Dhofar Escalation: A DCS Multiplayer Campaign

I started making this campaign back in 2022, backdating the first attempt that was set in 1987. Unfortunately, the lack of appropriate modules was a problem. With the arrival of the F-4E-45MC, only the F-14A-95-GR is missing to complete the picture. Technically, a decent F-5 is also missing, but we will live with that.

The historical events

The Dhofar rebellion, which endured between 1965 and 1979, serves as the primary inspiration for the campaign.
It started in the early 1960s with the Dhofar Liberation Front (DLF), conducting local attacks. Shortly after, the movement took a turn towards socialism first, and Marxism-Leninism later. The DLF was renamed to PFLOAG, acronym for Popular Front for the Liberation of the Occupied Arab Gulf. In 1974, the name changed again to Popular Front for the Liberation of Oman, PFLO. Along them, the National Democratic Front for the Liberation of Oman and the Arabian Gulf, or NDFLOAG, was backed by South Yemen.

The movement attracted the support and sympathies of similarly aligned countries, such as China, the mentioned South Yemen, and later the Soviet Union.
On the other side of the fence, the Omanis were still heavily reliant on the British, and the conflict later involved the Iranians, with minor support from Jordan and other countries.
The war technically ended in 1976, with minor events dragging on until 1979, with the defeat of the rebellion.

Foreign Troops

The number of troops involved was very limited, for example, circa a thousand British, four thousand Iranians, and eight hundred soldiers from Jordan, in the span of over 13 years of conflict.

United Kingdom

The British interaction was very limited, partially for the geopolitical situation, partially probably because of their approach to the conflict as a COIN operation, rather than open war. I read an article mentioning the economic aspect as well, but without going into too many details. However, the status of the British economy in the late 60s and 70s was worsening, as the recovery post Second World War slowed down, and their debt to the US was still massive. In fact, only in 2006 did the Brits settle the debt they owed to the USA, and only in 2015 did they finish repaying reparations for ending slavery (sort of). And then the Boomers voted Brexit…  ¯\_ (ツ)_/¯

Iran

The Iranians were governed by the Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. The country’s ruler was supported in his authoritarian escalation by the USA and the British. They intervened to overthrow Mohammad Mosaddegh, the prime minister who rose to power after the Soviets and British forced the previous Shah, Reza Pahlavi’s father, to abdicate in 1941.

The Iranian intervention forces were initially limited to a circa a thousand troops, and later expanded to four thousand. The Iranians held a few defensive lines and participated in multiple fights, many definitely more akin to full-scale warfare rather than counter-insurgency.
The intervention was later justified by the Shah as a necessity to defend the Straight of Hormuz and prevent the southern coast from being occupied and controlled by the rebels.
You know, writing this stuff 50 years after the events of 1976 leaves a sour, almost tragicomical, taste. Laughable, if it weren’t for the suffering of the civilians in Iran and the adjacent countries, and the worldwide impact of the current “military operation” ongoing there.

Facts to Fiction

I found the events of the rebellion particularly interesting. Not only is it an almost unknown conflict, but it involved, although indirectly, the Chinese and Soviets against the British and Iranians. Imagining an escalation of the events and a more direct involvement of the Communist powers is absolutely intriguing, at least when it comes to DCS.
Although the Dhofar region lies in an area not present on the Persian Gulf map available in the game, a widening of the conflict would have probably affected the adjacent Gulf states. In this fictional take on the events, the “Red Block” is pushing North, with the aim of occupying the entire peninsula and threatening the Straight of Hormuz. In the meantime, British forces have reinforced the northern tip of Oman, where everyone’s favourite airfield, Khasab, is located.
At the beginning of the campaign, the UAE is neutral: exposed to the South and East to the advancing rebel forces, they would rather not commit to any side, despite the past strong relations with the British. In real life, the UAE obtained independence only in 1966 and by 1971, the British troops stopped defending the country. In fact, Iran carpe diem-‘d and occupied the Tunbs Islands, with British warships and carriers standing idle. After a series of negotiations, the islands are nowadays occupied by Iran but still claimed by the United Arab Emirates.
Back to the fictional campaign, only half a decade has passed between those events and the escalated Dhofar rebellion. Ergo, the political and socio-economical system of relations is still fragile. Moreover, it is not difficult to imagine how the UAE would not be eager to support the British, and even less the Iranians. For the purpose of the campaign, Iranian units cannot enter UAE territory.
In the campaign, the British have escalated their efforts from COIN operations to more conventional warfare. RAF and RN forces have reinforced Khasab, which hosts a small number of the newly-introduced F-4 Phantom IIs.
Players are on the Iranian side, using Heatblur’s F-4E-45MC and the F-14A -95, adapted to represent the so-called “Ali-Cat”. The IIAF used several F-5 Freedom Fighters and Tiger II, but the F-5E-3 present in DCS is not up to my standards, primarily due to the present Radar Warning Receiver.
To portray the combination of era and technology, briefings, intel, Controllers, and other factors are intentionally left vague and substandard, so to speak, and players have to adapt and gather information if they can when they can.

Units

This is a quick overview of some units present in the conflict. There are, unfortunately, placeholders. Aeroplanes that really lack an appropriate counterpart are the F-5 for the players and the Hawker Hunter for the AI.
I still find it unbelievable that the Hawker Hunter, built in circa 2000 units and widely exported, is still not present in DCS. It was a common sight in the skies of the 50s and 60s, and the last squadron was retired only in 2014. I am still pondering which aircraft is the best placeholder for the Hunter, probably either the F-100D or the A-4.

Imperial Iranian Air Force

• F-4E Phantom II (F-4E-45MC)
• F-14A (F-14A-95-GR)
• F-5A/B – E/F (F-5E-3, AI only)

Royal Air Force / Royal Navy

• Hawker Hunter (A-4 or F-100D)
• F-4K Phantom FG.1 (F-4E-45MC)
• Hawker Siddeley Harrier GR.1 (AV-8B NA)

Royal Saudi Air Force

• Hawker Hunter (A-4 or F-100D)

Royal Jordanian Air Force

• Hawker Hunter (A-4 or F-100D)
• CASA C-101 (CASA C-101CC)
• Mirage F1 (Mirage F1)

Royal Air Force of Oman

• Hawker Hunter (A-4 or F-100D)

United Arab Emirates Air Force

• Dassault Mirage 5 (Mirage F1CE / F-100D?)
• Hawker Hunter (A-4 or F-100D)
• Aermacchi MB-326 (Aermacchi MB-339)

Qatar Emiri Air Force

• Hawker Hunter (A-4 or F-100D)
• Dassault/Dornier Alpha Jet (CASA C-101)
• Mirage F1 (Mirage F1)

Omani Rebels, South Yemen & Sino-Soviet Supporters

• MiG-15/17/19/21/23/25/27
• Su-17/22
• Aero L-39 Albatros
• Yak-52

As you can see, there are multiple nations involved, even if the Persian Gulf DCS map does not accommodate all of them. The factions may potentially switch between sorties as the geopolitical game continues. In some cases, the procurements have been bent slightly: for example, several Mirage F1 were delivered after 1976.

Campaign philosophy

This campaign is intended for a wide audience. I decided to skip the thorough planning of simulative groups that takes weeks and added a hefty amount of randomisation to each mission. The goal is to portray the uncertainty of a conflict, despite DCS’s extreme and unrealistic focus on the opposite, by showing the obscurity of the times, the fog of war, the lack of means and modern technology.
To achieve the goal, aircraft, air defences, controllers, AI skill level, loadout, usage of radar and RW, and whatnot, are randomised at the beginning of each mission. In other words, things change every time the mission is launched. Objectives are defined mostly by the players themselves. The location of air defences and troops is unknown  or vague, unless reconnaissance missions are organised.
Since players are just cogs in something bigger, the manual editing between missions is minimal. A won sortie won’t suddenly move the front line by 50 km, for example. Players should aim to diffuse and de-escalate the conflict: this fictional war is another proxy; no one desires provocations that might lead to open conflict in Europe and other continents as well.
Despite the simple approach, ordnance, aircraft, and pilots are limited. The F-14A might field AIM-54A Phoenix, but the overall supply will be limited. Moreover, early Tomcats arrived with Phoenix, guns, and not much else, so other ordnance had to be adapted and / or converted, severely hindering their availability.
On the other hand, due to the terrain and lack of airborne intercept controllers (AIC), Tomcats may provide awareness to Phantoms and other assets, if so they decide. Fun fact, in my book/manual, I linked an article from the Iran-Iraq war period that mentions Tomcat used in such a task.
Attacks on ground units and other positions should be well-thought-out and planned. As the campaign I organised in 2021 showed, a sort of CCIP attack on a target defended by a couple of dozen AAA of various calibres is an awful idea. At the same time, low-level missions should be executed to take full advantage of the terrain and lack of enemy awareness.
Since the conflict is still escalating, minimising civilian casualties is paramount, and good planning goes a long way in this regard.
Moreover, missions might benefit from SEAD conducted by artillery and other assets, imposing a tight TOT on the strike package. If the window is missed, the sortie is either failed or becomes extremely more dangerous.
On other occasions, aircraft might locate targets of opportunity or more valuable ones and decide to engage them, as happened multiple times during the real Iran-Iraq war.
Air-to-air sorties might be planned to open the way for the ground pounders, to prevent enemy assets from attacking friendly units, or might be totally impromptu. VID might be required, since the geopolitical situation is fluid, and alliances might not be established: shooting down a potentially future partner is not a great way to make friends, and might lead to an abrupt end to the campaign.
Neutral units might be operating in the area where the players are also tasked, and just to be on the safe side, I will do my best to make the IFF as unreliable as possible. At the end of the day, “Spades” does not mean “Hostile”, but not even “Friendly”.
As mentioned, enemy aircraft’s behaviour is heavily randomised in numbers, tactics, and more. Some will not react to missiles to simulate the poor maintenance, lack of a radar warning receiver, or quality of export models. Others will use their radar or have or not have missiles or guns, to simulate variants such as the MiG-21bis or the MiG-21P. Generally speaking, the quality of the Soviet-equipped troops is generally poor, whereas the British-trained side is much more capable. However, numbers differ, and the idea of unload and bugout, or jettison air-to-ground ordnance, might not always be bad.

End of the Campaign

After every mission, the next one is manually modified to portray the evolution of the conflict. Players are just a cog in the fight. In fact, the campaign may end in several ways. Through diplomacy, if the situation stalls long enough, by winning or losing, depending on how the frontline moves, by the targets the players strike, et cetera. If the players’ faction runs out of supplies or airframes, well, it’s kind of over for them. Similarly, if players disregard visual identification and ROE, they may turn potential friends into enemies, expediting the end of the campaign.

Who, What, When

About the “When”, the campaign requires the release of the F-14A-95-GR, or whatever early export variant of the Tomcat Heatblur decides to reveal. Until such a module is released, the campaign is on hold.
Besides that, the campaign will be hosted either in EU evenings, but weekends are more flexible.
I also need to find a host, of course.
Presently, I do not fly in any virtual wing or squadron. Ergo, the “Who” is… Well, I suppose, whoever is happy to fly a casual campaign and is familiar with what I usually refer to as “the usual stuff”. Basically, what I write and will write on FlyAndWire. Examples are dead reckoning and pilotage, dive-toss operations as a section or multiple sections, air-to-air tactics and techniques such as intercepts, et cetera. Since both the Phantom and the Tomcat are multicrew aircraft, both seats must be occupied by humans. No Jester here, its capabilities are vastly insufficient for any basic scenario.
About the “What”, I guess I have said a lot already. The last point I want to remark on is that my spare time is limited, between kids and everything else. Therefore, I decided to make the campaign as dad-friendly as possible. This means making it as quick to run as possible. So, a briefing is released in the days before the mission, which should be studied by then, then hop in the cockpit, probably aircraft already hot, and off we go. Although subject to change, sorties are meant to be relatively short and focused on a single task. Last time I flew a proper mission as a RIO, the mission was almost four hours long. Although it was a great experience, that’s not the type of campaign I have in mind.

I hope you have found the idea interesting. Again, this is a casual campaign. I plan to have two sections of F-14s and two sections of F-4Es, so a total of 16 players, perhaps up to 20. We’ll see how it goes.

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