Symbol of the Kowloon Coast Guard
| VFA-001, Kowloon Coast Guard, 1st Strike Wing | |
| Unit Profile (as of 2772) | |
| CO | Commodore Anh Lee Cu'ong |
| JumpShips | yes |
| DropShips | yes |
| Aerospace | yes |
| Armor | no |
Description[]
The VFA-001 (nicknamed The Sky Raiders) were a Lyran Military Air Support command affiliated with the SLDF Volunteer Brigades (171st Kowloon Volunteers).
Unit Symbol: A Killer Whale rampant over a bomb in a crosshair.
- Wiki Editor Note: This a historical unit appears in both Ngoverse & its associated side stories such as the Administrator Series of Fan Books written by CannonShop.
History[]
Notably, most of their operations early in the war consisted of fortifying lines of communication and supply for SLDF units making their way from the conquered RWR's territory toward the front lines of the Hegemony, but this changed in January of 2775 when they were deployed in support of operations on the world of Elbar.
Elbar was a complex mission for many reasons. (See: "Running Deer Mountain", "171st Kowloon Volunteers", "90th Heavy Assault" and "Elbar Toothpick") The initial mission was the recapture of the Brian Fortress at Running Deer Mountain, a facility protected by a significant force of both ground units, and Aerospace deployed throughout the system.
The initial forces detailed to capture the planet were considered sufficient for the garrison projected by Star League Intelligence, which mis-estimated by a factor of ten the actual level of enemy forces (and commitment of said forces) in the system. this resulted in a near disaster during the landing phases, as Star League Naval forces lost airspace control shortly after the assault landings, this contested state included the loss of the SLS Paschendale (Potemkin class) as well as the crippling of the SLS Koga. The commander of the SLDF naval forces compensated by placing the bulk of SLDF aerospace units on the task of recovering air superiority in the low orbitals.
The only unit not tasked with this? The Kowloonese Volunteer units were sent to support the landings of the 171st Volunteers, 7th volunteers and 90th Heavy Assault division. It was estimated by the Admiral that the lightly armed, thinly armored, and technologically backward Sabers would be wasted contesting the airspace.
This left Commodore Anh Lee Cu'ong, the commander of VFA-001, free to act as she saw fit-and what she saw fit to do. Which was strapping as many bombs on her airframes as possible and begin answering calls for air support from allied units.
Losses on the first day of the Elbar Landings among the Kowloonese were nearly 40%, as the lightweight fighters dove deep into Elbar's atmosphere to conduct tree-top altitude approaches on Rim Guards units and fortifications. This was including bombing weapons emplacements, detection grids, and anything else capable of emitting a radar or Lidar signal, jamming towers, anything and everything to clear a path or disrupt the enemy's defenses while SLDF troops grounded and organized.
The pace of operations after day one, set a standard for operational pace rarely acknowledged as even possible, with the Skyraider pilots 'hot swapping' with their engines warmed up, the fighter airframes taking only enough time to refuel and rearm before heading back into the hell of Elbar's surface war, sometimes not even bothering to replace damaged armor beyond that necessary to manage re-entry heat. During the first week of the Elbar Campaign, the Skyraiders lost four out of ten fighters to enemy action, but delivered enough ordnance to convince the Rim Worlds forces on the planet that the SLDF had a major force of multiple air wings conducting dedicated ground attack while simultaneously fighitng to achieve, and then retain, total air superiority.
No awards recommendations were forwarded or accepted for these actions in support of SLDF forces except by officers from the 90th Heavy Assault ("Black Tigers") and 7th Free Worlds Volunteers.
VFA-001 returned to logistical support during the remainder of the Hegemony campaigns, only being brought into the Sol system phases during the recapture of Warsaw (European) and some high-risk portions of the North American and Southeast Asian campaigns.
No personnel from VFA-001 (aka the Kowloon Coast Guard) accompanied SLDF forces on Operation: Exodus.
Special note: over the course of the Amaris War, all replacements and repair materiel were provided to Kowloonese Coast Guard units by Kowloon itself. Only 'mission items' and a portion of their fuel was provided from SLDF stockpiles, and those were directly on a mission-by-mission basis or at the discretion of local SLDF commanders in the various theaters in which this unit fought.
Tactics[]
VFA-001 has specialized in high-speed, low-altitude attack missions, with flight in excess of Mach 3 conducted at altitudes measured in tens of meters from ground level. This has a tendency to create surface-level sonic booms as well as a slight radioactive backwash and atmospheric heating. Strike patterns tend to favor 'wagon wheel' approaches, also at exceptionally low altitude, reducing the time an air-defense force has to engage the approaching or retreating air or aerospace craft. These methods are also an outright violation of SLDF training standards, as the risk of deconstructive lithobraking (the meeting of aiframe to ground features) is abnormally high, particularly at the speeds employed by these airfames, and is strongly discouraged by most professional military aviation establishments.
VFA-001 also has an organizational habit of 'high tempo' operations, eschewing normal maintenance cycles to effect a per-sortie turnaround of less than 30 minutes, a practice known to put undue strain and stress on airframes as flight crew, as well as 'hot decking' while loading ordnance. (Hot decking means leaving the engines running at idle with wheels chocked while munitions are loaded and fuel is delivered-a high-risk practice in violation of numerous universally accepted safety precautions-even Rim Worlds forces don't conduct 'hot decking' as a standard practice due to the risk of accidental detonations of munitions, fuel, and risk to ground support personnel, as well as the imposed level of stress and fatigue on flight crew.)
Support[]
Special note: over the course of the Amaris War, all replacements and repair materiel were provided to Kowloonese Coast Guard units by Kowloon itself. Only 'mission items' and a portion of their fuel was provided from SLDF stockpiles, and those were directly on a mission-by-mission basis or at the discretion of local SLDF commanders in the various theaters in which this unit fought.
Composition[]
Four squadrons of SB-27 Saber fighters (non Royal). "The Skyraiders" employed primarily Liberty JumpShip or jumpsail-adapted Aquila class Primitive JumpShip that was converted to carrier duty as their transport. The ship operated as Sky Raider's main base of operations when deployed in support of SLDF operations against the Rim Worlds Republic's forces in the Terran Hegemony, and were technically under SLDF command.
It should be noted that it was peculiar for a dedicated ground support/ground attack unit like that of the VFA-001 having been equipped entirely with light AeroSpace Fighters and even more oddly for a Volunteers unit, they're all one model. It was even MORE strangely they were not supplied by the SLDF nor received no direct logistical support from Star League Naval or SLDF regular supply organization.
Noted Personas[]
- Commodore Anh Lee Cu'ong
- Kowloonese native, former political prisoner while Kowloon was under Rim Worlds Occupation. native of the Kowloon Belt system (Cu'ong and Brady Mining cooperative processor 22, Boojum Belt) Born October 11, 2741, no formal education or military background prior to the uprising against the Rim Worlds in 2769. Cu'ong is an excellent logistical planner with a flair for tactics, (as opposed to most professional peers in and out of the Volunteer Corps, whom tend to be decent tacticians with a light and haphazard grasp of logistics). Notably, in several campaigns prior to Elbar, Cu'ong distinguished herself and her unit by appearing to be larger and better equipped than was actually the case. Cu'ong is considered the originator of 'hot deck' deployment tactics, as well as being an advocate for 'ground support from the weeds' and other irregular tactics to inflate the apparent capability of her units.
Catchphrase: "What do you mean? Do you really need three days to ****** yourself between sorties?"