Operation Chŏnman

Operation Chŏnman
Part of Second Pan-Septentrion War
A B-1M of the 20th Maritime Bomber Squadron en route to the combat area.
Date 11 April 2022 Location North of Pillowlandia Result Menghean victory
Belligerents
Menghe	Entente Cordiale Template:Country data Anglia and Lechernt Template:Country data Maracaibo Sieuxerr
Commanders and leaders
Chu Tae-hwan	Arturo Benitez
Strength
1 carrier 2 destroyers 4 frigates 36 carrier-based fighters 132 land-based fighters	1 carrier 2 destroyers 2 frigates 1 corvette 24 carrier-based fighters 66 land-based fighters
Casualties and losses
18 aircraft 21 pilots killed, 4 captured	1 carrier 2 destroyers 2 frigates 1 corvette 30 carrier-based aircraft 8 land-based aircraft

Operation Chŏnman (Menghean: 천만 작전/千萬作戰, Chŏnman Jakjŏn, lit. "Operation Ten Million") was the codename for a Menghean air attack on the Maracaiban aircraft carrier Carnatica at the start of the Second Pan-Septentrion War. It took place on the 11th of April 2022, just a few hours after the outbreak of the war, as part of a series of coordinated Menghean attacks on EC surface formations in the South Menghe Sea.

The Menghean aircraft carrier Gukga Gyŏngje Gijŏk and her escorts contributed fighters to the battle, but most Menghean aircraft in the area attacked from airbases on land, with the 10th Fighter Regiment contributing most air cover. The 22nd Bomber Regiment, flying B-1M supersonic bombers, delivered the concentrated attack that destroyed the surface ships. The EC also relied on land-based fighters from Margarita Island to supplement the carrier's own air cover.

Though the balance of air losses slightly favored the EC, the Menghean Navy achieved its primary objective of destroying the Carnatica and all of her escorts. This strike neutralized the EC's offensive naval capability in the eastern half of the South Menghe Sea, allowing the Menghean 3rd Carrier Battle Group to focus its fighter screen westward while deploying anti-submarine escorts into the previously contested area. For the rest of the war, the Maracaiban Navy would remain confined to the coast.

Prelude

On April 7th, Maracaiban news sources reported that the aircraft carrier Carnatica was heading northwest to take part in a combined Entente exercise simulating the reinforcement of Isla Diamante. Already concerned by the buildup of other EC forces in the area, the Menghean Navy dispatched the Daedam-class submarine JWY-942 Yonggam to monitor Maracaiban ship movements in the area. Yonggam, however, did not detect the Maracaiban battle group on sonar, as her search area was focused further north, and relayed this negative report to headquarters on the 9th.

Concerned about the lack of precise information on the Maracaiban fleet, Menghe contacted Pillowlandia through diplomatic back channels, asking it to investigate the area off its north coast with patrol aircraft and pass on any intelligence data to Menghe. Pillowlandia complied with the request, but its submarines and patrol aircraft were also unable to find the Maracaiban fleet. One anonymous Pillowlandian source claimed after the war that Pillowlandia had deliberately conducted a halfhearted search in order to avoid being implicated in supporting a preemptive strike and thus drawn into the war, but others in the Pillowlandian administration have denied this account of events.

On April 10th, Menghe resorted to using its own P-1M patrol aircraft based out of Puerto Alegre and Santa Isabel to carry out a final search. At 1614 hours local time, a P-1M from the 65th Maritime Patrol Squadron located the Maracaiban carrier battle group while investigating surface radar contacts. Ignoring heated warnings over the radio, the pilot circled over the Carnatica and her escorts while two Rafale-M fighters formed up behind her. With this search, Menghe not only located the target formation, but also identified all surface ships within it. After finishing its mission, the P-1M turned northeast toward Puerto Alegre and handed off patrol duties to a second, which maintained contact with the Maracaiban radar contacts until leaving the area at 2008 hrs local time.

As Menghe had surged patrol aircraft in the prewar search, it would not be able to maintain constant contact with the target fleet overnight. During the time between 2008 hrs on the 10th and 0930 hrs on the 11th, a formation moving at 14 knots would be able to travel 187 nautical miles, leaving a search area with a diameter of 750 kilometers.

Over the night of April 10th-11th, Admiral Chu Tae-hwan, commander of the South Sea Fleet, finalized a plan to locate and destroy the Maracaiban carrier battle group in the opening hours of the war. Fighters from the Gukga Gyŏngje Gijŏk and the 10th Fighter Regiment would contest the airspace over the area of operations, while the 12th, 33rd, and 38th Fighter Regiments would provide air cover over the approaches to the area of operations. Two MKC-767 tankers would allow the fighters of the 10th Regiment to reach the area with enough fuel to conduct air-to-air combat. At 1100 hours local time, three P-1M patrol aircraft would arrive at the boundary of the search area and search for the Maracaiban fleet, reporting its coordinates to bomber formations en route to the area. Twenty-four B-1M bombers from the 22nd Bomber Regiment would comprise the first wave, timed to arrive at 1200 local time, with sixteen Y-4HRs from the 21st Bomber Regiment in the second wave fifteen minutes later. By itself, the first wave was calculated to be capable of delivering enough anti-ship missiles to neutralize the formation and its defenses; the second wave would follow up if the first wave left any major surface ships mobile.

To maintain surprise and avoid giving away Menghe's preparations for a pre-emptive strike, the bulk of the attack force would only begin taking off after 1030 hours Menghean time (0930 hours Pillowlandian time) on April 11th. Any large-scale movement of bombers before then could reveal Menghe's intentions before then. Nevertheless, Menghe did launch two P-1M patrol aircraft, two MKC-767 tankers, one ME-767 AEW&C aircraft, and two Y-4HR bombers with reconnaissance UAV payloads in the hour before the operation, masking this deployment as a regular peacetime sortie of patrol aircraft.

Battle

At 0930 hours Pillowlandian time on April 11th, Menghe commenced hostilities against all countries in the Entente Cordiale, and the combat aircraft assigned to Operation Chŏnman began taking off from their airfields and cruising toward their patrol areas. Four DS-9MG fighters from the Gukga Gyŏngje Gijŏk's air wing began probing air defenses around the Maracaiban carrier battle group, but they remained outside the defending Rafale-M fighters' practical engagement range. Neither side fired air-to-air missiles during this phase of the battle.

Initially, Vice Admiral Arturo Benitez of the Maracaiban CVBG ordered his formation to press northwest at flank speed in order to meet up with the Sylvan CVBG and transport formation near Isla Diamante. At 0941 hours, however, Benitez received news that both the Sylvan CVBG and its assigned transport group had already sustained severe damage from anti-ship missiles. Concerned that his formation might be next, at 0945 Benitez ordered his formation to turn about and proceed back toward home waters, where they could seek land-based fighter cover. Simultaneously, the Carnatica began scrambling all combat-ready fighters, as well as a second early-warning aircraft. Sylvan and Anglian fighters based on Margarita Island began preparing a long-range air cover group consisting of four Typhoons and four Mirage 4000s, with a tanker providing mid-course refueling.

At 1100 hours local time, three Menghean P-1M maritime patrol aircraft arrived in the area of operations, each one escorted by two DS-9MN two-seater fighters from the Gukga Gyŏngje Gijŏk. Two groups approached from the north with 250 kilometers of spacing in between them, and the third, inbound from Santa Isabel, approached from the west. As they closed in to investigate, Maracaiban combat air patrols vectored in to intercept them. Two Rafale-Ms engaged the northern formation, shooting down one DS-9MN. The other, flown by Sr. Lt. Chŏn Dong-il and Jr. Lt. Ga Wu-jung under the callsign Bakdo 8, downed both Rafale-Ms and evaded four air-to-air missiles, then evaded four more while exiting the area with two more Rafale-Ms in pursuit, earning Chŏn Dong-il a medal for skillful maneuvering. The northwestern formation performed less effectively, losing both DS-9MN escorts as well as two DS-9MGs which broke away from the Gukga Gyŏngje Gijŏk's fighter screen in order to protect the retreating P-1M. In the south, the third P-1M and its fighter escorts adjusted course and headed northeast, investigating the core of the Maracaiban fighter screen.

At 1110 hours, four SR-8Ds from the 43rd Heavy Fighter Squadron made contact with the northern group of Rafale-Ms, shooting down four of them with the loss of two of their own. They also shot down the northern Maracaiban airborne early warning aircraft, which was patrolling north of the carrier battle group in the path of the approaching bombers. Four more SR-8Ds in the west made contact with four Rafale-Ms, shooting down all of them with no losses of their own. In the south, the DS-9MNs escorting the third P-1M made contact with two SEPECAT Jaguars, which they mistook for Rafale-Ms on radar and successfully engaged from long range. The DS-9MNs then downed the southern Maracaiban early warning aircraft and rolled east to continue searching for surface targets.

With the loss of both airborne early warning aircraft, Vice Admiral Benitez ordered one FMM frigate in the formation to switch on its air search radar as a replacement. This allowed EC ships and aircraft to continue monitoring the movement of Menghean aircraft and detect any incoming missiles, but it came at the cost of revealing at least one ship in the formation as an enemy contact. After detecting the radar emissions at 1119 hrs local time, the northern P-1M traced it to its corresponding surface radar contact and relayed its location to one of the Yŏngan Y-4HR bombers loitering outside the area of operations. This bomber released a hypersonic reconnaissance UAV, which passed over the formation at 1127 hours, confirming the location of other ships in the battlegroup and relaying this information to the P-1Ms, which began circling the CVBG at a 400-kilometer distance to track the radar contacts identified as hostile warships.

Around the same time, at 1221 hours, four Anglian Typhoon fighters inbound from the southeast made contact with the two DS-9MN fighters that had just shot down the southern AEW patrol. Caught off guard by the new contacts, which they only detected shortly after diverting west, both DS-9MNs were shot down with no losses on the Anglian side. One of the four Typhoons then diverted west and shot down the southern P-1M patrol plane, which was already flying away at full speed.

A flight of four Mirage 4000s, also part of the land-based formation dispatched to support the Carnatica, made contact with the two Menghean SR-8Ds in the north at 1131 hours. One SR-8D fired its last remaining YGG-9 long-range missile as a delaying measure, then both accelerated north on afterburner with the Mirage 4000s in hot pursuit. The four SR-8Ds west of the CVBG turned northeast to relieve the northern flight, which was outnumbered 2-to-1 and had expended all of its long-range YGG-110 Chŏn Chang missiles. While en route, they encountered two SEPECAT Jaguars, again mistaking them for Rafales and shooting them from beyond visual range. The Mirage 4000s turned to engage the SR-8Ds, then cranked left to pull the engagement inside friendly SAM range. The SR-8Ds fired their remaining long-range missiles and cranked left to keep their distance. All four SR-8Ds were shot down, though they managed to down two Mirage 4000s in exchange.

In the west, four DS-9MGs sent earlier as reinforcements encountered the Typhoons, entering their missile range at 1139 hours. Two DS-9MGs were lost before entering their own missile range; the other two managed to shoot down one Typhoon each, but were then downed by the remaining two. By this point, the first wave of Typhoon fighters had achieved a 6:2 kill:loss ratio, but at the cost of expending all of their long-range Mirage missiles. Wary of fighting further beyond-visual-range engagements with ASRAAMs alone, the flight lead ordered his wingman to form up alongside him so that they could return to base. At 1143 hours, angered at news of their withdrawal, the Maracaiban flight controller aboard the Carnatica ordered the Typhoons to stand and fight, even using their guns alone if necessary. Unable to disobey an order, the flight lead grudgingly obliged, redirecting the formation north to regroup with the Mirage 4000s.

At 1145, a second wave of eight SR-8D fighters from the 49th Heavy Fighter Squadron arrived in the area of operations, cruising east to clear the bombers' ingress point of any enemy activity. They made contact with the two remaining Mirage 4000s at 1148 hours, shooting down both of them with no losses of their own. Two SR-8Ds from the 43rd Squadron, the only survivors of the first wave, turned south and engaged the two incoming Typhoons, shooting both down before they could enter ASRAAM range. Having burned most of their combat fuel, the SR-8Ds of the 43rd Squadron then turned north to exit the area of operations.

As news of the previous wave's fate reached them, the second group of four Typhoon and four Mirage 4000 fighters inbound from the south accelerated to full afterburner with the goal of heading off any potential bomber attack. Even with this risky last-ditch effort, which burned much of their fuel, they arrived two late: 24 Menghean B-1M bombers reached their ingress points at 1155 hours, each one releasaing a payload of 12 YDH-27N supersonic anti-ship missiles. Attacking from a distance of 450 kilometers and making their ingress at Mach 2, the B-1Ms only appeared on the fleet's surface radar moments before launching, leaving no time for interception. All Maracaiban ships in the battlegroup switched on their radars and contributed surface-to-air missiles to the engagement, but the sheer number of missiles fired in the attacking wave overwhelmed their defenses: by 1102, the carrier and all of its escorts had been critically damaged.

Upon seeing on radar that the bombers had already fired their missiles, the eight Typhoons and Mirage 4000s arriving in the area slowed to loiter speed and circled over the battlegroup, awaiting new orders. The Menghean SR-8Ds slowed as well, with both sides hesitant to engage recklessly after the high losses sustained in previous rounds of air combat. Eventually, the Typhoons and Mirages withdrew from the area and returned to base. The Menghean aircraft loitered around the wrecked CVBG for half an hour, allowing the P-1Ms to perform battle damage assessment and locate downed Menghean airmen, then returned to Puerto Alegre. The nuclear attack submarine JW-951 Dokbo, which was operating in the area, was dispatched to monitor the sinking of the surface ships and scuttle any which remained afloat after 24 hours.

Losses

Menghean aircraft losses in Operation Chŏnman totaled 18 aircraft: six SR-8D heavy fighters, six DS-9MG and five DS-9MN carrier-based fighters, and one P-1M patrol aircraft. In air-to-air combat alone, Entente forces lost ten Rafale-M carrier-based fighters, four SEPECAT Jaguar carrier-based attack aircraft, four Typhoons, four Mirage 4000s, and two airborne early warning aircraft. An additional four Rafale-Ms, six SEPECAT Jaguars, and four helicopters were lost during the sinking of the Carnatica, including two Jaguars which were airborne during the attack and lacked sufficient fuel to return to the mainland.

Though the overall ratio of fixed-wing aircraft losses stands at 18 and 34 for Menghe and the EC respectively, this falls to 17 and 18 when comparing air-to-air kills by fourth-generation fighters alone. Menghe's Third Carrier Air Wing lost almost one-third of its fighters, leaving it with less than half as many airworthy fighters as either of the two Entente carrier battle groups to the west.

Menghean casualties amounted to 33 personnel: six pilots from the single-seater DS-9MGs, six from the twin-seater SR-8Ds flown as single-seaters, ten from the twin-seater DS-9MNs with sensor operators, and eleven from the downed P-1M, which had a full complement of sensor operators on board when it was shot down. Of the fighter pilots, twelve were confirmed to have survived the missile impact, ejection, and landing at sea. This included four pilots aboard two SR-8Ds which had remained airworthy after being hit, but which were leaking too much fuel to reach a friendly airbase. Of these twelve, six were picked up by search-and-rescue ships and aircraft from Pillowlandia. Because Pillowlandia was a neutral country, these airmen were interned there until the end of the war. Two managed to pilot their damaged SR-8D northwest before ditching near the Gukga Gyŏngje Gijŏk and were picked up by one of its search-and-rescue helicopters. The remaining four were rescued by a Maracaiban coast guard ship sent into the area and taken back to Maracaibo as prisoners of war.

Maracaiban surface ship losses amounted to one aircraft carrier, two destroyers, two frigates, and one corvette: in short, the entire formation. The Carnatica remained afloat for several hours after the attack, and took on relatively little water, but across twelve to fourteen deep impacts into the hull (reports vary) her hangar, magazines, and machinery spaces were gutted beyond any hope of repair.

Aftermath

The sinking of the Carnatica effectively eliminated the Entente's offensive naval capability east of Pillowlandia. Maracaibo had a second carrier battle group at sea at the time of the engagement, but this was built around a single helicopter carrier which lacked the ability to operate fixed-wing aircraft. Furthermore, under higher EC instructions, this helicopter carrier group withdrew to coastal waters to avoid any subsequent strikes from Menghe.

This forced Entente commanders further west to reconsider their earlier wartime contingency plans, which involved using the Sieuxerrian, Anglian, and Maracaiban carrier battle groups in a pincer movement against the Gukga Gyŏngje Gijŏk and the anti-submarine battle groups around it. It also allowed Menghe to redeploy its anti-submarine battle groups further west, putting them behind the Gukga Gyŏngje Gijŏk and her fixed-wing fighter screen.