The last few weeks have brought success for Georgian and Coalition forces in the South Ossetian AO. With the destruction of the primary Russian Command and Control facility in South Ossetia, as well as the destruction of a large portion of the Russian’s in theater ammunition supply, the Russian ground and helicopter units operating out of Tskhinvali have had to halt all offensive operations. This has allowed Georgian ground forces to prepare to move the front line west for the first time since the invasion began some months ago.
Over the last few days, some of the Georgian Su-25 Frogfoots and Mi-24 helicopters stationed at Vaziani have managed to ferry over to Tbilisi-Lochini Airport, the Frogfoots using the parallel taxiway to get airborne using minimal fuel and no stores. With Georgian airpower, limited as it may be, back online; we can expect ground attack and close air support sorties to begin being flown as soon as this morning.
Curiously, intelligence and ELINT data show that the Russian A-50 Mainstay AWACS aircraft has not flown any sorties out of Mozdok for over a week. The best guess right now is that maintenance issues are plaguing the single A-50 airframe the Russians are operating in the area. Nonetheless, the Russians are also operating a ground based EWR radar, a 55G6 Tall Rack, in the southern part of the country about 50 nautical miles from the Georgian border. With this radar active, the Russians do not experience any gaps in their radar coverage or early warning capability.
MISSION
Command has ordered the Tall Rack radar installation, codenamed Eye of Sauron (WP6), destroyed. As previously stated, this radar is on Russian soil, approximately 50 nautical miles north of the Georgian border. While this will likely be seen as an escalation of the conflict, EUCOM wants to further prepare the battlespace as much as possible for follow on US and NATO forces due to arrive in the AO soon. That said, Command is still prohibiting our aircraft from crossing north into Russian airspace ourselves, therefore our longest range standoff weapons will be required for this strike.
The flight route has been designed to allow for a max speed run towards the target at high altitude to maximize the range of JSOW-A and HARM weapons. WP3 (SHIRE) is designated as the launch point/turn around point for this mission. Once weapons are launched, aircraft should execute a high-G turning maneuver to redirect to the south and avoid crossing into Russian airspace. WP4 (MORDOR) and WP5 (MT DOOM) are situated in the general vicinity of two known SA-11 SAM sites located between the border and the primary EWR site. One Dealer flight should be tasked with suppressing these sites with HARM’s launched in Pre Briefed Mode (Codes are on the Data Card).
Another Dealer flight will attack the EWR site (WP6) directly with JSOW-A’s to help ensure destruction of the entire radar facility. The radar facility is at near the max range of our weapons, so an attack profile at or above Angels 35 and highest possible speed at release is required. The third Dealer flight can launch TALD decoys towards WP4 & WP5, in close coordination with the HARM shooters, to maximize the chance of successfully suppressing the SA-11’s and allowing the JSOWs to make it to the target area without being shot down. The third flight can also carry an additional pair of AIM-120's for BARCAP as soon as they launch their TALDs.
THREATS
In addition to the SA-11 battalions north of the border, the likelihood of Russian CAP aircraft out of Mozdok is high, though their numbers continue to dwindle with battlefield losses, maintenance and logistics issues and inventory strain across multiple battle fronts. That said, flight leads should coordinate timing to minimize time on station and flights should not loiter in the airspace near the border.
ROE
Weapons free on assigned targets and any Russian aircraft threatening the mission.
MISSION OVERVIEW
DATE: 6 November, 2022
TIME: 1030 Local
SUNRISE: 0817 local
SUNSET: 1807 local
MOON:
TASK: Strike/SEAD
WX: 300@10kt /Rain, OVC 6000, OVC 19000, SCT 34 / /T11 / Q29.97
FLIGHT DURATION: ~240nm
Recommended Loadouts:
Flight 1- Centerline fuel tank, AGM-154A (JSOW) x2, + Standard loadout (ATFLIR, AIM-120c x1, AIM-9X x2)
Flight 2- Centerline fuel tank, AGM-88 HARM x4 + Standard loadout
Flight 3- Centerline fuel tank, TALD x6, AIM-120c x2, AIM-7P x1, AIM-9X x2, ATFLIR
(It does not matter which Dealer Flight does which role, the waypoints are common to all flights)
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 [] / TCN / ICLS:
SUPPORTING UNITS:
AWACS / E-3A / WIZARD/ Freq 266.000 [4]
Mission Tanker / / / Freq: []/ TCN:
Recovery Tanker / / / Freq [] / TCN:
DIVERT:
Kutaisi [WP]
Rwy: 07/25
VOR: TACAN 44X
ATC: 134.000 [18]
BULLSEYE: Gori [WP7]
Flight Overview:
- Flight Overview.PNG (5.85 MiB) Viewed 965 times
Flight Detail:
- Flight Detail.PNG (5.7 MiB) Viewed 965 times
Target Area:
- Target 1.PNG (5.35 MiB) Viewed 965 times
- Target Detail.PNG (6.91 MiB) Viewed 965 times
Mission Data Card:
- Mission Data Card.PNG (61.72 KiB) Viewed 965 times