Flight Orders: Seawitch Mission


Date: 		Today						Location:	Yellow Sea
Time:		0730 Local  Carrier Enterprise		Status:		On Alert Duty
Weather: 	Overcast, calm seas, wind calm.		Hornet 1:	Located Near CAT 2	
	

It's your teams turn in the "barrel" as you sit morning alert on the deck of the carrier Enterprise 
in the Yellow Sea off the west coast of South Korea, and it's about to get real ugly, real fast!

The P3's have been out all night searching for an overdue South Korean freighter with a high 
priority cargo. According to the CAG, they have finally pin-pointer her, and the picture they're 
painting isn't pretty one. So tighten those shoulder straps and pull on those flight gloves cause 
it's gonna' get down and get  dirty before the fat lady sings.

Mission Background:

The South Korean freighter "Seawitch" is several hours overdue in Inchon harbor. A serious 
storm at sea yesterday was blamed for the delay. However it has now been determined that the 
"Seawitch" had experienced navigational problems caused by storm damage and had wondered 
off course, and now sits dangerously close to North Korean territorial waters. At daylight the 
freighter came under attack from several North Korean gunboats. The crew has somewhat 
disabled the ship which has now fallen under control of a North Korean assault team. The ship 
can only make a few knots headway.

Knowing that help would be sent soon, the North Koreans have sent Hind helicopters based out 
of Kaesong AB to land on the freighter's forward deck, load a portion of the "Seawitch's" cargo, 
electronic missile components, and ferry the components back to Kaesong AB. A CAP cover of 
Mig aircraft have since appeared overhead for the protection of the helicopters. The first group of 
Hinds are about to depart the deck of the ship. They must be stopped at all costs!

Action Plan:

You're Flight Lead and your team is tasked to intercept and destroy the Hind helicopters before 
they reach their destination of Kaesong AB, 100 miles at 080 degrees heading from the freighter. 
You are further tasked to destroy the gunboats which are now escorting the damaged ship. A lone 
F-16 out of Dongduchon AB will fly a preemptive diversionary  SEAD mission for your right 
flank protection. Your team are to takeoff from the Enterprise, command Hornet 2 and 3 to 
echelon formation  (they should takeoff a few seconds after you) and proceed to Waypoint (WP) 
1. Release Hornet 3 at WP1 and Hornet 2 at WP2 to perform their assignments. WP3 is a good 
intercept point for the Hinds. WP 4 is the last known reported position of the "Seawitch". WP5 
is Seoul airport. The Enterprise is located at WP0.

•  Area Intelligence: 
	
	It has been determined that  several new SAM launchers along the upper North Korean
	coastline are providing area coverage along the helicopter route..

	There is at least one enemy fighter flying CAP over the freighter. It is anticipated that one 
	or more SU-27s will be launched out of Kaesong AB once the strike force is picked up on 
	enemy radar.

	Enemy air defenses, AAA and SAM sites, are more concentrated as you approach the
            coast and are considered impenetrable as you near Kaesong AB.

	Friendly aircraft will be in the area on right flank support.


•  Flight Assignments:

   Hornet 1: overall mission responsibility for the destruction of all Hinds and all escort gunboats
   surrounding the freighter. Primary assignment: right flank SEAD and to engage and destroy
   any CAP cover drawn from over the freighter. You should load your aircraft accordingly.

   Hornet 2:  assigned to engage and destroy all  Hind helicopters - carrying an intercept loading.
   He will require SEAD protection as the helicopter route is within SAM cover most of the way.
   Note: Pay close attention to any radio calls from Hornet 2 indicating possible trouble.

   Hornet 3: assigned mid-level attack against Hind helicopters, right flank SEAD backup, and
   intercept of any fighters launched from Kaesong AB.

   Hornet 4: flying a delayed SEAD attack, is assigned to free / protect the freighter by attacking
    the gunboats. Any  CAP will most likely be drawn off the freighter by the attack on the Hinds.

   Viper 1 & 2: assigned right flank diversionary strike against SEAD targets and intercept of any
    fighter/interceptor aircraft launched out of Kaesong AB.

•  Mission Notes:

    Recover back to the Enterprise (WP 0) if fuel permits. If you are low on fuel, recover to Seoul
    (WP 5) for refuel and then return to the Enterprise. 

    There are no air refuel aircraft available at this time to support your mission.

Mission Criteria:

For the success of your mission you must keep the critical electronic missile components from 
falling into the hands of North Korean scientists by:

•  Destroying all Hind helicopters and.
•  Freeing the "Seawitch" by destroying the gunboats escorting her.
•  And, oh by the way, it would be nice if you made it back to the carrier too!



Speedbrake  4-24-98

dale.e.schmidtbleicher@lmco.com

DO NOT READ BEYOND THIS POINT
Unless.....




Each of the following Tweaks will tend to make the mission easier or harder! Use all of them and 
you may be flying a piece of cake or you may just want to take the courts marshal and refuse to 
fly the mission as it would be suicidal!



Tweaks for Making the Mission Easier


1.)  Reduce the appearance level of the SU-27 interceptors.

2.)  Eliminate the appearance of the second Mig-21.

2.)  Decrease the SU-27 weapon loading to less missiles.





Tweaks for Making the Mission Harder


1.)  Increase the weapon loading on the SU-27 interceptors.

2.)  Switch the SAM sites to the SA-2E extended range.

3.)  Increase the missile weapon loading on the Mig-21.

4.)  Remove Viper 1 or Viper 2 from the mission.



