Operation Silver Dachsund

[Logan]

OPERATION SILVER DACHSUND

TOP SECRET
EYES ONLY

---

​

The Objectives, as laid out by High Command:

• Make Port at St Pierre et Miquelon
• Patrol the coast of St Pierre et Miquelon
• Maintain Station "Tollbooth" until hostile contact is made or further orders are received.
• (ADDITIONAL ORDERS) Travel to the Barents Sea
• Maintain Station "Portcullis" until hostile contact is made or further orders received.

---

Deployment List​

• FRS Opale Rubis-class submarine, AMETHYSTE refit, Provisions and weapons room filled. 10x F17 mod2 Torpedoes, 4x SM39 Exocet Anti-ship missiles
  

  ---

The FRS Opale would leave its station at Brest and make its way towards St Pierre Miquelon, staying below the thermocline layer (and thus mostly and silent to surface sonar) as it made its way from IN to HN to GN, an estimated time of 24-30 hours until they reached their station. The submarine would keep its EMCON at the highest level - avoiding the release of any emissions whatsoever - until it reached St Pierre-Miquelon. This would all be done as secretly as possible.

 

[Logan]

Reaching St Pierre-Miquelon, the submarine would begin to travel the perimeter of the Operations Area, establishing Patrol Station "Tollbooth.' It would travel the perimeter at the slow speed of 5 knots, both to avoid detection and to avoid messing with its own capabilities. It would travel just below the thermocline layer, floating its towed array just above the layer to comb for any surface contacts. Each of the four torpedo tubes would have one of the F17 torpedoes nestled in its carriage, waiting for the tube to be flooded and the launch order to come.

 

[Hollie]

⌈ ROLEPLAY NOTICE ⌋

Hello Logan

Unfortunately, we must suspend " Operation Silver Dachsund " temporarily, while we wait for Canada's immunity period to end on the 16th October.
We apologise for this inconvenience, but Canada is protected against any military response, direct conflict or actions committed by an intelligence agency.


The Modern Nations Staff Team
Administrator, Hollie

 

[Logan]

As the captain sat down in his chair in the Command center, an alarm would go off from the Comms Room.

"CONN, RADIO. Receiving Flash Traffic. EMERGENCY ACTION MESSAGE from CFSM..."

"Radio, Conn, Authenticate."

the Radio Officer and Senior Enlisted would remove their authentication cards from a double-locked safe, breaking open the seals and matching the 9-character alphanumeric code on the cards to the one on the message. "Message is authentic, Sir." The Executive Officer would look over these quickly before voicing his agreement, "I Concur."

After putting the rest of the Message through a One-Time-Pad

AUTHENTICATOR: A43D2E99T EMERGENCY ACTION MESSAGE PRIORITY ONE​ COMMANDANTE, FORCES SOUS-MARINS ROYAL FRENCH SHIP OPALE REDEPLOYMENT ORDER REDPLOY FROM PATROL STATION TOLLBOOTH TO PATROL STATION PORTCULLIS MAINTAIN QUIET RUNNING. PURSUE ANY CONTACTS DO NOT ENGAGE MAINTAIN RADIO SILENCE UNTIL ON STATION.

"Right full rudder. Make our speed 12 Knots, Bearing 1-3-5."


"Aye, Capitane, Speed 1-2 Knots, Bearing 1-3-5."

The boat would begin to turn as it left St Pierre Miquelon's Waters and traveled out to the Open Sea. Once There, it would retract its towed sonar array and begin traveling GN-HN-IN-IO-IP-JP-JQ-KQ (Taking roughly 80 Hours), where it would begin patrolling the northern portion of the Barents Sea, focusing primarily on the area between Svalbard and Franz Josef Land. They would right for ultra-quiet on the way there, and would remain under the thermocline so long as there was one, until they reached their patrol station.

 

[Connor]

FALCON-21​

TOP SECRET
Nordic SOSUS Network
Across the seabed spanning from the coast of Norway to the coast of Iceland lay a number of arrays, seven in total, equipped with hydrophones and sonar capability - the N/DSS-101 system which forms apart of the Nordic SOSUS Network and primarily managed by the Swedish Strategic Defence Network, a branch of the Swedish Armed Forces. Ordinarily this expansive network, the only one of it's kind on the globe, receives little to no interruption to the usual passing civilian traffic consisting of the publicly available trade route missions and the less manageable domestic traffic. Despite this, an expansive team manage, analyse and monitor the traffic to detect potential threats to the national security of Scandinavia and the Nordic region.

Given the propulsion generators, electric motor and diesel generator of the Rubis-Class Submarine used in Operation Silver Dachsund it would trigger countless sensors and hyrdrophones laying secure on the seabed. This was extremely unusual and would be passed immediately to an analyst for the appropriate level of data extraction. It wouldn't take long at all for the analyst to determine that due to the volume levels emit to the hydrophones that it was almost certainly a submarine however the make, model and nation of origin would obviously be impossible to determine without a physical observation. By monitoring the activation of different sensors along the SOSUS network which lay between the IP and JP coordinates the team would be able to determine the direction of travel and immediately inform the rapid reaction units of both the Swedish Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. This was the first emergency activation of it's kind thus immediately fed to the Department of Defence.

"SCRAMBLE, SCRAMBLE, SCRAMBLE" echos across the speaker system within Luleå Air Base prompting an urgent response from the pilots and ground crews poised for this kind of activation.

Within moments the pilots of Norrbotten Air Force Wing, 1st Rapid Reaction Squadron, 2nd Rapid Reaction Flight would kit up and dive into the awaiting Saab JAS 39B Gripen which, given the naval threat, were equipped with external sensor pods, targeting pods and RBS-15 missiles. Three aircraft of the flight are prepared and taxi immediately to the runway where their departure is immediately granted - they receive their mission instructions via encrypted radio. Callsigns FALCON-21, FALCON-22 and FALCON-23 are assigned.

Travel time through the JP coordinate and towards IP would take less than an hour.

Pending visual contact two Naresuan-Class Frigate's, namely HSwMS Naresuan and HSwMS Songtham are immediately prepared for deployment and interception of any surface vessels or substantial foreign deployment. All on-board weaponry systems are fully loaded and radar systems pre-tested to ensure their full operational capacity should they need to be deployed. A required crew of 150, per vessel, are summoned from the 3rd Naval Warfare Division, Charlie Frigate Division.

Logan

 

[Logan]

Considering the thermocline is well below snorkel depth, and so the Rubis would be running solely on its nuclear plant, the SOSUS Network would not hear a diesel generator. However, given the sound of the nuclear plant and propulsion, the SOSUS net still would've certainly picked up enough to mark it as a submarine.

"Conn, Radio, Flash Traffic! Looks like the Admiral wants us to raise them on the radio."

"Helm, make sure we're clear of Ice Pack and move to Persicope depth. Radio, Conn. Raise the ESM Mast, but passive only, for now, I don't want to announce to the world that we're here."

"Aye Capitaine."

With that, the Rubis would rise to a depth of nearly 30m before raising its ESM/ELINT Mast, checking for anyone who might be watching the area with radar or other electronic sensors.

Connor

 

[Connor]

FALCON-21​

TOP SECRET
FALCON
Travel time was short and sweet and immediately upon arriving within the JP/IP sector the three aircraft would span into a winged formation where they'd be able to make extensive use of the Saab JAS 30B Gripen infrared search and track system. Undoubtedly this would be a needle-in-the-haystack moment however with continued analysis of the activated SOSUS network they'd be able to accurately determine and plot potential positioning of the submarine using parameters such as the speed, direction of travel and sound emit in order to make accurate assumptions with a pure, reliable source of intelligence. Fortunately the Skyward-G Infrared Search & Track system equipped to these fighter jets were highly advanced and capable of switching to a wide field-of-view mode in order to allow the aircraft to span across a much larger area. Directions from the Department of Defence were clear - continue sweeping the plotted coordinates until an unidentified vessel or submersible is found then make contact.

"HQ, this is FALCON-21, confirm activation of PHASE-LINE-ALPHA, timestamp area search - standby" all communication remains encrypted.

Given the time in the day the shipping lanes are naturally congested however easily distinguishable given the sheer magnitude of container vessels, tankers and cargo ships - pilots onboard the aircraft would remain fixated on their detection systems, eagerly awaiting an unexpected heat source. The FRS Opale has been submerged for some time and given the depth they were travelling had naturally cooled the extremities of the vessel which were undeniably of substantial temperature given the sole generation of power was the nuclear plant onboard however, upon rising much closer to the surface, the RBS Opale no longer had the fortune of the freezing waters to blind the infrared sensors and the detection of the heat emission would very quickly be realised by FALCON-23.

FALCON-23 broadcasts the find across to the remaining aircraft prompting them to drastically drop their altitude for a closer look - the sheer speed, volume and shape of the Gripen makes it extremely difficult to track and trace at high altitude however unbearably obvious towards ground level. This was exactly what these pilots are trained for. They immediately begin a number of fly-by's where they could not only test for a response from the heat source but also allow for a visual inspection to see whether anything was glaringly obviously to the crew. A broadcast goes across maritime traffic.

"UNIDENTIFIED TRAFFIC, UNIDENTIFIED TRAFFIC, THIS IS FALCON-21 OF HIS MAJESTY'S ROYAL AIR FORCE - IDENTIFY!"
A moment of pause and silence, this was a shot in the dark afterall.
"UNIDENTIFIED TRAFFIC, UNIDENTIFIED TRAFFIC, THIS IS FALCON-21 OF HIS MAJESTY'S ROYAL AIR FORCE - IDENTIFY!"

Logan

 

[Logan]

"Conn, Radio. ELINT Picks up broadcasts on maritime channels. They're contacting some sort of unidentified traffic."

"Hmm. It could be us. Let's spike them. Energize Active radar and get me a bearing. Let them know we know they're here, but don't answer them. XO, Sound Action Stations."

The executive officer would speak through his microphone, " Action Stations, Action Stations, set condition 1 throughout the ship."

The control center of the boat would turn red as its combat lighting took hold and everyone began taking their action stations. The ship would break EMCON to energize the radar on its Radar Mast, which would most likely light up the RWRs on the Gripens, while the Captain would grab his periscope viewer "Down Periscope, I'm going to see if I can see them." He'd look through his viewer to try and find the fighters.

Connor

 

[Connor]

FALCON-21​

TOP SECRET
Radio Contact
With the emissions control systems onboard the submarine now broken the radar warning receivers equipped by the Saab JAS 39B Gripen, namely the EWS-30, was one of the most advanced avionic systems in the world built with the capability of recognising a wider range of threats and targeting them more accurately. The onboard system includes an automatic active jammer. The pilots would manually override the jammer at this stage however using the electronic waves causing activation of the sensors to allow for immediate and uninterrupted weapons system lock-on allowing the pilots to actively monitor the movements of the submarine which, at present, was on course towards Norwegian territorial waters.

There was no received response by the submarine to the identification requests.

"FALCON-21, all callsigns, descend at discretion and maintain one thousand, performing low fly-past" performance communication remains encrypted between aircraft.

This instruction would grant the aircraft to visually lower their aircraft to an altitude of 1,000ft whereby they would perform a fly-by which was essentially a show of force by the Swedish Royal Air Force and their dedication to commit to the protection of the Scandinavian coastline - especially with national security being at the forefront of everyone's mind since the attacks in Washington DC ultimately leading to the death of the President of the United States Clinton. The flyby would be conducted entirely visually, with the support of avionic and instruments onboard to prevent the aircraft striking one another or objects in their field of view. The aircraft would rattle above the submarine's position; in the wake of the highly powerful jet engines would be an almighty roar as they passed into a synchronised right-hand bank to circle back around to their original position before climbing back to a safe altitude.

"SWEDISH ROYAL AIR FORCE CALLING UNIDENTIFIED TRAFFIC - HEADING 045, JP SECTOR - VECTOR NORTH IMMEDIATELY, YOU ARE ENTERING NORWEGIAN TERRITORIAL WATERS. ACKLOWEDGE."
"VECTOR NORTH IMMEDIATELY OR YOU MAY BE FIRED UPON"

Text book. The fighter jets had now provided four clear instructions via the maritime radio frequencies in-which they have identified themselves and given a clear indication for the reasoning behind their presence. In theory, the fighter jets were well within their rights to perform the appropriate level of force to minimise a potential threat to the integrity of Norwegian territory.

Logan

 

[Logan]

Receiving the message, the Captain would double-check his charts to make sure he was, in fact, not entering Norway's territorial waters (given he was already heading towards the northern Barents Sea, and any turn north would put him directly into actual Norwegian waters, before grabbing his microphone.

"Radio, Conn, flash a secure message to CFSM: 'FRS Opale spotted while surfacing for radio call,' Break. 'Swedish Air Force threatening hostile action while in international waters,' break. 'Request further orders,' Send the message. Helm, Keep us at Periscope depth. Those are Gripens, I think, and if I recall, they don't carry Anti-sub weapons."

---

Forces Sous-Marines Command,
French Royal Navy HQ,
Brest, Kingdom of Britanny.

"It's been nearly a day since we told the Opale to contact us. Why isn't she responding?"

As the Admiral said this, an officer from the Command Center, panting as he said, "Sir, the Opale's was contacted by Swedish Air Force planes after rising to contact us. They're threatening to shoot at her, but she's well into international waters."

"Damn it. The Swedish have been getting too aggressive lately. Get me on the phone with the CDS," Within moments, he spoke over a secure phone line with the Chief of Defence Staff. "Sir, we have a situation, the Swedish Air Force has threatened one of Our Submarines." "One Minute, Admiral"

Within a few more moments, a secure, encrypted, and private conference call had begun between the CFSM, Chief of Defense Staff, Chief of Staff of the French Royal Navy, and the Commanding Officer of the De Gaulle Strike Group.

"Again, Gentlemen while underway during a routine patrol of the Barents Sea, popular stomping grounds for Boomers on deterrence missions, our Submarine the FRS Opale was ordered to contact my office, when it rose to periscope depth and raised its mast, it was contacted by fighter aircraft of what we now know is the Swedish Royal Air Force, who have now aggressively threatened it, despite it being well within international waters."

"Admiral Archambault?"

"It demands a response. We could send a pair of frigates, but they're not equipped to engage enemy aircraft except in self-defense. I suggest Commodore Christophe take the Strike Group. How soon can we be ready, Commodore?"

"3 Hours."

" I want you to deploy the Group to roughly the middle of the Norwegian Sea, far out of anyone's territorial waters. That should put the fighters within range our Boat."

"Aye, Sir."

"CFSM, tell the Opale to maintain position."

---

Carrier Strike Group Charles de Gaulle,
Toulon Naval Base,
Toulon, Duchy of Provence.
3 1/2 Hours Later

The Commodore looked over his orders as his fleet steamed out of Toulon's Harbor. These had come directly out of his orders. They were to Travel to the northern part of the Norwegian Sea (VIA JN-JM-IM-IN-IO-IP-IQ-JQ, about ~52 Hours), about halfway between Jan Mayen and the Norwegian Coast. They would avoid territorial waters. Once there, a flight of 5 Rafale Ms was to take off with an anti-air loadout, enforcing FREENAV in the Barents Sea. The Durance would keep formation with the strike group. Simultaneously, the four destroyers would maintain formation around the carrier, the Georges Leygues maintaining position port and starboard while the two Cassards would be slightly port and fore and slightly starboard and aft, respectively. The La Fayette would lead the formation by two nautical miles to provide forward patrol.

His Orders were as follows:

OPERATION DEAD ROCKFISH TOP SECRET EYES ONLY ​ The Objectives, as laid out by High Command: Move to Objective Point in Northern Norwegian Sea Enforce FREENAV against Swedish Intrusion on routine Naval Patrols. Deployment List​ Carrier Strike Group Charles de Gaulle FRS Charles de Gaulle, Charles-De Gaulle Class Aircraft Carrier:: A full load of fuel, Crew, and Munitions, 4x Sylver VLS Systems each carrying 8x MBDA Aster 15 SAAMs, 2x Sadral Launchers each carrying 6x Mistral SAMs, 8x GIAT 20F2 20mm Cannons, as well as 4x Rotary Wing Pilots and 2x A365 Dauphins 118th Tactical Naval Fighter Squadron: 18x Rafale M (18x Combat Fixed Wing Pilots), 200 Marine Infantry 18x: 2x Matra Magic II, 4x MICA EM FRS Georges Leygues, Georges Leygues-class Destroyer: A full load of fuel, crew, and Munitions, including 4x MM40 Block II Exocets, 10x MU-90 Impact torpedoes, 1 × Creusot-Loire Compact 100mm/55 Mod 68 DP gun, 2x 30MM Breda-Mauser AA Guns, 1 × Crotale Navale EDIR octuple launcher (26 × CIWS anti-air missiles) 2 × Simbad twin launcher (Mistral 4 × CIWS anti-air missiles) FRS La Motte-Picquet, Georges Leygues-class Destroyer: A full load of fuel, crew, and Munitions, including 4x MM40 Block II Exocets, 10x MU-90 Impact torpedoes, 1 × Creusot-Loire Compact 100mm/55 Mod 68 DP gun, 2x 30MM Breda-Mauser AA Guns, 1 × Crotale Navale EDIR octuple launcher (26 × CIWS anti-air missiles) 2 × Simbad twin launcher (Mistral 4 × CIWS anti-air missiles) FRS Cassard Cassard-class Destroyer: A full load of fuel, crew, and Munitions, including 1 × Mk 13 launcher (40 × Standard SM-1MR anti-air missiles), 8 × MM40 Exocet anti-ship missiles, 2 × fixed torpedo tubes (10 × L5 mod 4 torpedoes), 1 × Creusot-Loire Compact 100 mm/55 Mod 68 DP gun, 2 × 20 mm F2 anti-aircraft guns, 4 × 12.7 mm machine guns, 2 × Sadral sextuple launcher (39 × Mistral CIWS anti-air missiles) FRS Jean Bart Cassard-class Destroyer: A full load of fuel, crew, and Munitions, including 1 × Mk 13 launcher (40 × Standard SM-1MR anti-air missiles), 8 × MM40 Exocet anti-ship missiles, 2 × fixed torpedo tubes (10 × L5 mod 4 torpedoes), 1 × Creusot-Loire Compact 100 mm/55 Mod 68 DP gun, 2 × 20 mm F2 anti-aircraft guns, 4 × 12.7 mm machine guns, 2 × Sadral sextuple launcher (39 × Mistral CIWS anti-air missiles) FRS Henri V La Fayette-class Frigate: A full load of fuel, Crew, and Munitions, including 8x Exocet MM40 Block II Anti Ship Missiles, 1x 100mm TR Automatic Gun (Fully Loaded), 2x 20MM Modele F2 Guns (Fully Loaded), 1x Crotale CN2 CIWS System (fully Loaded) FRS Victor Hugo Durance-class replenishment oiler: a Full load of fuel, crew, munitions, as well as enough supplies to sustain the French Fleet beyond reaching their station. FRS AgateRubis-class submarine, AMETHYSTE refit, Provisions and weapons room filled. 10x F17 mod2 Torpedoes, 4x SM39 Exocet Anti-ship missiles

---

The Submarine would receive its orders and begin traveling in a loop around its current position, just inside the Barents Sea. The Captain would have the Radio Operator send off one message to the fighters "Casse tois pauvre con!" Which would roughly translate to "Piss off, you asshole!"

Connor

 

[Connor]

HSwMS Hesse (F17)​

TOP SECRET
Detect and Trace
As previously mentioned the analysts within the Swedish Strategic Defence Network, a branch of the Swedish Armed Forces, had traced the submarine to the JP/IP sector and pre-determined the direction of travel with use of activated sensors, noise pollution levels and distance between hardware in order to accurately pinpoint the location of the French asset. With this in mind the aircraft of the Norrbotten Air Force Wing, 1st Rapid Reaction Squadron, 2nd Rapid Reaction Flight has been deployed to focus their search efforts in this sector which leads directly into Norwegian territorial waters without an expedited turn to the north, in the direction of Svalbard - the interception, whilst within international waters, was in fact within the confines of the Norwegian Sea off the coast of
the Nordland county. The action and communications of the Swedish Royal Air Force remained within the provisions of the law in order to identify potential threats to the national security of Scandinavia and upon failure to receive clarify and a positive identity from the mystery vessel the adequate level of escalation was applied.

"FALCON-21, all callsigns, bank on three - descend and maintain one thousand, low fly-past" was repeated prompting the aircraft to perform yet another low fly-past of the unidentified vessel, this time allowing the vessel to gain visual confirmation of the roundel on the side of the aircraft - performance communication remains encrypted.

Upon receiving the less than professional communication from the submarine, communications were returned. The aim was simple; identification.
"SWEDISH ROYAL AIR FORCE CALLING UNIDENTIFIED TRAFFIC - HEADING 045, JP SECTOR - VECTOR NORTH IMMEDIATELY, YOU ARE ENTERING NORWEGIAN TERRITORIAL WATERS. ACKLOWEDGE."

--

Meanwhile, as part of Operation Molybdenum, an unrelated Department of Defence mission to reinforce Swedish interests in Antarctica the Swedish Royal Navy had positioned the Orion-Class Surveillance Ship, HSwMS Orion (R1), from the 3rd Naval Warfare Flotilla, 1st Naval Intelligence Squadron remains in situ monitoring French airspace and any maritime traffic passing through 'IN' sector. Eventually, once the Carrier Strike Group Charles de Gaulle pass through this sector from their base in Toulon, their sheer presence alone would be glaringly obvious to those onboard the ship let alone the huge amount of electronic pollution emit from such a huge amount of inter-connected vessel travelling in convoy towards Scandinavia. This too was unusual given the amount of time the HSwMS Orion has remained in its position with next to no military traffic whatsoever. In the control room of the vessel the captain would be beckoned over to a screen managed by one of many intelligence officers maintaining a visual on radar systems on-board, using this they were able to determine the trajectory, speed and number of vessels coming towards the idling intelligence ship - this is immediately fed back via encrypted lines to the Department of Defence.

Preparations begin immediately, starting with the remainder of 2nd Rapid Reaction Flight being put in standby in addition to Skaraborg Air Force Wing, 2nd Rapid Reaction Squadron, 1st Rapid Reaction Flight being put in a state of readiness in-case there be a requirement for additional interception of incoming French naval assets. In addition to the Royal Air Force preparations the Royal Navy would too begin the immediate deployment for additional vessels:

• HSwMS Naresuan (F10) (Kungsbacka Naval Base) (3rd Naval Warfare Flotilla, Charlie Frigate Division)
  
  [150x] Active Personnel
  Fully equipped with adequate munitions, missiles, nourishments and deployment essentials.
  [1x] 5in/54 (127mm) Mk-45 Mod 2 naval artillery gun, [2x] 30mm MSI-DSL DS30MR automated small calibre gun, [8x] Mk41 VLS, [8x] RGM-84 Harpoon SSM launcher, [2x] Triple 324mm Mk32 Mod 5 tubes​
• HSwMS Songtham (F11) (Kungsbacka Naval Base) (3rd Naval Warfare Flotilla, Charlie Frigate Division)
  
  [150x] Active Personnel
  Fully equipped with adequate munitions, missiles, nourishments and deployment essentials.
  [1x] 5in/54 (127mm) Mk-45 Mod 2 naval artillery gun, [2x] 30mm MSI-DSL DS30MR automated small calibre gun, [8x] Mk41 VLS, [8x] RGM-84 Harpoon SSM launcher, [2x] Triple 324mm Mk32 Mod 5 tubes​
• HSwMS Hesse (F17) (Kungsbacka Naval Base) (3rd Naval Warfare Flotilla, Charlie Frigate Division)
  
  [189x] Active Personnel
  Fully equipped with adequate munitions, missiles, nourishments and deployment essentials.
  [1x] OTO-Melara 7mm/62mk-65 multi-purpose naval gun, [2x] Mauser BK-27 27mm rapid-fire cannons, [1x] Mk41 Mod 3 VLS, [2x] Mk49 launchers, [4x] MM38 Exocet missile launchers and [4x] 324mm torpedo tubes​
• HSwMS Saxony (F18) (Kungsbacka Naval Base) (3rd Naval Warfare Flotilla, Charlie Frigate Division)
  
  [189x] Active Personnel
  Fully equipped with adequate munitions, missiles, nourishments and deployment essentials.
  [1x] OTO-Melara 7mm/62mk-65 multi-purpose naval gun, [2x] Mauser BK-27 27mm rapid-fire cannons, [1x] Mk41 Mod 3 VLS, [2x] Mk49 launchers, [4x] MM38 Exocet missile launchers and [4x] 324mm torpedo tubes​
• HSwMS Saarland (F19) (Kungsbacka Naval Base) (3rd Naval Warfare Flotilla, Charlie Frigate Division)
  
  [189x] Active Personnel
  Fully equipped with adequate munitions, missiles, nourishments and deployment essentials.
  [1x] OTO-Melara 7mm/62mk-65 multi-purpose naval gun, [2x] Mauser BK-27 27mm rapid-fire cannons, [1x] Mk41 Mod 3 VLS, [2x] Mk49 launchers, [4x] MM38 Exocet missile launchers and [4x] 324mm torpedo tubes​

All vessels would leave their respective Naval Bases immediately and begin their travel to the North Sea, pending confirmation of further direction of travel by HSwMS Orion, via sector JO. Should the French vessels divert their traffic past Ireland the vessels would immediately travel through JP and JQ if required into the Norwegian and Barents Sea to begin direct interception of the Carrier Strike Group. The Department of Defence would now be preparing for direct contact by the French, whether the submarine and the French Navy deployment were connected would obvious be impossible to tell until direction of travel is confirmed however it was certainly convenient - prepare for the worst and hope for the best.

To prevent confusion with the British Armed Forces, a notification is privately sent to the British Royal Navy command notifying them of an increased reactionary military presence in the North and Norwegian Sea.

Logan Jamie

 

[Logan]

The Submarine would continue to maintain its current position, looping around in a long loop to stay roughly in the same area it's in, lowering it's ESM and Radio masts but not doing anything, in particular, to disappear from the fighters' attention.

---

Meanwhile, as the Carrier Strike Group continued it's continued trek to the North, it would begin the process of always having 2 Rafale-Ms with their anti-air loadouts flying in the air over the strike group, patrolling the skies to protect it from any combative intrusions by hostile aircraft. What's more, they would also keep two aircraft on or near the catapults at all times in case contact was made or any other support was required.

Connor

 

[Connor]

HSwMS Naresuan (F10)​

TOP SECRET
Guidance
Once the Carrier Strike Group had passed the point of no return and committed to their onwards travel via the Celtic Sea and the North Atlantic towards Iceland and up towards the Norwegian Sea, encrypted radio confirmation would be sent by the HSwMS Orion in order to notify the deployed vessels which by this stage were well into their voyage through the North Atlantic and now, with the receipt of this intelligence, would continue onwards into the Norwegian Sea to the location of the deployed Saab JAS 39B Gripen's currently engaged with an as yet unidentified vessel. Naturally, the pilots of FALCON-21, FALCON-22 and FALCON-23 would have easily deciphered the internationally recognisable French accent from the little radio communication they received from the vessel but this was nothing more than an assumption with no hard evidence to physically confirm the fact it was from France. The Swedish Royal Navy were deployed for one reason and one reason only; to ensure the integrity of Norwegian territorial waters and to prevent and record any potential violation of international law. From this point onwards all radio contact and physical identification by any aircraft or naval deployments would be both visually and audibly recorded to ensure the Swedish Armed Forces remained accountable for their actions throughout the rising tension. All vessels would traverse with all radar equipment and sensors fully active to monitor surface and aerial threats as well as submarine traffic, should the capability of that particular vessels class permit it - despite their rapid deployment the crews onboard would ensure, during their travel time, that all weapons systems were in an operational state and loaded should the requirement be for use; this was also the case for all countermeasures and defence systems onboard.

--

The continued failure to identify to the Swedish Royal Air Force was doing nothing more than causing concern, especially when it was already difficult to make a visual identification and were only really managing to monitor the positioning of the vessel with the assistance of infrared tracing systems onboard. Nonetheless the aircraft would continue to fly-by their position, circling around the position of interception and guiding themselves along the shelf of Norwegian territorial waters to, if nothing else, make it clear where the Swedish interests lie; which were not that of the submarine but rather the national security of the Scandinavian region. Once again the lead callsign, FALCON-21 would attempt radio communication with the submarine:

"Unidentified vessel, unidentified vessel, this is FALCON-21 of the Royal Air Force. I am acting on behalf of His Majesty's Government of the Kingdom of Sweden. You are encroaching on Norwegian territorial waters, divert your course and state your intentions immediately - failure to do so may be in violation of international law. Acknowledge."

Throughout their monitoring of the submarine the fuel levels of the aircraft would continuously remain monitored and the preparation of the second half of the 2nd Rapid Reaction Flight namely FALCON-24, FALCON-25 and FALCON-26 who, if required, would serve as relief aircraft to allow for the currently deployed aircraft to return to Luleå Air Base for refuelling.

Meanwhile the monitoring of the Carrier Strike Group would naturally become more difficult as they moved away from the HSwMS Orion and it's radar and monitoring capabilities - the positioning of this vessel would remain unchanged as it's countless operational experience has proven invaluable to preserve monitoring of the French maritime traffic, particularly that of the French Navy. In order to extend the monitoring capacity, the Swedish Royal Air Force begin the preparation of crew for the operation of a Saab 340 airborne early warning and control aircraft of the Blekinge Air Force Wing, 3rd Reconnaissance Squadron - the aircraft was operated by a total of six active personnel whom were trained in the use of onboard systems and operation of the aircraft - the aircraft is equipped with the Erieye radar system developed by Saab Electronic Defence Systems which uses active electronically scanned array technology in order to provide 300 degree coverage with it's instrumental range of 450km, specifically designed with a sea surveillance mode. This aircraft is assigned callsign RUFA-1 and following extensive exterior and instrumental tests would be permitted to depart it's position in Ronneby Air Base destined for the southern Norwegian Sea where it would begin monitoring, at a distance, maritime traffic and the detection of the very easily identified Carrier Battle Group. The aircraft would remain at the very extent of it's radars capabilities as to not impede on the usual no-fly zone around aircraft carriers as well as to allow for the safe operation of high-powered radar equipment.

Logan

 

[Logan]

By now the Carrier Strike Group would have entered the area of operations it was assigned, immediately launching 4 rafales, each carrying 2 Matra Magic AAMs and 4 MICA EM AAMs. The carrier would continue to hold 2 fighters on alert, and the battle group would spread out in the Norwegian Sea in order to create an effective screen around the carrier. The Agate would widen its search are so as not to have its SONAR be polluted by the strike group's craft.

---

"Incoming message Sir, It's the De'Gaulle, she's entered the area."

"Good. They should know the situation, let them know our coordinates."

The Submarine would broadcast its approximate coordinates to the fleet through a secure and private communications line as it continued circling its current position.

---

The 4 Rafales would immediately begin to travel from the Charles de Gaulle towards the current position of the Opale, maintaining cruising speed at optimum altitude, they would wait to contact the opposing aircraft until they were within firing range. Their Thales SPECTRA integrated electronic warfare suite would warn the pilot of any threats while its phased-array jamming system would activate should any radar attempt to lock onto the aircraft.

"Anchorhead Flight, Do not engage unless given explicit permission or fired upon. We contact them to wave them off, if we refused then we'll have some fun to scare them off, but do not fire unless fired upon."

"Copy that, Anchorhead Lead."

 

[Logan]

Connor

 

[Connor]

RUFA-1​

TOP SECRET
Monitor at a Distance
Having failed, on numerous occasions, to receive any form of identification from the submarine, the FALCON deployment of the 1st Rapid Reaction Squadron, 2nd Rapid Reaction Flight would inform for the Department of Defence of their findings thus far and visual confirmation that it was, as expected, a submersible vessel of unknown national origin however having successfully received radio contact in what is believed to have been French. It was abundantly clear from the large-scale deployment now reaching the Norwegian Sea that this was an attempt for a violent and unprovoked reaction from the Swedish Armed Forces which had been tried, and failed, by Argentina in the past. Orders are passed privately to both the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force that they are to assume a coastal guard formation and continue the monitoring of the traversing fleet past the Scandinavian region - no further radio contact is to be made unless there is risk to life, limb, property or the national security of Sweden, friends, partners of allies equally the crews are advised to use their discretion to make appropriate decisions to ensure their safety in real-time.

RUFA-1 of the 3rd Reconnaissance Squadron would continue the monitoring of the Carrier Strike Group and her deployed aircraft, feeding information back to the Department of Defence and deployed assets - fortunately the aircraft of the Swedish Royal Air Force are equipped with extensive jamming and countermeasure capability and, where possible, a blackout instruction is granted to limit the detection of deployed aircraft given the perceived threat by the deployment of jets from the Charles de-Guelle Aircraft Carrier. Throughout it's time in the air RUFA-1 would feed live images, trajectories, travel speed and flight patterns back to the Department of Defence for the identification of aircraft and the storing of essential information from what actually were confirmed French Armed Forces assets - given their position towards that of the submersible it would not be unreasonable to presume that this was now in fact a French Navy submarine and analysts would begin the process to identify it, if possible.

--

HSwMS Naresuan (F10), HSwMS Songtham (F11), HSwMS Hesse (F17), HSwMS Saxony (F18) and HSwMS Saarland (F19) would traverse the territorial waters of Norway, remaining within the limits of the Law of the Sea and international law pertaining to the use of military assets in foreign waters - throughout their movement they would continue to ensure they swarmed the area of identification for the submarine, remaining at a fair distance where possible to prevent the potential of collision and enabling appropriate self-defensive manoeuvres to take place should they be required. The physical positioning of the vessels would prevent penetration of Norwegian waters without aggressive movement by the French.

All Swedish assets would go radio-silent, blacked out and guide the French assets through to the Barents Sea where, presumably, they were continuing to travel towards.

Logan

 

[Logan]

The Rafales would move into a patrol pattern as they entered the area where the submarine was circling. They'd keep both their instruments and their eyes scanning for the opposing aircraft. If they saw them or picked them up, they would move into intercept, attempting to get behind them before saying "Opposing Aircraft, Opposing Aircraft, this is Anchorhead Lead of the French Royal Navy, you are threatening a vessel of the French Navy in international waters, in violation of International Law. Cease your current actions and return to your airfield. Further hostilities will be answered in kind. Please acknowledge and comply."

Connor

 

[Logan]

By now, the Rafales would've made visual contact with the Swedish Gripens, activating their OECMs and pulling up in tail position behind them. Pulling behind them, they would activate their fire control radars to attempt to get a lock on the aircraft as they used their IRSTs to maintain an IR-lock for their Matra Magic missiles. The lead Rafale would pull up behind the Lead Gripen while the other two would each pick another one to lock onto. By now the Gripens' Radar Warning Receivers would be screaming. "Opposing Aircraft, Opposing Aircraft, this is Anchorhead Lead of the French Royal Navy, you are threatening a French Royal Vessel while in international waters, in violation of international law. Cease your hostilities now and return to your airfield. Further hostilities will be responded to in Kind.

Please Acknowledge and Comply."

---

With the Rafales making contact with the Gripens, the FRS Opale would dive back down below the thermocline, traveling JQ-JP-JO-IO-IN where it would dock at its current homeport in Brest.

Connor

 

[Connor]

FALCON-21​

TOP SECRET
Radio Contact
Immediately upon internal electronic warfare suite activating a confirmation of radar lock by the French aircraft immediate evasive manoeuvres would take place with all three aircraft taking a hard and sudden bank to break the actioned infrared search and track system and ultimately putting the aircraft in a much safer position. With the French now proactively making hostile contact with the aircraft, further extensive capabilities would be put into use from the Gripen's on-of-a-kind highly advanced electronic warfare site; they'd immediately begin operating in an undetectable passive mode and actively jam hostile radar. During the roll the aircraft would rotate their positioning in order to, in the best possible manner, position themselves behind the French aircraft well outside of the fighting arc. Once possible FALCON-21, FALCON-22 and FALCON-23 would begin the

"Anchorhead Lead, Anchorhead Lead, this is FALCON-21 of the Swedish Royal Air Force - your vessel has failed to identify itself headed into Norwegian territorial waters, in violation of international law. State your intentions and divert your course immediately."

Given the extreme escalation of force RUFA-1, informed of the contact by encrypted radio communication, would begin the monitoring of all departures from the French Carrier Strike Group. RUFA-1 would continue operating at the very extent of it's operational range not only to preserve the safety of the aircraft and crew but also to enable prolonged operation in a completely undetected nature. It was, however, now confirmed that the intercepted submarine was infact of French Navy origin and now confirmed an operational movement within the Norwegian Sea naturally causing concern for the national security of Scandinavia - without delay the Norwegian and British government are informed of the huge success of the Nordic SOSUS Network in detecting, intercepting and deterring attack against the region however drawing a clear and concise necessity for continued intelligence gathering in relation to French intentions. This secretive behaviour directly impedes the presumed safety of nations in the region especially with the now recorded and documented aggressive from the French Armed Forces.

Redacted details are passed to the Swedish Diplomatic Mission in France.

Logan Zak Jamie

 

[Zak]

With the current intelligence from their Swedish counterparts passed onto Norwegian officials through encrypted channels, the Royal Norwegian Navy would deploy the from Haakonsvern Naval Base with 120 personnel on board. The ship would have been loaded with enough supplies and weaponry to begin its mission to assist the Swedish Navy - the personnel on board would jump straight into action as the Racal DeccaTM 1226 surface search radar would be monitored to identify the French forces moving towards Norwegian waters whereas the Siemens/Plessey AWS-9 long range air search radar would be monitored to search for any French aircraft crossing into Norwegian airspace.

Five General Dynamics F-16C Fighting Falcon would be prepared and rolled out at Ørland Main Air Station on Quick Action Alert, they would be fully fuelled up and armed with 1× 20 mm (0.787 in) M61A1 Vulcan 6-barrel rotary cannon, 6 × AIM-9 Sidewinder and 4 × AGM-119 Penguin with countermeasures and chaff dispensers on board. The five fighter jets would also be equipped with drop tanks for extra capabilities when in the sky. The pilots would remain on alert ready to deploy at a moments notice.

The Prime Minister would be informed of the current situation as she began talks with her cabinet.

Connor Logan Jamie