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The Pentagon has told American metal suppliers it wants to know exactly how much titanium and magnesium the country would need to keep building fighter jets and military hardware if a real war cut off the foreign supply chains both materials currently depend on. The Defense Logistics Agency, the Department of War’s supply and logistics […]View the full article

You have to give the People’s Republic of China (PRC) credit for consistency. They like islands. On Sunday’s Midrats Podcast, we touched on this rather brazen act that would be laughable if not serious. The Batanes Islands, which are covered by the so-called maritime delimitation talks between Japan and the Philippines, are legally China's sovereign territory and form a natural geographic extension of China's Taiwan island. China should take corresponding actions to assert its sovereignty over the Batanes, the Global Times learned from Chinese experts and scholars at a symposium. The academic symposium on the sovereignty issue of the Batanes Islands was convened at Jinan University in South China's Guangdong Province, drawing dozens of experts and scholars in maritime affairs from leading Chinese universities and research institutions. Yes, yes, I know…that is from Global Times, but it is helpful to hear from the PRC’s angle. International law scholars systematically argued, from the standpoint of treaty law, that the Batanes Islands do not form part of Philippine territory. Ju Hailong, dean of the School of International Studies at Jinan University, argued that the Batanes Islands fall entirely outside Philippine territorial demarcations laid down by the Treaty of Paris signed in 1898 by the US and Spain. The Treaty of Manila of 1946 confined post-independence Philippine territory to areas south of 20 degrees north latitude, a boundary that excludes the Batanes Islands, which is situated wholly north of latitude 20 degrees. Participating experts also corroborated with factual evidence that the Batanes Islands constitute affiliated islets of China's Taiwan region. Wang Yuanyuan, a research fellow at the Center for South China Sea History and Culture, National Institute for South China Sea Studies, elaborated, "Anthropological evidence confirms that the roughly 10,000 Ivatan residents of the Batanes share cognate languages, analogous customs and identical underground dwellings with the Tao people of Orchid Island in the Taiwan region." Of course. Of course. To be fair, Taiwanese academics have made similar arguments, but if we are going to justify things back a few thousand years, the Italians would like to have a word. In summary, in modern era, they were claimed from obscurity the the Europeans, finalized by Spain. The U.S.A. then got it along with the rest of the Philippines after the Spanish American War, and then they simply went with the Philippines with independence. Why does China want it? Simple: look at the map at the top of the post. The islands stand athwart the Bashi Channel, one of the choke points that constrains the PRC from the open Pacific. That—and the usual PRC hyper-nationalism bordering on old-school imperialism. They live in a crowded neighborhood. What does the Philippines think of all this bluster? For his part, Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. dismissed the claims of the Chinese academics as “baseless and ludicrous.” “In their closed society, their people believe these things. Their citizens have been brainwashed. So, this is a concerning situation, and it is something that must be opposed,” he said. “We should not allow this to go un-responded to. All academics in the world should douse cold water on this theory already. That is nonsense,” the Defense chief added. Teodoro said the claim on Batanes by the Chinese scholars validates his suspicion that China has plans to control the entire Pacific Ocean. “It signals a preconceived intention. It is also not far-fetched to think that this is part of their plan. And it validates what we have been saying—that they have a plan to control the entire Pacific Ocean,” he said. He said the false claims will only strengthen the united action against “China’s irresponsible behavior.” “And who will be to blame if anti-China sentiment develops? They will have only themselves to blame because of what they are doing…It’s no longer believable,” he added. For his part, National Task Force for the West Philippine Sea (NTF-WPS) spokesperson Rear Admiral Jay Tarriela said the push back must be immediate. “Otherwise, if we do not debunk the lies they peddle over and over again, they are going to rewrite history once again,” he said. “For all we know, China might eventually claim the Pasig River,” Tarriela said. As expected, our friend Ray Powell is all over it. What can be done? China is a bully. What do bullies hate? When people call them on their BS. What do bullies fear? When the other kids on the playground team up and stand against them. From Japan down through Australia, the frontline nations in the western Pacific continue to grow closer and closer to each other and to the U.S. More. Better. Faster. The PRC won’t start a war over these islands, but like the Japanese, should one kick off, they are probably on the short list for the early grab. Leave a comment Share This Substack is reader-supported. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. View the full article

Hi Steve, Eric has hit the high points. What version of the game are you running? When you run Winharp32.exe (the Game Engine/GE) a build should appear in the title bar and should read as a yyyy.bbb where yyyy is a four-digit year and bbb is the build, 2009.050 is an example. As Eric posted, 2025.025 is the current build. The platform editor (PE) had significant updates since 2015. 2015 was when I updated it to work even with 64-bit versions of MS Office. In order to make the changes work, in 2015 the minimum Microsoft Access (or MS Access runtime) version required was bumped up to Access XP/2002 from Access 97. I suspect you are running an even older version of the game possibly trying to import a database that is not compatible with that version of the PE (likely the DB is too new for the PE in question). Your next steps are up to you, we can help you determine what will and won't work with your installed version of the game or you can update to current, hopefully on a newer computer (Windows 10 or Windows 11 preferably).

It was only a matter of time…and what a way to do it. Iran: check Submarine: check Shipyard: check Daylight: check “Just another day in the office.” vibe: check I like the matter-of-fact verbiage from DVIDS: Using multiple one-way attack surface drones, CENTCOM forces successfully struck a submarine and ship maintenance facility in Iran, July 12, 2026. Three Corsair unmanned surface vessels hit the port at Bandar Abbas Naval Base, marking the first time American forces have employed sea drones in combat operations. The strikes degraded Iran’s ability to continue attacking commercial shipping. As Mehdi pointed out, just drove right in like we owned the place. You can find it on google earth at N 27.140700, E 056.211584. If the Corsair sounds familiar, it is because we covered Saronic’s boat a month ago. She’s the one that picked up the Apache helo pilots who found themselves in the drink after being shot down—the accidental CSAR at sea. The Corsair is a multi-tool. It can pick up your airmen, and it can also take out your enemy's submarines and shipyard facilities. Just go watch that video again while humming the national anthem. You’ll feel better about everything, I promise. Now that you’re in a great mood, ponder the opportunities now that we’ve broken that attack USV (or surface RAS, whatever) seal. More, better, faster, forward deployed. Taiwan, call your office. If we and the Ukrainians can do it, so can other people. Arm your ships and shipyards accordingly. Ponder how you blind it (other nations’ version of the Corsair), and make it deaf and mute while you are at it…because it is coming our way. Expect a lot more. The US Navy has been building a family of USVs and recently replaced its Modular Surface Attack Craft (MASC) program for the medium unmanned surface vessel (MUSV) marketplace. The requirements for the designs include that the unmanned vessels have a range of 2,500 nautical miles with a speed of 25 knots in rough sea conditions. Each vessel should be able to carry 25 metric tons of containerized payload to carry out a variety of missions including strike, ISR, and transport. According to the US Navy, “the MUSV marketplace creates new opportunities for smaller, non-traditional shipyards to build our future fleet. This initiative represents a strategic shift in naval acquisition, designed to rapidly field unmanned technologies by leveraging mature, existing commercial solutions.” The US Navy recently announced seven companies that will be advancing to the at-sea testing phase: Sea Machines, Leidos, Saronic, Galliano Marine Services, PacMar Technologies, Birdon, and Huntington Ingalls Industries. The companies that successfully complete the at-sea testing, which will be completed by this coming October, will receive $15 million for follow-on production. Pay attention. Sometimes, like Hemingway’s description of bankruptcy, naval weapons developments happen suddenly, then all at once. Big things are moving. Keep in front of it. Leave a comment Share This Substack is reader-supported. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. View the full article

I have sent a message to TonyE who is the HUCE master and programmer. He is also available to message on the HarpGamer Discord Chat Room. .

HUCE no runs on 64bit computers. The link to upgrading your HUCE is attached. This will take you to the latest version of Harpoon 2025.025. https://www.harpgamer.com/downloads/HC2025.025_ComprehensivePatch.zip HUCE has Access Runtime as part of the install. This will allow you to open the Platform Editor (PE).

The U.S. military has now named the exact weapon it used to make history over the weekend, confirming that three Saronic-built Corsair unmanned boats carried out the first combat strike ever conducted by American sea drones, slamming into a submarine and ship maintenance facility at Iran’s Bandar Abbas Naval Base. U.S. Central Command detailed the […]View the full article

A single soldier could soon carry a weapon capable of dropping an air-bursting grenade precisely over an enemy hiding behind a wall, then swinging the same weapon skyward to knock a small attack drone out of the air, and American Rheinmetall Munitions just released a new video showing off the rifle it’s betting will do […]View the full article

Babcock International has finished building the last of 123 Jackal 3 high-mobility vehicles for the British Army, with the final vehicle, a six-wheeled Extenda variant, rolling off the production line at the company’s Devonport facility in Plymouth and now heading into testing before it joins the Army’s operational fleet. The Jackal has been a fixture […]View the full article

Thanks for the recommendation. I attempted that but received the a Runtme 3201 error. Is it because I'm using an older Access 2000 version? I'm using that because I have purchased a refurbished 32 bit computer just to run this game. and the refurbisher recommended that it not have access to the internet for security reasons because it uses a very old OS system.

Ukraine’s military appears to have carried out its first mass simultaneous strike using converted light aircraft that function as reusable, remotely piloted bombers, with Serhii Sternenko, an adviser to Ukraine’s Defense Minister, publishing photos showing at least ten of the modified planes armed with Soviet-designed high-explosive bombs and describing the image as one worth calling […]View the full article

Ukrainian forces have carried out what the military describes as the world’s first known combat mission combining a naval drone with an armed ground robot, using an unmanned surface vessel to ferry a machine-gun-equipped robotic vehicle across the Black Sea and land it directly on Russian-occupied shoreline, United24 Media reported July 13, citing Ukraine’s 123rd […]View the full article

A U.S. Army base in Washington state just got a new kind of neighbor: a kinetic interceptor built to shoot small drones out of the sky before they reach anything worth protecting. Joint Base Lewis-McChord began installing a suite of Anduril Industries counter-drone hardware, the first physical build-out of a system meant to shield one […]View the full article

U.S. Marines with 3rd Reconnaissance Battalion spent early June learning to handle a boat the Marine Corps has bet will let small reconnaissance teams operate across the scattered islands of the Western Pacific without waiting for a ship to carry them there. The unit, part of 3rd Marine Division, conducted familiarization training with the Multi-Mission […]View the full article

U.S. Central Command struck dozens of targets across Iran on Sunday using one-way attack sea drones for the first time in the conflict, a new addition to a strike package that already included fighter aircraft, naval vessels, and one-way attack aerial drones, marking the fourth round of American strikes against Iran since Tehran resumed attacks […]View the full article

German defense giant Rheinmetall has secured a contract worth just under €1 billion (roughly $1.1 billion) for its role in overhauling how the British Army trains its soldiers, part of a broader £2 billion (approximately $2.7 billion) government program that will replace traditional live exercises with a blended system of virtual, synthetic and data-driven training […]View the full article

Norwegian defense and technology group Kongsberg posted a second quarter that outpaced its own recent growth trajectory by a wide margin, with revenue climbing 31 percent to NOK 10,389 million (roughly $1.06 billion) and operating profit jumping nearly 50 percent to NOK 1,669 million (about $171 million), as demand for its missile systems and layered […]View the full article

Try downloading HCDB2 from HARPGAMER and install a fresh copy. See if that fixes your problem. HCDB2 will nor work with the Scenarios that come with HUCE. The official db for HUCE is HCDB-250724 (1980-2015 era). Here is the link: https://harpgamer.com/harpforum/files/file/235-hcdb-250724-1980-2015-era/ You can join us in the HarpGamer Chat Room in Discoed if you would like. Eric

Sorry, Yes, I am running HUCE not Harpoon 3

Steve, The db HCDB2-170909 you are trying to load is a Harpoon Commander Edition d. It may not be compatible with Harpoon 3. Eric.

Hi Steve Is this playing harpoon 3\ANW or harpoon classic? I see its filed in the harpoon 3\anw section but to me the db id looks more of a hc db (hcdb2 170909). I'm not familiar at all with anw but the error messages remind me of ones I've seen when (badly) amending db files in hc.

From the Sea of Azov, Strait of Hormuz, Ankara, to the South China Sea - don’t miss today’s LIVE Midrats Podcast from 5-6pm Eastern. You can join the live session and contribute the chat room at this link. In our melee format, Mark and I have our list of topics, but if you join the live show chat, you can ask us questions or even suggest a topic we cover. Live…not net. If you are reading this after the show, check the Substack later Sunday night for all the podcast links. Don’t miss it! Leave a comment Share This Substack is reader-supported. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. View the full article

When I try to import the new date base, I get a Run-time error 3201`: You cannot add or change a record because a related record is required in table tPlatform. Then if I try play the game, I get the following error message: ADDID to list error: expected a dick ID, got 53369 (Oxd079) This message had been logged. The program will now terminate. Additionally, if I try to run the platform editor, Get Disk Annex Error: (-8175 [Exe011])=2 This message has been logged. The program will now terminate. I've been playing 20+ years and have uploaded many a new DB many times. However, I know little about DBs so any help would be appreciated. Thanks!!

The fast-attack submarine USS Tucson (SSN 770) slid into Apra Harbor on July 10, swapping its old home in Pearl Harbor for a new one at Naval Base Guam, in a routine-looking port call that carries real weight for how the U.S. Navy positions its undersea forces against a rapidly expanding Chinese fleet. Tucson, a […]View the full article

U.S. Central Command finished its third round of airstrikes against Iran in a single week on July 11, hitting roughly 140 military targets after Iranian forces attacked another commercial vessel transiting the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway that carries a fifth of the world’s oil out of the Persian Gulf every day. The strikes, […]View the full article