Wed Night Hop 04.12.23

[Bones]

Round 1:


Round 2:


v6,
boNes

[Bones]

Debrief for Ship Strike Team:

1st Sortie:
This was one of the first times in a long time where we were able to strike (or at least had the intent to strike) as a package. No one lone wolfed it, and although 2 was delayed in taking off and meeting up with the rest of the package, Voodoo adapted by have Voodoo 1 and 3 be the main strike force with Voodoo 2 being the 2nd wave. All elements of Voodoo kept up good SA and tabs on each other. While Voodoo 1 commenced the first strike, 3 was on his wing and was prepped for his own strike once he was in Maverick range. This also had the advantage of visually confirming that 1's Harpoons had hit. 3's Mavericks hit but the attack was carried out from astern the target, and it would have been more effective to attack the target broadside for a greater surface area to hit and for more efficient damage dealing. 1 had a single Harpoon hit as the other Harpoons were not targeted properly. Recommendation is for all Voodoo elements to refamiliarize with the Harpoon. 3 should also refamiliarize with the Maverick against shipping for a broadside attack, and also to clarify the "X" on "MAV" in the HUD. That usually means the Maverick is degraded in some way, but it fired and hit anyway.

After the strike was complete, Voodoo RTB's and was also poised to help another friendly element who was engaged air to air. The engagement turned out to be too far away and had resulted in a blue victory anyhow, so Voodoo returned to the boat as planned.

After this sortie was complete, all Voodoos formed up and returned to the ship together, although they were broken up in formation when entering into the CCA. The manner of entering was a bit unorthodox per NATOPS carrier ops, but lead called it and all other Voodoos complied as a section should, so by the doctrine, this was acceptable. More on carrier ops in a later post.

2nd sortie:
As in the first sortie, the package was set up as 2 waves with 1 and 3 attacking the ships and 2 forming the 2nd wave. 2 sighted a command post on the ingress and requested clearance from 1 to attack. This is very good doctrine and 1 gave the clearance. 1 and 3 maintained the primary mission and flew the attack in a tactical line abreast formation which was also good. 1 was able to launch Harpoons with better effect than the 1st sortie, and 3 was able to attack on a more broadside angle to the ships and fired 2 Mavericks. The escort ship was sunk by 1's Harpoons, and 3's Mavericks also hit the Moscow. Both 1 and 3 made follow up attacks with their respective weapons and got successful hits. 1's Harpoons finished off the Moscow, who slipped under the water, completing the mission.

After both sorties, all Voodoos recovered aboard the boat successfully, resulting in no losses.

Overall Voodoo had great SA and great comms. The choice of weaponry was sound, with the Harpoon being the best weapon specifically designed for this kind of strike. However, more training in its deployment may be needed. Recognizing the lack of qualification is the use of Harpoons for 3, it was decided to use Maverick Fs instead which was a sound choice since they are optimized for anti-ship use:

From an outside related post:

I've read that the infrared mavericks were designed more for anti-ship use, not for ground vehicles. My own experience with them suggests the same. It's unreliable and fussy trying to target ground vehicles, and you have to get pretty close (8-10nm or so) to get a lock in my experience, if you get one...

...This is from Wikipedia, and it specifically says the seeker is optimized for tracking ships:

Maverick F, designed specially for United States Navy, it uses a modified Maverick D infrared guidance system optimized for tracking ships fitted onto a Maverick-E body and warhead.

I didn't like the Maverick's until I switched to laser-guided MAV-Es, and now I think they are fantastic. I haven't tested the MAV-F against ships, since so far ships haven't been targets in any mission I've flown. But I bet you would find that the Fs work much better against ships than they do against ground vehicles.

Also, it was brought up during the hop, the difference between the USAF Mavericks and the USN Mavericks. Here is some more info on that:

... the difference is in the weight of the F variant, AGM-65B/D/H, 125 pounds (56.25 kilograms), AGM-65E/F/G/K, 300 pounds (135 kilograms)+ delayed-fuse penetrator. This made the difference of 2 to 3 Mav D can be put on an F15- F16-A10 Air force and only one by pylon of the F18C of the Navy . The point is for ships you want a larger warhead and more penetratrion. I don't think the IR sensors have much difference between both variant if only some few.

All in all a good hop. A little more communication is recommended--at times turns were commenced without all elements acknowledging, and at one of these times a mid-air collision could have occurred. Carrier ops should also be brushed up on, but on these sorties, the sequencing went very well and resulted in recoveries with no problems or losses. In retrospect, since the Moscow was not firing and was damaged, sortie 2 could have been flown with Voodoo 1 and 3 in a single F-14 Bombcat armed with GBU-24s and that certainly would have done the job as well. Whether Hornets or Tomcats though, the mission was a success.

Great job! It was really fun actually flying TOGETHER!

v6,
boNes

[Cr33p3r]

Had a great time too. Some brief vids:

Xpen water landing


Bones Grifter Trichome launch

[Cr33p3r]

My Mi24 rocket/gun run on ship


my landing you all missed since you were trying to trap:

[Bones]

Nice landing in the Hind!

v6,
boNes