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Fictional Air/Naval Forces

Two early 1990s exercise books give examples of fictional air and naval forces that aren’t simply the most advanced enemies possible. The countries are in the British Generic Enemy-ROWEN and American Light OPFOR manuals.

The GENFORCE ROWEN air force has a sample order of battle attached, and it consists of:

  • Three fighter/ground attack wings, each composed of three squadrons, totaling 60 “Mirages”, 45 F-4 Phantoms, and 54 Su-25s.
  • One interceptor wing of 30 MiG-29s and 30 Su-27s.
  • One training wing of 25 Hawks and 25 L-39s
  • Various niche squadrons, including a bomber one (8 Su-24s and 8 Tu-16s), a recon one (14 Mirage F1s), and a transport one (24 transports of various sizes)

The Light OPFOR is left deliberately vague, but it offers a sample of individual units:

  • Interceptor regiments of three squadrons, totally 36 or 48 aircraft. Aircraft are MiG-21s or 23s, with a possible sprinkling of 31s(!)
  • Ground attack regiments of Su-17s, 24s, or 25s, of either 24 or 48 aircraft total
  • Fighter-Bomber regiments of MiG-21s/23BNs/Su-24s, with a similar size as the aviation ones.

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The ROWEN Navy is listed as having:

3 submarines, two Kilos and a Daphne

7 large warships, 2 Leanders, 2 D’estienne D’Orves, and three Konis.

16 patrol boats, 4 TNC-45s and 12 small gunboats.

Likewise, the sample Light OPFOR navies include:

  • Squadrons of eight Komar or Osa missile boats apiece.
  • Squadrons with the same number of torpedo boats.
  • Amphibious squadrons of up to eight Polnochny landing ships
  • Blue-water squadrons of six Koni frigates or Foxtrot submarines apiece.