Following Israel's successful assassination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah on 27 September 2024, and Iran's retaliatory missile strike against Israel on 1 October, tensions in the Middle East have never been higher. The region is in chaos, with civilians fleeing Beruit by any means possible, causing local air traffic to be unusually congested.

Iranian Admirals are pragmatic, and understand they are outmatched. As such, they have instructed daily intercept training sorties. You are on one such sortie when your ground-based Early Warning Station becomes victim of a sophisticated cyber attack, a likely precursor to an Israeli attack. Resorting to World-War-2-era lines of communication, you will defend Iran against an Israeli strike package, ensuring you do not endanger an already congested civilian airspace. You will prioritise threats, identify foes, and attempt to force Israeli jets to RTB or jettison their A2G weapons. Flaming Cliffs: F5 and Mig-29. Full fidelity: F4 and F5.

In anticipation of an Israeli attack, Iranian Admirals have ordered daily air-to-air training sorties under the control of C/S ATHENS, a ground EW station. As C/S PONTIAC, you have just turned in hot against your wingman for a "guns only" simulated intercept.

As you conduct your mission, the telecommunication channels that tie together ATHENS with its sensors will be suddenly severed due to a likely sophisticated cyber attack, causing not only an air safety issue, but a genuine gap in Iran's IADS. The cyber attack is a likely precursor to an Israeli air strike. Your ground controller will establish lines of verbal communication with her sensors and also work with the National Air Traffic System to divert civilian traffic to the UAE, but without live data the information you both receive will be minutes old. As Iran's only airborne assets at this time, you are not just the first line of defence against an Israeli attack, but the only airborne early warning sensor.

Possible targets will be either the Buscher Nuclear Power Station, or Kharg Island Port, or the Bandar Abbas Uranium Enrichment Plant. They will be marked on your map, as well as the locations of your ground sensors.

Note that this is still technically peacetime, and with multiple civilians in the area we cannot afford misjudged engagements. You are instructed only to engage if a hostile act is either committed, or if a hostile act is imminent.

To be successful in this mission, you'll have to work together with your flight. You'll divide the airspace up between you, making the best combined use of your A2A radars. You'll interrogate tracks, often visually, and prioritise them accordingly. You'll locate the Israeli aircraft (of which there is one important one for mission success), and monitor them for hostile actions.