Command Modern Operations - Magnum! - (We Wargame in Search for Questions, Not in Search for Answers)

The latest mission that I reported for Falcon BMS, left me aching for a good fight with enemy SAMs. I am full of questions on how to dance with an enemy SA-5. But my problem is beyond battle drill, it is mostly about if I am asking the right questions. 

Command Modern Operations (CMO) is a fantastic tool for exploration and a great platform to look for insights. With its great database, it took me less than 10 minutes to set up an scenario at the same area of operations in my last Falcon BMS foray. Down to the villages and small cities plotted besides the AAA, SA-5 and a trustworthy F-16CJ armed with HARM missiles. 

The regular vanilla soution to this tactical problem left me very frustrated. Until I started wondering what questions I was not asking myself.

What is the greatest asset of the enemy SAM emplacement?

The SA-5's great asset is its range. Literally a few miles east of the Albanian border and my F-16CJ is wasting fuel dodging missiles. So long for the fuel saved by flying high, it will be burnt in violent maneuvering to loose altitude and make myself a target for AAA. The enemy's strenght becomes my vulnerability. A true recipe for failure.

What is the critical vulnerability of the enemy SAM system?

Having the targeting radar on. By the way, did you know that in CMO the enemy SAM radars go off and on depending on how critical the situation is? It happens also in Falcon BMS too. Anyway, that's something I can exploit by approaching from the south, masking and un-masking my aircraft until within HARM's range. The outcome was greatly in my favor. Approach, pop out, wait until the SA-5 is one, fire the HARM and make sure the incoming enemy missile needs the SA-5 emplacement's radar on. All of the sudden, "I" was commanding that SA-5 site's on and off states.

One my argue, I got answers after all. And that is true. But those answers came only after I asked the right questions. 

I didn't come to CMO to figure out waypoints and IPs. How those will work or not is always a question of luck and the many things that can happen in the battlefield. The answers I got have more chances to last no matter how bad things get.

Cheers,