Khark Island Raid 1985
Posted: Tue Dec 17, 2019 8:53 am
In this one, you command a force of 8 Iraqi fighters (6 MiG-23 Floggers and 2 Mirages) and 9 Su-22 Fitter attack planes, tasked with hitting the Iranian oil terminal at Khark (or Kharg) Island. This is defended by F-5 Tiger and F-4 Phantom fighters, an array of Hawk and SA-6 Gainful mobile SAMs, Rapier MANPADS, AA guns and a frigate mounting Sea Cat SAMs. Both sides have good long-range base radar. The locations of the Iranian defences change with every playthrough.
There are basically two phases to this battle - a fighter dogfight and an air strike. Launched my fighters in four pairs and sent them to a patrol zone N of the set of pre-determined reference points on the map. The thought occurred that the enemy might be canny and hold their fighters back until mine had run out of endurance, so there was a limit to how long I could keep the Fitters safe at base. As it happened, I needn't have worried.
The inland air base at Omidiyeh flanked my approach path and, sure enough, four Tigers approached from that direction. As they lacked long-range missiles, these were relatively easy to defeat and the only real problem was not wasting my precious Apex missiles with their 24nm range. Held back the Mirages and one pair of Floggers by telling them to fire only in (manual) self-defence.
I then had the recurring issue with aircraft going RTB having used-up their primary ammo, but still having viable ordnance remaining. I've been advised here to amend the Doctrine screen to prevent this but, in my experience, this doesn't work and didn't here. Different software versions, perhaps?. What sometimes works for me is to assign the errant aircraft to a new Mission. I did this with two pairs of Floggers here and it worked for one and not the other. Bizarre - maybe it's fixed in CMO?
Anyway, my six remaining active planes were then engaged by two pairs of Phantoms which came in from the E. Two were Model D, which carry Sparrows and Sidewinders, the others Model E, which also have guns. It went very well, though I'm not totally sure why. It helped that the enemy came-in piecemeal. The brunt of the attack fell on my Mirages, which are very manoeuvrable (Agility 4) and my pilots were veterans. In any close-range gun duel, the Iraqis have a clear advantage. Regardless, the Iranian Sparrows had poor chances to hit (typically around 10%), failed to get lucky and were all shot down without loss, helped by some good rolls on my side (on about 35-60% chances).
With the fighter threat removed, I launched my Fitters and flew them SW of Khark Island. There's no way to avoid Hawks and SA-6s, but I reasoned that coming in fast at about 12,000' via the shortest transit route would avoid the Sea Cats and AA guns, which have a low ceiling. My planes had chaff and defensive ECM and going in as a group would, hopefully, help to overload the defences. The briefing advises using AS-9 missiles on the SAMs...but you aren't actually given any!! An important detail is that the Fitters' iron bombs have to be released at over 1,000' and at a speed of 500 knots or more - such details are vital in this game.
No plan survives contact with the enemy!. Chaos ensued. As my planes came in, the Iranians pumped Hawks at them. This caused the Fitters to evade instead of pressing the attack. To do this, they swerved off-course (inevitably towards the frigate and its Sea Cats) and dropped to low altitude. This had the positive effect of cutting the Hawks' chances to 18% or so and, again, I was lucky and took no hits.
After much evasion and worrying about having to break-off for lack of fuel, the defenders ran out of Hawks and I was able to close. A Rapier system opened-up, along with ZSU-23 AA guns. Their odds were typically 1%, but one Rapier got a favourable shot and downed a Fitter on a 48% chance. The Fitters overflew the target...but did not release their bombs!!
I was at about 8,600' but, crucially, the aircraft had reverted to Cruise Speed, which is 480 knots (20 knots below that required). As I said, chaos!. Corrected this, did a big turn and, with the Iranians out of SAMs (I faced 30 in all), finally got to do some bombing. Even then, I needed two passes, as not all aircraft were on the right flight-path the first time. Bombing things is always literally 'hit and miss', but I managed to destroy three oil storage tanks.
All eight surviving Fitters made it safely back to base. With 100 points per unit destroyed, 8 planes and 3 oil tanks for one plane gave me a score of 1,000 and a Triumph.
There are basically two phases to this battle - a fighter dogfight and an air strike. Launched my fighters in four pairs and sent them to a patrol zone N of the set of pre-determined reference points on the map. The thought occurred that the enemy might be canny and hold their fighters back until mine had run out of endurance, so there was a limit to how long I could keep the Fitters safe at base. As it happened, I needn't have worried.
The inland air base at Omidiyeh flanked my approach path and, sure enough, four Tigers approached from that direction. As they lacked long-range missiles, these were relatively easy to defeat and the only real problem was not wasting my precious Apex missiles with their 24nm range. Held back the Mirages and one pair of Floggers by telling them to fire only in (manual) self-defence.
I then had the recurring issue with aircraft going RTB having used-up their primary ammo, but still having viable ordnance remaining. I've been advised here to amend the Doctrine screen to prevent this but, in my experience, this doesn't work and didn't here. Different software versions, perhaps?. What sometimes works for me is to assign the errant aircraft to a new Mission. I did this with two pairs of Floggers here and it worked for one and not the other. Bizarre - maybe it's fixed in CMO?
Anyway, my six remaining active planes were then engaged by two pairs of Phantoms which came in from the E. Two were Model D, which carry Sparrows and Sidewinders, the others Model E, which also have guns. It went very well, though I'm not totally sure why. It helped that the enemy came-in piecemeal. The brunt of the attack fell on my Mirages, which are very manoeuvrable (Agility 4) and my pilots were veterans. In any close-range gun duel, the Iraqis have a clear advantage. Regardless, the Iranian Sparrows had poor chances to hit (typically around 10%), failed to get lucky and were all shot down without loss, helped by some good rolls on my side (on about 35-60% chances).
With the fighter threat removed, I launched my Fitters and flew them SW of Khark Island. There's no way to avoid Hawks and SA-6s, but I reasoned that coming in fast at about 12,000' via the shortest transit route would avoid the Sea Cats and AA guns, which have a low ceiling. My planes had chaff and defensive ECM and going in as a group would, hopefully, help to overload the defences. The briefing advises using AS-9 missiles on the SAMs...but you aren't actually given any!! An important detail is that the Fitters' iron bombs have to be released at over 1,000' and at a speed of 500 knots or more - such details are vital in this game.
No plan survives contact with the enemy!. Chaos ensued. As my planes came in, the Iranians pumped Hawks at them. This caused the Fitters to evade instead of pressing the attack. To do this, they swerved off-course (inevitably towards the frigate and its Sea Cats) and dropped to low altitude. This had the positive effect of cutting the Hawks' chances to 18% or so and, again, I was lucky and took no hits.
After much evasion and worrying about having to break-off for lack of fuel, the defenders ran out of Hawks and I was able to close. A Rapier system opened-up, along with ZSU-23 AA guns. Their odds were typically 1%, but one Rapier got a favourable shot and downed a Fitter on a 48% chance. The Fitters overflew the target...but did not release their bombs!!
I was at about 8,600' but, crucially, the aircraft had reverted to Cruise Speed, which is 480 knots (20 knots below that required). As I said, chaos!. Corrected this, did a big turn and, with the Iranians out of SAMs (I faced 30 in all), finally got to do some bombing. Even then, I needed two passes, as not all aircraft were on the right flight-path the first time. Bombing things is always literally 'hit and miss', but I managed to destroy three oil storage tanks.
All eight surviving Fitters made it safely back to base. With 100 points per unit destroyed, 8 planes and 3 oil tanks for one plane gave me a score of 1,000 and a Triumph.