Scarecrow (NWCM5)

Scarecrow (Part 5 of 8)

Cyprus Affair Campaign

New World Order Series

HDS3 MEDC Battleset

When the NSC made good on its promises to deliver SA-10 Grumble SAM systems to the Greek Cypriots in Spring 1995, despite Turkish protest, the stage was set for another conflict in Cyprus. The presence of the advanced weapons shifted the delicate balance of power, as it put nearly all aircraft operating from the Turkish side of the island at risk. When regular Turkish forces stormed the island a few months later, NATO was embarrassed. It had not been aware of Turkey's intention to reclaim Cyprus once and for all. Hand in hand with the economic boom in the NSC came military modernization and revitalization, funding for which was fuelled at least partly by an unprecedented level of arms exports. The NSC would no longer sit idly by while its national interests were decided by others. It launched a major attack against Turkey in June 1995. The NSC did not believe NATO would intervene in the Cypriot affair after having been snubbed by its Turkish partner and after the beating it had received in the Baltic conflict a year earlier. The NSC was wrong.

The first mission of the NATO task force, now known as Task Force Scarecrow, upon arriving on station between Cyprus and Crete, was to secure air and surface supremacy. This will be difficult. By now, the Turkish military is essentially non-existent, and will not be able to provide much support. Do not attack land-based targets and do not attack surface targets unless they are inside the declared exclusion zone. Submarines may be attacked upon detection. (Released August 2000).