Operation Stingray

Operation Stingray took place in the Fall of 2020 on MKSE's Malden and Sarugao.

OPERATION STINGRAY
"SLK has been contracted by the Department of Political-Military affairs to recapture the Sarugao Airport from a rogue mercenary group.  As per the contract, SLK is to initiate a surrender of the opposing forces via an overwhelming show of force.

This operation will be split between the SLK Safety Logistics 1st Expeditionary Section and 2nd Attack Squadron "Gunfighters", both having their own objectives. At 19:00 local time, the ground forces will begin an air insertion on to the southern end of the airport runway. Before they make landfall it is the air wing's job to clear the base of any Anti-Air installations from long range. They will also be on escort duty for the ground team's helicopter on the way into the AO. Once the ground team has inserted, Gunfighter will break off from the airport and begin bombing the nearby East Harbor facilities. Keep in mind your objective is now twofold at this time, destruction of the harbor facilities is secondary to maintaining air superiority.

While the air wing is ensuring the destruction of all East Harbor facilities, the ground team will make their way up the airport runway while clearing all hangars and other buildings of enemy forces. After the runway is secured, the ground team will surround the Air Traffic Control tower and force the enemy leadership to surrender. DO NOT breach the control tower before the enemy has surrendered or it will be a mission failure.

Once the airport is secured, and all surrendered enemies are evacuated from the ATC, the ground team will take over inside the tower and direct the landing of Gunfighter Squadron

As per the contract, any enemy fixed wing aircraft not destroyed in the operation will be handed over to SLK to be absorbed into Gunfighter Squadron." -SLK Section Commander, Dillard

The Operation
The operation commenced slightly ahead of the 1900hrs deadline and begun with the 2nd Attack Squadron "Gunfighters" taking off from an airstrip on Malden, Gunfighter 2 and Gunfighter 4 flying F-14 Tomcats and Gunfighter 3 piloting his F-16se, to perform Anti-RAD strikes against the captured Sarugao Airport. This including the destruction of two CIWS guns that had been deployed near the airport's tarmac to make way for the remainder of SLK's forces, SLK Safety Logistics 1st Expeditionary Section, who would be landing on the southern edge of the airfield via callsign: CUTLASS a support/transport helo. After CUTLASS was cleared for touch down and deployment of SLK's ground forces, callsign: GROUND, the Gunfighters then proceeded with their secondary objective of destroying a neighboring port and maintaining air superiority over the AO.

Taking the Airfield
With CUTLASS having successfully dropped off GROUND they proceeded to return to base with no issue, however GROUND found themselves in a slight predicament. They found themselves under heavy enemy fire from a bunker less than 200 meters to their front near the airfield's buildings. Two Contractors, Syk and Firecat, were critically wounded by the overwhelming machinegun fire. Thankfully, due to the swift actions of their squad mates the MG nest was destroyed and they were able to secure the immediate area allowing the team medics to come up and start their work on returning the less-fortunate contractors to a close to combat ready state. The two were successfully treated and rejoined GROUND where they continued north and engaged more mercenary forces around the holding cells near the outer edge of the airfield before pushing into, securing and establishing a CCP (casualty collection point) at the vehicle compound. After establishing the CCP they moved to clear the hangars, Inside they found little resistance and both an F-16 and F-18 fighter jet that would promptly be added to the SLK arsenal with the completion of the operation. Meanwhile, with the nearby port destroyed by Gunfighter 2 and 3, Gunfighter 4 still battled for air superiority, 2 and 3 rejoined 4 and together brought down 4 to 6 enemy aircraft (unfortunately unconfirmed due to most being shot down over the sea). With the airfield mostly secure all eyes were set on the ATC tower, however the PMCs had the foresight to set up sentries near the major gate and on a nearby hill this allowed them to see the approach of the Mercenary's counter attack.

Show of Force
The Mercenary forces, possibly alerted to SLKs planned raid or due to preparedness, began emerging from the forest to the west of the runway, the north near the fuel storage and additional hangars, and lastly the largest force coming from the east along the Main Supply Route along with armored assets, chiefly, a BMP2. GROUND split into 3 teams including Team 1, 2, and an overwatch team. Team 1 handled securing the runways while Team 2 secured the outer buildings all while overwatch directed the teams to their targets. Team 1 designated the BMP for Gunfighter 3 who promptly made an attack run and managed to destroy the BMP after his second pass, this alleviated most of the pressure being put on the team protecting the main gate and outlying buildings. As Ground team 1 cleared the forces to the West and East, Team 2 cleared the secondary hangars and fuel storage to the north. While battling for control over the sieged front gate Team 2's Chief and Painful were heavily wounded but again the SLK Contractors were able to continue on after being treated by the team's other medic for the Op, Syk. With the destruction of the BMP 2 and an absolutely incredible "Display of Force" by the SLK Contractors leading to the Rogue Mercenary Forces losing almost 3/4 of their strength in the counter attack and original raid the Rogue Forces decided to retreat and with that GROUND turned their attention back to the ATC that still held a small number of mercenaries who had barricaded themselves inside. Command had issued a stand down order which meant GROUND had to hurry up and wait, luckily they got to witness the final moments of Gunfighter Squadron's aerial battle in which Gunfighter 4 claims to have shot down an F22 but this cannot be confirmed as, again, the wreckage had been lost to sea.

Zero Hour
With an hour or so passed and it now dark GROUND is given the go-ahead by Section Commander Dillard to move on the ATC. An entry team made up of Chief, Painful, Axel and Sortie proceeded to enter and remove the surrendered mercenaries. Once inside the Contractors stripped the rogue mercs of their weapons and escorted them out to the base of the tower where they were held until the arrival of the proper authorities who took them away. Immediately after regaining control of the ATC and therefore the airfield GROUND readied the tarmac in preparation for Gunfighters' landing. In celebration an unknown member of Gunfighter then "Buzzed the Tower" as one last show of force to the enemy faction. After all Gunfighters had touched down they then refueled, rearmed and took a look at their new toys in hangers 2 and 3. As per the contract the F-16 and F-18 within the hangers were to be given to SLK as part of payment, due to having more time to kill until the SDF (Sarugao Defense Force) arrive The Gunfighters marked their catches with the infamous "Jester" symbol. Once present the SDF took the Rogues into custody and, after a few brief words with Dillard, thanked us for our completion of the contract then went about their day as if it were another Tuesday.

Operation Notes:

 * 1) Contractors Syk, Firecat, Chief, and Painful are recommended for R&R, then limited-duty for at least 4 weeks due to injuries sustained from the operation.
 * 2) One F-16 and One F-18 added to SLK Safety and Logistics roster of aircraft available to the "Gunfighters"

Trivia

 * First go at this mission lead to Gomen cresting the near-cliff located along the Southeast of the Airfield's perimeter and getting immediately shot down by the CWIS located near the center of the airfield's tarmac. This lead to the injury of every member of ground squad and a screwed up infil, that lead to the restart of the op.
 * Also during the first run of the mission, Lambert's stick was dead and caused his aircraft to veer off the runway and turn into a ball of flames after colliding with a landing light and flipping at the end of the runway. Dillard decided to proceed with the mission until the above happened.