User Guide

Iran: Operation Fallen Crescent
The dynamic campaign generator behind the Iranian missions is a battlefield sim-
ulation system designed to create unique scenarios each time you replay the
game. (See Game Campaign, p. 6.16, for more information.) Within each battle,
you act as the ABC, or Air
Battle Captain. Although
you have specific objec-
tives to accomplish in
each mission, you issue
customized tasking orders
to other aircraft wings,
designating navigation
routes, waypoint assign-
ments, weapons loadouts
and synchronized strikes
on priority targets.
All missions in Longbow
2’s campaign are fictional
in nature, although the
Iranian theater is a continuation of current events based on both fact and fiction:
FACTS. The preceding articles in this chapter, along with the next few para-
graphs, give a factual background to the relations between and the situations
surrounding Iran, Azerbaijan and Armenia.
It is fact that beneath Azerbaijan and the Caspian Sea lie billions of dollars of under-
ground oil resources. Bordered by Azerbaijan, Armenia, Turkey, Iran and Russia, the
sea is land-locked, making it impractical to maneuver oil tankers into the region. In
1995, several key U.S. oil companies joined an oil consortium with Azerbaijan. This
consortium was to serve several purposes, the most important being the protection
and extraction of these oil reserves. The consortium both alienated Iran – excluded
from the consortium under American pressure on Azerbaijan – and further intensi-
fied non-combat conflicts between Azerbaijan and Iran.
To exacerbate the already-existing regional tensions, recent territorial disputes
(from 1992 to the present) between Azerbaijan and neighboring Armenia over the
Nagorno Karabakh region have brought about civil unrest. This Armenian-occu-
pied strip was originally part of Azerbaijan, but balked at rejoining Azerbaijan after
the dissolution of the U.S.S.R. Those that live in the region have formed an inde-
pendent state, although it remains officially unrecognized.
Both Azerbaijan and Armenia want sole ownership of the Karabakh territory, and
light-arms skirmishes are daily occurrences despite a series of shaky cease-fire
agreements. Azerbaijani president Alieve has denounced “Armenian aggression”
along this strip of land, including indiscriminate shelling of towns along the borders.
Because of human rights violations, the fighting in this region has been the focus of
several UN resolutions and has brought this conflict to the world’s attention.
6: CAMPAIGNS
6.17