luigidelta

POINT OF NO RETURN Over the Sicily Strait Brigadier General Franz Klecher, tied to the rear seat of one of the Tornados ECR of the 10th “Gruppo Ricognizione” observed the tactical formation of his IDS raiders on the left of his aircraft. For the second time in his life he was into real action, the first time having been when he was still a beardless lieutenant in the 1991 Gulf War. Now he was going at it again, this time with the responsibility of an entire air brigade. His complex air unit was going for an attack to the port of Tunis and it had the bulk of the Tunisian fleet as his target. The politician were coming down very hard on the Tunisians for not having apologized yet for the attack to the Italian civilian shipping in the strait and for the loss of the entire crew of an oceanic fishing boat. The Navy had rattled the Tunis’ cage already with a covert operation that sunk at least two of the precious vessels of the Tunisian Fleet, and his Air Brigade was now called to finish the job by sinking in port the rest of the Tunisian complement of ships. The direct attack had been tasked to the 36th Group, and eight of its Tornados IDS were now skimming over the Sicily Strait at 460 knots, about the maximum speed the Tornado could achieve at 200 feet without afterburner. Each of the raiders carried four 500 lbs retarded bombs which had been preferred to the laser guided ones for this mission, given the attack profile. The 10th Gruppo Tornado ECR was tasked with the electronic support of the mission, coordination and overall command. Finally, the escort was constituted by 12 fighters from the 5th Gruppo Caccia equipped with F-16C, in case any Tunisian fighter had the time to take off to contrast the operation. Bizerte Airbase Tunisia Lieutenant Colonel Francois Bertrand was observing the unloading operations of his second missile battery from the C-160 Transalls parked at terminal three. So far He had the time to put the 12th battery in place on the north side of the airport and was quite satisfied with his job. The 3rd battery was expected to arrive in two days from Perpignan and he couldn’t wait to have his entire unit assembled and ready to operate. For now he did not have any precise order other than the one to organize his battalion in the best way possible to defend the Bizerte Airport, where the totality of the Tunisian Air Force was based. He didn’t have weapons free orders yet and thus he could not fire on anybody, but he could place his radars and his launchers as best as he could and wait for the green light, which it was sensed could arrive at any time now. The situation had to be serious because in the morning he witnessed the landing of the leading elements of a chasse group of Mirage 2000 which rapidly defiladed in a hidden area of the base. Moreover the Italians had lately increased their air activity and his radars already spotted more than once target flying from Sardinia and Sicily and vice versa; mainly slow stuff like patrol aircrafts and helicopters. Nobody knew what the Italians were plotting, but it was clear that the retaliatory action that they undertook against the port of Tunis the previous week was not enough to close the incident unless the Tunisian submitted to their political requests They never saw the incoming raid until the Tornadoes had their claws on the harbor and were releasing ordnance with a low level retarded layout profile. When the raiders were past the hills of Cape Bon it was too late to identify, assess and counter the threat. In truth the antiaircraft batteries on board of the Tunisian ship opened fire at the last moment on the Tornadoes which were flying practically at the ship masts height, but they opened up too late. Some of the Tunisian paratroopers deployed in the naval base after the attack by Italian Special Forces, fired some of their RBS-70 portable SAM, but again to no avail. In group of two, the Italian aircrafts attacked from four different directions contributing to augment the chaos. Their delivery turned to be fairly precise: five attackers hit their targets with a total of eleven 500 lbs bombs. The small Tunisian vessels could not withstand the quantity of damage provoked even by that limited quantity of explosive per bomb, and all hit target were effectively put out of order. Some sunk in the few meter of water of alongside their piers, some other were turned into flaming torches, and one exploded in a huge fireball, when one of its ammunition deposit was hit by a direct blow. Lieutenant Colonel Bertrand’s observed on radar the egressing aggressors, at that point even through the disturbance caused by their jamming equipment, but he was powerless to react without a specific order from his chain of command or without being directly attacked. The raid scored a success beyond expectations for the Italians. The Tunisian fleet had been virtually destroyed and the raid suffered no casualties. General Klecher found himself thinking that if the hostilities went on, such rate of success would not last forever.

22nd of June 2009 Captain Giovanni Murro had is U-212 Class Submarine “Salvatore Todaro” located exactly half way between the Elba Island and Corsica when he woke up for his routine afternoon nap. While he was en route for the galley to grab something to eat, he had to precipitously head back to the Combat Center when his sonar operators, picked up a contact with the passive front ears “Simas Elettronica G-506”. The sensitive system designed and built in cooperation with the German Navy, had just outmatched all expectations by managing to isolate a pretty far nuclear reactor in function from the considerable background noise typical of the restricted waters in the “Mouths of Bonifacio” between Sardinia and Corsica. “It’s a nuclear boat. Cannot tell you much more. Coming right out of the mouths, and it must be fast if we can pick it up at this distance” said Midshipman Claudio Carli not moving his eyes from the digital instrumentation. “Is that any news that the Yanks moved any of their boats from Patrai?” Murro asked first officer Lieutenant Commander Lencioni. “Not that we know Captain, but the Americans are not always informing us about the movements of their assets you know, especially the subs. However I would say that the chances that this contact is a American are fairly small. The Burger eaters do not like the restricted water of the Tyrrhenian for their nucs, especially since when they are not based at La Maddalena any more”. “A Frenchman!” “Most probably Captain” the motion path is consistent with a sortie from Toulon. I cannot say about his course or anything like that, but I would bet that our friend is turning south as soon as he clears the strait”. “It rest to be seen in if it is a boomer or an attack boat. I would be more worried if was one of their SSNs, since it would probably mean we’ve got a boat on a mission here”. The Todaro lost contact thirteen minutes after, only to pick it up again once the target established a steady 180 course on a route that would take him in line with Cape Bon. “I’ve got him…I’ve got him again; He’s running fairly fast, blade count around two zero”. It sounds…it sounds like a Rubis…Yes it’s a Rubis. Circa 180, 20 knots”. Captain Murro rethought about his operative orders: reach the partition line and monitor all military shipping in the area. “Plotting officer, this is the Captain; ahead two thirds, course 180. Let’s shadow him”. Put the AIP under way. Let me know immediately if it fades again and let’s slow down every 20 minutes to listen. If the Frog keeps his speed will lose him soon, but if he headed towards our area of operation we should reacquire him at the end of our journey…” Pmaidhof and CV32 We are using an Italian Paper Sim called “Simulazioni Militari”. Think about a Harpoon 4 which includes land operations and interoperability with land forces. Our Intent is to assess the tactical and operational capabilities of some Mediterranean actors in a crisis. We are having fun in keeping a diary of the various operations. What I am writing on this forum is some excerpt from those notes for the benefit of other war gamers that might enjoy the development of the simulation. We are trying to keep track of the various fictional characters, since the system has a pretty detailed modeling of the C4I system, which requires the appointing of the various commanders involved in the operations. [/b]

20th of July 2009 Early in the morning today United Express launched a press flash that was immediately broadcasted by CNN, BBC and Al Jazeera. Two explosions occurred in the harbor of Tunis in the first hours of the night and apparently, as many Tunisian warships were sunk in port. The Tunisian authorities only reported that two sailors were killed, without specifying if those casualties were due to the explosions or to a firefight. Tunis did not specify the result of what with all probability looks like an attack conducted by hostile special forces against the African harbor. The Tunisian Government has immediately accused Italy of what it defined a pure and simple act of piracy, which according to the Tunisian President will not go unpunished. 21st of July 2009 A brief bulletin by the Italian Navy was issued today on the Italian TV and newspapers stated the following: “yesterday night the Italian Navy conducted an attack against the port of Tunis as a retaliation for the Tunisian hostile military action of the 12th of June”. In the operation, one Tunisian military vessel was completely destroyed and one was heavily damaged”. The Italian government supplemented this communication by stating that having the Tunisian Government failed to comply with the Italian requests of the 21st of June, an action of retaliation in accordance to the generally recognized international law was ordered to remind the Tunisian Government that acting like pirates in international waters brings consequences. The Italian Government also stated that now the Tunisian Government is given a further two weeks to comply with the Italian requests expressed in the 21st of June diplomatic note. Failing to do so will involve new consequences.

22nd of June 2009 Yesterday, the Italian Government issued an official diplomatic note to Tunis directly addressing the incident of Marettimo. The diplomatic move was expected, but to the surprise of the majority of the international observers, it did not come through any international organizations channels, but directly from the Italian Government to the Tunisian one. Here below is a summarization of the Italian Note. By the words of the Italian Premier’s Spokesman Antonio Echer, the Italian Government formulated the following requests to the Tunisian Government: a) Prompt and financial compensation for the families of the 23 sailors killed on the civilian Italian vessel Sigulla. The Italian Government declared itself available to submit to the arbitration of a third part with regard to the amount of the compensation. Firm warning to the Tunisian authorities that any Tunisian military naval land or air assets, detected at less than 45 miles from any Italian military or not military naval, land or air assets will be from now on attacked without warning. This condition will be in effect until further notice, depending on the stance of the Tunisian Government. c) Formal apologies by the Tunisian Government to the Italian Government and to the families of the murdered sailors. d) The failure to comply with points a) and c) within two weeks from the date of the note will involve the most serious consequences. The reactions of the international community to this diplomatic action by the Italian Government were variegated but generally unfavorable. The German Minister for Foreign Affairs defined the Italian note an “overreaction to a legitimate issue”, and expressed all her worries for the situation. The British Premier Anthony Fuller invited the Italian Government to be more reflexive on an incident that certainly deserves the most serious investigation by the competent bodies of the United Nations, but that does not justifies uncontrolled reactions by any of the parties involved. In particular the British Prime Minister criticized points and d) of the Italian note defining the first unrealistic, and the second not in line with the modern relations among states. A firmer response came from the French Government by the word of President Georges Anvert, who defined the Italian stance as unacceptable even if he expressed all his condolences for the victims of the incident. The auspices of France said President Anvert, are that the question will be settled in a civilized manner among civilized states. Finally he issued what the analysts defined a subtle warning the Italian Government: “France could not remain insensible to any factors of disturbance in the security and stability of the Mediterranean”. These unilateral statements by EU members towards another EU member provoked a wave of panic in the bureaucratic elites of Brussels. The president of EU Commission Martin De La Guera expressed the auspice that the crises can brought back within the European representative office for foreign policy. He also added that EU members should demonstrate a minimum of solidarity among themselves in order to preserve the spirit and the letter of the Union treaty. A surprise in these diplomatic exchanges was the silence of major countries like China, India and Russia, with all of which Italy entertains warm diplomatic relations. The most astonishing element though, according to the international observers, is the quasi silence of Washington, especially considering the amount of interests the United States has in the Mediterranean Sea and the amount of US assets there. Secretary of State Robert Kramer expressed worry for the current dispute and invited all the parties to the strictest sense of measure and responsibility. No precise stance of the United States Government resulted from this short note. A note of sympathy for the Italian position came from Israeli Foreign Minister David Naiden, who expressed solidarity for the victims of the incident and the auspices that the question can be resolved pacifically. Finally the most vehement reaction came from the Libyan Government. The President of the Islamic Republic of Libya Ahmed Al Haidi declared in an interview to the CNN that the Italians should quit their neo colonialist stance towards the countries of the “southern shores”. The incident in the Tunisian EEEC was a consequence of the arrogance of the Italian Government, which for years now has used its naval power to de facto enforce an illegal regime of exploitation in the waters assigned to Tunisia exclusive rights. The Libyan President defined “Heroic” the courage of the Tunisian Navy to finally put its foot down face to the preponderance of Italian forces, and added that the Tunisian crews showed all their valor and training in swiftly and quickly disposing a vastly superior opponent. The reaction of the Italian government to the incident, continued the Libyan President is nothing else than a hypocritical and late attempt to save face. Haidi defined the Italian diplomatic note to Tunis an attempt to bully a small state into submission; a stance that Libya cannot and will not tolerate.

Rreactions: According to a flash of the press agency ANSA of the 15th June, Vice Admiral di Menton was invited by an enquiry commission of the Navy (instructed by the Ministry of Defense), to clarify the circumstances of the naval action of the 12th of June. In particular the commission was instructed to ascertain if the outcome of the engagement were in any way imputable to the conduct and the command action of the high officer. All the recordings of the action were examined, and Vice Admiral di Menton, with the aid of his Naval Attorney Commander Giuseppe Mingana, managed to prove that his decision were sufficiently adequate given the circumstances. At the end of the legal procedure, the enquiry commission established that: a) All the initiative of the Tunisian assets were promptly detected and with ample margin of time for a proper reaction. The amount of force assigned to the operation was sufficient to insure the achievement of the mission. c) Vice Admiral di Menton, and his subordinate at sea, Captain Vailatti strictly followed the assigned rules of engagement. d) The nature of the rules of engagement themselves might have played role in the result of the action. e) Further investigation is necessary on three particular points: a. The performance of the OTOMAT missiles, employed for the first time in real conditions. b. The command conduct of Captain Vailatti, with particular attention to the positioning of his ship relatively to the vessels to be protected. It has in fact been ascertained that the point defenses of the Artigliere could not come into action during the engagement, and that the countermeasures deployed by said ship did not fully covered the asset to be defended. c. The conduct of the flight of AV8s assigned to the ASuw mission after the sinking of the Sigulla. The failure to inflict damages to the escaping enemy must be assessed in depth to ascertain if it depended on a shortcoming of the weapon systems employed in that particular tactical conditions, or to the faulty conduct of the personnel employed.

Battle of Marettimo (Italian Report) On the 12th of June 2009 a naval engagement took place around the partition line between the two exclusive economic exploitation zones of Italy and Tunisia. According to the first reports, the incident was triggered by the decision of the Italian government to employ the Navy to deter the occasional harassment of Italian fishermen in the border area between the two zones. The Italian Navy deployed considerable assets in the area under the command of Vice Admiral Fabrizio di Menton. The direct monitoring of the area of operation was given to a light frigate of the Artigliere class under the command of Captain Luca Vailatti. The task force included two AEW helicopters EH 101 and a flight of AV8B+, all at disposal of Commander Andrea Sforni. In addition, elements of the 5th Fighter squadron (of the Italian Air Force), equipped with F-16C multirole aircraft was redeployed to Sigonella. The air assets of the Italian Navy were deployed in Decimomannu (Sardinia). This considerable mass of forces was activated on the 10th of June and tasked with the monitoring of the situation in the south western waters of Sicily in close proximity with the Tunisian EEEC, and to deter any intimidating activity by the Tunisian Navy. Rules of engagement: strictly defensive, permission to shoot only if attacked first. The light Frigate Artigliere sailed from Naples, where she was temporarily attached to Task Force 60 of the American 6th Fleet. By sailing at 28 knots, this vessel was in sight of Sicily after 6 hours of navigation, and by the time she reached her station area, she was already in contact with the EH-101 flying an AEW patrol between Sicily and Sardinia. At 19:08, the Helicopters signaled air activity out of the Tunisian base of Bizerte: a slow Boogie moving south west - north east, at an altitude of approximatively 24 thousand feet. As soon as the AEW assets determined as certain that the air target was approaching the partition line, the Navy requested an interception mission to the planes based in Sicily. Two F-16 took off in 18 minutes and scrambled towards the target. This move was engineered to persuade the Tunisians that the Italian were serious about the enforcement of their EEEC. In 9 minutes, the F-16s approached the Boogie, which was identified as an Aeritalia G-222 transport plane, flying along the axis of the partition line (probably on a surface patrol mission). Very distanced from each other, at that moment, four Italian Fishermen were underway on the Italian side of the partition (according to the Italian Report). They were the Monte Albano, the Caterina, the Adopo, and the big oceanic trawler Sigulla. By 19:36 the Artigliere, was well within is patrolling station following an elliptical course roughly equidistant from the fishermen. At 19:52, the G-222 turned south and disappeared from the zone of operation. At 20:40, the AEW assets (once again before any other sensors) pinpointed a surface target moving at high speed with course 30 and linked all data to the Artigliere, where action stations were called at once. Only four minutes later the ESM antennas of both the Artigliere and of the EH-101 classified the radar emission from the target as belonging to a Combattante III fast attack vessel. According to the Italian report, numerous attempts to contact the approaching vessel were made to no avail. At 20:52 the EH-101 gave the vampire alarm to all stations as pinpointed four surface to surface missiles detaching from the target in direction of the Artigliere and of the Fisherman Sigulla. Instantaneously, Captain Vailatti ordered a fire solution on the target using the data provided by the AEW, and shot a retaliatory salvo of two OTOMATs directed to the hostile FAC. At the same time he ordered flank speed to approach the Sigulla and possibly covering her with Chaffs and point defense. By the time the Artigliere approached the Fisherman under attack, the vampires were on the target. Vailatti lauched a salvo of 4 Aspides to try and intercept the vampires, but the 40mm Dardo were not able to open fire in time. Also the chaff cloud, promptly released by the Frigate was not sufficient to cover the fisherman adequately. According to the Italian report, two enemy missiles (with all probability Exocet SSMs) were shot down by the Aspides, one lost its track, and one impacted on the Sigulla at 20:54:12. The Fisherman disappeared in a gigantic explosion, and its wreck, sunk in less than three minutes after the impact. No survivors were recovered by the Artigliere. Of the two OTOMATs launched by the Italian Frigate, nobody had further news; they obviously missed their target. This prompted the last desperate move by an enraged Vice Admiral di Menton. He ordered half a flight of AV8s to take off immediately and give chase to the enemy vessel which was still sailing at full speed towards Tunisia. At 21:24 the aircrafts reached their target and attacked it with laser guided bombs and low level stafing. The anti air reaction by the two OTO 76 Super Rapido embarked on the Tunisian FAC were more than a disturbance for the strafing runs, and the laser bombs could not be centered well enough on a fast moving and fast maneuvering target. At the limit of their combat endurance, the Harriers broke contact at 21:28 not without having risked some losses during their strafing runs. The Tunisian Navy released a brief press communiqué after the action: “Two days ago, the Tunisian Navy was forced to respond to grave provocations by the Italian Navy inside the Tunisian Area of Exclusive Exploitation. Both illegal fishermen and Italian military ships, staged an unprovoked violation of the Exclusive Tunisian Sovereign rights. The Italians responded to the invitation of a Tunisian warship to clear the area, with a military attack. The Tunisian Navy was forced to respond. The Italian Warships withdrew at high speed, and one of the illegal fishermen was sunk”.