[ARG] Exercise Hornet Nest

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EXERCISE HORNET NEST Classified Information ​

Operation Background
As part of the National Defense Plan a series of drills would be ordered to improve the operational capacity of the naval element of the National Guard. The rapid deployment from the specifically created naval bunker network is essential for the defence of the argentine coastal waters and EEZ. These bunkers are defended by Project 205 Modmissile boats, who are prepared to be deployed in minutes.

Deployed Forces
Argentine National Guard Puerto San Julian Naval Base x400 Project 205 Mod Rio Gallegos Naval Base x400 Project 205 Mod La Plata Naval Base x400 Project 205 Mod Rawson Naval Base x400 Project 205 Mod San Clemente del Tuyu Naval Base x400 Project 205 Mod

Logistical Details

Each base would operate and work on the training, servicing and rapid deployment of their own squadrons of Project 205 Mod missile boats indepedently from each other. The would use specifically assigned sectors to deploy to,that would be previously cleared of civilian maritime traffic to avoid any accidents. All missile boats would be fully supplied and crewed before departure, they would all carry 2x P-15 Termit AshM which they woulduse for firing practiceduring the drill. Everything would be monitored from the air using borrowed Z-9 Harbin from the Argentine Navy.

 

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Each Naval Base would be assigned a special area of operations, which would be located always on argentine territorial waters and EEZ.

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Each Naval Base would structure their respective 400 boats in "Task Unit" of 6 Missile Boats, for a total of 66 Task Units per base, with 4 missile boats remaining in reserve per naval base. The Task Units would then be splitted into 3 "Task Groups" of 22 each, which would be physically grouped each in one of the 3 piers constructed inside each naval bunker. All 3 Task Groups of each base would be known as "Strike Groups".

The structure would then be:

La Plata Strike Group
Task Group Alpha
Task Units 1 - 22
Task Group Bravo
Task Units 23 - 44
Task Group Charly
Task Units 45 - 66

San Clemente del Tuyu Strike Group
Task Group Delta
Task Units 67 - 88
Task Group Echo
Task Units 89 - 110
Task Group Foxtrot
Task Units 111 - 132

Rawson Strike Group
Task Group Golf
Task Units 133 - 154
Task Group Hotel
Task Units 155 - 177
Task Group India
Task Units 178 - 199

Puerto San Julian Strike Group
Task Group Juliet
Task Units 200 - 222
Task Group Kilo
Task Units 223 - 244
Task Group Lima
Task Units 245 - 266

Rio Gallegos Strike Group
Task Group Mike
Task Units 267 - 288
Task Group November
Task Units 289 - 310
Task Group Oscar
Task Units 311 - 332

The missile boats would be grouped in theri respective Task Units on their corresponding Pier (1, 2 and 3 in each Naval base). They would be secured to each other in a way that would enable easy and quick resupplying from the dock and equally quick launch preparation. The plenticul support personnel in the base could service and have ready a boat in a matter of less than an hour and once ready launch it in minutes. Each docik/pier has its own independent access to open waters, allowing for the simultaneous launching of 3 Task Groups (18 missile boats). The key here is to reduce the time between each "wave" of 3 Task Groups to the bare minimum.

The goal of the present drill is to practice "emergency deployments", to practice and reduce the time necesary to leave the base a move into position to face hostile action. Positioning the missile boats correctly allows for the launch of 7,920 anti-shipping missile against an incoming enemy force.

All this would remain secret.

 

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Everything would be prepared at the 5 Argentine National Guard Naval Bases, all the missile boats would be serviced, fueled, crewed and armed with the 2 P-15 missiles. The exercise would start simulating a state of alert, where crews would already have been called to base and prepared, but not yet on board the ships. Something similar would be done with the boats (once done servicing). They would be kept combat ready, and with auxiliary power units (connected to on-land generators) to guarantee a quick turning on of all systems.

The missile boats would be docked together in their Task Units in 2 rows of 3 boats each, secured to each other in a fashion that allows for quick boarding and un-tying.

The docks would be cleared of all non-essential instruments, objects and cargo (as according to Alert Status guidelines).

 

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With everything in place, the crews would be in their assigned lodgings in their respective bases, under "high alert" status. This would mean they would need to be ready to go in less than 5 minutes.

The alarm would go off with few minutes difference at all 5 naval bases, meaning that the crews had to get ready and head directly to their boats. In order to avoid congestion, there would be clearly identified corridors that would bring the crews to their boats in the most direct and efficient way. They had 25 minutes to be on their boats and ready. During these 25 minutes, support staff would prepare the boats for launching, doing some checks and remotely starting some of the systems, task later taken over by the crews once on board.

The crews would be assigned turns to leave their quarters and head to their boats, with the crews of the ships closer to the entrance being the first to leave, and from there one they would go in order until the crews of the ships moored closer to the end of the deck (furthest away from the entrance/exit).

The control rooms of each naval base would be monitoring and timing all the process and once each ship reported their readiness (making use of a special communication device, red/yellow/green status indicator per ship). They would be cleared and launched, starting with those moored at the outer end of the docks, and thus closer to the access. They would launch simultaneously from all 3 docks, with 18 (3 task units) missile boats per wave. Once out of the entrance, the next wave would be cleared, and so on until all 66 task units (in 22 waves) would be out in open sea. It was timed that waves could be launched at 3 minutes intervals, meaning there would be 66 minutes between the launch of the first wave and the last.

Overall, from the moment of the alarm, to the exit to open sea of the last wave of missile boats, there would be roughly 96 minutes, or 1h 36m.

 

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The whole process, practiced under real life conditions, would seem chaotic at the start, but with the passing of the minutes it would be obvious that there was a pattern and that all the people running and taking positions knew very well what they were doing. The Missile Boats would begin to flow out of their naval bases and head directly towards open sea. As soon as it was safe, they would switch from the line formation used to elave the base, to a standard diamond formation mantaining around 40/50 meters to each other.

The would be tracked and monitored in real time from the bases command room. All Task Units would navigate towards their designated areas of operation to begin the live-fire exercises.

The total deployment time from the alarm to the launching of the last wave was confirmed to be 1h 40m.

 

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The boats would advance at their cruising speed of 28kn, before making a last minute dash at their top speed of 42kn mantaining their formations while getting in position to launch their AshM against a "hostile target" predefined coordinates of empy water. The loaded missiles would have no explosive shell and would just run out of fuel once passed their range, falling to the empty ocean instead.

The task groups would be guided by their command center on land, and would also have instructions and the technical capability to link with operating Maritime Patrol Aircraft like the P3B Orion to receive increased and more "front line" detection capacity. Operating under this last system, the Project 205 Mod would have the capacity of engage enemy targerts several hundred km away, positioning themselves in an favorable position for the launch of the AshM.

Once in position, the Missile Boats would launch their missiles, practicing real life situations. The air would be filled with the massive and hundreds of missiles, which would dash forward at almost mach 1. 15 seconds after the first missile, they would launch missile #2 and then immediatly break formation and turn around pursuing a direct escape route.

 

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With the practiced "high alert deployment" and the live fire exercise, involving the launch of around 4,000 missiles against simulated targets, the missile boats would head back to their respective naval bases, where they would return to their assigned mooring positions in an orderly fashion. This was estimated to take longer than the hour and a half required for the total deployment. Once the ships were in position, the crews would secure everything and the support staff would begin servicing the boats, including all necesary repairs to have the Project 205 mods all ready for any emergency call up.

Overall the exercise was a success, proving the capacity of the argentine naval national guard to quickly deploy almost all of its assets in a swarm tactic and launching thousands of missiles against any potential invader.

The exercise would be concluded.