How does the Vandal Swarm start?

So basically what we do is we put you into the map, we spawn enemies in like a trickle. There's three simple enemies in the first wave, and then we add a couple more waves that get progressively harder, and then you start getting to the boss guys. And right now you've got two friendly wingmen who are helping you out on it. They seem to be doing a pretty decent job and haven't died yet, which is good. Last time I played they died. It was very sad. These guys, these are the easy guys, so I don't allow myself to use any missiles in the first place.