Welcoming Statement
Welcome, eagles from around the world, to the 2016 iteration of "Desert Hawks"! Opened for the first time to outsider air and aviation forces, this exercise will test every single aspect of the pilot and machine he/she flies to its limit. The opponents are tough and experienced, and will fight their hardest to make you bleed; there is no script here, just death simulated up high, so neither the allied nor the opposing force is guaranteed to win or lose. To the victors goes the acknowledgement of their skill and a trophy celebrating their win, and for the losers, the knowledge that they still have much training to complete.
Now, all that remains is one question - are you ready?
Overview
Background and History
Held at airbase T11, near Tiyas, Riysa, "Desert Hawks" is a biannual exercise held by the Riysian Air Force. The purpose of the exercise is to train Riysian Air Force pilots and commanders in tactical and operational skills, involving combined air-air, air-surface, and surface-air tasks common to a high-intensity conflict. The exercise is typically held at the end of the summer (Desert Hawks-1) and the winter (Desert Hawks-2) training cycles for the Riysian Air Force, serving as a sort of final exam for graduating pilot-officers.
The exercise was created by Major-General Qusay Bek Khaddam, a former fighter pilot who had studied air combat in the various wars of the 70s and 80s. Dissatisfied with how little relevance most training regimes had to actual combat, and the resulting poor performance of pilots, General Khaddam sought to create a grand training exercise that would give fresh pilots a taste of what actual warfare would be like. Recruiting elements from all across the Air Force, Khaddam combined both active ground and air assets with a "do as you please" mentality, creating an open brawl more like actual warfare than the rigid, scripted exercises previously used. With the first exercise kicking off successfully in the summer of 1988, Desert Hawks has been an integral part of the training curriculum ever since. However, one major complaint in the past has been the lack of dissimilar aircraft, as both sides are played by the Riysian Air Force; something changing in this iteration.
Designed to be as realistic as possible, Desert Hawks is a comprehensive simulation of the first week of a high-intensity conflict, believed to be the most important time in deciding the outcome of an air war. Featuring aircraft squadrons with surface-to-air missile batteries, combining all means of air and air defense operations, the exercise pits a notional enemy - the opposing force - against a near-equivalently sized allied force. The opposing force has a central theme to its structure each time, with recent exercises simulating a "generic" peer enemy with access to the global market and COTUS technologies, with a resulting force using a significantly high mix of modern to old equipment. The units playing OPFOR are generally among the more experienced, with several years of flying under each pilot's belt. Comparatively, the allied force has traditionally been new pilots, flying the latest Riysian aircraft, simulating the typical vanguard of the Riysian Air Force.
The exercise stands unique among its peers in its relative lack of scripting. While there is a notional scenario and overarching story, the allied force is not guaranteed to win, and the opposing force is not guaranteed to lose. Indeed, OPFOR is encouraged to try to win, and with the right pilots and commanding officers, poses a viable threat. With both allied and opposing forces offered rewards for success, there is no mercy to be found here, with some veterans of SACTO interventions noting that the exercise tends to be harder than the actual combat they experienced. Indeed, this fits in with the mentality of Desert Hawks, and of modern Riysian training in general - train hard, fight easy.
2016 marks a special year for the exercise. Previously, it was Riysian only, and even close allies were not invited to observe, let alone take part. However, in celebration of the 20th anniversary of the famed TaH-29 Daqanoush's service in the Riysian Air Force, and in acknowledgement of Riysa's leading role in SACTO and Astyria, the second (winter) iteration of the exercise was opened for allies and nations sharing good relations with the Riysian Arab Republic. Now, those not from Riysa finally get to experience the infamous gauntlet that has humbled many a pilot, and both Riysians and ajnabiya will take home experience in fighting a foe operating dissimilar aircraft.
Exercise Area
The combat arena is located 50 kilometers to the east of T11, in a mostly empty area of the southeastern Riysian desert. It is rectangular in shape, measuring roughly 200 km wide and 200 km tall, for a total of 40,000 square kilometers of airspace. In terms of altitude, the arena goes up to an altitude 18,000 meters, with a minimum of 4,000 meters - the nominal "ground", providing a safety cushion for the participants in the event of an accident or for those leaving the battlespace. During the course of the exercise, all simulated combat must take place within the bounds of the arena, including surface-to-air missile batteries, which must drive via the Autostrad to the arena. Actions taking place outside the arena will not be counted, and straying out of the arena will result in being considered shot down.
In terms of terrain, the battlespace is flat and open, dotted by surface microterrain that has no real bearing on the exercise. To the northwest, on the approach from T11, lies the Jabal Tiyas mountain range, with the highest point just above 1,000 meters ASL (500 meters relative to surrounding flatlands). While not exploitable in the exercise, the mountains provide a useful navigational landmark and orientation point, as does the river - Nahr Bukamil - and farmland at the eastern border. A highway, "Autostrad M20" runs from west to east, linking Tiyas and T11 with the nearby cities of Maadin and Deir ez-Zor.
Regarding climate, the area at this time of year is mild during the day time despite the desert conditions, with average temperatures during the daytime lying between 20 and 25 C. At nighttime however, the temperature drastically drops to 4-5 C or even less, providing unique maintenance and sortie problems. Very little rainfall or cloud cover is normally present, allowing for clear, open skies perfect for air-to-air combat, though adverse weather - especially during the fall or winter - is not unknown.
Logistics and Accommodation
Each participating force is responsible for transport and maintenance of their equipment, and supply of munitions when necessary. Fuel will be provided at the airbase, and emergency in-flight fueling services will be provided by the 418th Aerial Refueling Section.
During this exercise, allied and opposing force aircrews will be kept separate until the conclusion of the last day. Allied aircrews and their equipment will be housed on-base at T11's dormitory barracks, and will fly their aircraft out of T11. Briefing rooms reserved specifically for the allied force are available. Opposing force aircrew will instead be housed at the nearby airbase T14 by Maadin, using their facilities. Judges for the air combat, known as controllers, will be housed in T11 and use its own radars and command posts, but will live in separate dormitories and use separate facilities from the allied force team.
Combat
The two teams participating here are the allied force and the opposing force. The allied force will consist of and be RPed by all signups. The opposing force will consist exclusively of Riysian units, and as such be RPed by myself. Some missions will OOCly come from me, ICly from the controllers, but since the objective is to simulate realistic combat, the allied force should be coming up with their own strike missions as well.
OOCly, combat is the traditional action-reaction posting scheme, where one posts an action, the other side posts a reaction and suffers appropriate losses, etc. Any disputes should go here, into the OOC thread.
ICly, combat for obvious reasons is simulated. Aircraft will be controlled by the neutral controllers, who will track the position of both side's aircraft with on-location radar and data-link downlink points. To attack, the target must be acquired by an aircraft's sensors as determined by the controllers, and held for five seconds. The pilot must then say the appropriate brevity codes over the radio, and/or mechanically attempt to fire, which would be recorded by the flight computer. The pilot being attacked has the chance to defend himself through various means, and after tabulating the results along with a random number generator, the controllers alert both aircraft if the one being attacked was shot down or if it survived. SAM missile targeting, and air-to-ground actions rely on a similar principle, though air-to-ground munitions may be carried during runs on metal training targets (simulating ground forces).
For both sides, losses are regenerating, simulating air/air defense assets being rushed to reinforce a particularly important sector. If a plane is shot down, it will stay out of action for 24 hours, the time representing the time taken to send a new plane from reserves over. Due to high pilot survivability in modern conflicts (eg. Kosovo saw over 80% survival from Serbian pilots shot down), the pilot will not have any restrictions placed on him/herself.
Due to not knowing the size of the allied force, OPFOR does not currently have an ORBAT. Regardless, numerically it will be exactly the same size as the allied force, so that it will be a fair fight. Some scenarios will be small unit (2v2, 4v2, 4v4, etc) combat missions, which will restrict how many participants can be airborne at one time. To make it so that more people will have a chance to fight, the arena in such a case will be divided up in "zones", with each combatant responsible for combatant in his/her own zone only. I/the controllers will announce when such a thing will happen.
Awards
At the end of the exercise, there will be awards presented to those pilots and units that performed in an exceptional manner, as well as a certificate of completion given to all pilots to mark them being some of the few to challenge Desert Hawks. Some of the awards include:
For the winning team, as well as the air unit with the greatest shootdown-loss ration, a gilded model of a TaH-29 on a cedar-wood base will be presented commemorating their victories.
For the surface-to-air missile unit with the most "kills", a little statuette on a cedar-wood base will be presented, in the form of a brass hand reaching up into the sky, smashing an aircraft in its hand.
For all pilots achieving a shootdown-loss ratio of greater than 5-1, as well as SAM units achieving more than 10 shootdowns, a Tayyar ("Aviator") series silver and platinum watch made by the renowned Riysian jewelry firm Semiramis will be presented.
Various other awards exist for pilots or units displaying exceptional valor and skill as well, depending on the situation.
Itinerary
Currently, the itinerary is as follows:
November 9-10: Arrival of crew and equipment. Free days.
November 11, 7:00 pm: Welcoming ceremony and briefing. Signups will mostly close by this point. RP will start at the end of the ceremony.
November 12, ?:?? am: Start of exercises. IC time of day will be randomly chosen.
November 20th, 12:00 am: End of exercises.
November 20th, 6:30 am: Debrief and tally.
November 2st, 8:00 am: Closing ceremony and awards presentation.
Application
Allied Force Participants
For those wishing to take part in the exercise, please fill out this form. There are only a limited number of spaces, for the sake of simplicity. SACTO has preference in such a case.
- Code: Select all
(Delete everything in parentheses once complete.)
[b]Nation Name:[/b]
[b]Participating Branch Name(If sending multiple branches, make different applications per branch):[/b]
[b]Units Participating:[/b]
[b]Commanding Officers:[/b]
[b]Equipment list:[/b]
[u]Fighter/Strike Aircraft (Max of 12):
[u]Remotely Piloted Aircraft/UAVs (Max of 6):[/u]
[u]Bomber and Support Aircraft (Support jammers, tankers, etc.; Max of 6):[/u]
[u]Surface to Air Missile Systems (Max of 1 Battery Equivalent):[/u]
#StrikeEagle (do not remove this tag)
Observer Application
For those who wish to attend but can not send a force, sending observers to T11 is another option. They will have the chance to speak to everyone, but will be barred from interacting with any controllers during combat missions. Weapons must be cleared with administration before being allowed. Security will be provided by the Riysian Air Force.
- Code: Select all
(Delete everything in parenthesis once complete.)
[b]Nation Name:[/b]
[b]Participating Branch Name(If sending multiple branches, make different applications per branch):[/b]
[b]Attendees (No more than 5, please go into depth):[/b]
#Watcher (do not remove this tag)
Participants
Combatants/Allied Force
- Imperial Nifonese Army Air Arm
- Hutanjian Republican Air Force
- Aquitaynian Air Force
- Organized States Marine Corps
- Organized States Naval Aviation
- Republic of Vietnam Air Force
- Kobolis Air Force
- Pakiranistan Air Force
- Inyurstan Air Force
- Provideniyyan Integrated Armed Forces