We continue the discussion of strike tactics begun in issue # 13.
Rule 3: Get Smart!
The name of the game is standoff weapons. You should be loaded to the gills with the smartest stuff you can talk your supply chief out of. You should never go into a defended target without Mavericks, rockets, and some laser-guided cluster bombs if available. If you fly an early technology strike, you'll understand how we pulled off Desert Storm. Our success rate and loss rate in Vietnam (about 30% efficiency with about 5 losses per 1000 sorties) was much worse, and the pilot quality hasn't changed that much.
I'm a personal fan of rockets against AAA. You can't use Maverick against them because you can only get ID at a time. If you think you want to stay around the target area long enough to get three shots off at every AAA site, you are not paying attention.
Rockets allow you to hose down those pesky little ZSU-23s from a slant range where they need a 1 to hit. Some of my playtesters preferred to lob LG cluster bombs at AAA and get someone to buddy-lase for them (or do it themselves), but I'm not as comfortable about popping up like that when there still may be SAMs around.
In any case, use whatever you can to get off long shots. TV/IR pods are great because they have magnifiers that let you see things at three times normal range. Self-guiding weapons let you release and run (that's fire and forget for strike pilots). Anytime you have to expose a plane to short range AAA, you screwed up somewhere.
Rule 4: Use Cross Cover
This is a rule of thumb that developed gradually over many playtest sessions in LaGrange. We discovered that it was the strike equivalent of the mutual support doctrine for air combat. It becomes essential when you're tackling a sophisticated threat by using airborne jammers to disable enemy radars.
Basically, the idea is to split an incoming flight into two sections which approach the target along two different routes. The two approaches should cross the target area at least 90 degrees apart, hopefully even more.
When the elements are properly staggered in time, jammers from the second element will be covering the first as it makes its runs over the target. The second element should be far enough away from the target area to keep everything in their jamming arcs. As the first element comes off the target, they cover the second through the rear arcs of their jammers. It's a bit tricky to Lime properly, but only takes a little practice.
Another advantage to this kind of cover is that the second element is in a position to spot and fire upon enemy fighters that try to bounce the first element. Unfortunately because of the timing situation, they do not fare so well as they roll into the target. But, if the fighters wait until the second element is beginning their run in, the first element has already pounded the target. In worst case, element 2 can cut and run.
Rule 5: Watch Your Timing
There is nothing more embarrassing than to have the strike package over the target area getting hosed by defenses that the suppression aircraft haven't had time to kill yet. It is important to give your defense suppression (DS) aircraft sufficient lead time to degrade the enemy threats before the strike package arrives. I favor an interval of about 12 miles, corresponding to 36 hexes in game terms. This gives the DS element about six turns of work before the main body shows up--sufficient time to get HARMs and Mavericks on the SAM sites, and to start softening up the bad AAA.
We typically bring in the DS at the lowest altitude that gives us line-of-sight. They will wait for the radars to light up, dispense HARMs, use the pods to sight SAMs, and fire Mavericks. At this point, we turn away from the target and dive below terrain to shake the radar-guided SAMs. The DS element stays under terrain cover until the first wave of Mavericks have hit, then pop up and get the next wave off.
This technique places the DS planes in very little danger and gives a high probability that all the radar-directed SAMs will be destroyed before the strike group appears. The strike group can then stay at altitude, avoiding the AAA, and get good runs into the target.
Rule 6: Mix the Loads
A "single-mission" mentality is bad for the strike. Every aircraft should carry a versatile load so that losses or aborts (or even bad luck) don'tjeopardize the mission. You'd be surprised what an aircraft with a few mixed cluster bombs, a triple rack of Mavericks, and some laser-guided iron bombs can do.
Our first campaign used F-15E Strike Eagles. This is a superior aircraft. We would sortie half the number of aircraft suggested by the scenario because they were so capable. You can carry over 100 load points, and a flight of four F-15Es can pretty much obliterate the board in any published Air Strike scenario. I was happy to see that our understanding of this plane's capabilities was borne out during Desert Storm, and even happier that Air Strike proved so accurate. Its the Sgt. Rock of strike aircraft. If you can't kill the target with these things, you need some training time.
It's easy to carry every imaginable weapon on a platform like the F-15E, but how do you handle it with lighter planes? Our most recent (and most successful) campaign used the F/A-18 Hornet. The Hornet only has 7 load stations, and two arc reserved for a pair of Sidewinder missiles. Given the fact that F/A-18s need to carry gas to get anywhere, how can you follow this rule?
One technique is to carry multi-purpose weapons. Laser-guided mixed cluster bombs are a good example. If they aren't designated, they work just fine against AAA and SAMs. When they are designated, they can do serious damage to a wide variety of main targets. Another good example is rocket pods. They are excellent for defense suppression against guns, and they can work well against virtually any soft primary target. At let us not forget the ever- popular Maverick. It does its job well, and SAM sites and aircraft shelters alike should fear the AGM-65.
I hope these suggestions have helped. If you've never played much Air Strike, either because you think it too difficult or because you get killed a lot, try these techniques out on your own. It's a fine game and worth the effort, I assure you.
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© Copyright 1991 by J.D. Webster
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