Operation: Lightning Bolt

[Malatose]

"We are in position."

 

"Targets Acquired. Begin Operations."

 

Despite the fact that it had taken nearly two days, The Drakan Fleet had finally reached it's destination. Upon reaching it's destination, the fleet assumed the basic defensive formation, according to the suspected threat axis. The silence of the open ocean was soon interrupted by the thunderous applause of dozens of missiles launches. From the Drakan Fleet, ten sub-sonic missiles, equipped with electronic warfare systems, launched into wild blue. As these missiles neared Sierra Leone airspace, their electronic warfare systems activated. DFRM signals, which were programmed to mimic the return signatures of hundreds of missiles, began to be transmitted directly into the enemy RADAR. With the amount of RADAR return signatures which would confuse their systems immensely.

 

After a brief three minute interval, the next round of attacks begin. This time, it would be a coordinated strike using all assets of the Drakan Fleet. The surface fleet would launch seventy five missiles; while, the submarine force would launch an additional thirty. With all missiles being of the hypersonic variant, they would be difficult to counter, especially with the mass amount of confusion the enemy's RADAR would be experiencing due to the DFRM. The first rush of missiles aimed at government offices, military facilities, power stations, railroads, rail junction points, and bridges of all types.

 

After the first strike, there would be a slight pause. However, the enemy would not be able to rest for long. One hundred fifty additional hypersonic cruise missiles were launched at enemy targets, such as airports, military facilities, railroads, and bridges. The air wing of the Drakan Fleet moved into action next. Escorted by Lu-67E and with their own stealth systems activated in the form of jamming and DFRM, the three squadrons flew in loose formations. Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses were their main mission, and they would accomplish this mission by firing two PLX-2M Air-Launched Anti-Radiation Missiles each. Guided by Inertial with GPS, passive radar-homing seeker w/ home-on-jam with MMW radar and LADAR at terminal, these missiles would seek out the enemies RADAR and obliterate it with their 45kg HE-Frag or flechette warhead. Over one hundred fifty of these missiles were fired all over Sierra Leone.

 

A force of ten Lu-67 squadrons would begin to conduct combat air operations over Sierra Leone itself to secure air superiority.

 

--

 

Amphibious Assault

 

After the air strikes, the Marine Expeditionary Force went into action. From deep inside of the Amphibious Assault Ships, hundreds of various landing craft disembarked. Escorted by Lu-67 Fighters, the cushion and other craft glided through the open seas towards the Sierra Leone beaches. The tranquility of the beach was interrupted by the sounds of the large rotor fans of the Cushion Landing Craft and the sound of heavy vehicles moving forward. Drakan Troops disembarked as well, darting forward to secure a beachhead, which would allow more forces ashore.

 

The initial force would consist of one thousand six hundred troops, which would be followed by a secondary force of the same amount.

[Markus Wilding]

AWACS aircraft that had been flying continuous missions since the initial deployment to the Cape detected and quickly set to work countering and defeating the spoofing mesaures of the DFRM signals. Therefore, while the missiles would not appear to be in the ten hundreds of RADAR scans, there would still be enough that the Sierra Leonean missile defenses spun up and attempted to swat down whatever came through.

 

Using data recovered from EWC-09 craft, it was determined where the Drakan fleet was and that it was preparing a large strike. With this information gained, Kh-15 and P-800 Onyx missiles would be launched from any missile outpost that hadn't been hit by a Drakan attack, aimed primarily at the aircraft carriers. Some 70 combined of these missiles would be launched at the Drakans.

 

In the air, all planes were sent up once it was discovered the Drakans had sent their airplanes to Sierra Leone, and while missile defenses handled the incoming enemy attacks, the Sierra Leonean Air Force would launch their own missiles as well, one from F-16SL planes to counter the PLX-2M missiles, and the others from all planes to lock onto and destroy the Lu-67E fighters. EWC-09 craft would also join in the fray, jamming and confusing the counter-measures of the fighters and DFRM. As this happened, Tu-22M naval bombers set out and began to fly straight towards the support elements of the Drakan fleet, focusing their Kh-15 missiles on the screening ships of the fleet. Two of the Tu-22M bombers would also focus their bombings on the amphibious assault force, hoping to send some Drakans into the waters of Sierra Leone.

 

On the land, the Drakan marines would find themselves engaged by the Freetown garrison, a force of some 50,000 soldiers and 200 M120 Panther tanks. The entire force of the Sierra Leonean Army, which had been kept in reserve until now, was ordered to head to the Drakan beachhead and destroy it. This force would be 100,980 men strong. In accordance with the doctrine of Zugzwang, however, which the Sierra Leonean Army followed closely, the Drakans would have to contend with numerous and plenty anti-personnel and anti-tank mines on the beachhead, all while being fired upon by M760 machine guns and the occasional .50 caliber HMG. Once given coordinates for their position, the M155 SPA began to rain fire down on their position as well with high-explosive death.

[iamthey]

Austria will monitor this unfolding situation with interest.

[Malatose]

"Be advised, we are detecting multiple incoming missiles."

 

"Prepare defensive systems."

 

Using their AN-SPS-106 Long Range Search Radar, the Fleet was able to detect the launch of the incoming missiles from a distance of eight hundred kilometers. As the distance of the missiles closed to five hundred kilometers, detection and tracking were turned over to the AN/SPY-6 Multi-function Radar, which was equipped on every ship in the Draka Fleet. The Guided Missile Destroyers Pretoria and Omnipotence, with their AN/SPY-6 Main Fire Control System (Capable of detection 20,000 targets and tracking 2,000 targets, while simultaneously guiding 250+ missile or gun engagements) acquired the speed and direction of the incoming missile. After a couple seconds, the two destroyers unleashed hell into the distance. With their 8x Mark 30 45mm Autocannon Gun/Missile System [4000 shells + 48 Missiles per system], the ships would engage the missile at the maximum range allotted. Any missile that made it through the rocket barrage would be meet with close-in-weapon fire. For now, the Drakan Fleet was safe. After successfully engaging the incoming missiles, additional aircraft were detected heading towards the Drakan Fleet. Before the bombers even had a chance to engage the enemy, the fleet's advanced detection systems had already plotted their course and launch dozens of missiles to engage them.

 

From these recent attacks, it was quite obvious that the enemy had some offensive capabilities left. In response, the Drakan Fleet would launch another coordinated missile strike. However, a few minor preparations had to be made. From two submarines, three hypersonic cruise missiles were launched. These missiles were equipped with three high powered microwave/ E-bomb warheads. These missiles were aimed at three specific detonation spots in Sierra Leone. Upon detonation, all vital electronics (including RADAR) would be fried and rendered inoperable. Essentially, the nation would be set back to the stone age in regards to basic electronic use. After this preemptive strike, the Fleet would launch one hundred fifty hypersonic cruise missiles at targets throughout the nation. Civilian and military air fields, railroads, bridges, power stations, fuel depots, and other areas of importance were stuck by these coordinated strikes.

 

Another thirty missiles would be launch solely towards the capital of Sierra Leone. This missiles would be equipped with high explosive cluster munitions, to cause the most damage.

 

"We are detecting light interference."

 

Above the skies of Sierra Leone, the air battle raged furiously. The first target of the Sierra Leone counter-offensive were the Lu-67E Electronic Warfare Aircraft. These fighters dropped chaff and flare to confuse the incoming missiles, as they darted around the combat zone. These fighters had one significant advantage. With their advanced stealth airframes and advances jamming, they would be extremely hard to detect. The Lu-67E's would not continue their struggle alone, however. The Lu-67 Multi-Role Fighters would engage the enemy, while fighting through the light inference. At this point in time, the mission of the Lu-67Es were changed. The Electronic Warfare Aircraft would be tasked with taking down the jamming aircraft. To do this, the Lu-67's increased their own RADAR frequencies to burn through the applied jamming. This would give the fighters the basic direction of the jamming, which allowed them to fire two anti-radiational missiles each. These missiles, six in all, would be guided by the radiation from the enemy ECW-09 RADAR suites, allowing for multiple direct hits. It was hoped that this would liquidate the enemies jamming capabilities, at least for the time being. With the skies free of the minimal interference, the Lu-67s would swoop in and engage the enemy, who were more focused on the Lu-67Es and PLX-2M missiles, with their long range and medium range air to air missiles.

 

Upon landing on the beaches, the initial Drakan Assault Force came under heavy attack. Hundreds of vehicles were loss in action, while hundreds of troops were killed as well. From the decks of the Amphibious Assault Ships, dozens of Lu-09 Ground Support Drones  and Lu-09 Electronic Warfare Drones were launched. These basic drones would lend support to the assault force, as it attempted to gain a substantial foothold on the beach. The Lu-09 Electronic Warfare Aircraft began to initiate comprehensive jamming, which would interference with the communication of the enemy forces on the ground.

 

The Lu-09 Ground Support Drones began to map the enemy locations and configurations on the ground. This information would then be transferred to Drakan ships and aircraft. Ships would launch comprehensive long range strikes, in the form of cruise missiles with anti-armor and personnel cluster munitions. Sixty of these missiles would be launched, with many more placed on stand-by. A squadron of Lu-67s would provide comprehensive ground support, in the form of two thousand pound guided munitions. It was quite obvious that this would be slow push onto the beaches; however, the next plan of attack would catch the enemy off guard.

 

[20km from Sierra Leone]

 

"We are twenty kilometers from drop point."

 

"Prepare for operations."

 

[Malatose]

Concetrated Naval Bombardment

 

Drakan intelligence had confirmed the first missile strikes as a complete success. Building off of the established momentum, five hundred hypersonic cruise missiles were launched at Sierra Leone. Two hundred were directed at the capital; while, the other missiles were directed towards runways, military bases, RADAR, rail junctions, bridges, manufactoring facilities, and other areas of importance. Another one hundred fifty missiles, equally divided between the Sierra Leone provinces of Falaba, Worodu, and Sefadu, were launched in anticipation of upcoming operations in the area.

 

On the Ground

 

With the success of the Drakan missile launches and air superiority missions, the focus was now turned to to the ground assault. With the Lu-67 Multi-Role Fighters now turning their complete attention on the enemy forces assembled., the enemy defenses on the beach would soon be destroyed. Hundreds of two thousand pound guided munitions were dropped on specific targets, which would either kill or maim thousands of enemy troops at once. These coordinated attacks would puncture holes throughout the Sierra Leone defenses, which would allow troops to spread out and push inwads towards final victory. Drakan Mobile Battle Tanks, equipped with mine destroying devices, would lead the assault. These massive tanks would prematurely detonate the mines, clearing the way for the invason force to advance inwards. With an established beach head, it would now be difficult to repel the Drakan force, which was now moving full steam head. Shenge, and Lungie would be the position of the established beach heads and offensive points. In total, some twenty thousand troops would be landed, with many more on the way.

 

Air Assault

 

"5...4..3..2...1... JUMP"

 

With the attacks on the Sierra Leone RADAR and with the amount of jamming being used by the Lu-67E's, the heavy transports of the Air Assault Legions were able to enter enemy air space unimpeded. From their massive cargo holds, the soldiers of the Draka Air Assault Legions began their coordinated landing operation. Some three thousand air assault troops would land in the provinces of Kabala, Worodu, and Sefadu (one thousand troops in each province). For the landing in Kabala, Drakan engineers and Drakan Air Force Special Operations Personnal would follow behind the air assault soldiers. Their main mission would be to secure the Kabala Airport for additional equipment landings. Following behind, Drakan Cargo planes would begin to air drop a dozen light armored vehicles. These vehicles would be dropped using parachutes and retro rockets, to slow down their descent causing no damage to the precious cargo. These would escort the Air Assault Legions in their advance.

 

Upon landing, these troops would begin operations to move westward and link up with the troops advancing from the coastal beachead. These troops would recieve comprehensive support from Lu-67 Fighters and Lu-09 EW Drones and Ground Attack Drones.

[Malatose]

[The End]

 

With the collapse of the Sierra Leone government, Draka Forces have begun to spread throughout the country to restore peace and order. A local proclamation would be dispatched throughout the nation, ordering soldiers of the former Sierra Leone to turn in their arms and submit for documentation within the Security Directorate.

[Generalissimo]

Bear Islands' Nation of the Bear condemns Draka's unjust occupation of the previously free Sierra Leone.

[Justinian the Mighty]

Russian troops remained in Sierra Leone as peacekeepers and military advisors in the aftermath of the Sierra Leonean civil war. The 1,200 young men confirmed with Moscow that they would not be leaving Sierra Leone in the near future and that they should defend their location if necessary, but not to venture outside their base.