Gauging interest: Strike Fighters Project 20th Anniversary

[Dexter249 76]

So, with next year being the 20th anniversary of SFP1's release, I was thinking of doing something similar to the expansion packs for all the other games in the series for the Paran vs Dhimar conflict, I'm going to gauge interest and lay out each campaign.

This will likely use the excellent Desert4 campaigns as a base for the expansion packs, I will lay out each campaign here, including each side and flyable aircraft, Mercenaries will not be listed, just so I can gauge interest.

OPERATION BURNING SANDS (1959)

USAF

F-84E

F-84F

F-84G

F-100D 

F-101A 

F-102A

USN

A-4B (Upgraded throughout the campaign)

F-8C (Upgraded throughout)

F-9F

F-11F

A-1H

A-5A/B

F4D Skyray

USMC

A-4B

F-9F

F4D Skyray

RAF

Meteor F.8

Javelin FAW.1

Hunter F.6

Lightning F.1

RCAF

CF-100 Canuck

Canadair Sabre Mk.6

RCN

F2H-3 Banshee

Armee De L'air

F-100D 

Mystere IVA

Ouragan

Vautour IIA

F-84G

Dhimar

Hunter F.4

Hunter F.6

F-86K

F-84G

OPERATION QUICK SAND (1966)

USAF

F-4C

F-4D

F-100D

F-101C

F-102A

F-106A

F-105D

USN

F-8D

F-8E

F-4B

A-4C

A-6A

USMC

F-8E

F-4B

A-4C

RAF

Hunter F.6

Hunter FGA.9

Lightning F.2

Lightning F.3

RCAF

CF-101 Voodoo

CF-104 Starfighter

Armee De L'Air

Mystere IVA

Mirage IIIC

Dhimar

F-4C

F-100D

A-4B

Mirage IIIC

OPERATION RATTLE SNAKE (1968)

USAF

F-4C

F-4D

F-4E

F-106A

F-105D

F-5A

USN

F-4B

F-4J

A-4E

A-6E

A-7A

USMC

F-4B

F-4J

A-4C

RAF

Hunter FGA.9

Lightning F.6

Phantom FGR.1

RCAF

CF-101B

CF-104

CF-116

Armee De L'Air

Mirage IIIC

Mystere IVA

Dhimar

F-4C

A-4C

F-104C

Mirage IIIC

OPERATION DESERT THUNDER (1972)

USAF

F-4C

F-4D

F-4E

F-105G

F-5C

A-7D

USN

F-4J

F-14A

A-7E

A-6E

USMC

A-4E

F-4J

RAF

Phantom FGR.2

Lightning F.6

Buccaneer

Harrier GR.1

RCAF

CF-104

CF-116

Armee De L'Air

Mirage IIIC

Mirage 5

Dhimar

F-4E

F-5C

Mirage IIIC

Mirage 5

F-104G

OPERATION DESERT FURY (1975)

USAF

F-4D

F-4E

A-7D

F-5E

F-104C

USN

F-4J

F-14A

A-7E

A-6E

USMC

F-4B

AV-8A

RAF

Harrier GR.1

Phantom FGR.2

Lightning F.6

Hunter FGA.9

Jaguar GR.1

Buccaneer S2.B

RCAF

CF-104

CF-116

Armee De L'Air

Mirage F1C

Mirage G

Mirage 5

Dhimar

F-4E

F-104G

Mirage F1A/B

Mirage 5

F-5E 

OPERATION DESERT BLAZE (1978)

USAF

A-10A

F-4E

F-15A

A-7D

F-4G

USN

F-14A

A-6E

A-7D

USMC

AV-8A

RAF

Jaguar GR.1

Harrier GR.3

Phantom FGR.2

RCAF

CF-104

CF-116

Armee De L'Air

Mirage F1C

Mirage 5

Mirage G

Dhimar

Mirage F1A/B

Kfir C1

F-5E

F-14A

F-4E

DUEL IN THE DESERT 1 (1981)

Dhimar

Mirage F1C

F-14A

F-4E

F-5E

Tornado GR.1

OPERATION DESERT ARROW (1984)

USAF

F-4E

F-15A

A-10A

F-16A

USN

F-14A

F/A-18A/B

USMC

AV-8A

RAF

Tornado GR.1

Jaguar GR.1

Harrier GR.3

Phantom FGR.2

RCAF

CF-116

Armee De L'Air

Mirage 2000

Mirage F1C

Mirage G

Dhimar

F-20A Tigershark

Mirage G

Mirage F1C

F-14A

Tornado GR.1

OPERATION DESERT LIGHTNING (1993)

USAF

F-4E

F-15C/D

F-15E

F-16C

A-10A

USN

F-14B

F/A-18A/B

F/A-18C/D

USMC

AV-8B

F/A-18A

RAF

Tornado GR.1

Tornado F.3

Jaguar GR.1

RCAF

CF-188A

Armee De L'Air

Mirage F1C

Mirage 2000C

Mirage 2000D

Dhimar

F-14A+

F-20A

Mirage 2000C

F/A-18C/D Hornet

DUEL IN THE DESERT 2 (1998)

Dhimar

F-14B

Mirage 2000C/D

F-20A

F/A-18C/D

OPERATION PARANI FREEDOM (2006)

USAF

F-22A

F-15C

F-15E

F-16C

A-10C

USN

F-14D

F/A-18C/D

F/A-18E/F

USMC

AV-8B+

F/A-18A/B

RAF

Tornado GR.4

Tornado F.3

Typhoon F.1

RCAF

CF-188A

Armee De L'Air

Rafale C

Mirage 2000-5

Dhimar

Gripen C

F-20A

F-14D

OPERATION SMOKING GUN (2016)

USAF

F-22A

F-15C

F-15E

F-16C

A-10C

USN
F/A-18C/D

F/A-18E/F

USMC

AV-8B+

F/A-18A/B
F/A-18C

RAF

Tornado GR.4

Typhoon F.1

RCAF

CF-188A

Armee De L'Air

Rafale C

Mirage 2000-5

Dhimar

Gripen E

Mirage 2000-5

F-14D+

F-20C

DUEL IN THE DESERT 3 (2016)

Dhimar

Gripen E

Mirage 2000-5

F-14D+

F-20C

OPERATION SAND DUNES (2021)

USAF

F-35A

F-22A

F-15C

F-15E

F-15EX Super Eagle

F-16C

USN

F-35C

F/A-18E/F

USMC

AV-8B+

F-35B

F/A-18A/B

F/A-18C/D

RAF

Typhoon FGR.4

Lightning II FGR.1

RCAF

CF-188A

CF-139 Gripen E

Armee De L'Air

Rafale E 

Mirage 2000-5

Dhimar

F-20C+

Gripen E

F-14E TOMCAT21

Again, only a rough draft, OPFOR will be done in a second post.

[+ext 52]

Hope there is enough interest! Thanks for the idea and work. 

[+daddyairplanes 10,439]

it sounds interesting, although you might want to break in down into chunks, and roll with what interests those working with you over doing all those time frames. ODS was somewhat exhausting, and i was only a bit player in it.

if it gets rolling along, let me know if youd like any Dhimari heavy skins.

oh, and maybe go with a Dhimari F-15DhA(F-15QA), as the first F-15EX just flew this week first time. St Louis cant crank em out that fast!

Edited February 4, 2021 by daddyairplanes

[Dexter249 76]

15 hours ago, daddyairplanes said:

it sounds interesting, although you might want to break in down into chunks, and roll with what interests those working with you over doing all those time frames. ODS was somewhat exhausting, and i was only a bit player in it.

if it gets rolling along, let me know if youd like any Dhimari heavy skins.

oh, and maybe go with a Dhimari F-15DhA(F-15QA), as the first F-15EX just flew this week first time. St Louis cant crank em out that fast!

Eh, considering I am focusing on a few "what if" aircraft (E.G. Mirage G and F-20A Tigershark), I'm probably going to go with a mix of F-14s and F-15s for Dhimar.

[Dexter249 76]

Alright time to layout REDFOR, will only cover major nations, and will not list off variants due to a large amount of them.

OPERATION BURNING SANDS (1959)

Paran

Hunter F.4/F.6

MiG-17A

MiG-17F

J-5

MiG-19

MiG-19P

IL-28
USSR

MiG-17 (various variants)

Il-28

MiG-19 (various variants)

MiG-21F-13

Su-7

Yak-28 (various variants)

Yak-25 

OPERATION QUICK SAND (1966)

Paran

Hunter F.6

MiG-17A

MiG-17F

J-5

J-6

MiG-19 (Various Variants)

Su-7 (Various variants)

MiG-21F-13

Il-28

USSR

MiG-17 (various variants)

MiG-19 (various variants)

MiG-21 (various variants)

Su-7

Il-28

Tu-16

Tu-95

OPERATION RATTLE SNAKE (1968)

Paran

MiG-17

J-5

J-6

MiG-19

MiG-21

Su-7

USSR

MiG-19

MiG-21

Su-7

Su-11

Su-15

OPERATION DESERT THUNDER (1972)

Paran

J-6

MiG-19

MiG-21

MiG-23

MiG-25

Su-7

Su-17

USSR

MiG-21

MiG-23

MiG-25

Su-7

Su-15

Su-17

Tu-16

Tu-22

Tu-95

OPERATION DESERT FURY (1975)

Paran

J-6

MiG-19

MiG-21

MiG-23

MiG-25

Su-7

Su-17

J-7

USSR

MiG-21

MiG-23

MiG-25

MiG-27

Su-15

Su-17

Su-24

OPERATION DESERT BLAZE (1978)

Paran

MiG-21

J-7

MiG-23

MiG-25

MiG-27

Su-7

Su-17

Su-20

Su-22

USSR

MiG-23

MiG-25

MiG-27

Yak-38

Su-17

Su-24

Tu-16

Tu-22

Tu-95

DUEL IN THE DESERT 1 (1981)

Paran

MiG-21

MiG-23

MiG-25

MiG-27

J-7

Su-7

Su-22

Su-24

OPERATION DESERT ARROW (1984)

Paran

MiG-21

MiG-23

MiG-25

MiG-27

MiG-29

J-7

Su-7

Su-22

Su-24

USSR

MiG-23

MiG-25

MiG-27

MiG-29

MiG-31

Su-17

Su-24

Su-25

Tu-16

Tu-22

Tu-95

OPERATION DESERT LIGHTNING (1993)

Paran

MiG-21

MiG-23

MiG-25

MiG-27

MiG-29

J-7

A-5

Su-7

Su-22

Su-24

Su-25

Su-27

Iran

F-5E

F-5F

F-4E

F-14A

MiG-23

Su-24

PLAAF (Under Parani flag)

J-7

J-8

JH-7

DUEL IN THE DESERT 2 (1998)

Paran

MiG-21

MiG-23

MiG-25

MiG-27

MiG-29

J-7

A-5

Su-7

Su-22

Su-24

Su-25

Su-27

J-11

OPERATION PARANI FREEDOM (2006)

Paran

MiG-23/27

MiG-29

Su-24

Su-25

Su-27

Su-30

J-7

J-10

PLAAF

J-7

JH-7

J-8

J-10

J-11

OPERATION SMOKING GUN (2016)

Paran

MiG-23/27

MiG-29

Su-24

Su-25

Su-27

Su-30

Su-32 (Fullback planned export designation, seen in Ace Combat 5 and Zero)

JF-17

PLAAF

JH-7

J-7

J-8

J-10

J-11

J-16

PLAN

J-15

Pakistan

Mirage IIIO

Mirage 5

F-16C

JF-17

Iran

F-7

J-10

Su-27

J-11

F-4E

F-14A

F-5E/F

DUEL IN THE DESERT 3 (2016)

Paran

MiG-23/27

MiG-29

Su-24

Su-25

Su-27

Su-30

Su-32 

JF-17

OPERATION SAND DUNES (2021)

Paran

MiG-29

Su-24

Su-25

Su-27

Su-30

Su-32

Su-35

J-7

J-10

JF-17

PLAAF
J-7

J-8

J-10

J-11

J-16

J-20

PLAN

J-15

Pakistan Air Force

Mirage IIIO

Mirage 5

F-16

JF-17

Iran

F-4E

F-5E/F

J-7

J-10

F-14A

Bangladesh

MiG-29

J-7

Rough draft for now, no minor (1 aircraft type only, etc.) nations included in this list.

[crisisloaner 785]

Looks excellent to me !

[Viggen 644]

Personally I don't see Pakistan committing any forces to the aid of Paran. Not only is Pakistan still considered a major non-NATO ally to the US, they still have their rival next door to consider. And Bangladesh, they have what, maybe 40 combat aircraft total? A bit unrealistic even for a what if campaign to consider them. I don't think Iran would volunteer that much of their air power either. Just my two cents. I like the idea though.

 

Speaking of Iran, don't forget that Spinners uploaded a lovely Parani Saeqeh.

[+daddyairplanes 10,439]

also nix either USSR or US for full employment in campaigns prior to 1992. the whole "if the superpowers publicly get caught fighting it will escalate" thing. not saying that the USSR wouldnt send new toys, and "technicians" to teach how to use them. but the equipment would have Parani markings to keep up appearances.

Russia was too broke to offer much help in the 90s, prestige and influence didnt pay the bills in that time.

Russia in the Putin era,  game on. although as "mercenaries" like the Wagner Group, again not as Russian military.  the game doesnt handle three way conflicts like Syria very well, and i dont think we can simulate vehicles ramming each other or aggresive intercepts without teh AI opening fire (again, still not desired in US/Russia interactions even in 2021)

that said, a campaign where the US is embargoing Dhimar for whatever reason and the USSR is providing full support  to Paran could be interesting

[Dexter249 76]

Thanks for the input, everyone, I wanted to maintain a unique aircraft layout overall, I'll be starting with the earlier campaigns (Burning Sands to Desert Fury) within a few months time, as those require minor tweaking from the original Desert4 incarnations.

[Dexter249 76]

Alright, time to lay out a few more things.

I'll start by saying that any inconsistencies with doctrine are to keep the upgrades with the spirit of the original campaigns, if those had the superpowers in them, then I should too.

Now considering my only mod is menu music, that will likely be where I start, considering the Mercenary mode is heavily inspired by "Area 88" I may likely include a few skins from that (Shin's F-8, Draken, F-5, F-20, Mickey's F-100 and F-14, Kim's Harrier, etc.), but the menu music will be a mix of songs from the 1985 OVA (How Far to Paradise will most definitely be included) and the 2004 Anime (Trance will likely be featured in a few videos as well).

Menu designs will be decided later for me.

[JosefK 912]

I see a 2011 situation where Dhimar has to use their four operational squadrons of Gripen Cs & their training squadron of Gripen Cs & Ds to hold the line against MiG-29s and JF-17s.  The latter because Parani Air Force is sick of flying Soviet/Russian equipment.  A USMC amphib unit will lend a few Harrier IIs to help.

Also a 2021 situation where Dhimar's Gripens and F-35B Marines have to face off against Chinese-supplied FC-31s, JF-17s and possibly J-11s to Paranis trying to get the PRC cheap oil.

But that's me thinking out loud when I'm incredibly busy in RL.

[Dexter249 76]

I am beginning work on the menus and menu music, by far the easiest part, but the part that makes the first impression.

 

[General PB 11]

i love the idea and i was considering doing some updates to the burning sands campaign myself as i was practicing for the Indochina war mod.

what i would really like to see is something like the Korean war early campaign as i love the f86 and earlier jets and props (i don't like wart hunter all that much) with an expanded ground war strategic nodes to add more places to fight over, including the mountains in the west if we can get some light vehicles and infantry in. (maybe the guys from ww2 can supply some of it?)

as for material, a lot of nations exported their old stuff out to various nations that would buy them, so the remnants of the soviet union/early Russia would be a prime seller for that - giving the Parani a bunch of old and more modern equipment from the surplus stores, plus we also have china as a major new exporter, the Iranians is a possibility as well that should not be overlooked... so there is plenty of stuff to draw on for the OPFOR though most would be in limited quantities but should be sufficient to supply a fighter squadron or tank regiment here and there.

as for the nodes and map themselves, there is plenty of room to expand even without doing much, simply adding some FOB nodes with a couple of tents, AA and artillery at the entry points to the cities and having them fight over that to add some colour to it, fx where the nodes usually go from city A to city B, instead they would go from City A to city A (direction like North or South as an example) FOB to the City B FOB and then to City B, in essence adding two nodes to each citys preexisting node system and the out lying bases can then be connected to have the possibility of getting some surrounded units (the engine dosn't handle that all that well iirc)

that we could also start using more of the mountainous western side of the map to do some Afghanistan and Vietnam style missions there.

also the intensity of the conflicts can be adjusted up and down into separate campaigns, one with limited NATO and WARSAW support and others with full on ww3

Edited May 7, 2021 by General PB
added more thoughts

[PFunk 198]

I love the idea.  I really do.  I would suggest using Piecemeal's Desert 4 terrain.  It's a little more comprehensive.  I think @Wrench may have even added some updates to it.

However, as much as I hate to rain on anyone's parade, I would advise against scenarios after the one in 1993.  The current avionics .dll do not allow for the detection of active-homing missiles like the AIM-120 and the AA-12.  I am not a fan of getting blown out of the sky without knowing why or how it happened, even though that probably would happen to pilots in real life these days as fast as tech is evolving.  The US Air Force will gladly admit that the F-15 and F-16 will no longer be able to operate in contested airspace after about 2028 with the level of AD hardware being generated.

Edited June 23, 2021 by PFunk

[jeanba 1,920]

France never used Vautour IIA, it was IIN and IIB.

In 59, 66 and 68, you can have the SuperMystère (and forget the Mystere IV from 68)

The Mirage IIIE can enter the fight in 66 or 68

The Mirage F1CR between 1984 and 2006.

The F1CT between 1993 and 2006

You also forgot the Jaguar for both RAF and Armée de l'Air

 

What about french aéronvale (Etendard, SuperEtendard, SEM, F8E(FN) and Rafale M) ?

 

[jeanba 1,920]

A fun though different timeline would be that Dhimar and Pran suffers a catastrophic economical crisis due to the end of the oil production and are becoming third world country with very limited resources (old cold war planes, Trainers converted to Air combat, few helicopters ...) say in 1989, with no support from other powers

[Arrow 83]

Very cool idea. For the OPERATION DESERT ARROW (1984) campaign, the RCAF should also have the CF-188, as it was introduced in 1982 and despite delays there were enough delivered by 1984 to field a squadron.

Would players need to own the Strike Fighters 2 game to run this campaign, or would SF Euro be enough?

[+daddyairplanes 10,439]

if youre going to play Dhimar vs Paran, i would think you need the version they come in......

[Wrench 9,895]

yes, you'd need the original SF2, as that has the Desert map containing the 2 fictional countries