AV8B HARRIER ASSAULT - OPERATIONS MANUAL - Part 3 ------------------------------------------------- CLOSE AIR SUPPORT Primary Target fuel dumps at DILI As an AV-8B pilot, you can be tasked with five types of mission during Operation Ocean Saber. Combat Air Control Objective: To fly top cover for the fleet or ground forces, engaging any destroying any Indonesian aircraft found the in air. At least one Harrier will always be available to fly CAP missions. Waypoints: No waypoints will be programmed into the aircraft's Nav system. Default weapons: Sidewinder; cannon. Reconnaissance Objective: To observe the battle area, and to relay intelligence back to TAWADS in order to provide a more compete tactical picture of the current state of the campaign. Waypoints: Automatically programmed into the aircraft`s Nav system using TAWADS data. Default weapons: ALQ-164 jamming pod (Its electronic systems will observe and record Indonesian radar and radio signals); cannon. Close Air Suppport Objective: To provide fire support for US forces in direct conflict with Indonesian units. Some targets will be laser designated by the ground forces, allowing pilot to use Maverick missiles and laser guided bombs. Waypoints: Automatically programmed into the aircrafts Nav system. Targets will be described in the mission briefing, and TAWADS will automatically set waypoints over the targets to be attacked. Default weapons: Laser guided bombs; Maverick; cannon. Interdiction Objective: The destruction of one or more targets well behind enemy lines. Targets will not be laser designated, so must be attacked using unguided bombs and rockets. Waypoints: Automatically programmed into the aircrafts Nav system. Targets will be described in the mission briefing, and TAWADS will automatically set waypoints over the targets to be attacked. Default weapons: Unguided rockets; unguided bombs; Sidewinder; cannon. Air interception Objective: Engage and destroy enemy aircraft. Waypoints: Automatically programmed into the aircrafts Nav system by TAWADS. Waypoints will be placed at last known location of enemy planes. Default weapons: Sidewinder; cannon; countermeasures. To start on one of the missions waiting to be flown, click on that mission on the whiteboard. If you don't accept one of the waiting missions, the computer will assign a computer-controlled AV-8B to fly that sortie. Clicking on an available mission will display on the whiteboard a full briefing for that mission. This will list the primary target, any secondary target, and the programmed waypoints for both. An intelligence briefing will also be given, listing the anti-aircraft ground defences at these targets, and the risk to being intercepted by enemy fighters. The aircrafts Nav system has pre-set uses for several waypoints. T The TACAN radio-navigation beacon on Tarawa. O Any target of opportunity marked by the pilot during the flight. From: Squadron Commander VMA-513 To: All pilots Subject: Nav waypoints Before leaving the briefing room to begin a mission, take care to note the identity of every waypoint programmed into your aircraft's Nav system. Once over East Timor, you'll be busy enough without the added workload of trying to remember the purpose of each waypoint. I know you guys are keen to be heroes, but time moves fast when you're flying at low level at a speed of more than 500kts. Time wasted struggling with waypoint selection is time in which a fighter, SAM or AAA battery can get a shot at you. Accepting the mission will take you to the Weapons Loading Screen to select the weapons you want to carry then into the cockpit ready for take off. If you want to take over a mission currently being flown by the computer, click on the left hand monitor to bring up on the whiteboard a list of currently-airborne AV-8Bs. Clicking on any one of these will put you into the cockpit of that aircraft. Turn off its autopilot, and you can fly the mission. Always remember that after a few hours of operating experience, you`ll be a better pilot than the computer. If several missions are being flown, the most effective tactic is to let the computer fly them all, while you use TAWADS to monitor their progress. As each aircraft approaches its target, jump into the cockpit, switch off the autopilot, and fly the attack manually. Once the target has been knocked out, re-engage the autopilot, and let the computer fly the aircraft to its next waypoint while you jump back to the Command Center and the TAWADS display. This technique will give you the most interesting part of the mission to fly, and leave the autopilot to handle the routine parts of the sortie. ARMING THE AIRCRAFT Once you've accepted a mission, go to the flight deck, where the armorers are waiting to load weapons on your aircraft. The aircraft arrives from the hanger with all its pylons empty. A series of buttons at the foot of the screen allows the individual types of weapon to be selected. There are two ways of loading your weapons. One is to leave the job to the armorers, who'll already have loaded the pylons with what they consider to be a suitable warload for the mission you're about to fly. Details of this combination will have been given during the pre-flight briefing in the Pilots Briefing Room. If you don't like their selection, you can remove it by clicking on CLEAN, or modify it by removing the weapons you don't want and installing your own choice. If you've previously flown a mission, clicking on LAST will order the armorers to repeat the loading you specified for that mission. To install a weapon of your own choice, first select it by clicking on its button. It will appear in the window at the foot of the screen. To load this weapon onto the aircraft, click below the pylon you want to mount it on using the left mouse (SPACE). The chosen weapon should then appear on the pylon. To remove an installed weapon, click with the right mouse button (ENTER). As you load weapons, an information line half-way down the screen will show the weight of the weapon currently selected for loading, and the take off weight of the aircraft with the current warload. If you plan to take off vertically the latter figure must be kept below the maximum engine thrust! The outboard pylons (the one nearest the wingtip) on each side can only carry a small load, but those inboard are closer to the wing root, so can carry a greater load without straining the aircraft structure. If the weapon won`t install on the pylon you chose try one further inboard. In some cases, several weapons of the same type can be carried on a single plylon using a multiple ejection rack (MER). If another weapon can be carried without exceeding the pylon's load carrying capability, clicking on a pylon a second time will install a second weapon. In some cases clicking a third time may install a third weapon. The limits on pylon loading can be found by experimenting. The 25mm cannon is always carried under the fuselage. If you`re going to fly a reconnaissance or strike mission, and enemy fighters are expected, you might want to carry an AIM-9M Sidewinder on each outboard pylon. This reduces the number of pylons available for air to ground weaponry but increases your chances of shooting down any fighter which attacks you. Carrying an LQ-164 jamming pod will reduce the range at which enemy radars will detect your aircraft. This will make it difficult - but not impossible for SAM batteries to launch radar-guided missiles at your aircraft. Carrying a jamming pod reduces your chances of being shot down by a radar guided missile, but takes up a valuable pylon, reducing the weapon load you can carry. Within the fuselage of the aircraft are dispensers for chaff and flares. These are released by pressing the C or F key. The numbers remaining for use are shown on the weapons display on the right hand MFD. When released, a chaff cartridge bursts to release a cloud of fine strands of metalized glass fibre. These form a radar-reflective false target which can confuse a hostile radar. If attempting to lock onto your aircraft, the radar may instead lock onto the chaff cloud. If already locked on, it may "break lock", following the slow moving chaff cloud rather than the fast moving aircraft. If a radar guided SAM has been fired at your aircraft, dropping a chaff cartridge will offer it an alternative target. Jamming pods and chaff have no effect on anti-aircraft guns, shoulder fired heat-seeking SAMs or on the less efficient optical back up guidance modes available of the SA-3 and SA-6 SAM systems. If a heat seeking SAM or Sidewinder is headed for your aircraft, release a flare. Missiles of this type home onto heat radiated by your aircraft. Flares are fast-burning devices which offer the missile an intense heat source which may distract it from your aircraft. When attempting to distract an incoming missile, it may not be enough just to release chaff or a flare. For a start, timing is critical. Release the chaff or flares too soon, and the missile will re-acquire you; release them too late, and the weapon will reach your aircraft before being significantly decoyed. Pulling a sharp turn in the direction of the attack will help break the missile's lock. Never turn away from the missile - this gives it a simple "tail-chase" flight path and an easy kill. Turning toward the missile forces it to maneuver hard in order to follow you. If you run out of chaff or flares, a sharp turn might still save you. Once again, timing is critical. The closer you let the missile approach before making the turn, the harder it must maneuver to compensate for your sharp change of course. The missile does not have unlimited maneuvering power so what you're trying to do is to get out of its way so rapidly that it can't follow. If tasked with attacking a heavily defended target, you might want to carry an external chaff/flare dispenser on one of your pylons. While the armorers were loading and fuzing your chosen weapons, other members of the flight deck crew were busy fuelling your aircraft, and recharging its oxygen system. To begin the mission, click on the OK button. This will put you in the cockpit, and start the aircrafts engine. SELECTING AND USING WEAPDNS Once airborne and on the way to the first waypoint, it's time to select weapons. Pressing BACKSPACE cycles through the weapons available The Stores Display on one of your MFDs will show the selected pylons and the numbers of weapons on each. You can only select weapon types, not individual pylons. Bombs or unguided rockets can be released individually or in a salvo. Pressing the N key will change the salvo size. Guided missiles cannot be salvoed; only one missile will be released for each press of the firing button. Alphanumerics at the bottom left of the HUD will show the type of weapon selected, and the number to be released in the salvo. This information is duplicated on the MFD Stores Display and on cockpit indicators mounted above the left-hand MFD. During the pilot`s briefing, you`ll sometimes be warned that fighters are expected. On the way to and from the target area, choosing GUN or AIM-9M will ensure that you-re ready to fight back if enemy F-16s or F-5s try to intercept you. Use the fire button or SPACE to release weapons. When a multi round salvo has been selected, a single press will release all the weapons in that salvo. Rockets fire with an interval of 0.2 seconds between rounds bombs at 0.4 second intervals. After releasing weapons, the fire button / space control is inactive for 0.5 second, 0.1 second in the case of the cannon. Cannon The aircrafts 25mm cannon is aimed using the velocity vector marker in the HUD. The gun has 300 rounds of ammunition, and the number remaining is shown in the Stores Display screen on the MFD display. Iron Bombs & Rockeye Free falling bombs can be delivered on one of two modes - CCIP and automatic. Both are available in this simulation. CCIP Mode Normal method of aiming iron bombs is by means of the Continuously Computed Impact Point (CCIP) mode. As its name suggests, during a CCIP attack, the aircraft's Nav system is continuously computing the point where the bombs would land if released now, and marks this in the HUD with a small cross-shaped aiming mark. A line is automatically drawn between this CCIP marker and the LFD. Known as the CCIP line, this is used when delivering bombs in Automatic Bombing mode, or when aiming laser-guided bombs (LGBs). When dive bombing, the CCIP marker will be easily visible in the HUD field of view. If you fly a horizontal attack at low level, you`ll have to fly fast to keep the CCIP marker in the HUD field of view. In practice, AV-8B pilots normally keep the speed to 450kts or more when making CCIP attacks from low level. Automatic Bombing Mode To toggle between CCIP mode and the alternative Automatic Bombing mode, press the ` (single quote) key. Once the target is visible in the HUD, place the LFD aiming mark over it and press ENTER or the second mouse or joystick key. This locks the nose-mounted ARBS video camera onto the selected spot on the ground, designates this as waypoint 0, and selects waypoint zero. Remember that the ARBS isn't locked on to the target, but is tracking a designated point on the ground. If that point wasn't lined up with the target, the automatic system has no way of compensating for this. The aiming point will be marked by a cross on the ARBS video display, and a cross in the HUD. Position the CCIP line over the target, and hold it there. Press and hold down the fire button to indicate to the automatic bombing system that it is free to release ordnance. If you keep the CCIP line on the target, and the fire button pressed down, the bombs will be released automatically. If no bombs are released, the CCIP line was not aligned accurately with the target - the Automatic bombing mode won't release weapons which have no chance of hitting the designated aiming point. Unguided Rockets Rockets are launched in CCIP mode. In this case the HUD does not show a CCIP line - only a "T" shaped CCIP aiming mark. AGM-65E Maverick Maverick is designed to home onto targets which have been laser designated by friendly forces. If Maverick is selected, andd a target is being designated by ground forces, a square marker will appear in the HUD as you approach the target area. Maverick can then be fired and will home automatically without further action by the pilot. Firing a Maverick - or any other guided weapon - does not automatically result in a "kill". For a start, you may have fired at too great a range. Also be aware that missile homing systems are not perfect, but should bring a missile within several feet of its target. During trials in the late 1970s, half the Maverick rounds fired landed within four feet of the target. The others exhibited greater errors, in some cases 10 feet or more. All guided missiles exhibit such variations in accuracy between individual rounds, and in some cases may not land close enough to score a "kill". In AV-8B Harrier Assault, missile behaviour has been accurately modelled to reflect such small errors. If firing a guided missile doesn`t result in a kill, the simulation is not at fault. Make a second pass, and fire another weapon at the target. Laser Guided Bombs (LGBs) Like Maverick. LGBs are laser-homing weapons which require their target to be designated. Operating procedure is similar to that for Maverick, but these unpowered weapons have less range and maneuvering capability than the AGM-65. LGBs must be dropped close enough to the target to allow their limited maneuvering power to successfully guide the weapon to a "kill". It is essential that the CCIP line be positioned inside the square marker when the bomb is released. AIM-9 Sidewinder Selecting AIM-9 will automatically activate the IR seeker of the Sidewinder missile. This will scan an area ahead of the aircraft looking for a suitable target. Any target aircraft visible through the HUD will be in the sidewinder's field of view, and the missile will lock on automatically. If several aircrafi are visible within the HUD, Sidewinder will lock onto the nearest. You will receive two indications of successful lock-on. A circular mark in the HUD will track the target, and you will hear a "growling" tone generated by the missile seeker head. The missile can then be fired, and will home automatically. If the seeker has not locked onto a target, the missile can still be launched, but it will not home. AIM-9M will not home onto Indonesian C-130 Hercules transports. Use the cannon to attack these. AGM-88 HARM If you wish to attack a radar guided SAM site, turn your aircraft onto the threat bearing indicated by the radar warning receiver. Once the radar is within the HUD field of view, a square aiming mark will become visible. This will track the target, indicating that the missile has locked on. Firing at too great a range can fail to generate a "kill", either because the missile did not have enough range to reach the target, or because the radar has been switched off (The latter tactic is a good counter to HARM, since it deprives the missile of its ability to make furthur course corrections). Launching the missile at closer range will reduce the enemy's chances of switching off in time, but if misjudged could give him the chance to fire a SAM at your aircraft. POST-FLIGHT DEBRIEFING On landing from a successful mission, waiting a short time or pressing Ctrl-D will bring you back to the Pilots Briefing Room. De-Briefing information will be displayed on the whiteboard. Once you`ve read this clicking on the right or left monitors will bring up a listing of the missions waiting to be flown, or those currently under way. ALTERNATIVE LANDING SITES Under normal circumstances, you will always land back on Tarawa. Although some of the other assault ships are carrying spare AV-8Bs and can ferry them over to Tarawa to replace aircraft lost in combat, the aircraft were loaded onto these ships by crane. You cannot land on vessels other than Tarawa. If you run short of fuel when flying over East Timor you may land at any airfield which has been captured by the Marines. They will almost certainly find enough Indonesian fuel to refill your tanks, and may even have some 25mm ammunition available to reload your cannon. SECTION V - SHIPS AND MEN OF THE TASK FORCE. -------------------------------------------- Tarawa: Lead Vessel of the Assault Force The most important vessel in the fleet under your command is the assault ship LHA 1 Tarawa. Built in the early 1970s, this was the first of a class of five vessels intended to combine the functions of the earlier Iwo Jima class helicopter carrier (LH), with those of a dock landing ship (LPD) and an assault cargo ship (LKA). Tarawa was built by Ingalls Shipbuilding Corporation. She was laid down 15th November 1971, launched on 1st December 1973, and commissioned on 29 May 1976. She was followed by five sister ships the Saipan, Belleau Wood, Nassau, and Peleliu. A total of nine had been planned when the class was trimmed to only six in 1971 even before Tarawa had been laid down. All six ships was built by Ingalls, with the last example entering service in 1980. Tarawa and her sister ships are the world's largest amphibious vessels. To the layman, Tarawa looks like an aircraft carrier. Similar in size to a Second World War Essex-class aircraft carrier the ship is 834 feet long, 132ft wide, and has a full load displacement of 39,967 tons. Impressive though these figures are, Tarawa is some 200ft shorter than a modern aircraft carrier, has about half the displacement, and lacks the angled flight deck, aircraft catapults, and arrester gear needed to operate conventional jet fighters. Tarawa is designed not to provide the large-scale air power available from an aircraft carrier, but to embark a Marine amphibious unit, transport it over long distances, deploy it ashore, then loiter in the area to support it. This ability to land forces on a distant shore is one component of the mobile force structure which makes the United States a superpower. Nations such as China may have strategic nuclear weapons, but lack this ability to intervene at trouble spots around the globe. The Commonwealth of Independent States which resulted from the break-up of the Soviet Union would have difficulty in carrying out this sort of force projection. Tarawa has enough accommodation space below decks for a reinforced battalion - total of around 2,000 men, plus the hardware needed to give them fire power once ashore - five M60 tanks and six 105mm field howitzers. Although powerfully armed, it's a numerically small force, one better suited to a swift "surgical" strike rather than long slogging match against enemy forces operating at brigade strength (around 5,000 - 8,000 men) or divisional level (around 15,000 - 20,000 men.) On land, armies can request supplies, firepower, or even diversionary attacks from other units along the same front line. There is no such tactical luxury for Marine units sent onto a hostile shore. Every bullet and band aid they need, they must take with them. Trained to fight under such self sufficient conditions, the Marines regard themselves as an elite unit, perhaps the elite unit. A US Marine may pudgingly accept that the British SAS, the Russian Spetsnaz, the Israeli paratroopers, and the French Foreign Legion are tough, but this won't dent his conviction that the Marines are the toughest soldiers who walk this planet. Tarawas 820ft X 118ft night deck can handle twelve CH-46 Sea Knight assault helicopters, or nine of the heavier CH-53 Sea Stallion. Directly below the flight deck are two half-length hanger decks. These can house up to 26 CH-46 or 19 CH-53. These aircraft can be moved to and from the flight deck via one elevator mid-way down the port side of the ship, and a second near the stern. AV-8B Harriers are carried as required for the individual mission. For Operation Ocean Saber, Tarawa carries eight AV-8B, plus 28 helicopters. A separate vehicle deck carries the wheeled and tracked vechicles for the vessel's force of Marines. The vessel is operated by a crew of around 900, bringing the total to around 2,900. In the lower part of the aft section of the vessel is a feature unique to amphibious assault ships - a large docking well. This can be flooded to allow landing craft to enter and leave via a stern-mounted door which gives access to the sea. On Tarawa, the well is 286ft long and 78ft wide so can acommodate a wide range of landing craft. For this mission, it contains four LCU, and two LCM-6. Forty LVT tracked landing craft are carried on a separate vehicle deck. Built in large numbers between the mid-1950s until the mid-1970s, the LCU (Landing Craft Utility) is the descendant of the Second World War LCT (Landing Craft Tank). Maximum payload of these 135 foot long vessels is 180 tons. For example, they can carry three tanks. Later models have bow and stern ramps, to enable vehicles to drive through. LCUs are powered by four diesel engines, and have a top speed of 20kts. The 56 foot long LCM-6 was a Second World War design, but remained in production until the 1970s. It can carry 80 soldiers or 34 tons of cargo. Two diesel engines give a top speed of 20kts. One of the most tactically useful vehicles in the early stages of an assault is the LVTP-7 Amphibious Assault Vehicle. (In the game, these are referred to simply as LVTs). As its full designation "Landing Vehicle Tracked Personnel" suggests, this is a vehicle able to propel itself in the water, climb a beach under the power of tracks, then carry its soldiers inland. The LVT weighs around 50,000lb, and can carry 25 Marines, who enter and leave the vehicle via a rear-mounted ramp. Hatches in the upper surface allow cargo to be loaded from above, either when the vechicle is aboard ship or floating alongside a ship. A Cummins VT8 diesel engine drives the vehicle at speeds of up to 39mph, while in the water, two water jets propel it at speeds of up to 8.5mph. It takes primitive terrain to top an LVT. The vehicle can cross an 8ft wide trench, climb over a 3ft obstacle, and has a ground pressure of only 8lb/sq in. The hull is made from aluminum armor between 0.27 - 1.77 inches thick, and the vehicle has a turret armed with an M85 0.5" caliber machine gun. More than 33,000 square feet of storage space is available aboard Tarawa for vehicles, plus almost 117,999 cubic feet of space for palletised stores. To support the landed force of close to 2,000 Marines requires several hundred tons of stores, so the ship has built in automated cargo-handling facilities include conveyors and elevators. These can handle up to 240 one-ton pallets per hour. A massive conveyor system runs along the top of a central support structure which divides the docking well in two, then forward onto the vehicle deck. Five elevators - two in the well deck area, and three at the front end of the conveyor lift the cargo pallets from the cargo holds deep in the ship, allowing them to move rear ward to the well deck, where an overhead monorail system loads them onto the landing craft. The aft pair of transporters can also be used to move pallets to the hangar deck. While an inclined ramp allows pallets to be moved up to the flight deck for loading onto helicopters. To be effective, Tarawa`s Marines must be able to perform at peak efficiency as soon as they go ashore. To help prepare the Marines to cope with the climate they will experience at their destination, a 5,000 square foot training and acclimatisation room is available. (In this game, the acclimatisation room also contains the Part Task Trainers which will help teach you how to fly the AV-8B.) Other facilities include a hospital able to provide intensive care for up to 90 casualties. Command facilities are located in the massive island superstructure at the starboard side of the night deck. From here the commander of the amphibious task group and the landing force commander issue their instructions via the Tactical Amphibious Warfare Data System (TAWADS) - a computer-controlled system able to store information on targets, and keep track of landing craft, helicopters, vehicles, soldiers, and cargo. Later in this manual, you'll learn how to use TAWADS to generate battle plans, and to control the amphibious assault forces and the AV-8B Harriers. In an era when most major US warships are driven by gas turbines or nuclear power, the Tarawa class relies on a traditional steam powerplant. Two Combustion Engineering boilers provide the steam needed to drive two Westinghouse geared turbines, each of which powers one of the vessels two propeller shafts. The turbines deliver a total of 70,000 shaft horse power: enough to take Tarawa to a top speed of 24kts. Maximum range at a more economical cruising speed of 20kt is 10,000nm. The Navy has only two Blue Ridge class command ships: so may not be in the area of an amphibious operation. To get around this problem, the Tarawa class are equipped with extensive command and control facilities including an SPS-52B radar for fighter control. During an amphibious operation, Tarawa and her sister ships would be obvious targets for enemy attack. Three types of weapon are carried for self-protection. A single Mk45 75mm/54 gun is mounted at the port and starboard front corners of the flight deck, a third at the starboard rear. These can fire 20 rounds per minute. Maximum range is 8nm in the anti-aircraft role, 12.4nm against land targets. When the vessels first entered service, the port rear corner carried an eight-barrelled launcher for the Sea Sparrow surface-to air missile, while a second was positioned forward of the island. The final self defense weapons were six single-barrelled Mk67 20mm cannon. In the 1980s, a retrofit program installed two General Dynamics Mk15/16 Phalanx 20mm close-in weapon systems (CIWS) on each ship. These were mounted in the positions formerly used by Sea Sparrow. The 20mm Mk87 gave way to six 25mm Mk 242 cannons. Phalanx is intended to protect the ship against anti-ship missiles which make it part of the surface-to-air missile fire power of the fleets warships. This is a "last-ditch" weapon a radar-controlled automatic gun mount whose six-barrelled Gatling gun pours out 50 20mm caliber cannon shells per second. Maximum range is short - if an enemy missile is closing for the kill, Phalanx will have only a few seconds to score a kill. The cannon shells do not carry an explosive payload; damaging a missile at such short range would probably not stop the crippled round striking the ship. The projectiles leaving the Phalanx gun barrels are solid, and made from depleted uranium, one of the heaviest metals known to man. If hits are obtained on the missile, the impact energy of these heavy high speed projectiles should be enough either to cause massive structural damage which will knock the weapon off course, or even to detonate the missile's warhead. Tarawa also carries extensive electronic warfare (EW) protection, including the SLQ-32(V)3 system. This is designed to detect and jam hostile radar signals. Four six-barrelled SRBOC launchers are available to release chaff and IR decoys in further attempts to confuse incoming anti-ship missiles. More Ships and More Men On its own Tarawa could not carry a large enough force of Marines to carry out Operation Ocean Saber. Supporting her are six other amphibious warfare vessels, an escort of four warships, and a tanker. To provide additional amphibious capability the fleet includes five Dock landing ships. Like Tarawa, these slightly smaller vessels carry Marines and their equipment, and incorporate docking wells designed to handle landing craft. Newest of the five is LSD-41 Whidbey Island. First of a class of eight modern dock landing ships built to replace the older Thomaston class, this was built in the early 1980s by Lockheed Seattle. Whidbey Island is 609ft long, and has a full load displacement of 15.725 tons. It carries a force of 500 Marines plus their equipment. Its 440ft X 50ft well deck houses four LCAC air-cushion landing vehicles. Gradually replacing the older LCU, are the LCAC (Landing Craft Air Cushion). These can carry only 24 soldiers, a single tank, or between 60 and 75 tons of cargo, but have a top speed of 40kts when fully loaded. Their great advantage, apart from high speed, is that they can land on most shorelines. Conventional landing craft require careful choice of landing site. According to the US Navy the LCAC can cope with around 70 per cent of the shorelines around the world, while the LCU was restricted to around 15 per cent. Apart from their smaller payload, CVACs have some disadvantages compared with LCUs. They are noisy, create clouds of spray (which sometimes interfered with the driver's vision before the addition of spray suppressers), and can have problems in rough seas. Whidbey Island also has up to 5,000 cubic feet of space available for marine cargo, and 12,500 square feet for vehicles. Four Colt/Pielstick diesel engines driving two shafts give a total of 41,600shp and a top speed of 22kts. The rest of the Marine Expeditionary Brigade is deployed on LPD-4 Austin, LPD-5 Ogden, LPD-7 Cleveland and LPD-9 Denver. These are 570 feet long, with a 16,900 ton full load displacement. Part of a class of 12 vessels built in the l960s, each can each carry 1,000 Marines and 2,500 tons of cargo. The 168ft X 50ft well deck can house one LCU and three LCM-6. These landing craft can be supplemented by several more carried on deck and lowered into the sea by an aft-mounted crane. Austin lacks the helicopter hanger added to later vessels of the class. As a result, only Ogden, Cleveland, and Denver can carry aircraft. Typical loads might be one SH-60, two CH-46, or four AH-1W. Being almost 30 years old, Austin and her sister ships are steam powered. Both have twin-shaft installations delivering around 24,000shp and giving a top speed of around 20kts. For self-protection, all five Dock Landing Ships are fitted with the SLQ-32(V)1, a simpler version of the EW system carried by Tarawa. All five also have four SRBOC chaff/flare launchers, while Whidbey Island also has a pair of 20mm Phalanx guns. Cargo and Fuel To carry the rest of the Marine Expeditionary Brigade`s heavy loads, the force includes the Vehicle Cargo Ship T-AK 3009 Pfc Dewayne T. Williams. Built by General Dynamics, this 44,330 ton vessel joined the fleet in 1985 on long term charter. The ship is operated by American Overseas Marine, and has a crew of 30, plus 25 technicians. On its own it can carry 22,700 tons of equipment and supplies, 25 per cent of the stores needed by a Marine Expeditionary Brigade over a 30 day period. It has a roll-on/roll-off capacity of more than 150,000 square feet, and can carry 530 cargo containers. It also delivers vehicle and aviation fuel. Unlike the Whidbey Island and the Austin class, Pfc Dewayne T. Williams is not an amphibious ship. It unloads its cargo either by using port facilities, or at sea by means of its built-in cargo-handling equipment. This includes two twin cranes and one single crane. A small landing platform for helicopters is located at the rear of the superstructure. The vessel is powered by two Stork Werkspoor 16 TM 410 diesel engines, and has a speed of 18kts. Maximum range at this speed is 12,840 miles. The Warship Escort Keeping this assault force safe from land and sea attack is the task of the warships assigned to escort the formation. During the Second World War, an amphibious task force would have been escorted by heavy cruisers or even one or more battleships, but these massive gun platforms have been retired. For this mission, the use of guided-missile cruisers has been ruled out by Washington, so the largest and most powerful of the vessels escorting the amphibious force is the 563ft long guided missile destroyer DDG 933 Kidd. Originally laid down in June 1978 for the Imperial Iranian Navy and named Kouroush, Kidd and her four sister ships were taken over by the US Navy following the Iranian Revolution. Kidd was launched by Litton on 11th August 1979, and was completed in the summer of 1981. The Kidd class are a specialised anti-aircraft version of the US Navy`s Spruance class destroyer. The equipment fit of the Spruances were trimmed to save money but the Shah of Iran had opted for the original specification. As a result, Kidd and her sister ships are the most powerful destroyers in the US fleet. Full load displacement is 9,200 tons, around 1,400 tons more than a Spruance. This extra weight is partly due to the installation of armor protection, also three additional radars - an SPS-48 and two SPG-51 radars. The Kidd class is ideal for tropical service, since its air-conditioning systems were designed to cope with operations in the Gulf. The ship is armed with missiles and guns. Two Mk 45 5inch guns mounted forward and aft have a rate of fire of 20 rounds per minute. Maximum range is 12.6nm against surface targets. Inboard of the guns are two Mk 26 twin-rail missile launchers able to fire SM-2MR Standard SAMs or ASROC anti submarine missiles. Maximum range of this version of Standard is 40nm. Two eight-round launchers for Harpoon missiles allow ship targets to be engaged at ranges of up to 70nm. The hanger carries either two SH-2F Helicopters, or a single SH-60. Two 20mm Phalanx guns are carried for point defense. Like Tarawa and the Dock Landing Ships, Kidd is equipped with an electronic warfare suite, plus four SRBOC launchers for chaff and flares. In this case EW system is an SLQ-32(V)2 updated by the Sidekick program to add jamming and deception modes. During the late 1980s, Kidd and her sister ships were updated under the US Navys threat Upgrade (NTU) program to improve their ability to deal with sopisticated aircraft and missile threats. The ship is powered by four General Electric LM2500 gas turbines. These develop a total of 80,000shp, and drive two shafts, giving the ship a top speed of 30kts. Range at 20kts cruising speed is 6,000nm. The other three escorts are smaller and less well-armed vessels - 445ft long frigates of the Oliver Hazard Perry class. Built in the late 1970s, FFG-10 Duncan, FFG-11 Clark and FFG-20 Antrim joined the fleet in 1980-81. Displacing around 3,500 tons at full load, the Perry class were designed as a lower cost alternative to the Spruance class destroyers. To keep costs down, these vessels are armed with only a single Mk13 trainable missile launcher plus a 3 inch Mk 75 gun. Two General Electric L2500 gas turbines drive a single shaft (another cost-cutting compromise), and deliver a total of 40,000shp. This gives a top speed of 28.5kts. Maximum range at 20kts is 4,500nm. Normal crew complement is 206, including 13 officers and 19 aircrew. The Mk13 missile launcher is the vessels, primary armament. It can fire Standard SM01MR anti-aircraft missiles, or Harpoon anti ship missiles. This version of Standard has a range of only 25nm, much less than the 40nm of Kidd's SM-2MR missiles. The vessel is also fitted with two triple launchers for anti-submarine torpedoes, and carries two SH-2F or two SH-60 helicopters. The 3in gun can fire 85 rounds per minute. Maximum range is 8.7nm against surface targets, or 6.6nm against air threats. A single 20mm Phalanx is mounted on the roof of the aircraft hanger. Electronic warfare and chaff/decoy facilities are similar to those of Kidd. To support the Tarawa, her five supporting ships, and the warship escort, the fleet is accompanied by the 41,350 ton Replenishment Oiler AOR 6 Kalamazoo. Built by General Dynamics, and commisioned in 1973, Kalamazoo is one of a class of seven ships designed to support naval units operating at sea. It can carry 160,000 barrels of fuel, 600 tons of munitions, 200 tons of dry stores, and 100 tons of refrigerated stores. Cargo handling is highly automated. Powered by General Electric steam turbines, the ship has a top speed of 20kts. Maximum range is 6,500 miles at 19kts, or 10,000 at 16kts. Normal crew is 454. A ship with this capability needs to be able to defend itself, so Kalamazoo carries a single Mk 29 eight barrelled launcher for Sea Sparrow surface-to-air missiles. Like Tarawa, it is fitted with the SLQ 32(V)3 electronic warfare system, plus four six-barrelled SRBOC launchers for chaff and decoy flares. Add on armament can include two 20mm phalanx CIWS, or four 2Omm Oerlikon cannons. Kalamazoo has a small flight deck and hanger. These were designed to handle two UH 46 helicopters. The Marine Expeditionary Brigade The force tasked with Operation Ocean Saber is a Marine Expeditionary Brigade (MEB) whose Regimental Landing Team will carry out the landing and ground combat. An MEB is commanded by a Brigadier General, and built around a reinforced infantry regiment and a composite Marine aircraft group. Self-sustainable for up to 30 days, an MEB is used to provide rapid response in what are euphemistically called Low Intensity Conflict situations. In real life, the Regimental Landing Team is a complex organisation incorporating specialized units such as armour and artillery and supported by a Brigade Service Support Group. To make the game easy to play, we assumed the landing force consists entirely of normal infantry battalions, and that these incorporate the supporting armour and artillery. The number of infantry battalions has been increased to compensate for the "missing" support units. A normal Marine regiment consists of three battalions, each with around 1,200 - 1,400 men. These have a two digit designation. Our landing force is based on the 9th Marine Regiment, and has three battalions - 1/9, 2/9, and 3/9, plus two battalions from the 6th Marine Regiment - 1/6 and 2/6. Each battalion has three rifle companies. The first battalion has A, B, & c companies, the 2nd E, F & G, the 3rd I, K, & L. Company designations D, H, and M are never used. During the last decade, battalions were slimmed down from four companies to three, eliminating D, H and M, but the remaining three retained their traditional designations. Each company consists of a 1st, 2nd and 3rd platoon. US military "shorthand" for the A company, 1st battalion, 9th Marine Regiment is "A/1/9", but the unit designations you`ll see in the game are written in fuller form, such as "A coy 1st bn, 9th Marines". The TAWADS tactical map does not identify individual platoons, so don`t be surprised to see several units in close proximity all labelled identically. These will be individual platoons of the same company. The Marines will go ashore either in conventional landing craft or in the amphibious Landing Vehicle Tracked (LTV). They can also be flown into battle aboard CH-53 Super Stallion helicopters. These heavy assault helicopters can carry up to 55 soldiers, or 36,000lb of stores. Once ashore, the Marines will move inland in their HMMWVs (High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicles). Referred to as "Humvees", these jeep-like vehicles can carry six men, or a light weapon such as a 20mm cannon or recoilless rifle. One thing any amphibious assault force is always short of is armored vehicles. The only main battle tanks available to go ashore are 20 M1 Abrams. These tanks weigh around 60 tons, and are armed with a powerful 105mm gun. The accuracy and armor-piercing capability of this gun far surpasses that of the 100mm gun mounted on Indonesian tanks. The latter have no modern fire-control system; if the first shot misses the target, the crew must try to correct the aim manually. The computerized system on the M1 should near-guarantee that if the first shot misses, the second will score a hit. The M1 has a top speed of 45mph on a road surface, can cross 9ft trenches, and climb a 4ft obstacle. It has a crew of four, and is protected by composite armor which is much more effective that the steel used in older tanks such as Indonesia's T-59s. To supplement this small tank force, the Marines have more than 400 eight-wheeled LAV-25 Light Armored Vehicles. The standard version is armed with a 25mm cannon and a co-axial machine gun, but the air defence variant has a lighter four-barrelled cannon and four Stinger shoulder-fired anti aircraft missiles. The LAV has a crew of three, and a top speed of more than 60mph on a good road surface. Although the AV-8Bs will do their best to provide air support for the Marines, additional air-strike capability is available either from AH-1W Sea Cobra attack helicopters, or from CH-53 rigged with externally- mounted weapon launchers, and cannon or machine gun able to fire through windows. THe AH-1W Sea Cobra is a custom-built attack helicopter with a two-man crew - pilot and gunner - and heavy armor protection. A nose mounted night-vision FLIR system, allows it to fight by day or night, carrying up to eight TOW or Hellfire antitank missiles, plus AIM-9 Sidewinders for air to air combat. For artillery support, Marine artillery units are equipped with the light but hard hitting M198 155mm howitzer. This has a maximum range of around 15 miles, and can deliver shells twice the weight of those fired by Indoneesias shorter-ranged artillery. The landing force has 18 six- gun batteries of M198 howitzers. To deal with enemy tanks, the Marines also have ground-launched TOW anti tank missiles, plus the smaller shoulder-fired Dragon anti- tank missile. The Stinger shoulder fired heat-seeking SAM is also available to protect mobile units from attack by Indonesian aircraft. SECTION VI - ABOARD THE TARAWA ------------------------------ After the animated sequence which starts the game, the player will be placed in the command center of the Tarawa. The entire game is controlled from this location, including command of the task force and the despatch of aircraft on combat missions. From this location, you have four options: 1. Move around the carrier to visit other compartments. 2. Use the Tactical Amphibious Warfare Data System (TAWADS) to plan or change combat operations. 3. Save the current state of the game, or reload a saved game. 4. Pause the game 5. Quit to DOS. Below deck, a single corridor gives access to all parts of the ship you`ll need to use. To get to it, click on the EXIT sign at the top left hand corner of the screen. (Similar EXIT signs will be found in all the compartments you visit.) Along one side of the corridor are the Pilot's Briefing Room, the Command Center, the Acclimatization Room, and the Hanger. From the other side, a passageway leads to the flight deck. You'll see the corridor from a position about half-way along its length Clicking on the red-coloured arrow marking on the deck will allow you to look in the opposite direction. To enter one of the compartments, click on its name, or in the case of the flight deck, on the sign "TO THE FLIGHT DECK". Note how the shape of the cursor changes from an arrow to a cross as you align it with the name, sign, or arrow. This change is shape shows that the cursor is aligned with a selectable option. At either end of the corridor are elevators. These will take you to three other levels of the ship; PRIMARY FLIGHT CONTROL (PRI-FLY) COMMAND CENTER (COMM. CNTR) CARGO HOLD VEHICLE DECK Clicking on the appropriate switch will take you the level you've selected. Clicking on the EXIT sign at the top left of the screen will take you back to the corridor, directly in the case of compartments in the corridor, or via the elevator in the case of the other decks. Modern warfare is fast moving, and in the heat of battle, time is short. To help you "short cuts" are provided to those parts of the ship you'll need to visit most often. There are telephones in most compartments. Clicking on these will take you immediately to the Command Center. End Of Part 3 -------------