FC2:A-10: Campaign Mission 3 AAR - Part I

Proper planning is key to any endeavour, whether military or having breakfast. Without proper planning you might find yourself short of milk, low on eggs or shot down flying over territory you could have sworn was solidly in friendly hands.

I am not trying to ignore the other complicated and stressful aspects of flying a combat aircraft into a war zone but planning is one of those necessary skills pulled out of the tool box both before flying the mission and in adapting to the fluid nature of dropping bombs on bad guys.

I am neither a real pilot or military person. My knowledge is limited to what I have gathered in pouring over books, AARs and pilot accounts of action and what I have witnessed and 'survived' in the virtual realm. My only qualification for that statement is to profess the unwavering respect that I have for real life combat pilots. The number of times I have tried to go 'head down' in Falcon 4's rendition of the F-16 Fighting Falcon cockpit, in a vain attempt to locate a ground target and hit it before I end up 50 kilometers past where I should be, has given me an intense respect for the intelligence and skill of those pilots who can work that magic.

Thus, I try to do as much planning as I can (remember to do) before the mission. Sometimes it works and sometimes it does not work.

Let me point you to two SimHQ articles written by Andy Bush that are extgremely helpful:

- Combat Mission Planning Considerations, Part One - Initial Planning

- Combat Mission Planning Considerations, Part Two - Ingress, Attack, and Egress

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Since Mission #2 the front lines have been pushed back. Enemy forces have been retreating up the valley and giving a good fight. In their rear areas self propelled artillery pieces have set up shop and have been providing on-call support to enemy infantry forces trying to hold the line. Well, we can't have that now can we :-)

Mission #3 tasks our two-ship of A-10A's with the removal of this critical piece of equipment. Now I have a history of not being able to find the bad guys as quick as I need without the involvement of various helpers. In the last two missions we had two aids: 1) a clear terrain feature at the objective - the airfield; 2) and help on the ground when some poor ground pounder popped smoke. This time I am not taking a change on a smoke marker and from the single recon photo we have, it looks like any other spot on the map.

Take a close look at waypoints #3 and #4. Waypoint #5 is clear as the immediate target location, so I am going to leave that one there in case I need it as a reference point en-route.

Note also the locations of the front line troops that we have recon info for. Keep in mind the FLOT (Forward Line of Troops - from Falcon 4 terms) and where bad guys might be and have local AAA defenses.

Now I am of the mind that I need two additional aids. First, there is no way that I am going to recognize that little square field with trees and buildings around it. That is just not going to happen. In my case I am pulling out a small pad of paper and a pencil and sketching it.

Yeah... Well, it makes sense to me! ;-) The box is the target area, TTT is where I expect to see the artillery pieces (I was thinking Tank at the time - as in Tank body). You can see the trees/building areas N and W of the target, the road running through the target box and the river and city to the S.

Second, I need a way to walk my eyes to that target box. There is no way that I am going to be able to pick that out from the cockpit while maneuvering around and avoiding getting my arse shot down.

Here I have moved waypoint #4 up to the river and will turn west and run south of the target box. Note the bridge that crosses the river before it turns to the west. I am going to leave waypoint #3 in place and use it as my 'fence' checkpoint - normally, in Falcon 4 that would be where I would start setting switches, weapon modes and tune in the cool TV stations on those MFDs in preparation of ground attack mode. In the A-10, well I am already there (and I am looking forward to DCS:A-10 which will add this complexity to the operations).

So the plan here, before climbing in to the cockpit is to say in the hills to the south of the valley where I can try dipping into a valley to avoid a significant AAA threat. I am also aware that there could be 'insurgents' in them there hills but that is a chance that I am going to have to take. It is either that or the open fields of the valley floor.

We are ready to go!

Turning north and toward waypoint #2 after taking off of runway 31 (E-W and not that obvious smaller runway below).

During the mission I saw an explosion off to the north while flying from waypoint #2 to #3. Checking this area out on the replay shows a two-ship of F-18's from the Bulldogs (bah, I can't remember the CVN (Harry Truman?) they are flying from - should have written that down!).

I wouldn't call this a 'flattering' shot of the F-18 but I am flying a Hog so I'll just keep my mouth shut :-)

Soon enough they start maneuvering heavily and I find out why...

Two pairs of SA-11's (I think) per F-18. Should be interesting (for me sitting a looong way away and not invested in this fight). I'll diverge may attention from my mission for a little and follow this fight. It is over just as I hit waypoint #3 so you will not miss anything and I am safe in the Officers Club sipping coffee and reviewing the footage :-)

Both F-18's break into the missiles, one going high and the other diving for the deck. Obviously they had started this manouver before I grabbed the screen shots of the SA-11's in flight, hence the way both pairs of SA-11's shown above have obviously branched after their intended targets.

Both F-18s shake their pursuers and the following shot shows a competent AI pilot forcing the SA-11 pair to keep pulling lead and lose all of their energy.

At this distance, the odds of survivability are increased but both of these F-18's have aborted their mission by (rightfully) dropping their ordinance.

A shot of both SA-11's in this pair detonating because they lost their lock. The other F-18 successfully evaded it's pair as well.

The odd thing here is that both F-18's continue on their previous course (I assume to complete their missions) but without their weapons! I reserve the right to withdraw that previous 'competent' label :-)

Here F-18 #1 gets tagged by an AAA gun. Note in the third panel the smaller SAM launch (SA-9 maybe?) and his/her flaming #1 engine.

As my A-10 flight approaches waypoint #3 we receive a target update from Pointer - no smoke this time.

Unfortunately F-18 #1 is unable to avoid the SAM and F-18 #2 gets engine #2 tagged by the AAA fire (top left) while #1 is apparently unable to eject and plows into a field (bottom left).

Fortunately, F-18 #2 gets the engine fire under control and has maneuvered to egress the area. Here is a shot of a bad angle SAM launch (same launcher that bagged #1)

Bottom to top you can see how the SAM never has the energy get to the flight level of #2 while it extends away. This was a low PK (Probability of Kill) shot by the SAM on the departing F-18 that kept it's energy up.

Part I