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Under African Skies, 2017 : CMO Remastered

Under African Skies (2017)

It is early Tuesday morning, 31 January 2017. You are the four-star General Officer in command of the joint/combined United States Africa Command (AFRICOM). You left your offices at Kelly Barracks outside of Stuttgart, Germany early yesterday, and have established a forward command post at RAF Ascension Island. You report directly to the Secretary of Defense (SecDef), and your subordinate reporting commands include: HQ, US Army Africa, Vicenza, Italy; HQ, US Navy Africa, Naples, Italy; and HQ, US Air Force Africa at Ramstein AB, Germany.

Some European countries have already joined the American effort. The Brits had ships moving before the U.S. Declaration of War, and have integrated into your command structure. The Dutch, Belgian and Polish forces are not ready at this early stage, and will be assigned to follow-on operations. Germany, Italy and Spain are offering bases and over-flight rights, but are not committing forces at this time. Of moderate concern, the French are already sailing into the area of operations but have indicated they are going it alone. Diplomatic channels state that France is intent on restoring national dignity, and they do not want their effort conducted under the auspices of a coalition.

U.S. forces are assembling and on the move. There are two CVBG’s enroute, but won’t be in the area for three to four days. Land units are being earmarked in CONUS, and will load onto transports within two to three weeks. Some airborne tankers and strike aircraft have already been deployed to your command. The center piece of your current force structure is an Expeditionary Strike Group that was headed to the Mediterranean for training and diverted to your command. Additionally, a Special Operations capable task force of LCS’s and support ships that had been operating in the area is now assigned to you. These are welcome additions. Prior to the events leading to this war, AFRICOM had only a hospital ship providing support for the latest Ebola outbreak and a few patrol craft for security and anti-piracy operations.

About 98% of the personnel in your command are unaware of your greatest asset. Under an operation codenamed TANGENT, the CIA was able to establish an extensive HUMINT intelligence network prior to the collapse of the former Nigerian government. TANGENT is largely staffed with Nigerian personnel, augmented with CIA covert operators and Special Operations personnel. At this juncture, TANGENT is an intelligence gathering network, but will soon expand into a full scale paramilitary organization. A Joint Intelligence Fusion Center, Nigeria (JIFC-N) has been established in Northern Virginia outside of Langley to exploit TANGENT information and integrate it with other sources. JIFC-N is providing a constant stream of actionable intelligence.

The SECDEF has laid out the framework for the war. It is to be conducted in three phases, and you are starting the first phase shortly. Wait for orders before conducting combat operations. The Nigerian War Plan, codename PERFECT STORM, calls for:

· Phase I: Operation OREGON RAIN (1-3 Day Duration)

o Establish Air Superiority over CWA

§ Conduct SEAD/DEAD operations

§ Degrade CWA airfields

§ Destruction of aircraft

o Support TANGENT elements

§ Conduct resupply operations

§ Provide on-call close air support

§ Provide infiltration/exfiltration operations on order

o Degrade CWA C3 capability

o Degrade CWA oil and gas revenue capability

o Avoid contact/conflict with China

· Phase II: Operation FLORIDA THUNDER (+ 2x CVBG) (2 Weeks Duration)

o Shock and awe operations

o Establish Air Dominance over CWA

o Reinforce and expand TANGENT elements

o Eliminate CWA C3 capability

o Destroy CWA oil and gas revenue capability

o Degrade CWA ground forces

o Identify and occupy suitable beach/port facilities

o Negotiate a withdraw of Chinese advisors

· Phase III: Operations HEARTLAND TWISTER (+ ground forces) (6 Month Duration)

o Develop and enhance TANGENT’s military capability

o Destroy CWA ground forces

o Occupy key coastal cities/facilities

o Establish air bases and port facilities

o Reintegrate several million refugees back into Nigerian society

o Capture/kill key CWA personnel

o Form new Nigerian government

It is 0545 and you decide to make a quick inspection of the developing command post. As you walk from your quarters near the air field, the first thing that strikes you is that the southwest corner of Ascension Island looks like a ♥♥♥♥♥ camp. Mobile communication vans with antenna arrays have set up on what high ground they could find, and a haphazard tent city has popped up overnight. The noise, at this early hour, is deafening. A constant stream of cargo aircraft, passenger airliners and tankers are dumping their loads at this terminal end of the air bridge from the U.S. The hardstand aircraft parking area looks as packed as a car dealership lot before a big sale.

Your destination is the J2/J3 operations office that occupies one of the small warehouse spaces set aside for non-aviation activities. If you wanted to be charitable, you could describe it at a bee hive of activity; however, the sickening feeling in the pit of your stomach knows that currently chaos and anarchy reign – as a young 2LT, you would have called it a complete Charlie Foxtrot. A young airman puts a cup of coffee in your hand. A Captain quietly approaches and says, “Sir, you might want to come take a look at the current operations monitor. We think the French are about to start something.”

Commander, for opening moves of operation OREGON RAIN the following forces are at your disposal:

US/UK Order of Battle:

Major Bases:

RAF Ascension Island

HQ (Forward) AFRICOM (notional)

96th Bomb Squadron (Red Devils) (8 x B-52H Stratofortress)

Det. 13th Bomb Squadron (Grim Reapers) (2 x B-2 Spirit)

77th Air Refueling Squadron (Totin’ Tigers) (8 x KC-135 Stratotanker)

Det. 522nd Special Operations Squadron (Fireballs) (4 x MC-130J Commando II)

Det. 348th Reconnaissance Squadron (Northern Hawks) (4 x RQ-4 Global Hawk)

Det. 5th Patrol Squadron (Mad Foxes) (4 x P-8A Poseidon)

Forces at Sea:

TF 6.24 (Humanitarian Aid) (To Remain At Anchor)

USNS Comfort (T-AH-20) (Flag)

USNS Robert E. Peary (T-AKE-5)

TF 6.26 (Anti-piracy, Security and SAR)

USS Zephyr (PC-8) (Flag)

USS Shamal (PC-13)

USS Tornado (PC-14)

Atlantic Patrol South (Reinforced)

HMS Dragon (D-35) (Flag)

HMS Montrose (F-236)

HMS Kent (F-78)

RFA Wave Ruler (A-390)

TF 6.44 (Special Operations)

USNS Lewis B. Puller (T-MLP-3/T-AFSB-1) (Flag)

Det. HSC-84 (Red Wolves) (2 x HH-60H Rescue Hawk)

Det. HMLA-267 (Stingers) (1 x AH-1Z Viper)

Det. HMH-464 (Condors) (1 x CH-53E Super Stallion)

USNS Choctaw County (JHSV-2)

USNS Patuxent (T-AO-201)

USNS Carl Brashear (T-AKE-7)

USS Fort Worth (LCS-3)

USS Milwaukee (LCS-5)

TF 6.50 (Expeditionary Strike Group)

USS Monterey (CG-61)

USS McFaul (DDG-74)

USS Truxtun (DDG-103)

USS Mount Whitney (LCC-20) (Flag)

USS Bataan (LHD-5)

Det. VMFA-115 (Silver Eagles) (12 x F-35B Lightning II)

Det. HMLA-269 (Gunrunners) (4 x AH-1Z Viper, 4 x UH-1Y Venom)

Det. VMM-264 (Black Knights) (12 x MV-22B Osprey)

Det. HUQ-2 (Shrimps) (4 x MQ-8B Fire Scout)

USS New York (LPD-21)

USS Oak Hill (LSD-51)

USNS John Ericsson (T-AO-194)

Submarines:

USS Helena (SSN-725)

HMS Ambush (S-120)