[Earth II] The Empire goes after Equatorial Guinea
[Earth II] The Empire goes after Equatorial Guinea
OoC: This is an Decree 12 thread, taking place in the Earth II universe. If anyone NOT in Earth II attempts to retaliate on behalf of Binthor, I will ignore it. On the other hand, if you have suggestions, I will take my time and listen and reply to them. Thank you.
IC: The Empire of Cotland had discovered the fall of the government in Binthor, and immediately made plans for the annexation of some of the land. They didn't call it annexation though. They called it "restoration of law and order". And what a restoration it was. Two Nimitz class carriers, three Ynoga class carriers, their escort vessels and ten troop transports. All in all, three Marine Regiments and two Mechanized Infantry Regiments were going to restore order in the land, supported by six hundred aircraft from the Air Force.
General Freddy McCarthy looked at the battlemap. His Marines would take the main island of Bioko first, supported by the warships. On it was the capitol Malabo and quite a few enemy warships and soldiers. At the mainland, twenty Virginia class NSSNs and fourty Zumwalt class destroyers provided an effective blockade that would be in effect untill the Marines could be ready to take it. Another six Zumwalts would take Isla de Annobòn while the Marines took Bioko. The plan was, in theory, simple. Bomb the living bejesus out of any defensive structures and occupy the area with plenty of Marines and soldiers. If it would work, on the other hand, was yet to be determined.
The first attempts of communications via diplomats went down the drain. The former Binthorians didn't want to leave command to the Cots. That left only military invasion as an option. Leaving them alone was not an option.
The first orders went to the Vulture class arsenal ships 'Victor' and 'Joel' who were 150 nautical miles out to launch cruise missiles towards the military targets on the island. Within minutes, 200 'Pole-axe' cruise missiles were on their way for their targets: Military installations and units. Of those 200, 60 of them carried sub-munitions designed to take out personell and lightly armed vehicles.
While the arsenal ships fired off missiles, the Marines entered their Higgins boats and LSTs and prepared themselves for combat. The carriers launched their planes and readied the choppers for take-off. Soon, 24 F-22Ns were flying BARCAP and CAP, while 48 FA-18E Super Hornets were flying towards their targets. 2 E-2C Hawkeyes were providing AWACS support for the planes. The enemy was launching planes to intercept, and the Cots prepared themselves for plenty of air combat. The Ticonderoga class cruisers and Arleigh Burke class destroyers readied their air defense missiles and provided additional radar backing for the planes.
The assault on Malabo went according to plan. The initial missile strike had alerted the population, and the government were now scrambling fighters to check what was going on. Most of the radar sites on the island had been destroyed, but there were still one or two operational. Enough for the fighters of the former Binthorian air force to see that there were a heck of a lot of aircraft in their way. So, they scrambled the available airpower and called for more from the mainland.
OOC: I would really like to have some opposition. Anyone?
The assault pressed on. It was 40 minutes after the first cruise missile had been fired from the ICS 'Victor's aft VLS cells. By now, most of the defensive installations had been destroyed by the 200 missiles fired in the first volley, along with what military units that was on the island. Now, the second volley of missiles were BGM-990Bs and Cs. The B-version was the standard missiles, while the C variants were Pole-axe missiles loaded with napalm. 30 of these were fired at the three beaches that were to be assaulted, 10 at each. The napalm burned away everthing in a 300 meter radius, clearing the beaches for the Marines to make relative safe landings. Before the Marines were ushered off, a single MQ-1A Predator II UAV took off and flew over the island, checking the landing sites and known military bases for enemy activity. It carried two AGM-114 Hellfire missiles with a range of more then 16 kilometers under its wings, ready to shoot at enemy units if neccisary. At the landing sites, everything looked clear. All stationary defenses had been blown down in massive craters. The operation was good to go.
The composers of this plan expected it to be minimal with armour on the island. After all, it was an island. The Binthorian units on the island before the collapse had been only two light brigades. That meant infantry, jeeps, trucks and choppers. It was time for the naval air units to show that they meant business.
The 8 F-29B Vulture fighters from the ICS 'Perm' were flying in a loose formation. There were still some SAM sites and AAA batteries on the island, and while the planes had advanced stealth technology, they would take no chances. Each fighter carried eight AIM-120D AMRAAMs in their ventral bays and four AIM-9X Sidewinders in the side bays, in addition to the 20mm ammunition for the M61A2 cannon mounted in the nose of the aircrafts. More then enough to take out whatever remained of enemy planes and choppers. The pilots were experienced, each having more then 500 fight-hours after graduation from the naval academy in Tahiti behind them. Right now, they would fly CAP for the ships that lay just behind the horizon while they emptied themselves of men dressed in green BDUs and carrying XM-8 rifles. The flight leader was CMDR Igor "Husky" Papov, a experienced pilot with combat experience from everything after Sicily and currently the CAG of the 'Perm' airwing. These eight F-29B Vultures and six SH-60F Seahawks. As Husky thought about this, the radio sparkled to life.
"Pingo flight, this is Uniform 2. Multiple bogeys inbound, bearing 1-3-1. Range 40 nautical. Speed 400 knots, angels 10. It looks like there are 20 of them."
It was the E-2C Hawkeye that belonged to the ICS Singapore's air wing and currently their eye in the sky.
"Uniform 2, Pingo lead. Copy that. Moving to intercept."
"Pingo flight, you are weapons free. Weapons free. Good hunting."
The order had been given, and the planes split up into four groups, each consisting of two aircraft. They climbed to 16 000 feet, 6 000 feet over and now 36 nutical miles away from the enemy planes. At 20 nautical they would engage, but for the moment the F-29s relied on the enemy lack of AWACS and proper radar cover and their own stealth for cover.
At 20 nautical miles out, the Vultures fired off two AMRAAMs on each enemy. As a result, there were 40 AIM-120D AMRAAMs in the air, but none of them gave a single radar sweep that could warn the enemy. This was achieved by letting the Hawkeye guide the missiles in, letting them fly free only 3 kilometers away from the targets. It was a well-tested tactic in the Cottish navy and air force.
The enemy got a small glimpse of the Vultures when they opened the bay doors to fire, but they were closed within 6 seconds. While a few enemies fired off a few missiles, they lost their targets and flew off, eventually splashing down in the sea below. The Cottish AMRAAMs didn't give a sound because of the Hawkeye guiding the missiles in. The results were devestating. All planes were hit, and of the 20 enemy F-15C fighters inbound (they were identified as F-15s later), only 4 of the pilots had a chance of ejecting. That was how devestating the tactics were. The assault continued.
Fifteen hundred Marines made up the first attack wave, with a further two thousand and fifteen hundred in the second and third waves, respectivly. The treeline had been napalmed away, and the Marines were inserted via AAAVs, LCACs, LCU-2000s and Higgins boats. within 30 minutes, the Marines were 1 kilometer away from the beach, advancing inland.
http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/africa/bioko_tpc_1996.jpg
The soldiers advanced quickly, taking out any threathening thing in their way. This consisted of among others M113s, M998s and UH-60Ls, in addition to scores of enemy soldiers. The 7.62mm, 12.7mm and 15.5mm heavy machine guns were having a blast, litterarily. The Marines took casualites, but called in naval and air support in the form of AH-1W Super Cobras with 2.75 inch Hydra rocketpods and F/A-18F Super Hornets with cluster bombs. Other CH-53E Sea Stallions carried marines to the edge of the capitol of Malabo, where they would assume control when the naval bombardmemt was completed. Temporarily returned to active status, two Iowa class battleships fired off 16" shell after 16" shell, devestating the city and its surroundings while F/A-18s cluster-bombed military units.
A few hours later, the shelling and bombing stopped as suddenly as it had begun. An eerie silence filled the island, save the choppers flying overhead. Sporadic gunfire could be heard in the jungle near Malabo, but other then that, there were silence.
A message was sent to the government in Malabo.
"Surrender immediately and you will be spared. The only way you can save yourselves are to order all military units in Equatorial Guinea to surrender. Don't be fools. Surrender now. You have my personal assurances that no harm will come to yourselves or your people. I will only offer you this offer once. Surrender now, and it will all be over.
- GEN McCarthy"
The Cots awaited the decition from what remained of Malabo.