…and now for something completely different!

To inject a little light relief into the board this is a game I’ve played on a couple of naval forums, I’m interested to see how it’d translate to an aviation one. If anyone feels like playing of course!?

Its called build yourself an Airforce:

The Year is 2009. You are the newly appointed chief of the Air Force for a fair sized, developed South American country. The new Presidente (me!) has rather right wing, nationalistic views and is singularly concerned with a territorial claim over a group of islands some 500km offshore in the South Atlantic. In recent history an attempt has been made to reclaim these islands for your country but this was unsuccessful for a variety of reasons. El Presidente has decided that it was mainly due to a lack of advanced weaponry though.

He has informed you that a plan has been formulated to reoccupy the islands. His orders to you are to create and present a reasoned plan to develop and expand the air force to such a level as to be able to prevent an advanced enemy naval task force from successfully reassuming local control around the islands. To do this an extra $750 million per year is being allocated from the, much expanded, defence budget to the airforce for procurements alone.

The Navy is being granted an equally handsome figure for modernisation of the fleet but is being relieved of its fixed wing aviation, this will mean that the current squadron of naval strike aircraft and ASW Patrol aircraft will be transferred to the Airforce – if you want them. It will also, unfortunately, mean a very much enhanced maritime support role.

Usefully, after the last conflict, a modern airbase has been constructed on the islands by the colonial power currently occupying them, developed specifically for use by high performance combat aircraft. Intelligence reveals that the defences of this facility have been neglected and the Army believes that they’re Special Forces unit will have little trouble neutralising and holding the base until reinforcements can be flown in. Any plans for the defence of the islands therefore can include units staged at this base.

The minimum period for the rest of your armed forces to be ready for the attack is estimated at three years. You therefore have a minimum of $2.25 billion to rebuild / remodel your force with. El Presidente, being a generous kind hearted soul who recognises what it means to lose control of the air over a battlefield, is prepared to wait a further 5 years after that if the Airforce requires the extra time and funding to complete its growth. So you have a maximum of a $6 billion over 8 years available if you feel you need it. Be warned though the enemy force strength will increase as time goes on as well. So the force you use in a 2017 attack will have to be much stronger than one in 2012.

Intelligence predicts the enemy strengths as below:

Predicted Enemy Task Force – 2012
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1 Furious Class Aircraft carrier
Airwing: 48 USN Joint Strike Fighter, 6 Boeing EV-22 AWACS, 4 Merlin HMA.1 ASW helo’s.

4 Dauntless Class AAW cruisers
Armament: 48 Aster 30 SAM’s, 8 Harpoon Blk2 SSM, 1 5” gun mount, 2 Goalkeeper CIWS.

10 Duke Class ASW Frigates
Armament: 16 x Aster 15 SAM, 1 4.5” gun mount, 8 Harpoon, 1 Phalanx CIWS, Torp tubes. 1 Merlin HMA.1 ASW Helo.

4 Astute Class Nuclear Submarines
Armament: VLS: 8 Tomahawk TLAM. Tubes: Spearfish torpedoes, Harpoon SSM

2 Trafalgar Class Nuclear Submarines
Armament: Tubes: 4 Tomahawk TLAM blk III, Spearfish torp. Harpoon SSM

Amphib and Replenishment vessels (all fitted minimum 2 Phalanx or Goalkeeper CIWS and chaff/jammers)

Predicted Enemy Task Force – 2017
———————————-

2 Furious Class Aircraft carrier
Airwing (each): 48 USN Joint Strike Fighter, 6 Boeing EV-22 AWACS, 4 Merlin HMA.1 ASW helo’s.

8 Dauntless Class AAW cruisers
Armament: 48 Aster 30 SAM’s, 8 Harpoon Blk2 SSM, 1 5” gun mount, 2 RAM ILMS, 2 30mm cannon.

4 Trident Class trimaran frigates
Armament: 32 Aster 15 SAM, 8 Harpoon SSM, 1 5” gun mount, 1 RAM ILMS, 2 30mm cannon. Torp tubes. 2 Merlin HMA.1 Helo.

6 Duke Class ASW Frigates
Armament: 16 x Aster 15 SAM, 1 4.5” gun mount, 8 Harpoon, 1 Phalanx CIWS, Torp tubes. 1 Merlin HMA.1 ASW Helo.

6 Astute Class Nuclear Submarines
Armament: VLS: 8 Tomahawk TLAM. Tubes: Spearfish torpedoes, Harpoon SSM

Amphib and Replenishment vessels (all fitted minimum 2 Phalanx or Goalkeeper CIWS and chaff/jammers)

Your airforce is currently equipped as below, technical abilities are on a par with several other coutries in the region, you have an indigenous aviation industry that’s capable of turning out fair jet trainers etc. So you can be confident that virtually any type of aircraft that you can afford, with modest technical assistance could be supported and purchases can be sourced from either East or West with no political barriers.

Current Order of Battle: Your Airforce
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F-5E/F – 18/6
RF-5 Tigereye – 6
Mirage IIIE/Mirage 50 – 16/12
A-4AR/TA-4AR – 31/5
Super Etendard (from Navy) – 6
S-2A Tracker (from Navy) – 9
P-3B Orion – 6
Macchi 339A – 16
Pilatus PC-9 – 24
IA-58A Pucara – 39
KC-130H – 4
C-130H – 8
G-222 – 4
Plus various light transport/liaison/VIP types.

PS There are no bonus points for guessing countries involved and the only prize for creating the best airforce is bragging rights I’m afraid!

Have fun!