Operation Buffalo 6

[Geskes]

Operation coming up.

 

NATO Top Secret

 

Operation BUFFALO 6

 

SITREP

 

After repeated incursions of Georgian airspace and clandestine operations on Georgian soil by Russia, all in the name of assisting the break-away region of south-ossetia, NATO has prepared a series of operations to occupy north ossetia and capture the airfields of Mozdok, Nal'chik and Beslan to decimate most of Russia's strike capability on Georgia and put an end to the endless provocations.

 

NATO is dead serious this time and is sending in a division sized taskforce which as we speak is crossing the Roki tunnel and the mountains south of Vladikavkaz. 2 further divisions are on high alert positions just south of the Russia-Georgia border.

 

Operation Buffalo 6 will be the first operation of this deployment.

 

Planned operation kick-off is at February 20th 0700hrs local when the division will have taken its initial positions. 1 hour before operation start, air assets will neutralize most of Russias area air defences and EW radars. Assuming our plan did not leak, the Russians will not be able to rush and block our access routes, therefor they will be forced to give up most of the region west of Vladikavkaz and defend the roads leading to russian mainland at Barsuki and Elhotovo.

 

Operation Buffalo 6 Map

 

 

Primary Objectives

 

Primary objective for Operation Buffalo 6 will be to secure the airfield of Beslan, giving us nearby air capability. Attrition of Russian forces is an equal primary. In subsequent operations we will then proceed towards the roads at Barsuki and Elhotovo which are the follow-up objectives.

 

Plan of execution

 

Since Russia has a reinforced division in the region and can have at least 3 more in the area within 24hrs the element of surprise is critical.

The main positions of our forces are a mere diversion to fool the russians into thinking we are heading straight for the Elhotovo exit while in fact our first target will be Beslan, which will expose their flanks to a classic tank blitz.

 

Battlegroup Charlie, an armor heavy battlegroup, will move along our rear and take positions on our right flank. If no russian maneuvers are triggered by this move, they will move to contact on the russian armor companies around Beslan, their weakest link, supported by A-10c tankbusters and AH-64 rotary support. This will force the Russians to move some of their forces forward to reinforce because if we break their line, we can flank around Beslan airport and attack their rear. Once Battlegroup Charlie has consolidated, Battlegroup Bravo, now positioned as part of the division main force, will move forward, sneak in between the two russian lines and flank the positions around the Elhotovo roads. So either way, we get to win the flanking game.

 

The risk in our plan is the russian battalion positioned at Barsuki. They have an avenue to flank Battlegroup Charlie. Should this indeed occur then Charlie will transition into a mobile delaying defense and Battlegroup Bravo, now part of the main forces, will maneuver around to the east around Kurkat, flank the russian battalion and take the roads at Barsuki, cutting off one of their avenues for reinforcement. Since these roads are so critical we do not expect this to happen.

 

We expect the Russians to make a stand and then retreat towards the exit roads at Elhovo and Barsuki which they will try to hold at all cost. We do not expect much offensive maneuvering from the Russians since we will establish air superiority right away and moving towards us will expose them to our huge force of strikers and tankbusters in the georgian border area.

 

Operation Time-line

 

To be released 6 hours in advance because of OPSEC.

 

Maximum unit wear

 

After consolidation unit strength should be minimum 75%

 

Air Assets

 

Battlegroup Charlie will have a flight of 4 x A-10C and 2 x AH-64D as dedicated planned CAS. SEAD-flight might be tasked depending on the results of the initial anti-radar and DEAD strikes.

 

Division Command has availabiliy over both a full A-10C and A-64D squadron to be deployed where necessary.

 

Logistics

 

All Battlegroups have attached logistics train for supply, battle damage repair, and medical.

 

Comm

 

Battlegroups will have seperate combat nets on which air assets will also operate.

Frequencies to be released 6 hours before operation because of OPSEC.

 

Unit Briefings

 

Battlegroup briefings will occur after definite time-line has been established and released.

Operation Buffalo 6.zip

Edited March 1, 2011 by Geskes

[-NFlight-]

It's February 20th, 7:03am Local. I see no mission! ~big grin~

[jeffyd123]

battles over.... communist aggressors won because the mission planner has a life LOL.

[Geskes]

haha :D

 

I wanted to finish it this weekend but couldnt so probably somewhere this week.

[Geskes]

NATO Top Secret

 

Operation Buffalo 6

 

Battlegroup Charlie Battle plan

 

SITREP

 

As part of operation Buffalo 6, Battlegroup Charlie will be the main maneuvering element in an attempt to capture the airfield at Beslan. As expected, in anticipation of our action, the russians did move up one of their armor companies in an attempt to block our avenue of crossing the river north of Vladikavkaz. Hence our operation is now a two-stage assault driving straight trough 2 reinforced OPFOR armor companies.

 

Battlegroup Charlie Battle Plan

 

 

Primary Objectives

 

The capture of Beslan Airfield and attrition of OPFOR armor.

 

Plan of Execution

 

For the initial assault, the battlegroup will split into two elements each with its own staging area. At H-hour both elements will depart from the staging areas and proceed in column formation toward the departure line which is the road from Gizel to Vladikavkaz. Recon elements confirm no resistance is to be expected up to this point.

Once the main force arrives at the departure line they will deploy into Line abreast formation and wait untill the flanking element is in position approximately 3kms further north. 4 x M109 Paladin will deploy on the South-Western edge of the departure line.

 

Once both elements are in position, the advance will commence. The main force will fix the enemy with heavy fire including artillery and air support and once accomplished, the flanking element will enter the fray and finish off the enemy company. The battlegroup will then proceed by consolidating across the river. Once unit cohesion is reattained the final push towards Beslan Airport will commence.

If enemy flanking force tries to disturb the advance on Beslan airport, Charlie will morph into a delaying defense while additional air support will be tasked to attrit the flanking forces.

 

Operation Time-line

 

To be released 6 hours in advance because of OPSEC.

 

Maximum unit wear

 

After consolidation unit strength should be minimum 75%

 

Air Assets

 

A flight of 4 x A-10C is available as dedicated CAS from operation start onwards. One A-10C element will focus on eliminating any imminent threats, like the OPFOR APCs carrying long-range AT missiles while the other element will engage OPFOR HQ units behind OPFOR lines.

 

Once the river has been crossed and intermezzo consolidation is complete, 2 x AH-64D will soften up the armor company around Beslan Airfield. The 4 x A-10C will also be available for the second push and will have rearmed / refueled as required.

[Geskes]

Mission is ready.

 

Some notes:

 

* PDF flight briefing is included in package. Read it to have maximum value from mission.

 

* You need to build your flight plan from the IP onwards from the available waypoints in the CDU, all waypoint listed in flight briefing document.

 

* Lot of messages, if you lose track of what is said and mission doesnt progress, check your F10 menu. (also consdering voices in later version)

 

* Long mission. (+/- 3 hrs)

 

* Features lot of player interaction with AI

 

* Over 300 AI, over 200 targets.

 

* Currently MP only. If you want to fly SP, edit mission and make one of the clients player and add 3 wingmen. You probably will not win the battle but you can still have fun. Will add SP later but needs work because of balancing.

 

* Attached in OP

[Geskes]

Made a very quick and dirty video of the mission when we flew it with 25th Draggins last night.

 

Footage shot from track so it looks a bit wobbly.

Edited March 1, 2011 by Geskes

[dne48]

Great video and I've been following your group, just haven't had the time to get into mp yet...

[Geskes]

Did a slightly improved take 2 of the video :)

 

[Lonecrow66]

This was pretty fun so far. We haven't figured out how to run it properly yet.. they might have last night. I'd like to run it again with someone who knows how to trigger the text and all the troop movements.

 

354th was running it last night. Was pretty fun.

[Geskes]

I kind of rushed this out because I wanted to have a new mission to fly with the squad but didnt have very much time to build. So from what I have heard it is very unclear what the hell is going on with all the text and radio triggers. Big drawback I know for sure is that battle progress is not monitored and you get no fail messages but you can win the mission if you support armor sufficiently and your coalition captures Beslan airport.

 

Will list here the calls and their purpose:

 

- Warthog flight is GO!

 

This will set in motion the AI advance and will send in the Tornado SEAD flight. From here on you have no control for some time over when the AI will advance. A good timing is to do it at waypoint 2, which is also marked as REPORT GO for the lead aircraft (having assumed he would also be host). That way, when you arrive the high threat air defences will have been cleared.

 

Uzi flight cleared into the area. Weapons Free, engage at will.

 

This is for clearing in the pair of F-16s, Uzi1, that operational command was able to arrange for you last-minute and is announced in one of the texts.

 

Flank element, start your advance

 

As stated in briefing doc, you can decide when the element that is on the right flank starts their advance. If you try to synchronize this so they are in synch (ie, on 1 line) with the main element you will do max damage. This will become available once the main element starts advancing.

 

Charlie push to consolidation

 

This is to move the battlegroup Charlie towards the consolidation or next staging line across the river for the second assault. It becomes available once the first stage of the assault is announced complete.

 

Charlie push to objective

 

This is to start the second attack, which is on the primary objective of beslan airport. It is an extra delay because usually you will need to land somewhere and reload for second part. It becomes available once battlegroup charlie has arrived on the consolidation line / staging line for 2nd assault.

 

Uzi3, We NEED you, Scramble and engage at will, Line 2

 

This is for activating the preplanned Apache CAS callsign Uzi3. This will be available after the start of second assault.

 

For the artillery there are 4 preplanned firezones, Line 1 East and West, being east and west side of enemy first line of defense, Line 2 East and West, same but for 2nd line of defense.

 

For the other messages if there are any references to PRIOX then they are referring to one of the preplanned target points that are available in the CDU. It is advisable to divide all these preplanned targets among flight members before take-off / during the briefing.

 

I will work on making this more playable.

[Pteradon]

Thanks for sharing Geskes.

 

I like the way you've setup the mission with good intel. :thumbup:

[mtuckner]

Looking forward to a balanced single player version. Holding off on converting the current in the hopes for it's modification by the author. Any hope or just run it with a quick convert?