuel, Dealer 1-1 diverted successfully to Akrotiri in below minimums visibility thanks to excellent vectoring by Dealer 1-2.

Dealer 2 was assigned a CAP along a published civilian air traffic corridor to discourage anymore dissident hunting by Chinese forces in the region. Dealer 2 flew their patrol and monitored a couple of Chinese fighters who were flying in the area, but otherwise had an uneventful flight. Dealer 2 RTB'd mother after completing their assigned vulnerability time on station. Unfortunately, Dealer 2-2 was lost in the sea during recovery in the absolutely horrid weather conditions.

Dealer 3 was assigned a pre designated strike target in the vicinity of Al Tanf base. Intelligence determined ISIS forces had come into possession of some dilapidated Soviet SAM equipment and might be attempting to refurbish some of it to working order. Dealer 3 was tasked with 7 sets of target coordinates and duly dropped GPS guided munitions on each of them to good effect before RTBing to Mother. Unfortunately, two Dealer 3 aircraft were also lost on recovery, attributed once again to the abhorrent weather conditions at the ship.

Overall mission success, though with a high cost in airframes and airmen NOT due to enemy action.

Dealer 1
Rhino - Diverted to land base
Mr. Bean -Trapped

Dealer 2
Lion - Trapped
Maniac - lost at sea on recovery

Dealer 3
Trim - Ground targets struck, trapped
Sabot - Ground targets struck, lost at sea on recovery
Chaos - Ground targets struck, trapped
Crash - Ground targets struck, lost at sea on recovery

[Hedgehog]

Pilot records and Greenie Board updated.