Caucasus Theater Unit Profiles

The Fighter Mafia is a research and texturing group I originally started to standardize realistic Eastern and Western skins for Vector Thrust, but ever since the LOMAC days I’ve been disappointed by the unrealistic selection of aircraft skins in vanilla ED content. I’ve decided to write profiles and release skins for the most important military units in our ORBAT for the Caucasus with help from our Russian-speaking members, and eventually expand to other theaters as they are released. Despite the fact that I’m mostly linking to airliners.net photos, this information has been compiled from a wide range of sources and is the best information we could gather on these units.

Before I start, there are some basic facts about VVS organization that often go overlooked due to the lack of English language sources on them. Among the most important points are:

Anatoliy Serdyukov’s 2008 organizational reforms have largely been rolled back. Any source that refers to numbered air bases is out of date; aviation regiments have mostly gone back to their prior designations, although many remain merged together. The only numbered bases remaining are Russian deployments to foreign soil. In DCS’s Caucasus theater, this includes the 4th Military Base in South Ossetia, 7th Military Base in Abkhazia, and 3624th Air Base in Armenia.

The tricolor star and overall grey scheme are mostly being abandoned, although examples of both remain. The tricolor star was rolled back in 2015, with the VVS stating that the blue outline degraded jets’ low visibility. In the future the VVS intends to shift to the red outline seen on PAK-FA prototypes as well as Su-35 bort 701, but in the meantime repainted airframes are using the white/red star.

Despite Serdyukov’s other changes being done away with, it seems that the “VVS ROSSII” text on stabilizers will remain a standard marking for the foreseeable future. New production airframes and refurbishments suggest that different camo patterns at each airbase will become the norm.

When making VVS skins, we’ll be using the two-tone star unless a scheme is specifically depicting an airframe within the 2010-2015 timeframe and excluding civil registration numbers because they would have to be static between every airframe.

Also, in the interests of standardization, we'll be consistently translating смешанный to Mixed and отдельный to Independent (some sources use Joint and Separate respectively).

Table of Contents

VVS 3SAP, Krymsk AB (Su-27P skin) (Su-27SM3 skin)

VVS 19GIAP, Millerovo AB (MiG-29 skin)

VVS 3624AB, Erebuni IAP (MiG-29 skin)

VVS 368ShAP, Budyonnovsk AB

VVS 960ShAP, Primorsko-Akhtarsk AB

SRF 4th Military Base, Tskhinvali / South Ossetian Military

SRF 7th Military Base, Gudauta AB / Abkhazian Military

SRF 58th Army

USAF 23FG, Moody AFB

USAF 31FW, Aviano AB / USAF 52FW, Spangdahlem AB

USAF 48FW, RAF Lakenheath (F-15 skins)

USAF 100ARW, RAF Mildenhall / USAF 552ACW, Tinker AFB (KC-135 skin) (E-3 skins)

Georgian Army

Caucasus Emirate

VVS 3rd Mixed Aviation Regiment (3SAP) Krymsk AB

Su-27P x 14 (Skin for Su-27)

Su-27UB x 6

Su-27SM3 x 14 (Skin for Su-27)

Su-30M2 x ~6-12 (No Su-30 skin planned, use default af standard last)

Ka-27PS x 4

Mi-8SMV x 16 (Skin planned for Mi-8MTV)

Mi-24P x 20 (Skin planned for Mi-24V)

Mi-28N x 3

The 3rd Mixed Aviation Regiment was formed by merging the 55th Helicopter Regiment with the 3rd Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment; it was known as the 6972nd Guards Aviation Base from 2009 to 2013 and is currently subordinate to the 1st Mixed Aviation Division of 4th Air Force and Aviation Defense Command. Krymsk underwent renovations from 2011 to 2014 and now includes an apron north of the runway that is not present in DCS. 3SAP is the closest fighter unit to the Georgian border, and in the event of a conflict involving BLUFOR with modern fighters (NATO/US intervention) would be the primary unit providing CAP for Russian, Abkhazian, and/or South Ossetian forces. However, they did not play a significant role in the Russo-Georgian War due to Georgian Air Force composition not including air superiority fighters. In the 1992 Abkhazian War of Independence, Russian Su-27s with sanitized markings flew out of Gudauta in support of Abkhazian forces. It's likely that the 3SAP would operate from Gudauta (controlled by the Russian 7th Military Base and with many permanent ground and rotary wing assets present) if deeper strikes into Georgia or persistent CAP are necessary.

Krymsk’s Su-27Ps are aging PVO airframes that feature green antennas and white radomes, although a few newer airframes have white antennas. Their Su-27UBs are also older and feature a similar two-tone camo scheme and appear to uniformly have green radomes. Starting in 2010 several airframes underwent refurbishment and returned with new three-tone paint schemes unique to the 3SAP. This scheme has been completed for DCS and will release pending its approval in the User Files section. The older airframes don’t have an exact match among default skins, but can be reasonably approximated with Air Force Standard skin variants. All borts are red and range from 2 to the 30s.

Some of Krymsk's older Su-27Ps (especially the green-tailed ones) have been reassigned to Belbek AB in Crimea (38IAP) following 2014 refurbishments, but we're still working on an estimate of how this affects current force composition.

Delivery of Su-27SM3s started around 2010 and they wear a three-tone camo pattern similar to the production Su-35S camo. This scheme has been completed for DCS and is available here. Borts are red and range from 51 to 64.

It is worth noting that despite their compatibility with R-77s, Krymsk Su-27SM3s and Su-30SMs only appear armed with R-73s and (both radar and IR-guided variants of) R-27s, so we assume that the airbase lacks a meaningful inventory of R-77s. Given this conjecture as well as the radar buffs given to the Su-27s in FC3 for balance, FC3 Su-27s can reasonably be used to simulate Krymsk’s Su-27SM3s as well as their Su-27Ps. If anyone can find Krymsk airframes carrying R-77s I’ll correct this.

Krymsk’s Su-30M2s wear three-tone camo similar to their Su-27SM3s and lack antiglare and canards. Some Russian media claims that four of their newer airframes wear antiglare and have canards, however this may be an incorrect stock photo. We have no plans to release Su-30 skins until the model is revised.

The Ka-27PS is a rescue variant of the Helix normally operated by the Navy, but those found at Krymsk have Air Force markings. Ka-27s have been used as command/scout assets for attack helicopters in Chechnya, but given the variant these airframes are most likely used for CSAR and maritime rescue. Their bort numbers are yellow and include 20.

The Mi-8SMV is an airborne jamming platform specifically tailored towards impeding enemy air defenses while jets and helicopters conduct A2G sorties. Its systems are not modeled in DCS, but we’ll release an Mi-8 skin for this unit in the future. Their bort numbers are blue and include 74.

Krymsk’s Mi-24s are standard P variants but wear a unique camo scheme; this will be released for the in-game Mi-24V eventually. Bort numbers are red and include 08.

Krymsk’s Mi-28s wear the standard dark grey scheme already present in-game, and were sanitized of markings for deployment to Syria in late 2015.

USAF 48th Fighter Wing (48FW) RAF Lakenheath

56th Rescue Squadron: HH-60G x 5 (UH-60A skin planned)

492d Fighter Squadron, “Madhatters”: F-15E x 23 (1 lost in 2011) (Default skin)

493d Fighter Squadron, “Grim Reapers”: F-15C x 22, F-15D x 1 (1 lost in 2014) (Skins for F-15C)

494th Fighter Squadron, “Panthers”: F-15E x 24 (F-15E skin planned, low priority)

With the disestablishment or reassignment of many USAFE assets following the end of the Cold War, the 48th Fighter Wing is the USAFE’s only F-15 unit.

The 493FS’s F-15Cs most frequently deploy to Iceland and the Baltics for NATO air policing but has had a surprisingly small role in Operation Atlantic Resolve (NATO presence in Eastern Europe in response to Russian intervention in Donbass and Syria), perhaps because they have not yet received the APG-63v3 AESA upgrades that National Guard F-15Cs have. Elements of the 493FS also frequently accompany Air Force One in Europe. The default DCS 493FS skin is accurate for the 1990s or early 2000s, but the Mod Eagle pattern has since changed. This skin pack provides a more accurate pattern for the mid-2000s through the present day, as well as the CO bird from ~2008-~2012, AF84-027.

Throughout the 2000s, the wing’s F-15Es have periodically deployed in support of OIF and OEF, and in 2011 contributed to Operation Odyssey Dawn in Libya. Given the proliferation of S-300s to South Ossetia and Abkhazia and general strength of Russian strategic and tactical air defenses, deployment of F-15Es rather than A-10A/Cs is more likely in the event of an outright war with Russia. However, a lack of F-15Es can be explained away with entanglements elsewhere on Russia’s borders (Ukraine, Baltics, etc.) and the relative scarcity of F-15Es available to the USAFE. 492FS F-15Es are already available in vanilla DCS; we may make a 494FS skin eventually but it’s not a high priority.

56RQS is a recent addition to the 48FW, granting them integrated CSAR capabilities by operating in conjunction with PJ’s from the 57RQS. When the battlespace is further from the duty station than an HH-60’s range, they can deploy to USN ships in order to conduct operations, as they did during Operation Odyssey Dawn from the USS Ponce.

It is common for components of the 48FW to deploy alone, so it is reasonable for 493FS F-15Cs to deploy to Georgia without F-15Es or only a single squadron rather than both, especially in light of Georgia’s airbase situation. Prior to the Russo-Georgian War, USAF fighters could be hosted at Vaziani, Senaki, or Kutaisi (Kobuleti has been in disrepair since the fall of the Soviet Union; other Georgian runways in DCS are civilian use or rotary wing military only). However, Senaki and Kutaisi were both targeted with anti-runway munitions and disabled during the conflict. Since then Kutaisi has been repaired but Senaki is solely a ground forces base. Vaziani has also been converted to a ground force base, with all remaining fixed wing aircraft transferred to Kutaisi. With airbase facilities limited, USAFE deployments would be tightly tailored to fit the operation’s strategic needs with little excess.