AAR: The Battle of El Arish [Spoiler Alert]

After Action Report: The Battle of El Arish

A HC scenario by Mark Gellis

Shortly after the Six Day War, Soviet forces joined briefly with Egyptian forces against Israel in a "War of Attrition." Although this failed to seriously damage Israel, it laid the foundation for future joint Soviet-Egypt military action. By 1990, the progress towards peace made by Sadat and Begin fifteen years earlier has mostly fallen by the wayside. Soviet forces have returned to Egypt. Intelligence suggests that they may again initiate joint attacks against Israel.

To watch for signs of an imminent Soviet/Egyptian attack, the IDF/AF immediately launched one of two Boeing 707 aircraft equipped with the new and still experimental Phalcon AEW&C radar systems. It would hopefully provide a better picture of the battlespace than the E-2 Daya systems.

Immediately, two surface action groups (SAGs) - presumably the enemy - were detected just north of Port Said, and moving west. One of the SAGs was soon evaluated as comprising Soviet ships, namely a Kresta II cruiser, Udaloy destroyer, and a Krivak I frigate. They would prove a formidable foe for the Israeli Navy. The lead SAG is found to contain a single Egyptian Navy Descubierta class frigate.

In the same breath, numerous Egyptian Air Force (EAF) aircraft were spotted taking off from El Arish AB near the Egypt-Israel border. A large number of these attackers, comprised largely of Mirages, Phantoms and Falcons, were splashed by F-16s out of Hatzerim, and assisted by a small number of F-15 Akef and F-15 Baz fighters out of Tel Nof and Tel Aviv, respectively.

Heavy enemy jamming occurred soon afterward, affecting even the Phalcon AEW&C now orbiting just west of Tel Aviv.

Perhaps sensing the urgency evident in the beating that the Egyptians were taking, a pair of Russian Flankers were soon detected. These were engaged by Israeli F-15s, unfortunately to poor effect initially. Two of each of the F-15 Baz and F-15 Akef types were claimed by the long range AA-10 Alamo C, before the two Su-27s were downed.

No doubt the culprit of the heavy jamming, a flight of four Soviet Fencer F electronic warfare aircraft were detected operating north of the enemy SAGs. F-15 Akef fighters moved in and collected all of them. (A batch of brand new AIM-120A AMRAAM secretly delivered to the IDF/AF proved invaluable). The jamming ceased with the downing of the Fencer F flight.

Shortly afterward, Nevatim came under Armat anti-radar attack. These were stopped, but only at the last moment by local air defence networks. Six Mirage 2000s found lurking near Hatzerim - probably the enemy SEAD flight - were destroyed by a mixture of defensive SAMs and Python AAMs from F-15 Akef fighters. (At this point, minimum victory was achieved !)

In a remarkable display of piloting skills, a pair of F-4 Kurnass managed to shoot down two Su-27s. But four more Flankers were detected sweeping toward Tel Aviv. They clash with a flight of F-15 Akef, and all four Su-27s are killed in exchange for a pair of Akef.

Meanwhile, at sea, the Gal class SSK Tanin moved to engage the Egyptian Navy Descubierta FF at a range of 26 nm, launching four Sub Harpoons. Unfortunately, they are all shot down by the enemy ship's Sea Sparrow system. At the same, and more fortunately, two Harpoons fired by the Descubierta at the Saar II missile corvette Haifa to the northeast, are also knocked down. The respite was short lived, as soon thereafter, two more RGM-84 Harpoons arrived, both hitting and destroying the Haifa.

Four Soviet Su-24 Fencer D are spotted nearby, no doubt having been dispatched to seek out and engage the Israeli Navy at sea. They are surprised and splashed by Israeli F-15s conducting CAP near Tel Aviv. (Major victory achieved !)

The losses inflicted on the combined Egyptian and Soviet forces must have been a little too painful for them to continue their attack. The Battle of El Arish was over.

Thanks to Mark for a quick and enjoyable scenario !