The overall operation is called Goldilocks. The air F22 group is labeled Bugblast. The AWACS is called Wacker for this mission. The B21 carrying the bomb is just called Goldilocks. The missile trucks are called Truck 1 and Truck 2. The F22 group is Bugblast so each aircraft is identified officially as Bugblast 1; Bugblast 2, and so on.
Roll said the pilot call signs are used throughout the operation. In other words, they talk over the radio using their call sign, their pilot designation name. I think these guys all knew each other, worked together on other operations. Bugblast 1 is the flight leader and had some operational control. But, like I mentioned, the AWACS had primary control of the theatre of operation. Oh, Roll also said the pilots used the term “fly” or “flies” for bug fighter aircraft rather than the usual term “bandit” for an enemy aircraft.
The bug ship chosen for the operation was located in a fairly remote area in North Dakota. The military knows the standard number of “flies” and their ... capabilities. Each mother ship, I think they just called it a “nest”, has 40 flies. The flies don’t carry missiles. They only have rail guns and downsize DEWs. But those down-sized rail guns and DEWs have an effective range of 100 miles. A fly is deadly. We know the flies have very advanced radar. But F22s are very stealthy.
And as with ground combat, I am told the enemy fliers like to get up close and personal. They tend to not fire until they are in visual range of our aircraft. In other words, they like to dogfight. That’s one theory. The other theory is they have a hard time “seeing” our most stealthy aircraft on radar. They might need to get close in order to take a shot. The military still doesn’t know all of the enemy capabilities. Mr. T said the enemy nest ships apparently have a blind-spot to the rear. I’ll discuss that in a minute.
I remember thinking early on, the nest ship rail guns must be able to shoot at least 200 miles. If they spot our fighter guys the nest will just nail them. I mentioned that to Roll. He said it’s good our guys know what they are doing. He heard something on the recording that made him think there would be a steady stream of cruise missiles and other ordnance. The nest guns would be busy with defense.
The bugs just wouldn’t know for sure if an incoming missile was a nuke. He said another tactic would be to try to stay on an approach that would keep flies between the nest and our guys. Also, the air war with the enemy fighters would take place away from the nest. That would help.
As I looked through the recording, I noticed the term “bullseye” is used a lot. That is a marker location to use in giving coordinates to a target, such as a fly that is coming in hot. I thought it was the actual location of the nest. Roll said the bullseye location is usually not a specific spot known by the enemy. That way, if the enemy is listening in on the radio chatter, they will have a harder time zeroing in on the location of our aircraft. Some decoys were sent ahead of the F22s to draw the enemy fighters, the flies, away from the nest. It worked. The full swarm of flies came out to investigate. They were met by the stealthy F22s.
I know, too much information. Almost there. Sorry if I’m rambling. Going over the recordings took way too long. I decided to take the day off from trying to be a journalist. Anyway, like I said, for some reason bug ships are nearly radar blind at their stern. So, the B21 with the bomb would come in from the east very high. The radar reflection of a B21 should be negligible. But they were taking no chances. If our guys could clear out the flies, the B21 (the shooter) should be able to deliver the payload despite the nest guns.
Our fighters came at the nest from due south flying fast. The Stalkers were flying about 25 miles ahead of the F22s on a similar heading, flying north. The AWACS came in from the south, though on a slightly different course and was hanging a bit to the east. The missile trucks were hanging off to the west. The anticipated combat area was to be in excess of 100 miles from the nest.
Actually, it was kind of fun to listen to the pilot brevity talk. Some is not so difficult to piece together, but it can get confusing. <So, reading the bracketed machine interpretation helps a lot.>, even if that makes for cumbersome reading. I suppose you could just read the bracketed part all the way through to better understand what was happening. I don’t know, other than I know I’m done, and here you go with Bugblast.
***OPERATION BUGBLAST AUDIO FILE TRANSCRIPTION. REDACTED AND EDITED.*** <INTERPRETIVE PROGRAM SCREENING EMPLOYED. NOTE: PORTIONS OF THE TRASCRIPTED FILE HAVE BEEN EDITED. PORTIONS OF THE TRANSRIPTED FILE HAVE BEEN DELETED.>
WACKER <AWACS command>: “Bugblast, climb to angels three five. Maintain course and speed. Bullseye is 150. We can’t shake the interference.”
<The F22 group is directed to increase altitude to 35,000 feet but maintain current course and speed. The bullseye is 150 miles from the F22 position. The Stalker drones are 125 miles from the bullseye. There is interference on comms.>
CHAMP, Bugblast One: “Roger that. We can manage. Angels three five. 150 miles.”
<Champ feels they can work through the radio noise. He acknowledges that the directive is understood and the group will change altitude to 35,000 feet and is 150 miles from the bullseye.>
WACKER <AWACS command>: “Heads up. Flies, flies. Hot. Two groups. Both hostile. West group, bullseye, 185, 20, 2,500
