Revisiting Red Dawn: The Soviet Invasion of USA | DCS What If? Campaign

A Soviet invasion of America. Resistance fighters hiding in the Colorado mountains. Hundreds of prisoners awaiting rescue. We’re heading back into the Grim Reapers archives to revisit “Red Dawn” – The Soviet Invasion Of USA, a popular episode of our What If? Campaign show.

Inspired by the 1984 film Red Dawn, this DCS World mission puts GR members into an alternate-history operation where air combat, coordinated strikes and search and rescue all have a part to play.

The mission: find the Wolverines

Central Command has two urgent objectives: rescue 300 POWs held at a location known as “The Island” and find the resistance fighters—the Wolverines—before Soviet Spetsnaz forces reach them.

Getting there means dealing with enemy aircraft, ground forces and the “Medusa” surface-to-air missile network. The crews divide responsibilities between combat air patrol, suppression of enemy air defences, strike and search-and-rescue flights.

The plan requires coordination across the force. Naturally, getting a canopy to cooperate also becomes part of the operation. It wouldn’t be a GR mission without a little cockpit chaos.

A look back at What If? Campaign

The What If? Campaign show explores alternate-history scenarios through DCS World missions flown by GR members and published for everyone to watch on YouTube.

The archive includes individual scenarios and longer campaigns, from 1989 Soviets Invade Europe to a hypothetical clash between Indonesian F-16s and Australian RF-111s over East Timor in 1999. Red Dawn brings a film-inspired premise into that mix, giving the crews a familiar setting with some difficult tactical problems.

This is a revisit of an older episode, so expect the aircraft, DCS features and production style of the original recording.

Back into the action

Enjoy a short taste of the mission below, then watch the complete Red Dawn episode or explore the wider What If? Campaign show.

Can the crews break through the Medusa network and reach the prisoners and resistance fighters in time?

Have you watched this one before? Tell us your favourite moment—or which What If? Campaign episode we should revisit next.