Air Battle 28/7/20

[fitzpatv]

Took a brief break from Northern Fury and tried this entertaining little scrap from Mark Gellis, which can be played in a single session. China attempts to intimidate Taiwan with an air- and missile-strike and you face the task of stopping them with some help from AI-controlled US forces.

Taiwan fields a couple of squadrons of F-16s, armed with AMRAAMs. These are supplemented by some domestically-produced Hsiung Ying fighters with 30nm ranged Sky Sword missiles, some Mirages with MICAs (45 nm) and some elderly F-5s carrying the shorter-ranged version of the Sky Sword (10 nm). Two F-5s are readying with Mavericks and there are some Orions and Hawkeyes. A flight of US F-15 Eagles are nearby under AI control.

At sea, the destroyer Keelung has plenty of RIM-66 SAMs and eight Harpoons. She is supported by the powerful US DDG Bainbridge (AI control). Taiwan also has the minesweeper Yung Jin, which is best kept out of the way.

On land, you have substantial numbers of Patriots, I-HAWKs and Sky Bow anti-ballistic missiles.

China fields a couple of Jiangdao-class corvettes with 100nm range YJ-83 missiles and short-reach SAMs. Flanker and Flying Shark fighters (copies of the Russian Su-27/33) can be expected in the air, along with Gods of War (Badger copies) wielding 160nm ranged KD-63 air-to-surface/ground missiles, while there are also armed and unarmed UAVs and Mainring AEW planes. Several batteries of DF21C SSMs add further threat and the Chinese have plenty of radars and HQ-12 SAMs on their mainland bases. An exclusion zone prevents Taiwanese and American attacks on or overflights of Mainland China.

I started by getting the minesweeper out of harm's way and moving the AEW and patrol planes E of Taiwan for safety. All planes had their Auto Evade switched-off and went to Winchester instead of Shotgun so as not to leave the action prematurely. As in Northern Fury, I altered Doctrine to limit aircraft to one missile per target. It makes sense to fight under cover of your SAMs as much as possible.

Things didn't begin well. The Chinese unleashed a barrage of SSMs, so I scrambled as many aircraft as feasible to minimise casualties on the ground, using fighters for point defence over airfields. Unfortunately, the ballistic missiles were transiting at over 100,000' at extreme speeds and even the Sky Bow ABM system proved incapable of tracking them well enough to engage. The only consolation was that they did relatively little damage, targetting the SAM sites without great effect.

There were several unidentified ships, some moving at 5 knots and others at 15. I made the mistaken assumption that the latter were warships and wasted four Harpoons from Keelung sinking a surprisingly-fast civilian junk - at least it cost no points. Not long afterwards, the two Jiangdaos were detected leaving the port of Jieyang.

Numerous Chinese aircraft were assembling over said port and I sent a Hsiung Ying to test the water. This was a mistake and she was shot down before getting in range to sow Sky Swords amongst them, costing me 10 VP. Four Flankers were then lured into pursuing retreating Taiwanese planes into SAM range and shot-down, each likewise scoring 10 VP.

A shoal of KD-63 and YJ-83 missiles then came-in and were prevented from reaching Keelung by SAMs and a screen of fighters.

Using similar 'shoot and scoot' tactics to those I've been employing in Northern Fury, I then knocked-down four more Flankers and a Flying Shark for one F-16. More Chinese fighters joined the fray and, this time, I wasn't as adroit in judging when to break and run. The round went China's way, with four Falcons lost for three Flankers.

Given a lull in the fighter duel, I sent the two Maverick-armed F-5s against the Chinese corvettes. They managed to hit one, but strayed into the ships' HQ-10 SAM range while starting to RTB and were shot-down with considerable efficiency in the brief window afforded the enemy.

The Jiangdaos survived and got into YJ-83 range of the Keelung, but CAP dealt with the shoal and also disposed of three Wing Loong and Sea Eagle UAVs which supported the strike.

Another wave of Chinese fighters approached, but I managed the cutting and running rather better this time and put-down eight bogeys without loss. CAP and SAMs from Keelung and Bainbridge broke-up a second stand-off missile strike from the Badgers, which were operating from the safety of Chinese airspace (as was their AEW plane).

With the skies again clear, I sent-in an Orion with Harpoons and this managed to sink one of the Jiangdaos. Keelung followed-up with her remaining Harpoons and finished-off the other one, already damaged by the Maverick strike. The ships scored 50 VP each.

This put an end to the Chinese incursions and it ended in a Triumph with a score of +250.

Taiwan lost 6 fighters, two attack planes and five ground elements, while Chinese losses came to two corvettes, 20 fighters and attack planes and three UAVs.