Surgical Strike is an LSA Operation featured in Grand Theft Auto Online as part of the San Andreas Mercenaries update.
Description[]
After requesting work from Charlie Reed, the GTA Online Protagonist will soon receive a call back from him in which he informs them that Merryweather Security had recently been scamming smugglers around San Andreas by forcing them to bring in their own imports and demanding a bigger cut from their profits.
He tells them to find go to search for a smuggler in a random location (either Puerto Del Sol, Pacific Bluffs or Galileo Observatory) and use a SecuroServ app to hack the smuggler's phone in order to find where Merryweather's deal is happening. Alternatively, the smuggler can be killed in order to steal her phone, leaving the player to deal with her armed bodyguards and the LSPD before the deal location is tracked down by Charlie.
Charlie will reveal that Merryweather set up a field base in the deal location (either Humane Labs and Research, El Burro Heights or La Fuente Blanca, with the latter having a unique dialogue implying a deal with Martin Madrazo). Additionally, Charlie manages to track down a smaller base set up by Merryweather not to far from the main base (either Davis Quartz, Cypress Flats or Vinewood Sign respectively), in which the player can steal a Merryweather outfit in order to get pass through the armed guards in the main base without being noticed.
At the main base, they are tasked to plant tracking devices on three Merryweather shipment crates to serve as targets by Pernell Moss' RO-86 Alkonost airstrike. Alternatively, if the player is alerted by Merryweather guards and the tracers are blocked, the player must search for Flares in the field base (or use their own Flares if available) and use it to mark the crates for Pernell.
After the airstrike, Merryweather will send reinforcements to investigate the explosions. Charlie will ask the player to hijack the HVY Menacer heading to the base and deliver it to LSA Lockup in El Burro Heights.
Operation Bonuses[]
During the mission, Charlie will give the player a random secondary task which will reward them (and each of their associates) with extra $15,000.
Merryweather Outfit[]
Charlie may ask the player to steal a Merryweather outfit from a Nightshark parked at a small Merryweather base in order to infiltrate their key base. Unlocks "The Merryweather" outfit. This task is also available regardless of the Operation Bonus requirement.
Steal a Merryweather outfit to use as a disguise.
and the gear inside can be stolen and used to infiltrate the Merryweather base undetected.Mysterious Artifact[]
Charlie may ask the player to find and steal a mysterious artifact developed by scientists at Fort Zancudo.
Steal a mysterious artifact currently in the possession of Merryweather.
Once located, the artifact will be highlighted on the player's radar.
from Merryweather so Charlie can perform tests on it.UAV Blueprints[]
Charlie may ask the player to take a picture of a blueprint found at the targeted Merryweather base, showing a prototype of a circular-shaped UAVs (drones) being tested by Merryweather on the desert as part of the "Project Skylark", previously mistakenly reported as UFOs by the news.
Photograph Merryweather's experimental technology blueprints.
Once located, the blueprints will be highlighted on the player's radar.
using the Snapmatic app on your phone and send it to Charlie.Video Walkthrough[]
Trivia[]
- The Sightseeing event being debunked as being military UAVs is a obvious reference to real-life military drones in restricted aerial space (e.g. Area 51) being mistakenly reported as being UFOs by nearby habitants.
- The Green Goo from the eponymous mission in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas makes a cameo appearance as the "mysterious artifact" in this mission, debuting as an object recently manufactured by Fort Zancudo scientists in the HD Universe canon.
- Pernell Moss repeats his own cutscene from his first appearance as the Alkonost pilot during The Cayo Perico Heist.
