01 January, 2023 - Operation Noble Tempest Week 11

Rhino · Post by **Rhino** » Wed Dec 28, 2022 12:37 pm

SITUATION

Last week's successful attack on the Russian EW Radar sites was only the first step in CVW-9’s objective to roll back enemy air defenses and establish air superiority over the western Georgian AO. With the primary EW radars destroyed, the Truman Strike Group has the freedom to operate in a slightly larger section of the Black Sea, which is a good thing because the surface combatants and submarines of the Russian Black Sea Fleet are still operating throughout the Black Sea and while at least two of their Kilo-Class submarines are known to be trapped outside the Black Sea (last observed moored at Tartus in Syria), at least four more Improved-Kilos and one original Kilo remain in the Black Sea and pose the greatest threat to the Truman CSG. To that end, an S-3B Viking (Pontiac Flight) will be conducting a Surface Surveillance & Control (SSC) mission to the north of the Strike Group concurrent with our mission.

MISSION

In order to further reduce the surface to air threat, VFA-41 Black Aces are tasked with a night time DEAD strike on the two SA-10 Grumble SAM sites located within Abkhazia itself. While these sites were effectively suppressed last week by VFA-192, allowing the successful Tomahawk strike, follow-on reconnaissance shows the sites actually sustained little to no damage and are still fully operational. As these SA-10’s are the highest threat SAMs in the immediate battle area, they must be destroyed in order to establish air superiority.

The northernmost site is located near the small town of Primorskoe between Gudauta Airbase and Sukhumi. Waypoints 3 & 4 denote the two sets of launchers while Waypoint 5 is co-located with the Big Bird long range search radar. The southern SA-10 site is located closer to the Sukhumi airport right along the coast near the town of Gulripshi. At this site, Waypoints 6 & 7 denote the launchers and Waypoint 8 the Big Bird radar. Both sites also have Flap Lid and Clam Shell mast radars as well, but don’t have directly targetable waypoints assigned to them. Ideally, all elements of the sites should be destroyed, but priority goes to the Big Bird radars and the launchers.

Weapons considerations include TALD decoys, HARM missiles, AGM-154A JSOW, GBU-38 JDAM and AGM-65 Mavericks. Support will be provided by an EA-6B Prowler from VAQ-138 (Uzi Flight), which will orbit approximately 50 nm offshore the targets and provide standoff jamming. This should reduce the effective range of the SA-10, so long as the Prowler remains on station and isn’t shot down.

THREATS

As before, the SA-10’s themselves are a formidable threat to all aircraft. While no significant SHORAD systems have been observed co-located with them, you should expect various AAA and MANPAD threats to be present at or near the sites. The Abkhazian capital of Sukhumi is located between the two SA-10 sites and is well defended by AAA guns of various calibers. Finally, the VKS aircraft at Gudauta are still present as well and while they haven’t generally been flying night patrols, it is thought they maintain aircraft on alert status at all hours, so be aware of potential interceptors taking off from the base.

***A minimum of 6 airframes are needed for this mission. If less than 8 airframes are available, the squadron should focus on the southern SA-10 site only (WP 6-8), as a couple aircraft need to be dedicated to CAP duties as VF-211’s Tomcats are apparently taking the night off.***

ROE

Weapons free. Russian and Abkhazian ground and air targets may be engaged as required.

MISSION OVERVIEW

DATE: 01 January, 2023

TIME: 2200 local

SUNRISE: 0909 local
SUNSET: 1755 local
MOON: First Quarter ~50% illumination

TASK: DEAD

WX: 060@06kt /SCT 4,500 / FEW 24,000 / T09 / Q30.27

FLIGHT DURATION: ~350nm

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

CARRIER:
USS HARRY S. TRUMAN (CVN-75) / Freq 127.500 [6] / TCN: 75X / ICLS: 5

SUPPORTING UNITS:
AWACS / E-2D / OVERLORD/ Freq 266.000 [5]
Mission Tanker / / / Freq: []/ TCN:
Recovery Tanker / S-3B / TEXACO / Freq 353.000 [10] / TCN:61Y

DIVERT:
Batumi [WP]
Rwy: 13/31
VOR: TACAN 16X
ATC: 131.000 [16]

BULLSEYE: Sochi Harbor[WP10]

ROUTE OVERVIEW: