All flights departed Nellis AFB via the DREAM 6 departure and were directed to hold over Mormon Peak after entering the range and checking in with Blackjack. At the prescribed commencement time, all aircraft pushed from Mormon Peak along the planned route. Dealer 1 was quickly directed west to a CAP station and Darkstar began providing them with bogey/bandit calls, eventually directing a commit on an ingressing hostile flight of MiG-29's. However, before Dealer 1 could intercept and attack, both MiGs were engaged and splashed by the F-16 Wild Weasels after they had attacked a pop up enemy SAM target. Dealer 1 then returned to their assigned CAP station. A short while later, Dealer 1 engaged with a pair of F-16's, which scored some recorded hits against Dealer 1 aircraft, but Dealer 1-2 and 1-3 managed to splash both Vipers eventually.
Meanwhile, Dealer 2 and 3 were proceeding on their assigned TOT routes. While in route, Dealer 2 was jumped by a pair of enemy F-16's (which subsequently went on to engage Dealer 1) that came up from low altitude. Dealer 2-1 was hit (simulated) and the Dealer 2 formation broke up. All Dealer 2 aircraft reported trouble entering the correct pre programmed coordinates and as such did not successfully drop their ordinance on their assigned targets. A couple Dealer 2 aircraft did manage to pickle some JDAM's in TOO mode on the target area waypoint, to no effect on the airfield runway.
Dealer 3 dropped to low level near the town of Rachel and proceeded low altitude to the target area. While down low, they were not harassed by any enemy fighters as an engagement between Dealer 1 and the enemy F-16's raged overhead. Dealer 3 proceeded uninhibited to the target area and released a total of 12 Mk82 high drag bombs over the target area with good impacts and hit their TOT time +5 seconds before egressing low level to the southwest. Shortly after, ENDEX was called and all flights safed up and proceeded back to Nellis via the Beatty Arrival procedures for an uneventful recovery.
In the debrief, Dealer 1 and 2 expressed their was confusion regarding the F-16's and they thought at the time they were engaged by friendly aircraft. I believe it is likely the confusion was the result of the pair of friendly F-16's conducting the SAM strike being in the area immediately prior and not recognizing the additional RWR indications as separate, and hostile, aircraft.
Overall, the mission was a partial success in that one strike element struck the target, but there was a high cost (simulated) in airframes, as a total of four Dealer aircraft were struck by simulated missiles. In addition, more refresher training on pre programed JDAM coordinate entry is warranted as Dealer 2 was unable to deliver their ordinance as prescribed.
DEALER 1:
1-1 Hedgehog, hit by simulated missile, recovered Nellis
1-2 Razor, x1 F-16, hit by simulated missile, recovered Nellis
1-3 Chaos, hit by simulated missile, x1 F-16 after resetting, recovered Nellis
Dealer 2:
2-1 Lion, hit by simulated missile, general target area hit, not assigned target, recovered Nellis
2-2 NoPro, recovered Nellis
2-3 Crash, general target area hit, not assigned targets, recovered Nellis
Dealer 3:
3-1 Rhino, ground targets hit, recovered Nellis
3-2 Sven, ground targets hit, recovered Nellis,
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