The Marines have pushed northward up the Orontes valley and are poised to take the Syrian outpost at Jisr Ash-Shughur, which is the last major enemy stronghold before crossing the southern border into Hatay. Meanwhile in the North, US Army and Turkish ground forces are slowly advancing southwards from the Turkish border towards Hatay Airport.
Hatay Airport has been occupied by Syrian forces since the early days of the invasion and has been an important staging ground and logistics hub for Syrian reinforcements. It has also been a convenient front line base of operations for Syrian attack aircraft and interceptors
NATO command wants the runway at Hatay put out of commission as well as any Syrian aircraft based there in order to prevent the continued harassment of allied ground forces and deny Syria the only useful logistics airfield in occupied territory.
MISSION
VFA-41 has been tasked to conduct a night OCA strike against Hatay airport.
For this mission, the USS TARAWA (LHA-1) has steamed south and joined up with the WASHINGTON CSG. In addition to the usual Hornet/Tomcat mix, a flight of up to four AV-8b Harriers is available to the MC should he care to employ them.
The primary objective will be to bomb the single runway at Hatay Airport [WP3], rendering it useless to Syrian aircraft.
The secondary objective will be to destroy as many Syrian aircraft on the ground as possible. Current reconnaissance indicates that several Syrian Mig-29, Mig-23 and Su-17 aircraft are housed on the main ramp at Hatay, and without hardened hangars/bunkers they are vulnerable to attack.
Should enough squadron assets and weapons exist after completing the first two objectives- Syrian armor and mechanized units defending the airport may then be targeted in order to soften airport defenses for approaching NATO ground forces.
Clear weather over the target area this afternoon enabled good satellite imagery to be obtained over the target area. All flights should review the intelligence photo to familiarize themselves with the locations of enemy aircraft/ground forces in relation to the target waypoint, the runway, and tarmac.
The target WP [WP3] is centered on the runway, adjacent to the main ramp area.
THREATS
The Syrians have brought in mobile air defense systems and deployed them throughout Hatay. Reconnaissance shows an SA-8 as well as an SA-9 located within the airport perimeter. A battery of Shilka AAA vehicles has been spotted to the East. MANPADS may also be present, so low-level attacks are not advised.
Syrian aircraft are not usually very active at night, but Syrian CAP may be present farther inland patrolling near Aleppo. F-15 CAP will be on station in the vicinity of Hatay Airport to assist if needed.
Note: The political situation in neighboring Lebanon just to the south of our AOR is tense, and large areas of the nation are controlled by Hezbollah. Do not venture in to Lebanese airspace, or you may be fired upon without warning.
ROE
Weapons free- All Syrian forces may be engaged as required.
MISSION OVERVIEW
DATE: 23 January, 2022
TIME: 19:00
SUNRISE: 07:45
SUNSET: 17:52
TASK: Offensive counter-air (OCA)
WX: 350@7 / Few 8000, Scattered 23000 / T12 / Q30.40
FLIGHT DURATION: 300 nm
AVAILABLE SQUADRON ASSETS:
Dealer 1: 4 x F/A-18c
Dealer 2: 4 x F/A-18c
Dealer 3: 4 x F/A-18c
Dealer 4: 4 x F-14b
Dealer 5: 4 x AV-8b
CARRIER:
USS GEORGE WASHINGTON (CVN-73) / BRC 360° / Freq 127.5 [6] / TCN 73X "GWH" / ICLS: 13
USS TARAWA (LHA-1) / BRC 360 / Freq 137.5 [7] / TCN 1X “TAR” / ICLS 11
SUPPORTING UNITS:
AWACS / E-3D / MAGIC / Freq 266.000 [4]
Mission Tanker / KC-130 / ARCO / Freq: 253.00 [9]/ TCN 56Y
Recovery Tanker / S-3B / SHELL / Freq 353.00 [10] / TCN:66Y
DIVERT
Incirlik AB [WP6]
Rwy: 5/23
TCN: 21X
ATC: 360.1
BULLSEYE: Hatay Airport [WP3]
Week 6 Route Overview
- DictKey_Translation_4_Snapshot_20220118140040_DD Week 6 Overview.png (536.51 KiB) Viewed 1320 times
Week 6 Target Area Detail
- DictKey_Translation_4_Snapshot_20220118140725_DD Week 6 Target area.png (308.59 KiB) Viewed 1320 times
This afternoon's target area satellite image
- Satellite.png (3.31 MiB) Viewed 1320 times
Mission Datacard
- Z_DD6 MDC.png (66.72 KiB) Viewed 1320 times