UN vs DPRK 2007 cont.: Mitsubishi F-39C

[comrade harps]

Mitsubishi F-39C
a/c 46-5720, 6th Tactical Fighter Squadron, 8th Air Wing, Japan Air Self-Defense Force
Tsuiki Airbase, 21 June 2007



During the 1990s the 8th Air Wing (8thAW) of the Japan Air Self-Defense Force (JASDF) consisted of 3 flying squadrons, the 6th and 8th Tactical Fighter Squadrons and the 7th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron. Operating fighter, attack and recce versions of Mitsubishi F-37, the 8thAW was the JASDF's lead tactical combat unit for developing network-centric, time-sensitive targeting capabilities. This focus continued into the 21st century as the Wing transitioned to the new F-39C (single seat) and F-39D (two-seat) fighters, in the process losing its reconnaissance squadron as the F-39C/Ds were equipped with the F-39 Digital Reconnaissance Pod and the Litening AT targeting pod.



In the early 2000s, as the 8thAW brought its F-37C/Ds up to full operational capability, the unit made its first foreign forays to international exercises, including Pitch Black 2004 and 2006 in Australia and Red Flag in America during 2006. Another, less publicised, series of exercises attended by the Wing were Touted Gleem 2005 and 2007. Touted Gleem focused specifically on so-called Scud hunting, and it was this kind of dynamic targeting of the Democractic Peoples Republic of Korea's (DPRK's) mobile tactical and theatre ballistic missile threats that the Wing put into effect on the night of 21 June, 20017.




On the night of 20 June 2007, the United Nations (UN) forcibly put into effect no-fly zone and civilisation protection measured across the Korean Peninsula. In response, as the UN bombs and missiles were still striking, during the early hours of the 21st the DPRK launched eight ballistic missiles at Japan, hitting cities and causing civilian casualties. Additionally, a Japanese-registered fishing vessel was attacked by a ship of the DPRK navy near the island of Ulleungdo (a possession of the UN-member nation of the Republic of Korea). Having been directly attacked, the Japanese government responded to the maritime threat with naval and air power. On the night of the 21/22 June, JASDF Tornado J-Kai's joined the Great Korean Turkey Shoot and F-39C/Ds countered the Scud threat by joining the UN's Operation Bow String, the UN's hunter-killer mission against mobile ballistic missile launchers.



Assigned a kill box, the 8thAw deployed its F-39Cs and Ds over the Korean Penisula in hunter-killer teams. Each two aircraft team featured F-39Ds acting as the hunter and an F-37C riding shotgun as the killer. Both aircraft carried a Litening AT targeting pod, a pair of drop tanks and, for self-defence, two AESA radar AAM-4Bs underwing and a pair of wingtip-mounted AAM-3B imaging-infrared guided missiles. The F-39D carried the F-39 Digital Reconnaissance Pod on its centreline, while the F-39C's central pylon was equipped with a dual stores adaptor armed with two EGCS-1 bombs. Based around the licence manufactured Mk 82 250 kg bomb, the EGCS-1 kit was an Enhanced version of Japan's original infrared guided GSC-1, with a new imaging infrared (IIR) seeker and embedded GPS and INS. This combination of guidance made the EGCS-1 an IIR equivalent to the laser/GPS/INS guided Paveway IV. Meshed via datalinks into the UN's intelligence, surveillance, targeting, acquisition and reconnaissance (ISTAR) network, they were also backed by Japan's own netcentric ISTAR systems, the airborne nodes of which included E-767J AWACs, EP-3J-Kai Orions and the U-2J-Kai Dragon Lady.



At 03.10 hours Korean-time, the crew of F-39D 46-5712 identified what appeared to be a transporter erector launcher (TEL) on the move and designated it for the pilot of F-39C 46-5720 to attack. With the TEL's GPS coordinates data linked to the F-39C, the single-seater's pilot locked onto the target with his Litening AT, slaved the EGCS-1's infrared imaging sensor to the pod's cross-hairs to establish a positive acquisition of the TEL and dropped a single bomb, scoring a direct hit. A second EGCS-1 was subsequently dropped on an accompanying truck. The next day the Japanese government and the Operation Freedom Dawn command issued statements praising the work of JSDF in their "measured and responsible response" to the "unprovoked attacks" on Japan. No video was released at the time, as "the Japanese government takes no pleasure in conducting combat operations." Five years later the video was quietly released by the UN, knowledgable observers identifying the TEL as a carrying a FROG-7, a tactical artillery rocket without the range to strike Japan. No video has been released of the second target.

[Tophe]

Good!
What kit was used as basis?

[chrisonord]

 
Very nice.
Chris

[comrade harps]

Good!
What kit was used as basis?

Revell 1:72nd scale JAS-39C Gripen.