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Feature
The Tkvarcheli Train Robbery
A Lock On: Modern Air Combat Mission Report
by Cat
So, my
friends, it is another day and again you find us here at Sochi
after another sortie, for Muqtadeh is still out there and
his plans for the freedom-loving Georgian people are nefarious.
 Things
go badly for Muqtadeh, and we are pleased to be a small part
of this. The Islamists who control Turkey have taken her into
an unpopular war with us. The death of Muqtadeh’s lieutenant
at our hands has hurt his cause. Turkish airmen have been
slain, aircraft lost, and the deaths of the HAWK battery soldiers
in one of our missions to Sukhumi caused a vote of no-confidence
in the Turkish parliament that was only narrowly defeated.
Many in the Turkish military believe their efforts are wasted,
and they do not support the war. And our Western allies also
do not want to kill the Turks, who are supposed to be in the
NATO too. The mullahs who now govern them had hoped that Georgia’s
own Islamic population would rise, but by and large this has
not happened. Only in the south is Muqtadeh supported. In
Red Star, we read that perhaps the Turkish armed forces will
stage a coup! We must provide more failures for the Turkish
mullahs to ponder, and to encourage their enemies.
We have
returned to Sochi from Sevastopol with our new MiG-29 fighters.
These are the 9-12 variant, older, less capable than the 9-13
that Frontal Aviation flies now, thus they come to the arena
of battle because they are expendable. They are not our beloved
Su-27P swans, but they are hardy combat aircraft. They are
rough equivalent to your F-16 in the West. I am back with
the squadron now, and have not heard that I am to return to
the Americans just yet, though I was told they have asked
for me. This is an honor. But my brothers and sisters here
need my small skills for now.
Unlike
our missed Su-27, the MiG is a multirole aircraft. It carries
the R-60, R-73, and R-27R1 missiles for air combat. Though
I miss the R-27TE and RE high-energy missiles, these will
suffice at shorter range. Particularly the R-73, deadly inside
20km range. We have no jammers, and this is a problem. Should
enemy air defenses continue to be problematic, we may have
to upgrade to the 9-13 MiG, if the V-VS wishes us to stay
in the fight. We do have all needed bombs and rockets, though,
and this is good.
The evening
before this mission, Vasily and I took the evening meal with
the Commander and his staff. There, we were briefed on today’s
mission. He took a sip of Vodka, and handed to me a sheaf
of reconnaissance photos taken by a MiG-25RBT aircraft the
previous day.
“Sacha,
Vasily. Look at these. Here, you see the town of Tkvarcheli,
where the old weapons range used by the Americans to train
Georgian forces was located. Look closely at this train station.
This station is located east of the city center, on the inside
of a hill. It makes approach from the east, over the sea,
difficult.”
Vasily
thoughtfully chewed on the remains of his dinner.
“Are
we to ride a train, sir?”
The Commander
smiled, lighting a contraband Turkish cigarette.
“In
a manner of speaking. I intend for you and our Sacha here
to blow up the train!”
He waited
for a moment for this to sink in, and continued.
“Look
at this, my little eagles. See how the IRLF stores its supplies?
They are mobile, and kept on the train. The Turks resupply
the IRLF dogs by rail, well camouflaged. Here, a train is
on the siding at the station. Look well, this film was exposed
only this afternoon.”
The photo
sequence showed a cargo train, with armored vehicles on flatcars
and boxcars containing unknown munitions.
“Where
do they get their vehicles? They are made by us!”
The Commander
blew smoke rings, assuming a sour expression.
“The
Iranians. The American Navy is exacting a price upon them
for their impertinence even now. But where they come from
is not important. They are here, and we must show the IRLF
that we know it and we will not tolerate this new insult to
the sovereignty of our brotherly Georgian comrades.”
(Note:
See the SimHQ
F/A-18 Forum for boNes’s continuing account of the
Gulf campaign!)
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