Editing Mercenaries and planes (section)

===FSB: “Verdant Mace”===
====Briefing====
*BlackFlag External Document 
 #100368

*Mission Briefing
“Verdant Mace”
*Source
FSB (Russian Federal Security Service)
*Deployment
Mozdok (Russi)
*Pancake
Mozdok (Russia)
*Alternate
Khankala (Russia)
*AAR
Il-78 Midas on station at Gamma if required.
*AWACS
A-50 Mainstay orbiting over Epsilon.
*CSAR
Spetznaz Team Omni, detached from Vympel (Vega Group)

*Contract Employer
Russian Federation

*Objective
Support the 42nd Motor Rifle Division's advance.2.26")
*Secondary Objective
Eliminate any remaining mercenary aircraft attempting to flee to Turkey.
*Secondary Objective
Destroy Georgian militia staging area (+41° 43' 22.17", +44° 47' 22.66")

*Background
Our operation is going smoothly, last night our first peacekeeping units crossed the Georgian border under new orders from an emergency parliamentary session. There have been a few complaints in the UN but the US is keeping quiet about it for the most part, since our Maskirovka has worked quite well at swaying world opinion. That was some good work on the last outing by the way, our air assets mopped up most of the hired air defense units in the initial sweep. Intel has identified the group as Guardian Air Services, a small mercenary air arm that is covertly funded by the American CIA. We'd like to send them a message about interfering in Russian internal affairs, so if you find any stragglers, you are authorized to terminate them.
That being said, your prime objective is to support the advance into Georgia by flying close air support missions for the 42nd Motor Rifle Division. There was a mixup with operations, and the squadron that should have been deployed here was not notified until yesterday. They are in transit but for the time being we still have you under contract so you will take their place. Targets will be called in by forward observers, and will be marked by lasers if possible, smoke if not. We expect some strong ground resistance but with their lack of air support we should make quick work of them.

One final note, central has noticed that militia units in Tbilisi are staging here, at op point Able. A strike their would greatly hurt their ability to police the city and reduce their fortification against our advance. If you can spare the manpower, hitting the staging area would be of great financial benefit to your organization.

*HUMINT
None available.
*ELINT
The Georgian government has been broadcasting 24/7, calling pacification operations an 'invasion' and inciting the populace to violence.
*SATINT
Confirms mechanized air defense, but cannot pinpoint locations.
*Air Assets
Several SU-25s are currently operating from dispersed locations, keep an eye out as they present a serious threat to the Russian advance.
*Surface Assets
Unknown.

*Threat Assessment
Medium. The Georgians are fully aware of the pacification efforts by Russian forces, and are currently engaging in ground hostilities. The Russian Air Force has run several SEAD missions but we are still getting the occasional air defence unit popping up.

*ROE
Engagement of military targets authorized. Minimize civilian casualties.

====Recap====

Well, at the Russian base, we loaded up for our ground support mission. I took six Mavericks, two AMRAAMs, two sidewinders, and a centerline LAU pod. Judge took four AA-11s, , and a centerline fuel tank. Hugs took two AA-10ERs, four AA-11s, a centerline Novator K-100, two 80mm Rocket pods, and four RBK-500 cluster munitions. Scotch took two 80mm pods, two AA-8s, and four FAB-500s. We figured that between us we had enough close support firepower to deal with any threats that might pop up. All of our planes were AtoA refuelable, and while I couldn't use the AWACS other then radar vectors, everyone else had C3 links to them. We were not planning to do anything special, just the main mission, since we didn't want to lose a lot of money and material. We also decided to not take the optional “Baker Betrayal” that another merc corp was offering us. We just didn't think it was a smart move, and after taking off and entering the combat zone, we realized we'd made the right choice.

The sky was full of Russian aircraft, there were several formations of Russian Bears, Fencer strike teams, Backfires, all performing heavy raids. Cubs, Candids and Condors were flying along protected corridors, dropping paratroops and landing heavy equipment at Georgian Airfields. From the sky we could see several plumes of black and grey smoke, as fighting along the front lines erupted sporadically. Major cities and towns were also burning in places, victims to the Russian strike campaigns. We were vectored in by a Mainstay operating over the area, and told that we would soon be handed off to the 42nd Motor Rifle Command vehicle, for close air support. They had so far not met with much resistance, although most of the spearheads of the assault had not either. The odd militia unit, maybe a field gun, but nothing that could put up a serious fight. The skies were fairly clear, there was a scattered cloud layer near the ground, but nothing like the blanket we had on the Africa mission. It was going pretty smoothly until the Mainstay reported that it had intermittent hits on two fast movers near one of the Fencer groups.

Hugs and Judge turned to go investigate, while Scotch and myself approached the 42nd. Suddenly, the radio leapt from silence as a Fencer pilot started shouting in panicked Russian. None of us spoke the language, but when one of the Fencers disappeared off the board, we kind of figured it out. Hugs and Judge lit off their Radars, but were still too far out to get a significant lock, but they did pick up the enemy aircraft. The fencers were duelling with them, but getting swatted out of the sky. Within a couple of turns the entire Fencer force (six aircraft) were gone. The 42nd then called us, saying they were beginning to meet some resistance, they'd taken out a few T-55AMs but were starting to come in on some entrenched infantry. Scotch told me he'd do a first pass, and call out targets as I came in for a second sweep. Hugs and Judge were just entering outer engagement range when they got hit by western radar in track mode. The two aircraft that had engaged the Fencers were turning to engage them as they closed.

Scotch made his first low pass at high speed. I was coming in behind him, with my IR system looking for targets. Scotch reported that off to the side of the road there was some entrenched infantry positions, and as I came down for my run, I saw a flash and puff of smoke, as a missile raced towards the approaching Russian BMPs and BTRs. A half second later one of them erupted in flames and smoke as the ATGM blasted it. I aimed for where I had seen the flash and put ten or so rockets into the forest before pulling up. Heavy suppression fire from the Russians helped since both Scotch and I didn't get any manpad shots as we passed by. Hugs and Judge were descending on their bogeys and finally had an ID on the radars, APG-68s, but nothing else. Hugs dropped two Alamos at 60 miles, in SARH mode. One failed on launch, the other flew true, but only got a proximity hit. Both targets remained, but turned and began accelerating away, with Judge and Hugs in pursuit, still closing.

Suddenly, the A-50 called out that there were multiple targets approaching our column, as well as a flight of TU-95s operating North West of us. Scotch stayed low while I climbed a bit, flipping on my radar. As I made the turn my RIO called out that he had six fast movers and four slow moving air targets approaching our area, at very low level, many of them kept being lost in clutter. Because of their chase, Hugs and Judge were way out of position. And then, to add insult to injury, mobile air defense radar systems lit up, my RIO shouting out their names as the Russian Fencer SEAD teams started shouting on the command channel. SPYDERs BUKs and OSAs systems popped online, and within a half minute, tons of missiles were in the air, heading toward Russian transports, bombers, tactical aircraft and roving fighter patrols. Judge turned back towards us first, and Hugs followed, keeping an eye on the probable F-16s before disengaging.

Command confirmed that I had no friendlies in the area, so the moment I had a lock I let loose an AMRAAM at the lead aircraft, and the other one at the aircraft in trail. My RIO was now engaged in active jamming as much as possible, and swivelling looking for any missile trails, since the countryside was basically lit up with these very mobile SAM systems. My missiles both hit, since I saw an explosion on the horizon, and another smoke trail followed by an explosion on a hillside. My RIO called out that there was a formation of T-72s charging toward the 42nds position, and relayed it to Scotch as well. I finally got a positive id on the aircraft ahead, there were four SU-25s moving in, hugging the floor of the small valley, and just overtaking a flight of Mi-24s heading in the same direction. The SU-25s were punching out the occasional flare, and bundles of chaff as I approached, but I still got another hit with a sidewinder, but saw a chute before I roared over the Su-25s and began turning for a second pass. Scotch made a run on the T-72 formation, dropping heavy rockets into the column, hitting a few and causing them to slow. He pulled up, turning to help me with the air assets, when an airborne search radar flicked on, western origin, and suddenly my RIO was screaming about incoming missiles, I looked off to the three oclock and spotted a trail, heading up from the landscape it appeared, with no aspect change. (Steve told me this meant it was tracking me.)

Scotch turned on his radar and found but couldn't track to more targets burning hard towards us. No emissions were coming from them, but they were launching BVR. Scotch dropped his radar since it was useless. I turned hard and jinked, and the first missile flew by, followed by a second that detonated near me but did negligible damage. I continued my turn and got a sidewinder lock, pumping off my last two, when I saw four flashes of smoke from the enemy aircraft. I pushed down and my RIO nearly emptied our flare dispenser, but we still took a hit from one of the enemy missiles, reducing my manoeuvrability and causing a hydraulic fault (the backups kicked in). My RIO called out that Scotch had just sprung up from the countryside, and was firing his Aphids from a rear aspect at the remaining aircraft, the other apparently having been crippled and making a long slow turn over the valley, smoking and gliding down. Scotch's victim was not so lucky, the AA-8 detonated near the engine (F-16s we now knew) and the turbine chewed it's way out of the fuselage before the fuel stores went. The surprise attacks were pissing us off, but then Hugs launched the Novator, a nearly 8 metre long rocket that accelerated away, blasting into the stratosphere to cruise at Mach 4 towards the offending AWACS.

The AWACS was apparently too busy dealing with other stuff since they kept their big radar on. The TU-95s reported they were under attack by fighters, unknown type, and two of them were losing altitude, engines on fire as they dumped their payload and began to head back towards Russia. We couldn't help though, cause our sector was going to shit. The Fencers were starting to hit a lot of the SAM sites, so at least we didn't have to worry too much about that for the moment. However, the frogfoots were cresting the hill towards our column and the Hinds were following. Scotch turned to form up with me, we were both out of missiles but we could make a gun pass. We crossed low, with Scotch's Flogger's cannon blasting a wing to shreds and my own vulcan peppering a frogfoot before we started our high climb to turn back. My Rio called out that the three frogfoots were beginning their run, and the one I had hit had apparently ridden through the cannon fire. Rockets and cannon fire lanced out from the SU-25s to smash into the 42nd, followed by a smattering of larger explosions as they dropped their iron bombs. Our attack had at least ruined most of their run, scattering their munitions, and apparently my cannon run finally had an effect as the SU-25 I had shot augered into the field, unable to pull up.

As we began to make another turn a low-level radar popped on, then another, followed by a third. Tracer rounds blasted out of the forest as three ZSUs opened up on us. They missed me, but Scotch took a few rounds, and got a fault on his wing sweep indicator, locking his wings in the tactical mid range position. My backseater had already tagged up the anti-air tanks and I squeezed the trigger, the AGM-65s sliding off the rails heading towards the anti-air tanks. Five seconds later my F-18 roared over the burning anti-air tanks, with Scotch following up, releasing his FAB-500s into the forest edge, blasting huge fountains of earth into the sky with their impacts. As we climbed, our RWR went silent, as the AWACS went off the air. The remaining two frogfoots were coming around for another pass but then disappeared as the AA-12s from Judge wiped them out of the sky. As Hugs and Judge appeared on the horizon, ripping across the sky towards us, Hugs relayed to me that the A-50 had last seen the enemy AWACS trying to dive towards the ground, apparently the K-100 had finally appeared to them. Hugs descended on the enemy tank line, releasing his entire bomb payload, the heavy mixed cluster munitions playing havoc with the T-72s and supporting BTRs, not to mention infantry. Judge did a gun pass with his pods, spraying the treeline to suppress any infantry as the 42nd advanced across the field.

I turned, heading back towards the T-72s, and released the remainder of my Mavericks, before peppering the survivors with my Rocket pod, then dumping it. Hugs and Judge blasted through the Hinds, which managed to get an AA-8 shot off at them, before being blown out of the sky by a flurry of AA-11s. Judge's entire elctronics system failed as the missile peppered part of his wing and fuselage, and cracking his canopy. He slowed and began a turn, heading back towards our lines with me beside him, since we were both effectively combat ineffective. Hugs made another 80mm Rocket run on the Georgian positions, mopping up as Scotch provided cannon fire as suppression until his 23 clicked empty. The 42nd called and told us to cease fire, as they had now breached the defenders position and our airborne support was landing dangerously close. A Russian strike element of SU-27s arrived 5 minutes later, supported by two Flankers and we were cleared out of the area. The surprise strike had shaken the advance, but we'd kept it from being a total loss, although quite a few bombers and strike platforms were downed before the SEAD missions quieted the air defense. Surprisingly, since we were not heavy ops (bombers/transports) we actually weren't targeted by that surprise attack. We cruised back towards our base, nursing our damaged planes along. As we headed back we could see (with our eyes) more flights of transports and bombers, escorted by MiGs and Sukhois heading towards the lines.

We continued to the airfield, but had to hold as operations was pushing a strike into the air, which almost caused Judge to run out of fuel. He went in first, and landed safely. Hugs followed, landing without incident. I was going to land, but got a fault on my gear system, the nose wheel would not deploy due to a failure. I did a flyby and the tower said all my gear was down. In the meantime, Scotch turned and began his approach, his gear warning system shouting as he came in on a hot approach. He made his piloting roll, right on the numbers, and slammed the flogger down in a cloud of blue smoke, deployed his brakes and parachute, and then hammered on the brakes. It all seemed good until one of his brakes caught on fire, and his wheel detonated from the heat. His plane apparently dragged itself off the runway into the grass, brakes on fire, with pieces of shredding tire following. I wasn't looking forward to this. I lined up and landed, touching down gingerly, and I thought that my roll had been good enough. Apparently it didn't matter, my nose gear collapsed and the front of my plane smashed into the concrete, ripping off the nosecone and destroying the radar. My head also bounced off my console, so now my pilot has a concussion (-1 to all rolls on next mission if it is within a certain timeframe.) Scotch was sitting beside his plane at this point, as crash crews turned from his still smoldering brakes to the new wreck blocking the runway.

====Summary====
*-Air Kills-
**Hugs: F-16 (Combat Kill), Saab 2000 AEW&C, 2x SU-25, 2xMi-24
**Scotch: F-16, SU-25
**Judge: SU-25, 2x Mi-24
**Baron: F-16 (Combat Kill), 2x SU-25
*-Air Incidentals-
**None
*-Ground Kills-
**Hugs: 2xT-72, 5xBMP-2, 3xOtokar Cobra, 27xInfantry
**Scotch: 3xT72, 6xBMP-2, 42xInfantry
**Judge: 3xOtokar Cobra, 17xInfantry
**Baron: 4xT-72, 3xZSU-23, 2xBMP2, 31xInfantry
*-Ground Incidentals-
**None
*-Friendly Losses-
**Ground: 3x BMP-3, 1x T-80, 37xInfantry
**Air: 9xSU-24, 4xMiG-27, 3xTU-95, 1xTU-26, 3xIl-76, 5xAN-12, 1xSU-27, 3xMiG-29, 5xSU-25
*-Damage Taken-
**Scotch: Airframe (Moderate)
**Hugs: None
**Baron: Airframe Minor, Radar catastrophic
**Judge: Airframe Minor, Electronics Catastrophic