Growling Sidewinder’s single player mission can be found  https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/files/3342707/ || Multiplayer walkthrough found at https://youtu.be/D5N-03IyCCI  
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Operation Ilois was a secret, off-the-books, Special Boat Service mission to capture four Taliban commanders in the Lower Sangin Valley in Helmand Province in 2006. The mission was a failure and the SBS convoy was ambushed by 70+ fighters on its return leg. Out in the open with only irrigation ditches for cover, the SBS and Special Recon Regiment fought for over an hour while a make-shift Quick Reaction Force was dispatched from Gereshk some 10 miles south of them. Nearby air assets - namely British Harriers and American A-10s - were re-tasked to provide Close Air Support while the QRF fought its way through..

You'll play as either the A-10, AH-64, or CH-47 either alone or with friends.

## A note from the mission maker ##
Operation Illois was conducted on the backdrop of a number of strategic and operational failures, and sadly resulted in the deaths of Dave Patton and Paul Bartlett. I typically don't like to recreate missions in which known individuals were lost (to maintain the peace which I hope their families have found), but feel that the British blunders preceding this mission were worth re-telling.. I encourage you to read this within the mission briefing to give you some appreciation as to the environment in which Cpt Patton and Sgt Bartlett were thrown into in the summer of that year.

## The Mission ##
Your mission is to evacuate the stricken SBS unit, currently in the area of Qal'eh Gaz and in close quarter contact with the enemy.

Operation Ilois - a secret SBS mission to capture Taliban commanders in the Lower Sangin Valley - has failed. The unit from C Squadron, SBS, has been ambushed and is somewhere between Gereshk and Sangin. surrounded by 70+ Taliban fighters. Their prisoners have escaped, and the unit is fighting close quarters with bayonets fixed.

Because the operation has been conducted in secrecy, neither air operations at Camp Bastion nor the QRF at FOB Robinson at Gereshk are prepared. A make-shift QRF from FOB Robinson has been dispatched north, made up of elements of 3 PARA, Ghurkas, as well as remnants of the 93rd Division Afghan militia from Gereshk. It should be noted that the 93rd Division use Taliban-era Toyota Hiluxes, and care should be taken to identify your targets. The QRF will check in with you on your approach.

Meanwhile callsign DODGE, a AH-64 and CH-47 package, is preparing to depart Bastion. You will fly east to Gereshk and join the River Helmand, wh ere you'll turn north to locate the convoy providing air cover for the QRF, as well as providing evacuation for the stricken SBS unit.

Callsign PIG, A-10s from Kandahar, will fly at a heading of 285 and intercept the River Helmand. Similarly heading north, you will locate the convoy and provide air cover for the QRF and SBS.

In the case of single-player, AI units will spawn. The mission is best enjoyed as co-op, with friends playing in both fixed wing and rotary assets.