The Island is the default campaign for the AV-42C, and VTOL VR's first official campaign. It contains 7 missions taking place on Akutan, showcasing the AV-42C's various tactical and logistical capabilities.
Mission 1 - Preparation[]
"Help make preparations to defend the island. Transport personnel to the coastal SAM Site." -- Mission description[]
This is the first mission in the campaign. The first half of it involves the player loading up some troops and delivering them to a waypoint. Open your doors, let the troops in, land at the waypoint, and let the troops back out. The second half of the mission has you rescuing the crew of a crashed AV-42C from a remote island. Meet up with a fighter squadron in the sky; they will escort you to the waypoint. A squadron of hostile drone fighters will be above the island, but your fighter escort will take care of them for you. From there, land at the waypoint, pick up the infantry units, and deliver them to the hospital via the helipad in the southern city. Once the second group has been dropped off, you may return to base.
Objectives[]
- Deliver troops to the SAM site area in the city
- Extract the crew from the island
Threats[]
- None
Mission 2 - Minesweeper[]
"Destroy the drone ships laying mines on supply routes." -- Mission description[]
The first combat mission in the campaign. Take off, meet up with a fighter squadron, and engage the enemy ships south of Akutan. The fleet is composed of several Mine Boats following a hostile Drone Carrier. The Drone Carrier will deploy its drone fighters promptly after arriving at the AO; focus on the mine boats and allow the fighters to keep their cruiser escort and drones busy. If the Drone Carrier locks onto you with its SAM radar, dive down towards the sea, away from the cruiser, and deploy chaff to avoid its missiles. It is generally easiest to deploy your GAU-8 against the mine boats, as they are very fragile. Once the mine boats are out of the way, you can return to base. Optionally, you can help the friendlies deal with the enemy cruiser before you head home. This can be done easily with a few Hydra 70 rockets aimed at their bridge.
Objectives[]
- Destroy the Mine Boats and their escort
Threats[]
- A Drone Carrier escorting several mine boats.
Mission 3 - Redirection[]
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Another no-combat mission. The first leg of it has you flying into the sky to find a fighter that went missing and escort it to a refueling tanker. The fighter will be flying a wide orbit around the designated waypoint; using the TGP's HMCS View feature can be very helpful here. After the fighter refuels, you can both land at the carrier.
Objectives[]
- Find the missing pilot in the sky
- Escort the pilot to the tanker
- Land at the carrier
Threats[]
- None
Mission 4 - Open Water[]
"Meet the enemy in open water for a preemptive strike." -- Mission description[]
The first large-scale combat mission in the campaign. The first part of the mission has you dealing with some drone fighters harassing your carrier fleet. You then vector to the next waypoint, where you will encounter and engage the enemy fleet. Just like in Minesweeper, Hydra 70s are very helpful for dealing with DMS Cruisers and Drone Carriers. When dealing with ships equipped with SAM turrets or VLSes (visible on the Radar Warning Receiver (RWR)), approach them at an angle to make missile evasion easier if they lock onto you. Most importantly, the enemy fleet has a strong close-in defense of double-barreled CIWS turrets; if you get too close, the CIWS turrets will start firing at you. To avoid CIWS fire, quickly pitch up, pitch back down, and repeat until you're out of range. The closer you are to the turrets, the less effective this maneuver will be. Once the enemy fleet is gone, land back at the carrier to complete the mission.
Objectives[]
- Destroy the enemy fleet
Threats[]
- Multiple Gun Boats
- Multiple DMS Cruisers
- At least one Drone carrier
Mission 5 - Silent Island[]
"Return to the island to investigate why communications have gone silent." -- Mission description[]
The first leg of this mission has you escorting a fighter squadron to a nearby fuel tanker. If your RWR is on, you will spot multiple signals coming from the northern coast of the island; an enemy fleet is present there. Once the fighters have refueled, fly to the next waypoint to receive your next objective. Make sure to stay low to avoid getting locked by the enemy fleet. You will then receive an objective to destroy a convoy en route to a group of engineers still on the island. Hit their air defenses first to debilitate the convoy; AGM-65 missiles are recommended for effectiveness and safety. Once the entire convoy is gone, land at the next waypoint and allow the engineers to load onto your ship. After they've loaded up, take off and return to the carrier.
Objectives[]
- Find out the situation on Akutan
- Destroy the convoy threatening the engineers still on the island.
- Pick up the engineers and return to the carrier.
Threats[]
- A whole enemy fleet in the bay area
- A hostile convoy
- Tanks
- Air defenses
Mission 6 - Darkness[]
"Begin a counterattack under the cover of darkness." -- Mission description[]
An AGM-89 Anti-ship Cruise Missile is required to complete the mission. Take off from the carrier and head to the island. There will be multiple hostile air patrols above the island, but the other fighters will take care of those squadrons for you. Get high up enough to identify the radar signals coming from the bay, but stay far away enough to avoid getting locked onto. Remember to stay away from enemy fighters and SAM sites around the island. Your target should be easy to identify: on your RWR, you will see at least one radar signal named "LR" or "MC"; that's your target. Also, if you have the HUD overlay enabled, you should be able to see what looks like a discolored green diamond among the other diamonds in the bay; that would be the calling card of the enemy's NMSS Cruiser. The NMSS Cruiser fires special missiles from its forward launch tubes. Unlike the regular SAMs encountered in previous missions, these are active-guided long-range SAMs. These rely on the deploying vehicle for homing, but activate their own internal radar systems to track their targets once they get close enough. If you find your aircraft locked onto by an LR radar, it will be important to terrain mask that radar as quickly as possible, as their missiles are much harder to defeat up-close. That being said, considering how far out in the bay the NMSS Cruiser is, attacking it by conventional tactics will be a suicide mission.
Once you've identified the target, use your TGP's GPS-S function to set a nav marker on the target's location. Then enable the Path feature on your GPS MFCD page and use your NAV page's GPS-S feature to set up a path to your target. It is recommended to set up a path of 2-3 points going around the island and hit the NMSS from the side. Once your points are in place, go back to your GPS tab and move the first waypoint (the one where the target is) down to the bottom of the list with the double-arrow buttons. If you've done everything right, you should see a series of points on the NAV map moving around the island, connected by lines, leading straight to the enemy target.
Next, move to the EQUIP tab on another MFCD and check your AGM-89's settings. Make sure your missile's Terminal setting is set to either SSEvasive or Popup. The former makes the missile less likely to get shot down, but the latter makes it more likely to sink the target. Choose wisely. Once your missile is set up, make sure the first point on your path is selected (use the single-arrow buttons on your GPS MFCD page), point towards it, select the AGM-89, point towards the highlighted GPS marker on your HUD, and fire away.
If everything goes well, your missile should vector around the island, avoid hostile CIWS, and impact the enemy NMSS Cruiser, sinking it in one hit. Once this is done, you are cleared to return to the carrier.
Objectives[]
- Destroy the enemy's NMSS Cruiser.
Threats[]
- NMSS Cruiser
- Occasional SAM Sites
Mission 7 - Island Defense[]
"Begin to take back the island and eliminate the enemy fleet off the northern coast." -- Mission description[]
The final mission of the campaign. Take off and assault the airbase. At the front of the base will be a hostile Fire Control Radar flanked by hostile Anti-Air cannons; target them with your TGP, fly behind the airbase, and use some AGM-65s to safely dispatch them before continuing your attack. Use your flares to counter the enemy heat-seeking missile defenses (a MANPADS and an IRAPC) and keep making passes around the back of the airbase to clear it out. Some well-placed Hydra 70s can easily destroy clusters of hostiles; alternatively, you could opt to hit them with Mk. 82s in quick bombing runs. Once the airbase is cleared, you will receive an objective to destroy an incoming platoon of Rocket Boats. The objective may also begin if you're taking too long to clear out the airbase. Fly in close and use your GAU-8 to destroy the boats. Remember that you can also target enemy boats with your TGP and command your wingmen to engage them for you, or use some AGM-114s against separate targets. Once the boats are gone, return to the carrier, rearm and refuel if needed, and fly up to the next waypoint.
Your next objective has you assaulting a SAM Site in the eastern city. Hit its FCR or SAM Launchers to clear the incoming friendly fleet for takeoff. Once that's out of the way, vector to the bay to make your combined assault. Try not to fly too close to the enemy fleet, as they have numerous DMS Cruisers and Drone Carriers in the area. AGM-65s are immensely helpful for dealing with those kinds of ships from afar. Focus on their radars at first and let your allies handle the remaining enemies. During your anti-ship objective, you will receive another objective to deal with another incoming carrier and its four cruiser escorts. Once the first anti-ship objective is out of the way, land at the nearest allied carrier and rearm for the final leg of the mission.
This part is generally the hardest one for many players, as the carrier fleet is very difficult to destroy. AGM-65s tend to get shot down, and it's difficult to hit them with AGM-89s, so you'll need to get creative to defeat this fleet. If you manage to destroy the radars of the cruisers escorting the carrier, as well as the two IR SAM launchers on the carrier's stern, a pair of allied bombers will vector in to dispatch the carrier for you. Alternatively, you can simply land at the carrier and wait for its escorts to intercept the carrier fleet. The cruisers have very powerful anti-ship weaponry and can easily deal with the carrier fleet for you. Once the carrier fleet is out of the way, land at the Akutan airbase to complete the mission.
Objectives[]
- Destroy the enemies at the airbase
- Destroy the hostile Rocket Boats heading towards your fleet
- Destroy the enemy fleet at the northern coast
- Main ships
- Carrier and its escorts
Threats[]
- SAM Sites on Akutan
- A platoon of Rocket Boats
- The enemy fleet
- Numerous Gun Boats
- Numerous DMS Cruisers
- Several Drone Carriers
- A carrier group
- NFP Carrier
- Four DMS Cruisers