The North Atlantic D+14 (23 July, 1987) Part II

Following a lengthy but necessary UNREP after the carrier-air battle on the previous day, Strike Fleet Atlantic’s three remaining carriers and their escorts turned back north and steamed into range of Soviet military facilities and other targets on the Kola Peninsula. The air tasking for D+13 gave the carrier air wings two primary operational cycles for the day.

The first involved suppressing Soviet air defenses from Nautsi, the point where Finland, Norway, and the Soviet Union congregate, north to the Barents Sea. There were multiple Spoon Rest radars active in that area, as well as fixed SA-2 and -3 SAM sites. Land-based NATO airpower from Norwegian airbases hadn’t paid this forward region much attention since that responsibility for it had been given to the carrier air wings. The planners down at Kolsas failed to anticipate that Strike Fleet Atlantic would be running this far behind schedule and thus no sorties out of Norway were re-tasked earlier in the morning to deal with these air defenses and radars.

The second cycle of air operations would include knocking back radars and SAM sites farther inland between the border area, Severomorsk and the airbases in the vicinity. Coming on the heels of that effort, A-6 Intruders would hit the docks and naval facilities at Pechenga. This would be the first strike made against a Soviet naval facility on the Kola.

Forrestal’s airwing, CVW-6 was tasked with the missions included in the first round of sorties. Eisenhower’s CVW-7 would handle the second while Kitty Hawk’s wing was responsible for air defense of the carrier groups. At 1030 the launch cycle commenced on Forrestal. Repairs were still underway on Elevator 3 but that didn’t affect operations too greatly. The Corsairs, and escorting Prowlers and Tomcats formed up and headed east towards the Kola.

As the strike package reached the North Cape area the EA-6B Prowlers activated their powerful jammers. The Soviet ground-based radar operators reported the heavy jamming as soon as it became apparent. The sector air defense commander ordered Afrikanda and Malyavr to scramble at once. The number of fighters available was limited following NATO airstrikes earlier that morning but roughly sixteen MiG-23s and twelve Su-27 Flankers were launched as a group of Fulcrums took off from an airbase farther inland to cover the airfields in the central area of the peninsula.

The MiGs and Flankers were detected by the E-2C Hawkeye flying near the Norwegian coastline. With the Soviet radars still likely disrupted by the jamming, the mission commander ordered the escorting F-14s to activate their radars and engage the Soviet fighters. The Tomcats did just that. AWG-9 radars went on and the fighters rocketed ahead of the ARM and cluster-bomb laden A-7 Corsairs they were guarding. Phoenix missiles started coming off the rails next and speeding towards the defending fighters. The Phoenix was a missile designed for use mainly against enemy bombers. It was nowhere near as effective against fighters, the mission commander and Tomcat crews knew. Once the AIM-54s were off, the Tomcats followed them in and prepared to engage any surviving MiGs or Flankers with AIM-7 Sparrows. The Phoenixes scored hits, but as expected, not an overwhelming number. The MiGs and Flankers that beat the American missiles recovered and began looking for targets.

As this was going on, the first squadron of Corsairs fired a volley of AGM-88 HARM and AGM45 Shrike anti-radiation missiles at the Spoon Rest radar sites. In similar fashion to the Tomcats, the A-7s continued in and even after the ARMs had successfully knocked out the radars, they dropped cluster munitions on the sites to make certain they were destroyed. Behind them, a second Corsair squadron was spreading out and engaging the SA-2 and SA-3 sites with Walleye II glide bombs. The weapons were effective and inflicted a good amount of damage on the SAM batteries. However, it cost the attackers a pair of aircraft, both lost to SA-3s. As the US warplanes started to egress away from the SAM and radar sites, a limited number of longer-range SA-5 missiles were launched from batteries around Severomorsk. A Tomcat chasing a Flanker crossed into the path of one and exploded in a spectacular fireball, and another A-7 was lost.

In total the late-morning missions over the Kola had cost CVW-6 four aircraft, all lost to surface-to-air missiles. Even more worrisome than the losses was the fact that the more capable and advanced SAMs had not even been touched yet. The SA-5 and SA-10 batteries arrayed around Severomorsk needed to be dealt with before the shipyards and other facilities of the Red Banner Northern Fleet were targeted.

CVW-7 would have the honor of going after these air defense sites a bit later in the day.