First, start ferry mission to deploy all reasonably useful aircraft to Cyprus.
Then, slide AEW track about 30 miles east so it now covers enemy ships. Review emissions and speeds for enemy ships. Mark the target (which does not move and does not emit) with a reference point, so in case contact is lost or becomes uncertain, I still know precisely where it is.
On Cyprus, rearrange SAMs abandoning all early warning radars (these are to be sacrificed as they are not movable).
Withdraw submarines. Does not look like they will be useful, too much ASW helos in target area.
Withdraw Elli ship to Cyprus shore, its Harpoons not going to be useful, at least in initial stages when there is too much enemy CAP.
At 2 days 6 hours to go, deployment complete, assign loadouts (for everyone on Cyprus airbase)
5x Hind helos -> leave as is, don’t care, never used.
6x F-4E Phantom II -> AMRAAM Heavy
10x F-16DJ Blk 52+ Falcon (Asteri) -> HARM
4x F-16DJ Blk 52+ Falcon (Olympus) -> HARM
6x Mirage 2000-5EG -> A/A MICA
10x Mirage 2000EG-S3 -> Exocet
… and enable Quick Turnaround whenever possible.
And then wait 6 hours for reloads
In meanwhile, change EMCON to Radars Active, OECM Active on all units, and…
mark time 0745 local for CAP change over the target, and by 0805 CAP is ready again. Take a note that on the way to target they pass right over BUK launchers. Oh that will give them something to think of. Two TELARs with 4 missiles ready per launcher, that means 8 shots, to kill 3 of them probably. Also S-300 has 24 ready missiles.
Mark 0930 next CAP change, complete by 1010
So CAP stays on station for 1 hour 25 minutes and takes like 20 minutes to change. Well, that information will surely come in useful just a little later.
CAP change 1115 local time, complete by 1145.
This time they were on station for an hour. I don’t quite see why, but that really does not matter much.
Now at 2 days to go, my aircraft are all ready. Based on previous timings I must be up and on target by 1245. Time for some preparation then.
Global Doctrine and ROE changes as follows
Ignore plotted course to YES
Fuel state RTB to Yes, units leave group
Weapon state RTB to No, aircraft do not RTB.
Jettison ordnance to NO
EMCON is already configured to Radars and OECM Active.
Now weapon release authorizations for MICA EM, MICA IR, AMRAAM -B and AMRAAM-C - configure all of these to fire 3 missiles at any aircraft, and also change number of shooters to “Enough aircraft to fill salvo quantity requirements”.
Now come back to S-300 and adjust its doctrine to weapons hold for air contacts. I don’t want it shooting down missiles. There are enough short-range SAMs around it to take care of any possible missiles, and I want to save S-300 longest-range SAMs against enemy aircraft, and this completes preparations.
Takeoff scheduled for 1230 or so. By 1250 everyone is in place, drop Exocet shooters down to 12000 ft.
At 1308, firing 20x Exocet against the target and Mirages are returning at afterburners. At the same time, some HARM impacts on targets, not sure how many.
11 Exocets make their way to the target, with a couple of malfunctions, multiple impacts but target still afloat.
Now prepare the CAP mission above the airbase, slightly east of it, with the prosecution area to cover Cyprus, in anticipation of returning CAP. Assign Phantoms and A/A-capable Mirages to CAP.
HARM shooters loiter above the airfield while Exocet-capable Mirages land, around 1315 local time. No sign of enemy CAP returning, yet.
Snail missiles start arriving at around 1420 local time, and there is no aircraft available to meet them. So three radars will be kaput pretty soon, and the rest should be well handled by SAMs. Meantime, S-300 is picking up aircraft if they stray close, and is now through its reload cycle and down to 11 missiles. Reasonable max range is about 40 NM. If the target is further away than 40 NM, I do not shoot. I shoot two missiles per aircraft, and this requires almost no follow-ups if the target is closer than 40NM.
At 1430, snail missiles are still happily snailing along, having covered like one fifth of the range… should have timed them, stupid of me. However CAP aircraft will only be ready in about 2 hours, so no CAP for me. Two Mirages from CAP are lost to enemy AAMs so far.
Around 1440, snail missiles destroy first of the three radars and at the same time S-300 is out of missiles, which is unfortunate.
Around 1500, some 40 minutes after they were first spotted, snail missiles are either shot down or overshot so badly that they are no longer a factor.
Also looking for targets I note for the first time that the target ship has sunk from all the damage.
Come evening, at 1930, I’m launching strike aircraft or the second attack. As now there is no CAP to speak of over the enemy ships, there will be three groups: two groups of HARM shooters, and one group of 10x Mirages with Exocets. Firing position is about 80 NM 160 deg from the Cyprus airbase.
On return, HARM shooters, which still have their AMRAAMs unused encounter some vampires and assist airbase CAP on that.
Meanwhile, Exocets clean up four remaining enemy ships and there are no more targets remaining to attack. So, I reconfigure all F-16s to CAP and tell Mirages and Phantoms to stand down. F-16 have AMRAAMs with longer range, which is good for survivability. CAPs losses are bad enough as they are now, with three Mirages lost so far.
Around 0200 next day, with 1 day and 10 hours to go, I suddenly remember about the Elli ship, which still has 16x Sea Sparrow missiles. Now, looks like a good idea to run it at flank speed north-north-west to put it under enemy aircraft, to see how good Sea Sparrows are against enemy AWACs (of which for some strange caprice of the enemy commander-in-chief two or three are flying at the same time). This turns out really effective, and by morning Elli returns back to Cyprus having expended all of her Sea Sparrows in exchange for three Wagtail Awaxen plus an assortment of smaller aircraft.
At 0800 morning, a sub pops up south of Cyprus, I guess a diesel coming up for breath and turning radars on just for fun, but there is too much of the air threat and no way I can risk an Orion to prosecute. Also Orions are back in Souda. Should have thought of deploying them to Cyprus along with the rest of the force.
At 0903, sub-launched missiles pop up. What is it attacking, I can’t really figure out, but CAP deals with the vampires without breaking a sweat.
At about 1300, I expand CAP prosecution area to cover pretty much all the relevant airspace, because attrition of enemy aircraft is good enough to attempt to establish air superiority. At the same time, launch both Orions from Souda to Cyprus, so they are on hand to prosecute the damn sub.
By about 1600 the sub is killed and Orions return to Cyprus and things become pretty calm, save from occasional vampire coming from somewhere north-east…. Holy carp, another sub pops up, this time much further, and both Orions are in turn-around with like 4 hours to go, and then even more subs. Damnit, this is beginning to turn into an ASW operation. Well, I can handle it, with 17 hours still left.
17 hours later that’s the end of it.
Score Triumph 1860.
Death toll as follows:
SIDE: Greece
===========================================================
LOSSES:
-------------------------------
3x Mirage 2000-5EG Mk2 <-- CAP
3x Radar (Score) <-- sacrificed
1x Radar (Snow Drift [9S18M1]) <-- sacrificed
1x F-16DJ Blk 52+ Advanced Falcon [Peace Xenia IV] <-- CAP
3x F-16DJ Blk 52+ Falcon [Peace Xenia III] <-- CAP
EXPENDITURES:
------------------
241x AIM-120C-7 AMRAAM P3I.3 <-- Good I had infinite supply of these
28x MICA EM
48x SA-20a Gargoyle [48N6E]
62x SA-17 Grizzly [9M317]
56x AGM-88B HARM <-- and infinite supply of these, these are useful
32x AIM-120B AMRAAM
40x AM.39 Exocet Blk II
11x Generic Chaff Salvo [4x Cartridges]
16x Generic Chaff Salvo [5x Cartridges]
16x MICA IR
4x 30mm DEFA 554 x 2 Burst [50 rnds]
13x SA-15b Gauntlet [9M331]
22x Aspide
24x RIM-7M Sea Sparrow
5x 20mm/85 M61A1 Vulcan Burst [100 rnds]
176x AN/SSQ-62B DICASS
267x AN/SSQ-53D DIFAR
2x SUT Mod 4
8x Mk46 NEARTIP Mod 5
SIDE: Turkey
===========================================================
LOSSES:
-------------------------------
23x F-16DM Blk 40 Falcon [Peace Onyx III CCIP Upgr]
25x F-16DM Blk 50 Falcon [Peace Onyx III CCIP Upgr]
2x F 500 Bozcaada [A 69]
6x F-16DJ Blk 50 Falcon [Peace Onyx IV]
1x Platform [Class A, 90000t]
2x S-70B-28 Seahawk
2x F 490 Gaziantep [Perry, Gabya Class]
2x S-70B-28 Seahawk
1x F 495 Gediz [Perry, Gabya Class]
1x F 511 Heybeliada [Ada Class]
1x F 240 Yavuz [Meko 200TN Track I]
3x E-737 Wedgetail
3x KC-135R Stratotanker <-- can’t recall killing these?
3x S 353 Preveze [Type 209-1400]
1x S 347 Atilay [Type 209-1200]
EXPENDITURES:
------------------
18x AN/SSQ-62C DICASS
18x AN/SSQ-53F DIFAR
16x AN/SSQ-62D DICASS
20x AN/SSQ-53E DIFAR
32x Harpy
192x Generic Chaff Salvo [5x Cartridges]
17x AIM-120B AMRAAM
37x RIM-66E6 SM-1MR Blk VIB
32x RIM-162B ESSM
21x RIM-116B RAM Blk I
14x Aspide
8x 100mm/55 Model 1968 PFHE Burst [4 rnds]
3x 20mm/85 Mk15 Phalanx Blk 1 Burst [300 rnds]
5x 76mm/62 Compact HE Burst [4 rnds]
4x 127mm/54 HE-CVT [HiFrag]
4x 25mm Sea Zenith Burst [20 rnds]
106x AGM-84K SLAMER-ATA <--- these were kind of annoying
20x AIM-120C-7 AMRAAM P3I.3
3x Generic Flare Salvo [3x Cartridges, Dual Spectral]
8x 76mm/62 Super Rapido HE Burst [2 rnds]
1x 20mm/100 Mk15 Phalanx Blk 1B Burst [300 rnds]
11x Mk214 Sea Gnat Chaff [Seduction]
6x Bullfighter Chaff/Flare Seduction
2x UGM-84D Harpoon IC <-- sub-launched maybe
9x Generic Acoustic Decoy
2x Generic Acoustic Decoy
(I will try to import it as a file) and see if those Yildirims reach Papandreou AFB 