Jäger sat up, erect comfortably in the cockpit of the Typhoon. He was confident in his ability and yes, the hostiles today were only unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). It appeared to be a relaxed operation; a shakeout mission as they say to<span style="font-style: italic">'get ones feet wet'</span>so to speak. Jäger was fine with that. He knew he was ready to take on a human opponent, but maybe the UAVs were out here to test the skill and mettle of the UN pilots? mmm, he wondered if anyone had considered that possibility.<br/><br/>Knowing that the threat was strictly an air threat, Jäger  had an Anti-to-Air War (AAW) package mounted on the Typhoon's thirteen hardpoints consisting of four AIM-120 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile (AMRAAM), four AIM-132 Advanced Short Range Air-to-Air Missile (ASRAAM), two IRIS-T short range missiles, (Infra Red Imaging System Tail/Thrust Vector-Controlled), two 1000-liter fuel tanks and a targeting pod.<br/><br/>Just as Jäger went over the instrument panel in the cockpit of his Typhoon, his radio cackled to life,<span style="font-style: italic">"Goodfellow to all Bone Arrows. We will now commence operations. Engage any enemy craft you come across."</span>Almost instantly after Goodfellows gave the green light to combat ops over<span style="font-style: italic">'Juliet Four Echo'</span>, eight bogeys appeared on Jäger's radar.<br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic">'Paladin here, bandits on our twelve. I count eight unknowns incoming. Looks like those are the UAVs. Permission to engage?'</span>Paladin wanted to insure the authority to engage was secured before launching one missile or firing one bullet.<br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic">'JASDF Command says permission granted,' Goodfellow said. 'All units, prepare to intercept.'</span><br/><br/>No one specified which target would be who's, so Jäger targeted the closest UAV. Undoubtedly, other pilots would have targeted the same vehicle. This is something Jäger had not considered. It is something professional experienced pilots considered and detailed in their pre-mission briefing. At a range of 32 Kilometers, Jäger considered launching either an AIM-132 or IRIS-T. Either would be perfect for the job. He chose the AIM-132 because he had four of them. But he did not account for the minimal heat signature of the UAV. The missile he fired ran errant, unable to pick up the relatively small exhaust plume off the UAV. With missiles rippling from the other seven aircraft, Jäger never got a chance to fire a second missile before all eight UAVs were engaged. The young German-American was annoyed at his performance, but this was a lesson learned to draw from later. After all, we aren't born with experience, we must go out and endure it to learn from it.