AndrewJ
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Here's a bit of AAR, midway through the first morning...
THE SITUATION
After the initial flight of forces from the Gulf, and the closure of the Straits of Hormuz, I have been instructed to take control in the air, re-open the straits, and recommence the transit of supertankers in and out of the Gulf.
I have a small pack of tankers sheltered in the Gulf itself, and a much larger group of them holding south in the Indian ocean, which must be protected and escorted about their business. In order to do this, I have an assortment of aircraft along the length of the Gulf, with varying degrees of ammo shortage, some minesweepers sheltering in Oman, a single SSN, an ASW group and the Saratoga group in the Indian Ocean, and two sets of important logistical ships heading north to meet them.
Within 5 days I must have tanker traffic flowing through the Gulf again.
THE PLAN
My southern logistical ships are isolated, weakly defended, but very important, particularly the cargo ship with the ordnance for my air forces in the Gulf. While they’re unlikely to get attacked by air, subs are a very real threat. Each of the groups is assigned a dedicated patrol of either P-3s or S-3s to clear their path. The tankers loitering in the Indian Ocean also get an S-3 patrol, although I question its effectiveness given the large area they cover, and the little frigate steams around the area to show the flag. It won’t have much other use.
The Sara will steam slowly north while its Tico rushes to catch up, and the isolated Spruance moves over to join it from Pakistan. My aircraft have plenty of range, so there’s no need to hurry the carrier into the Gulf. After forming up the Sara will gradually head NW towards Oman, which should give me a bit more clearance from anything Soviet coming out of southern Iran or India. (Speaking of which, I intend to stay well clear of Indian and Pakistani shores whenever possible.)
The ASW group will consolidate a little, and head towards the Gulf hunting for subs en-route, and the SSN will work cautiously towards the straits. The minesweepers will hold for the moment. The two warships up in the Gulf are ordered to make very close barrier patrol with active sonar, hoping to protect the tankers there from anything sneaking in along the shore.
Airpower will begin with probing attacks at either end of the Gulf, intending to provoke fights there and knock down as much of the peripheral enemy air force as possible, as cheaply as possible. (My low missile stocks are definitely a concern.) The Straits of Hormuz are very heavily guarded, so I won’t tackle them immediately. Instead I will try and give myself freedom of maneuver, so when the time comes I can attack unmolested. I’ll probably begin engaging targets in/around the straits sometime on Day 2, and then begin clearing it on Day 3.
NIGHT 1
I’m the first to open hostilities, making probes against the weaker ends of the Iranian air force. Sparrow-carrying F-18s from the Sara head north with a jammer in attendance to tackle the Phantoms in the Chah Bahar area (as well as getting a Badger hunting for my ships). At the same time, I start probing out of Kuwait to engage aircraft from Omidiyeh, and the F-16s do a very nice job against the F-5s loitering there, closing in to use Sidewinders when possible. It’s also relatively easy to beat up on the Phantoms operating out of Bushehr, without expending large amounts of missiles. However, when the Mig-29s start popping up things get a lot more difficult, so I have to ease off to preserve my missile stocks. I don’t want to be out of ammo in the event of an attack.
Down south, I pick up the emissions of another powerful airborne surface search radar off the Indian coast, in the gap between the Sara and my logistics ships. My initial impulse is to shoot it down immediately, but then I consider that this could be an Indian airplane, so best to leave it alone. As I’m congratulating myself on showing diplomatic restraint more information comes in confirming that it really is a Soviet Badger, so it does get shot down after all (two F-18s and a KA-6 tanker), but it does raise the concern of where it came from. Are the Soviets operating out of an Indian base?
The Iranians make the next move, using their F-14s to press towards my coast of the Gulf, and by their courses it looks like they’re tracking my valuable support aircraft. If they still have a Phoenix or two then this could be a real problem for clumsy AWACS or ELINT planes. Their aggressive actions come when many of my better fighters are recycling, and my lesser planes don’t have the range to tackle them safely. Fortunately, the belt of Patriot missiles is well placed to deal with them as they press in, and the SAM gunners rack up a good score, particularly the crew in Bahrain. Hopefully the missiles I’ve used up here won’t be needed in the event of a Soviet missile attack.
After their F-14s are down, two of mine arrive, refuel, and then make an afterburner dash across the Gulf to knock down their Mainstay with a long range Phoenix shot. I would have willingly traded several fighters for that target, but the Iranians are temporarily down, so my planes get away with it unopposed.
As this goes on overhead an SSK surfaces in the Gulf, to the east of the assembled tankers there, and is immediately spotted on radar. He’s far enough offshore that he can’t see my ships, but his presence is alarming all the same. He’s swiftly sunk by a helicopter before he can make his escape.
My surface search radars have also picked up some isolated naval contacts sitting motionless very close along the eastern Iranian coast. Now that the Phantoms out of Chah Bahar seem to be down for the moment, a British helicopter with Sea Skua and good night vision goes sneaking in at wavetop level for a peek. The ship turns out to be a La Combattante, and the helicopter sinks it with a barrage of missiles before sneaking home again. With this information in hand, the others are sunk over the course of the night by a combination of Harpoons and LGBs.
My next move is a heavy strike against the airfields at Chah Bahar and Jask, in order to secure the open end of the Gulf of Oman. The majority of the attackers come from the Sara, but the Tornadoes and F-15Es also fly in to contribute. I’d feared pop-up SAMs, but it looks like previous fighting got rid of most of those, and the bombardment is unopposed. The runways are cratered, ammo bunkers are destroyed, and aircraft in open parking are eliminated. I don’t go after the hardened shelters, since it would take too many bombs, but with the runways cratered any survivors are trapped for the moment. I should have air control over this end of Iran now, and the closest active airfield is Bandar Abbas. This should greatly reduce the risks of air strikes on incoming tankers.
DAY 1
Shortly before dawn I start getting numerous airborne contacts deep in central Iran, roughly in the Isfahan area. There are a dozen of them, loitering in a tight orbit at very low speed. This can only mean one thing: tankers!
At first, I’m baffled about how I can even see that far, since none of my radars can reach there. Looking around I see the alarming sight of the Saudi E-3 almost half way across the Persian Gulf, en-route to my tankers over the Gulf of Oman! High command immediately directs the Saudis to turn back, rather than make a one-plane overflight of Bandar Abbas, and clarifies that they are not, repeat not, to seek further refuelling from us.
Regardless of how it was spotted, a tanker track is too valuable a target to ignore. It probably means an incoming bomber strike from distant airfields is in the making, so I need to move quickly. A decent force of my F-15s and F-16s launch out of Kuwait, intending to brush aside the two fighters on CAP near Omidiyeh and proceed on a direct path to the tankers. Mistake! The two planes on CAP die as expected, but swarms and swarms of Mig-29s come boiling up out of Omidiyeh, and the north end of the Gulf soon becomes a massive dogfight. I’m outnumbered, and I have to launch more and more planes from Kuwait to try and rescue the situation. The Fulcrums are difficult targets, and it usually takes multiple AMRAAMs to achieve a single hit, and soon I’m burnering in fighters from Bahrain to try and break through.
I eventually win the fight, but most of my planes are heading home Winchester, and the few that proceed don’t have full missile loadouts any more. The first pilot to reach the tanker area gapes in amazement at the large planes silhouetted against the bright horizon. They aren’t tankers. They’re Bears! Engaging as quickly as they can, my pilots manage to achieve gun and missile hits, but the Bears are extremely (some would say absurdly) tough, and many of them take multiple missile hits and keep flying. The majority are shot down, but some manage to make their escape
despite gaping holes in their fuselage, and they fly away deeper into north-east Iran.
Remember that bit about preserving precious missiles? Engaging as cheaply as possible? Not here! This engagement totally blew that plan away. There are only 17 AMRAAMs left in all of Kuwait, and most of those are on aircraft already. My F-16s are loaded Sidewinder heavy, and the F-15 pilots are trying to remember how to use Sparrows. Any further engagements with the Mig-29s will be on an even footing at best, or far worse in the case of the F-16s. Hopefully I won’t have to do any anti-missile duty, with one-target-at-a-time Sparrows. That supply ship is going to be really important.
Out at sea, the Spruance leading the Sara group has picked up a few submerged contacts using active sonar. They mostly turn out to be false targets, but this morning one of them turns out to be a Victor, lurking motionless below the layer, and very close to where the tankers will eventually have to go. It’s sunk by helicopter. Meanwhile in the Gulf of Oman, my creeping SSN picks up a passive contact, but unlike all the other false contacts and fish, it’s only momentary, which makes me very suspicious. Did something briefly run its engines? Was that a launch transient? After several minutes of indecision, hoping for the contact to re-emerge, my paranoia gets the best of me and I send a torpedo downrange below the layer popping it up when it gets closer to the contact. That gets a response! The SSK tries to flee, but does not escape.
My ships have all consolidated in their groups by now, and with them comes increasingly concerning information about war preparations in India and Pakistan. I’ve been monitoring the Indian May, flying up and down its coast, as well as fighters and ASW helicopter radars. The possibility of Russians coming at me from behind is alarming (where did that Badger come from?), and the latest intel makes me even more nervous. The replenishment group is ordered to angle further east, into the tanker swarm and away from India, and I’m considering sending a CAP way down south just in case.
The last thing I need is getting caught up in a regional hot war with a capable force like India.
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New Scenario for Testing - IOF #5 Hormuz Hoedown - 
. But they would be protecting their Su-24s from a cocky American Eagle driver! 
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