CoW #15 Hail Mary DAR

[Tailhook]

Thoroughly enjoying this intense scenario. First 36 hours complete and here are the highlights:

Administrative:
I've transferred all operational, non-cargo aircraft away from Australia. USAF F-35s and F-22s scattered to forward bases in The Philippines. Tankers, AWACS, and ELINT planes have been centralized in the South/Central Philippines. The Aussie AWACS, F-18s and F-35s transferred to Vietnam, meeting their tankers from Christmas Island. I transferred my RQ-180 drones to Iwo Jima from Christmas Island. I'm holding the C-17s to run notional cargo runs of munitions as my forward bases run low (this will be done with the editor).

The Nimitz and Eisenhower CSGs* have set sail from the Philippines. Nimitz will go to the South China Sea until that area is secure, while Ike will sail East of Taiwan to support the attack on Okinawa as well as the central Chinese coast. Both have picked up some extra escorts in the forms of DDGs and LCS. I added an extra carrier magazine to the AKEs and reshuffled them to how I configured the groups in the previous scenario.

The America and Canberra ESGs departed to the East of the Philippines with America about 100 nm ahead. Their goal is to secure Okinawa. From there, I'll detach America and some escorts to join the Ike while the rest of the group forms up with the Aussies to anchor off Okinawa (I'm role playing an invasion, there's no invasion forces in this scenario).

I deleted the Chinese SAR satellites that I had previously destroyed in Air Sea Battle (There's definitely going to be hardcore Kessler Syndrome) and I knocked out the few Optical satellites that I didn't touch last time.

*I think this scenario is begging for my CVBG 2.0 setup, given the circumstances. I may give that a try on another playthrough.

Offensive stuff -

Okinawa:
3 US SSNs have sunk the Chinese ships guarding the island. The North Carolina had a close call with a sub hunting helo after it fired on an FFG but I was able to dodge it. A Tomahawk knocked out an ELINT truck on the island, but I haven't touched the air defenses yet. F-22s have knocked out at least 10 Flankers stationed on the island. 2 of them took missiles but limped back home for a very long repair (I flew in a C-17 to simulate specialized repair crews). I'm probably not going to do a massive air campaign against the island, instead letting Zumwalt shell the air defenses when it gets close.

Hainan area:
The USS Sante Fe knocked out a pair of air defense destroyers guarding the island while the Connecticut did the same to a ship off the Leizhou Peninsula. The Aussies have been periodically cleaning the skies over the island, trading 2 Hornets and an F-35 (plus damaged others) for numerous Flankers, Finbacks, and even a handful of J-20 ambushers. I also managed to knock out their AEW aircraft orbiting over the peninsula and all but one radar in the area. Some more Hornets played wild weasel and knocked out a pair of HQ-9 sites on the island as well as HQ-16 radars. A B-52 hit Ledongs underground hangars with CALCMs but AAA did a solid job of defending so the results of the few leakers is inconclusive. Similar results occured with the B-52 hitting Suixi although satellites did confirm a number of hardened shelters were destroyed. F-22s are coming for what I hope is the final sweep. B-52s and the Aussies will load up with ordnance and knock out my remaining targets on the island.

Elsewhere in China:
The very first thing destroyed was the OTH radar site using submarine launched Tomahawks. My SSGNs are holding for now in a pair of launch basket East of Okinawa. The remainder of my first B-52 strike launched a deep CALCM strike at the Shaodong Bomber base deep in China. The few missiles that made it through the gauntlet up their cracked the massive Underground aircraft shelters and took out a sizable chunk of the Chinese bomber force. These bombers are going to be re-armed to hit Hainan. B-1s and B-2s will hit elsewhere in China once I find suitable targets.

5th gen fighters have been nibbling at the Chinese offshore patrols and submarines sneak in Tomahawks at radar sites left open. I'm slowly but surely rolling back the Chinese coverage out to sea while my Carriers draw closer. The scariest moment was when AWACS spotted bombers heading to Iwo Jima with nothing in range to stop them. They launched a large missile strike but I was able to get my aircaft there into the air before the strike. The worst situation is my SM-3s have been depleted and no ASBMs have been spotted, so I will have to rely on shorter range missiles if they do appear.

Defensively:
The Chinese attempted a number of air/missile strikes on me. Vietnam took a hit (although no Aussies were lost) as did Zamboanga which had no aircraft (I dug under the hood. It seems that my RQ-180s transiting overhead set the trigger that the base was occupied. Oops).

Butcher's Bill so far:
SIDE: United States-Australia
===========================================================

LOSSES:
-------------------------------
4x A/C Hangar (2x Medium Aircraft)
3x A/C Hangar (2x Small Aircraft)
5x AvGas (150k Liter Tank)
2x Ammo Revetment
1x Ammo Shelter
1x AvGas Tank Farm (40 x 40k Liter Tank)
2x Building (Control Tower)
2x F/A-18F Super Hornet
1x F-35A Lightning II


EXPENDITURES:
------------------
7x 20mm/85 M61A2 Vulcan Burst [100 rnds]
64x AGM-86D Blk II CALCM [1200lb Penetator]
16x AGM-88E AARGM
163x AIM-120C-7 AMRAAM P3I.3
120x AIM-120D AMRAAM P3I.4
9x AIM-9M Sidewinder
13x AIM-9X Sidewinder
5x AN/ALE-55 FOTD
6x AN/ALE-70 FOTD
8x Derby [SPYDER-SR]
83x Generic Chaff Salvo [5x Cartridges]
11x Generic Flare Salvo [3x Cartridges, Dual Spectral]
15x MIM-104E Patriot PAC-2 GEM+
2x MIM-104F Patriot PAC-3 ERINT
12x Mk48 Mod 7 ADCAP CBASS
8x Python 5 [SPYDER-SR]
34x RGM-109E Tomahawk Blk IV TACTOM
30x RIM-161E SM-3 NTW Blk IIA
24x SA-20a Gargoyle [48N6E]
8x THAAD C-2
15x UGM-109E Tomahawk Blk IV TACTOM
15x UGM-109E Tomahawk Blk IV TACTOM



SIDE: China
===========================================================

LOSSES:
-------------------------------
3x 30mm China LD-2000 [Type 730]
4x A/C Hardened Aircraft Shelter (1x Large Aircraft)
2x A/C Underground Aircraft Shelter (10x Large Aircraft)
2x DDG 136 Hangzhou [Pr.956E Sovremenny]
14x H-6K Badger [God of War]
4x HQ-16B TEL
13x HQ-9A TEL
24x J-10A Vigorous Dragon
4x J-10AH Vigorous Dragon
4x J-11BH Flanker B [Su-27SK Copy]
1x J-11D Flanker B [Su-27SK Copy]
10x J-20 Mighty Dragon
6x J-8F Finback B [J-8II]
2x JD-16 Flying Shark [Su-27UBK Copy]
4x Ka-28 Helix A
7x Radar (Bar Lock A [P-37])
1x Radar (China JY-14 Great Wall)
1x Radar (China JY-27 Wide Mat)
1x Radar (China OTH-SW Receiver)
1x Radar (China OTH-SW Transmitter)
1x Radar (China YLC-4)
10x Su-30MKK Flanker G
1x Type 041 Yuan
1x Type 052B Luyang I [168 Guangzhou]
1x Type 052C Luyang II [170 Lanzhou]
2x Type 052D Luyang III [173 Changsha]
2x Type 054A Jiangkai II [530 Xuzhou]
1x Type 054A++ Jiangkai II [576 Daqing]
1x Vehicle (1L222 Kvant [Apure/Avtobaza] Mobile Jammer+ELINT)
2x Vehicle (China HT-233 [HQ-9])
2x Vehicle (China YLC-2V)
2x Vehicle (HQ-16A FCR)
3x Y-8Q Cub [High New 6]
2x Y-8W Cub [High New 5, KJ-200 Balance Beam]
1x Y-9G Cub [High New 11]
2x Y-9JB Cub [High New 8]
3x Z-9C Dauphin 2


EXPENDITURES:
------------------
4x 1700 liter Drop Tank
9x 30mm China H/PJ-12 [Type 730, 240 rnds]
5x 30mm Gsh-30-1 Burst [30 rnds]
118x 35mm/90 Twin Type-90 Burst [20 rnds, China Type 902 FC]
2x 800 liter Drop Tank
16x DF-21C [Conventional, CSS-5 Mod-3]
2x DF-21C RV [Conventional, CSS-5 Mod-3]
16x DF-26C [Conventional]
16x DF-26C RV [Conventional]
2x Generic Acoustic Decoy
134x Generic Chaff Salvo [4x Cartridges]
11x Generic Flare Salvo [4x Cartridges, Single Spectral]
14x HQ-16A [Semi Buk Copy]
22x HQ-16B
24x HQ-17 [SA-15 Copy]
40x HQ-7 Crotale [FM-80, CSA-4]
125x HQ-9A
14x HQ-9B
144x KD-20 [CJ-10A] ALCM
13x PL-10
70x PL-12
54x PL-12C
86x PL-15
15x SA-15b Gauntlet [9M331]