Operation Bruss Drum

[gilmaor]

Well This is good and difficult Scenario.

In the biggining, I set up ASW patrol to protcet all the the three SAG's since I was looking for a diesel electric sub I allow for active sonars.

Also set up two ECM support missions, one south to Bander Abass and one south to Jasek.
and offcourse AAW patrol's east and west of JASEK AEW patrol also south of Jasek.

The battle plan was as follows:

1.TLAM attacks to eliminate the enemy runway, excluding Char Bahar which the Zummwalt was within about 30-60 min sailing time at full speed.

2.Establish air superiority.
3.Destroy all ground/naval targets which my intefere with my forces.

SO...

I launched the TLAM, routed the tactoms to Bandar abas, Banda legeh to fly far to the south in a clock wise flank so the TLAM's will arrive from the west attacking due east.

This part was mostly successfull, destroying all runwasy but one which was only damaged.

Zummwal attack on the runway was also very successfull. I still had a problem with some fighter until all of runway's were destoryed, suffering only minor loses to my hornets.

I also allowed the Zummwalt group to engage air tragets until my hornet wew airborne (not all were ready at game start).

I also used the lightning with heavy cap loadout with huge success!

After a while a boghammer was identified to close the the zummwalt group, sent a seahawk's to take care of it but they were shot down by enemy planes and sam's from the boghamer.
so as the boghammer got closer it was destoryed in gun fire.

when an another boghammer was deteced I used zummwalt sam's to sink it.

But I also made some mistakes:

1. Canceling RTB WHEN WINCHESTER, in order for the hornets to get within Sidewinder range and continue killing, so I actually got in the range of the enemy long rage AAM's.

2. Set up SEAD attack on the tip area west of JASEK, did not look at the loadout ranges of the horents which had BINGO fuel before shooting any target - should have set a tanker to go with them.


3.lost MANY hornets to SAM's from bandar abass area. should have used No navigate zone
**** Here I think I found a bug: after setting a no fly zone - the game got "Stuck" and barely moved.

4. After lossing hornets I had no ready hornets with ASM or bomb's to sink the russian Kashin which shot at my planes- not a problem and Jammed my radar's - a bigger problem.

Again, I must raise the crazy ready times for AC in command, it does not take 6 hrs to fuel and arm a plane, in peace time maybe, at combat the weapons are ready to be mounted.



SIDE: United States
===========================================================

LOSSES:
-------------------------------
3x EA-18G Growler
5x F/A-18F Super Hornet
8x F/A-18C Hornet
3x F/A-18C Hornet
1x F-35B Lightning II
2x MQ-8B Fire Scout UAV
2x MH-60R Seahawk
2x F/A-18E Super Hornet


EXPENDITURES:
------------------
115x RGM-109E Tomahawk Blk IV TACTOM
15x AN/SSQ-53F DIFAR
32x RIM-174A ERAM SM-6MR Blk I
10x Generic Flare Salvo [3x Cartridges, Dual Spectral]
118x Generic Chaff Salvo [5x Cartridges]
17x RIM-66M-2 SM-2MR Blk IIIA
138x AIM-120D AMRAAM P3I.4
119x 155mm/52 AGS LRLAP
2x AIM-9X Sidewinder
4x AN/ALE-55 FOTD
6x GBU-16B/B Paveway II LGB [Mk83]
8x AGM-84K SLAMER-ATA
10x 7.62mm GAU-16 MG Burst [20 rnds]
90x 57mm/70 Mk295 Mod 0 3P CIGS Burst [4 rnds]
32x GBU-31(V)2/B JDAM [Mk84]
2x RIM-162A ESSM



SIDE: Iran Air Force
===========================================================

LOSSES:
-------------------------------
16x MiG-29M2 Fulcrum C
11x MiG-29 Fulcrum A
23x J-7IIH Fishbed
1x Runway (3200m)
2x Runway (4000m)
2x Runway (2600m)
2x P-3F Orion
3x A/C Hardened Aircraft Shelter (1x Large Aircraft)
1x Ammo Shelter
7x F-14A Tomcat [F-14AM]
2x J-10A Vigorous Dragon
1x Il-38N May
4x A/C Tarmac Space (2x Large Aircraft)
1x Ammo Pad
1x AvGas (40k Liter Tank)
1x Runway Access Point (Very Large Aircraft)


EXPENDITURES:
------------------
11x AA-11 Archer [R-73]
121x AA-12 Adder A [R-77, RVV-AE]
103x Generic Chaff Salvo [5x Cartridges]
1x Generic Flare Salvo [3x Cartridges, Single Spectral]
8x PL-12
9x AIM-54A Phoenix [Fakour-90]
12x Generic Chaff Salvo [4x Cartridges]
2x AIM-7E4 Sparrow III
4x PL-8 [Python 3]



SIDE: Iran Air Defense
===========================================================

LOSSES:
-------------------------------
2x Radar (Tin Shield A [5N59])
1x SA-6a Gainful [2P25] TEL
3x RB 70 Rayrider Mk1 MANPADS
2x SA-11 Gadfly [9A38] TELAR
1x SA-11 Gadfly [9A39] LLV
2x 35mm Twin Oerlikon [UAR-1021 Skyguard FCR]
1x Vehicle (UAR-1021 Skyguard)


EXPENDITURES:
------------------
30x SA-20a Gargoyle [48N6]
24x SA-6a Gainful [9M336]
28x SA-11 Gadfly [9M38M1]
57x SA-10a Grumble [5V55KD]
16x SA-15b Gauntlet [9M331]
7x HQ-2b Guideline



SIDE: Iran Navy
===========================================================

LOSSES:
-------------------------------
2x Toragh [Boghammar Mod]


EXPENDITURES:
------------------
7x SA-16 Gimlet [9M313]

[Primarchx]

Glad you enjoyed it! Definitely a tough nut to crack.

[Dimitris]

ORIGINAL: gilmaor79@gmail.com
Again, I must raise the crazy ready times for AC in command, it does not take 6 hrs to fuel and arm a plane, in peace time maybe, at combat the weapons are ready to be moved.

And again I must point to the FAQ: http://www.warfaresims.com/?page_id=2920#700

[gilmaor]

In did I did

[gilmaor]

I have read this long time before, I still find this part in command not realistic.

[Dimitris]

We are sorry that you prefer your aircraft to be able to fly 12 sorties per day non-stop.

[gilmaor]

Well 12, is a bit exaturated... being in infantry man, I have spoken to a ground crew member in the Israeli air force...

[ComDev]

Thank you very much for your input Gilmaor, but I'm afraid we'll need a lot more detail than "I spoke to a crew member". We've researched this topic to death for the last 20 years. The figures in Command haven't been taken out of thin air, and have been validated by men flying the real deal. Some for more than 25 years. So if you want to re-discuss this issue (for the n-th time) I'd very much appreciate if you could post up hard figures (with links to sources) so that we can compare that with the information we already have.

Guess we'll also have to write an updated 'Aircraft Ready Times' article that explains things in even greater detail. I guess the main problem is that, in Command, the planes appear to just be 'sitting idle' while the clock ticks down from 6 hours or whatever. That 6 hr figure, however, covers the gazillion different reasons why sortie rates are as low as they are in real life.

Flying a combat mission is like running a marathon. Pilots and aircraft need to rest. They can do about one per day sustained, 2 per day during surge ops lasting up to 5 days (which is an impressive achievement - try running 85km per day for 5 days straight!), in very rare cases 3, and almost never as many as 5. The latter has only happened in extreme cases during a handful wars, and only by a few pilots. Which is not often with 10 000+ sorties flown.

So the 5 sorties in a row thingie, although it has happened in real life, is not something we'll use as base for an air ops model. There is no way a carrier will be able to produce Alpha Strikes at the same rate that a handful Israeli aircraft carried out simple CAS missions.

When that is said, we're planning a 'quick turnaround' option for certain aircraft/loadout combos to cover the (rather rare) real-life cases where planes fly a (limited) number of combat sorties in quick succession.. Like Israeli attack a/c hot-fueling & re-arming during various wars, A-10s and Marine AV-8Bs doing several CAS sorties in quick succession during 1991 GW, Swedish Viggens doing 15-min AAM re-arming, etc.

So the Israeli aircraft could do, say, 2-4 strike sorties with 30 min turnaround time (need to check the sources on the exact number) but would then have to step down for a prolonged period of time for aircraft maintenance and crew rest (say 24-48hrs vice 6hrs).

The quick turnaround option will be scenario configurable (by the scenario authors) and to a certain extent also by the player. In many scenarios it would not make sense to have this ability. Brass Drum should probably not have quick turnaround.

[ComDev]

To sum up, the quick turnaround solution will probably work something like this:

The JAS 39 Gripen will have a 6 hr normal turnaround. But the scenario author can activate 'quick turnaround' in his scenario if it makes sense to do so. Some (but far from all!) loadouts in the platforms database will be 'quick turnaround' capable, typically simpler A/G loadouts on tactical jets. Bomber loadouts, cruise missile loadouts, etc will rarely be in this category.

Then, if the player decides to use 'quick turnaround', the plane can fly 2-4 sorties with 25 minute turnaround. The number of sorties is playable selectable. But once the plane stands down it will be out of action for a prolonged period of time, probably 36-48 hours. The exact number of missions, the turnaround time and the penalties will be set for each loadout in the database. So no in-code 'one rule' implementation.

This should solve the problem I think?

[gilmaor]

OK, I admit that my input was somewhat superficial (to say the least).

I guess in a few weeks time we will have more info from the Israeli air force sorties on hamas targets.
That will be a good referance point.

I just want to add that in no way I do not appriciate you research and Command is a very good game that I really enjoy playinh (even last week, I was playing to command and realy had to run for shelter since my city was targeted by hamas rockets..) that will help you feel realistic.

[ComDev]

[8D]

Looking forward to study those sortie rated in greater detail. Thanks!

[Sardaukar]

If they tell you, they have to kill you [8D][:D]

[ExNusquam]

For assumptions sake, assume (These seem to be average numbers) the IAF has the following number of aircraft available for precision strikes:
45 AH-64
25 F-15I
100 F-16I
130 F-16C/D

Total: 300 Aircraft
The bombing has been going on for 22 days. A total of ~3500 targets have been hit. This means that, on average, 154 targets have been hit per day.

The average targets per day per aircraft is 0.5. I know targets per day is not equal to sorties per day, but this does show that tactical jets do not fly as often as people think they do.

[Sardaukar]

F-15 A/B/C/D have also been upgraded to Baz-2000 "Baz Mishopar" level, which gives them precision strike capabilities.

[ExNusquam]

Yeah, and additional research shows that the F-16 A/Bs have been brought up to the avionics equivalent of C/Ds, so they can drop PGMs as well.

That means that the IAF has 450 Tactical Rotor/Aircraft capable of dropping PGMs. This drops the targets per day per aircraft number down to .35.

[NickD]

Bear in mind that a significant proportion (about a third?) of those aircraft will be out of service undergoing maintenance at any given time, and lots of the others will be being held in reserve for other contingencies or to continue training for operations against forces capable of opposing them.

[ExNusquam]

Yes, but even if 2/3's of the force is committed elsewhere, that means that the remaining aircraft are only hitting about a target per day. The point was simply to validate the fact that emsoy's data does in fact apply to the IAF, and their aircraft are not managing some incredible sortie rate.

[ComDev]

Is that 3500 targets, 3500 aimpoints, or 3500 weapons dropped? Huge difference [8D]