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Thread: Operation Vanguard Anvil MISREP

  1. #1

    Operation Vanguard Anvil MISREP

    Not sure where else to put this - but this is my write-up of the flight with some personal debrief points.

    MSN ID: 510151201
    CS: JEDI11 (Amy) /JEDI12 (Ex)

    0730Z - ENG START
    0751Z - AIRBORNE OMAM
    0810-0814Z – TANKED FROM SHELL IN PUSUN-KUVIP TRACK. JD11/12 BOTH TOOK APRX 3000 LBS
    0820Z – JD11 FLT ONSTA OVERHEAD KSB
    0822Z – JD11 EXECUTES 2X SOF
    0826Z – JD11 FLT EXECUTES SOP
    0828Z – JD11 FLT EMPLOYS 2XMK82
    0829Z – JD11 HIT BY MANPANDS SAFIRE
    0830Z – JD11 EJECT
    0830Z – JD12 EMPLOYS 1XMK82
    0854Z – JD12 EXECUTES ATTACK – NO DROP
    0857Z – JD12 EMPLOYS 1XAGM-65
    0905Z – JD12 EXECUTES SOF
    0909Z – JD12 CHECKS OFFSTA
    0926-0930Z - TANKED FROM SHELL IN PUSUN-KUVIP TRACK. JD12 TOOK 9300 LBS
    0944Z – JD12 ONSTA OVERHEAD KSB
    0951Z – JD12 CHECKS OFFSTA
    1018Z – JD12 LANDS OMAM
    1030Z – ALL ENGINES SHUTDOWN

    JD11/ F/A-18C / APG-73 / ALR-67 / ALE-47 / 45X MJU-38/ 30X RR-129/ 2WX / 2S / 265X282 / 570XPGU-28 / CODE 3

    JD12/ F/A-18C / APG-73 / ALR-67 / ALE-47 / 45X MJU-38/ 30X RR-129/ 2WX / 2S / 265X282 / 570XPGU-28/ CODE 1

    GENTEXT/ JD11 FLT DEPARTED OMAM AS FRAGGED ON BAI MISSION IVO KASSAB AB ISO OP VANGUARD ANVIL. TRANSIT UNEVENTFUL. ONSTATION, JD11 FLT RECIVED NOTIFICATION THAT FRIENDLY FORCES WERE UNDERATTACK, BUT COULD NOT LOCATE TARGETS. JD11 FLT EXECUTED MULTIPLE SOF AND SOP TO ELICIT ENEMY RESPONSE. AFTER LOCATING ENEMY, JD11 FLT EMPLOYED 2XM82 (1XDUD, 1XMISS). JD11 WAS HIT BY 1X SA-18 POST ATTACK, JD11 LOST CONTROL MANEUVERING DUE TO ADDITIONAL SAFIRE/AC DAMAGE. JD11 EJECTED IVO 40R DP 2185 9574. JD12 EMPLOYED 1XMK82. JD12 EMPLOYED 1X AGM-65. JD12 EXECUTED SOF TO ELICIT ENEMY RESPONSE. JD12 JOINED JD21 FLT AS JD23. REMAINDER OF VUL AND RTB UNEVENTFUL.

    SOF 1:
    JEDI 11 EXECUTED 2X SOF TO ELICIT ENEMY RESPONSE. 1500 AGL, 600 KCAS, NO FLARES EXPENDED.

    SOP 1:
    JEDI 11 FLT EXECUTED A SOP TO ELICIT ENEMY RESPONSE. 3000 AGL, 550 KCAS, NO FLARES EXPENDED

    CAS TARGET 1:
    JEDI 12 EMPLOYED 1XMK82 AGINST VEHICLES. 4200 AGL, 587 KCAS, 31° DIVE. WEAPON DID NOT GO HIGH ORDER DUE TO INCORRECT FUSE SETTINGS. GCI NOT MET.

    CAS TARGET 2:
    JEDI 11 EMPLOYED 1XMK82 AGAINST VEHICLES. 2400 AGL, 523 KCAS, 17° DIVE. WEAPON IMPACTED OFF TARGET. GCI NOT MET.

    SAFIRE 1:
    HIT CONFIRMED MANPADS ON JEDI 11. 6800 AGL, 361 KCAS, 1.8 NM FROM POO. WEAPON LAUNCH NOT OBSERVED BY JEDI 12. JEDI 11 DID NOT MANEUVER.

    SAFIRE 2:
    CLOSE CONFIRMED MANPADS ON JEDI 11. 10200 AGL, 210 KCAS, 1.8 NM FROM POO. JEDI 11 DID NOT MANEUVER

    SAFIRE 3:
    HIT CONFIRMED MANPADS ON JEDI 11. 8700 AGL, 111 KCAS, 2.1 FROM POO. WEAPON LAUNCH NOT OBSERVED BY JEDI 12. JEDI 11 MANEUVERD TO AVOID THREAT, RESULTING IN LOSS OF CONTROL.

    EJECT 1:
    JEDI 11 EJECTED DUE TO LOSS OF CONTROL/SAFIRE. 7400 AGL, 107 KCAS, 40R DP 2185 9574. GOOD CHUTE OBSERVED.

    CAS TARGET 3:
    JEDI 12 EMPLOYED 1X MK82 AGAINST VEHICLES. 6700 AGL, 519 KCAS, 40° DIVE. 1X AAA VEHICLE DESTROYED. GCI MET.

    CAS TARGET 4:
    JEDI 12 ABORTED ATTACK AT 1.5 MILES, 5000 AGL DUE TO INVALID MAV TRACK. GCI NOT MET.

    CAS TARGET 5:
    JEDI 12 EMPLOYED 1XAGM-65F. 8600 AGL, 389 KCAS, 3.7 NM FROM TARGET, 20° DIVE. 2X TECHNICALS DESTROYED. GCI MET.

    SOF 2:
    JEDI 12 CONDUCTED SOF TO ELICIT ENEMY RESPONSE. 1300 AGL, 650 KCAS, 4X FLARES EXPENDED.

    Personal Debrief Points:
    Duded weapon – I got a bit excited once the tracers started flying – and ignored the nice “DUD” cue in the HUD. I need to take my time when employing to make sure it’s actually going to count.

    Amy getting hit – I got lazy on my cover role, and thought Amy was out of the MANPADS WEZ and stopped looking. Clearly he wasn’t out of the WEZ. I should have also immediately dropped out of the CAS wheel and moved to a closer support position. I potentially could have talked him out of the threat area, preventing the second hit that resulted in the aircraft loss.

    Brevity – I think overall my comm brevity was pretty poor. See above point about getting excited.

    Taxi routes – post-recovery I exited 13L on C instead of going to the end, which made entering the de-arm area more complex than it needed to be. I need to actually pay attention to the standard routes. I noticed several other pilots make the same mistake, so potentially we should synch the abort exit flow with the recovery exit flow.

    This was great fun, thanks Snoopy for putting it together for everyone!

  2. The Following 8 Users Say Thank You to ExNusquam For This Useful Post:

    Bushpilot (16Dec18), Connellie (16Dec18), Emmy (16Dec18), Hiccup (16Dec18), Oliver (16Dec18), Onyx (16Dec18), Snoopy (16Dec18), Trigger (16Dec18)

  3. #2
    Senior Member Onyx's Avatar
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    I want to add some points from my view in addition to this nice and detailed write-up. I enjoyed flying with Odin and also liked to fly out of Al Dhafra. The A10s were impressive during their taxi.

    Snoopy, thank you again for setting this up. This was a very fun and smooth first mission for me.
    We had some lag when the triggers fired but it was ok. I don't know if you already did this, but if you put down an object of the same type as the one you spawn later somewhere the lag might get reduced.

    In my opinion finding and identifying targets without any sensors is difficult in DCS. When you add threats it gets even more difficult/unsafe. I identified the pick-ups with the maverick and we never saw the vehicles that weren't on the airfield. If our ground forces weren't indestructible Odin would have had a bad day. As long as the 18 has no targeting pod it needs a third party (briefed/JTAC/AFAC...)to do this in a threat environment with friendlies and enemies mixed.

    I employed the Mk82s at 4800 ft 20° Dive and 500kn and lost about 500 ft during my Climbing SEM with 7.5G. Odin kept the left hand turns going which helped me not loosing SA and supporting him. Because I didn't have any training in ground attack I wasn't sure what to say on the radio and just called IN and OFF. Thanks to Trigger, he got me to add some directions too.
    The 65F was giving me more trouble and firing at 1.8 nm and 3.4 nm I was too close to the threats.

    Jedi 3 guessed that 11 was recalling his survival training when we arrived but we never got a message about it.

  4. The Following 2 Users Say Thank You to Onyx For This Useful Post:

    Snoopy (16Dec18), Trigger (16Dec18)

  5. #3
    510th vFS Pilot Trigger's Avatar
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    To add to the good points already raised by ExNusquam and Onyx:

    Command & Control
    Once Jedi 1-1 was shot down we lost our area commander. With tracer flying and vehicles already burning, as Jedi 2-1 I focused too much on trying to gain tally and engage the bad guys rather than assuming command of the area. (Note: we should have pre-briefed about what happens if Jedi 1-1 was unable to command). Consequently we ended up with Jedi 2, Jedi 3 and Jedi 1-2 orbiting at different altitudes and with different pictures of what was happening. Once Jedi 2 ceased engaging the ground targets and climbed to top of the stack, I decided to start directing Jedi 3 and 1-2, and I think from this point on we were more effective.
    So next time, in the Brief consider the what if's concerning area command. To me it felt better to be the area commander when sat at the top of the stack as you can concentrate energies more easily on building and maintaining SA.

    Comms
    As Onyx has alluded to, when coming IN from the stack to engage targets give an attack direction so that other pilots know where to look. =better mutual support

    Be Alert
    Also, I messed up my TACAN approach badly but fortunately through our standard comms calls to ADC, ExNusquam immediately identified an issue and advised me. As I'd messed up it was me who had to followed the missed approach. So stay alert until you are back on the chocks and don't be afraid to advise Lead if he has messed up. Thanks Ex!

    And finally, thanks Snoopy. Was a blast, had a lot of fun and learnt a lot.

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    ExNusquam (17Dec18), Snoopy (16Dec18)

  7. #4
    476 vFG Founder Snoopy's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by ExNusquam
    Taxi routes – post-recovery I exited 13L on C instead of going to the end, which made entering the de-arm area more complex than it needed to be. I need to actually pay attention to the standard routes. I noticed several other pilots make the same mistake, so potentially we should synch the abort exit flow with the recovery exit flow.
    Personnaly I'm not a fan of this, the abort taxiway that I briefed was to quickly clear the runway. If we ever get to where we have Human controllers I can see it happening on recovery but the key is remember what was briefed during the mission brief.

    Quote Originally Posted by Onyx
    I don't know if you already did this, but if you put down an object of the same type as the one you spawn later somewhere the lag might get reduced.
    Yes sir, every ground unit that spawns due to a trigger is placed on the map.

    Quote Originally Posted by Trigger
    don't be afraid to advise Lead if he has messed up.
    Yes, I think we often forget that it is #2s job to speak up if they see/feel/think anything is incorrect.

    What was discussed after the sortie by myself and other participants:

    1. Convoys slow to spawn after the trigger. Specifically that I noticed was Khsab AB (message went off but nothing else for a good 5 to 10 minutes) and Dibba Al Fujairah area.
    2. Blackhawks never took back off after they landed near the green zone to pick up casualties. I think it was because they weren't set to imortal and took damage. I'll review the mission and set to importal if not already set.
    3. Until the Hornets have a TGP available for ground attacks would be helpful if an A-10 was available in the area to hand out tasking(s).
    4. Brief the chain of command for an area incase the area commander is shot down or damages and has to leave the area.
    5. KC-130 Tanker issues, ................
    6. Radios, designate AOR specific channels
    7. Check radio presets for A-10s and F/A-18C aircraft. It was mentioned that A-10s were broadcasting on the wrong channel. Could be why I didn't hear Hornet aircraft switching from Dubai Control to Al Dhafra Control and Al Dhafra control to Al Dhafra Tower.
    8. Reminder to remain on Al Dhafra Tower until just prior to 5 miles DME fro mthe airfield and Al Dhafra Control between 5 and 20 miles DME. Some pilots were switching as soon as they called "airborne as fragged"
    9. Move the triggers closer to the action. The slow speed of the A-10s made it so a trigger activated but by the time they got to the area most if not all of the hostiles were destroyed.
    10. A comment was made of not knowing what are friendly and terrorist vehicles. I'll add those to the briefing for clarrification.
    11. Correct notice for Green zone coordinates.

    After reviewing Tacview:
    1. Noticed convoy at Khsab AB spawned one vehicle on top of a building and then couldn't move.
    2. Planned taxi and takeoff times need to account for the server starting as soon as the first person is in. Next time I'm going to add 15 minutes to the taxi and takeoff times to account for this.
    3. Try to figure out how to broadcast when a tanker is landing and the next is on station.

  8. #5
    Member Bushpilot's Avatar
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    ‘Wow, it’s hot here!’ was my first thought when I openend my cockpit of my old-but-thrustworthy A-10C. I put my piddle bag in my flight bag. ‘That was quite a flight, all the way from Aviano to the UAE’I thought.
    While opening the cockpit I heard the familiar whine of the engines which were spooling down. I ran my checklist, secured my charts and climbed out of my cockpit.
    Hank ‘Dusty’ Lawson, my crew chief met me down the ladder. ‘How was your flight, Sir?’, he asked.
    ‘Long, boring. Tanked twice on our way in. But great views. I love the watercolours.’I replied.
    ‘And Al Dhafra looks ok to me, from wat I saw from up there. I saw the Patriot batteries, gives me a better feeling, would hate to get my plane destroyed by incoming fire.’
    ‘Yeah, that will keep a lot of missiles at bay of them ragheads’ answered Dusty with his distinctive Southern drawl.
    ‘Take good care of her for me will ya?’ Dusty nodded, ‘I’ll do Sir!’

    The next day we got our warning orders for our first FAM flight in the AOR. A fixed mass briefing time was set.. Briefing would start 1900Z. 1855Z I walked into the Briefing Room. It was already filled to the brim. Old warriors, in their worn flight suits decoreated the wall. All kinds of Squadron Shields hang over the Bar. I took my seat somewhere in the back. I am still one the FNG’s, drawing attention by sitting in the front row might be frowned upon.

    1905Z the Mass Briefing started. Our Mission Commander, Snoopy did the roll call and started his presentation. 'Man, what a massive amount of PREP he must’ve put into this!’I said to myself. In my mind I saluted him for that.’ He definitely set a bar for missions to come!
    Briefing was to the point, I jotted down the different things to remember, some important stuff in there. Flight lead was Hiccup, great guy, experienced and patient, with a great intricatie knowledge and experience of the A10.

    The guys from 510 Sqdrn, were there too. Buzzards, they surly Buzz away in their shiny fast jets! Maybe, one day...
    We broke up in our different flights after the Mass briefing and met with VANGUARD 1 and 2. Emmy, from Arizona and Connellie from Sussex, UK. Connelie is, like me part of an NATO Exchange Program embedded into the 76th. Emmy would be Lead, he is competent and down to earth.
    After a short, competent briefing by Hiccup, we went back to the Briefing Room.

    From there it was one straight line to our aircraft. The whole AB was buzzing with activity. The last bombs were hung under the bellies of the Warthogs, some last minute changes to the Load Out. Our Lead decided to get rid of GBU-38’s in favour of GBU-12’s. I heard the grumble of one or two crewmembers, breaking a sweat due to the absence of Ammo loading karts.

    When I arrvied at my designated spot, 53, Dusty ran up to me. I didn’t like the look on his face. ‘Preacher’, he said, ‘Somehow the update to the CDU got messed up. We are reading a SYNTAX ERR. The guys are rebooting the CDU, and we’ll roll back to SUITE 9. The problem is, that takes 10 minutes.’
    “Cr@3P’ I thought. ‘Ok’, I replied to Dusty.’ Nothing you can do about it other than to proceed ASAP.’
    I ran up to Hiccup’s plane and informed him about my jet.
    After a few seconds he replied:’Ok, Preacher. I just recieved word from Connellie that his jet is having issues too. Why don’t you two fly as a two-ship, and hook-up at WP.3. There we’ll sort it out according to the situation.’

    ‘Yes Sir!’I saluted smartly and jogged back without breaking a sweat to Connellie’s Warthog and relayed all the info to him.
    I climbed into my jet, all systems were up and running, the APU’s started up with a whining sound.
    While I was entering my FP I saw Hiccup and Emmy taxiing by. In the distance a F/A-18C took off. Beautiful!

    Connellie called in for Radio Checks, all good. Back radio secured. I informed CEYLON 1 of our changes.
    And then, crap hit the fan. Early investigations show that a FOD got into Connellie’s right engine. As soon as he got out his revetment, his engine got on fire. Quickly he pressed his right FIRE Caution light and the fire was extinguished.

    After short deliberation with CEYLON 1, we decided to wait to see if there was a Reserve Warthog parked somewhere. CEYLON 1 took off, off to manage a 14 man flight.
    It soon became clear that there were no Reserve Warthogs available and I informed CEYLON 1 that I would go up alone and hook-up with VANGUARD 1.

    Taxiing over a new airfield is a challenge in itself. I contacted ADT and got permission to take off. Once airborne I looked down and saw the Patriots. switched to ADC at 5 DME and continued.
    20 Miles from the Green Zone I recieved the message that multiple unidentified vehicles were inbound to the Green Zone. Those vehicles already openend fire on the US troops which started an immediate EVAC.
    I made contact with VANGUARD 1, and was assigned #3.
    Hiccup and Emmy were already busy sorting enemy units and blowing trucks up.

    I got assigned a target but it took me to long to find it. After double checking with #1 it appeared that I fatfingered a 0 for a 6. Lesson learned and duly noted!www In a stress combat situation you have to make sure and double check!
    Emmy took over my assigned target and both Emmy and Hiccup dropped their payloads on them. Obliterating them.
    One brave enemy soldier ran away, apparently he heard the whistle of the downpour coming for him.
    Hiccup tasked me to take him out with my GAU, in order to minimize collateral damage.
    I rolled in, and got down. Somehow that same soldier got wind of the incoming rain and darted away and hid somewhere. I was already down around 6000, I called in BLIND and broke off pushing CHAFF and FLARES when all of a sudden bulletholes appeared in my left wing.

    A quick damage check revealed that the CICU was hit, both MFD’s were out. Engines both operable and HUD partly functional.
    Meanwhile the CASEVAC helicopters had landed at the Green Zone and were loading up the casualties and other personnel. However, they stayed on the ground belching smoke from their engines.

    CEYLON 1 gave permission to leave the area. Hiccup ordered a FINGER-4 RIGHT formation. Emmy perfomed a BDA of my plane. The landing gear looked intact and we continued our course back to AD.
    Just short after FIX EAST we established a two mile trail, flew the 20M RADIAL, and went straight in for 13L.

    Both #1 and #2 landed safely.
    Once I flared and both my wheels touched down with a whiff of smoke I let my front gear wheel settle down. As soon as it touched the asphalt I heard a screeching sound and the plane started braking hard.
    Apparently a stray round hit my front gear wheel during the engagement. I was able to veer off the runway. #1 called in an IFE. Fire trucks rushed in but no fire erupted. After climbing out my cockpit I stood next to my plane. A bit shaky. But he, any landing you can walk away from is a good landing!

    Thanks to Hiccup and Emmy for escorting me back. Thanks Hiccup for your leadership.
    A big thumbs up to the MC Snoopy and I am really looking forward to the next round!
    Last edited by Bushpilot; 17Dec18 at 21:10.

  9. The Following 11 Users Say Thank You to Bushpilot For This Useful Post:

    Connellie (17Dec18), Coolhand (18Dec18), Emmy (17Dec18), ExNusquam (18Dec18), Griffin (17Dec18), Hiccup (17Dec18), Odin (17Dec18), Onyx (17Dec18), Recon (18Dec18), Snoopy (17Dec18), Stuka (17Dec18)

  10. #6
    Senior Member Emmy's Avatar
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    Now THAT's A Write Up!

  11. The Following User Says Thank You to Emmy For This Useful Post:

    Bushpilot (17Dec18)

  12. #7

    PINKY


    | 76th vFS Pilot

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    Preacher, when you have the book published I want an autographed copy.

  13. The Following 2 Users Say Thank You to REB For This Useful Post:

    Bushpilot (17Dec18), Emmy (17Dec18)

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