Current Events

Aircraft carriers gain clout in naval power (find original AP article here.) ABOARD THE CHARLES DE GAULLE – Despite growing controversy about the cost and relevance of aircraft carriers, navies around the world are adding new ones to their inventories at a pace unseen since World War II. The U.S. — with more carriers than all other nations combined — and established naval powers such as Britain, France and Russia are doing it. So are Brazil, India and China — which with Russia form the BRIC grouping of emerging economic giants. "The whole idea is about being able to project power," said Rear Adm. Philippe Coindreau, commander of the French navy task force tha…

This directory of international air forces (with useful order of battle (OOB) information) is available for free at Flight Global. World Air Forces 2013

Wow, February seems to be the lucky month for the Harpoon community. 2 new sites to support our hobby. Such an embarrassment of riches. WarfareHQ.com is the latest site to host a dedicated Harpoon discussion section and File Archive. Players and designers can also post their scenarios, databases, After-Action Reports, and any other manner of files to the File Archives. All versions of computer Harpoon and even the paper rules may be discussed. On a personal note, the number of different sites is not meant as competition with one another but is only meant to give us another place to discuss Harpoon and Harpoon-related topics. I will be joining and supporting…

From Aviation Week Concerns Grow About Iranian, North Korean Missiles and Chinese Asats By Craig Covault The Bush administration for the first time says it has intelligence proving detailed and ongoing collaboration between Iran and North Korea in the development of new ballistic missiles. The Pentagon has also just released previously secret intelligence data on new Iranian and North Korean ballistic missiles under development. North Korean and Chinese missiles already threaten the Middle East, Asia and Europe and could eventually target the U.S. The new Pentagon data also confirm an Aviation Week & Space Technology report that Iran is working to…

Type of cannon: gas-operated revolver cannon with four chambers Max range: 3500 metres ( 1,890nm) Caliber: 35mm ROF: 1000 rounds per minutes (16rounds/s). Basic load: 200 rounds Capability to fire Ahead ((Advanced Hit Efficiency And [10:30] <JanM> Destruction) air burst munition (ABM)) ammunition (each round consisting of 152 sub-projectiles, weight of each sub-projectile 3.3 g, muzzle velocity 1050 m/s) It's a kind of improved airbust since it can be programmed (when and how detonate) http://www.rheinmetall-detec.com/product.php?lang=3&fid=1570 http://www.deagel.com/pandora/?p=pm00218001 http://proceedings.ndia.org/3500/Bradick_NL_NDIA.pps (pow…

Boeing Eyes High-Flying Torpedo Navy League By RICHARD R. BURGESS, Managing Editor Boeing Integrated Defense Systems is proposing a new weapon that would enable sub-hunting aircraft to fire at targets from high altitudes, reducing the time between target acquisition and attack. Steven L. Wingfield, manager of JDAM Business Development for the Boeing unit, said the proposed antisubmarine warfare (ASW) weapon for the High-Altitude ASW Weapon Concept (HAAWC), would be launched from the P-8A Multimission Maritime Aircraft (MMA) at an altitude of 30,000 feet and glide seven to 10 minutes to the water entry point, where it would shed its wings and activate a parach…

From National Defense Magazine, March 2005 issue http://www.nationaldefensemagazine.org/iss...ewd_Tactics.htm Shrewd Tactics Underpin Navy Strategy to Defeat Diesel Submarines In preparation for future wars, U.S. ship commanders will be trained to employ unconventional tactics against enemies equipped with diesel submarines. Navy planners anticipate that adversaries will try to deny U.S. forces access to key strategic coastal areas by deploying quiet diesel-electric submarines. These hard-to-detect boats would make it difficult for U.S. ships to move around freely without exposing themselves to an enemy torpedo shot. For that reason, the U.S. Navy is adop…

Many Replacements for the Periscope StrategyPage June 5, 2005: The U.S. is experimenting with two new low-cost optics systems that would allow submerged submarines to "look" around at sea level without having to get close to the surface and deploy a traditional periscope. This also includes an upgrade for existing periscopes by adding a high-tech camera system. The Virtual Periscope will be tested aboard the USS Chicago this summer. It takes advantage of the fact that the surface of the ocean acts as a simple lens, collecting light from above the service and refracting it below. A small camera mounted on the sail of the submarine will collect the light and use …

http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/pop...14&src=news You know they look defeated but their probably still getting better chow then if they were at home.

Naval battles in the high Arctic may have to wait ... Arctic ice refuses to melt

More thought provoking stuff ... From Stratfor The Real World Order August 18, 2008 By George Friedman On Sept. 11, 1990, U.S. President George H. W. Bush addressed Congress. He spoke in the wake of the end of Communism in Eastern Europe, the weakening of the Soviet Union, and the invasion of Kuwait by Saddam Hussein. He argued that a New World Order was emerging: “A hundred generations have searched for this elusive path to peace, while a thousand wars raged across the span of human endeavor, and today that new world is struggling to be born. A world quite different from the one we’ve known. A world where the rule of law supplants the rule of the jungle. A …

How do we model this in Harpoon?! Oz's Magnetic Sub-Hunter DefenseTech Being a sub-hunter has gotten tough, lately. The new diesel subs that Iran and China are buying up are tiny, quiet, and can swim through the crannies that hug the coasts. That makes 'em really hard to find. And it's a major reason why the U.S. Navy is switching from passive sonars to Slayer-loud, active sonars that makes whales slam dance onto dry land. Australian scientists may have found a better way to find these quiet subs, The Engineer reports -- one that doesn't drive whales psycho. The Australian development, called MAGSAFE, uses the detection of changing magnetic fields to…

From the August 2009 issue of Air Force Magazine Fighting Under Missile Attack By John Stillion The Air Force hasn’t thought about air base defense for a while. Now, things are changing. For the first time in decades, Air Force aircraft deployed in an international crisis now face substantial risk of damage or destruction on the ground. By some estimates, missile and air attacks could disable up to 70 percent of the aircraft at some overseas bases in the opening minutes of a fight. The problem is not insurmountable; the Air Force and the Pentagon already have the means to start addressing this critical problem. Even so, there is no doubt the threat is g…

Military Capabilities for Hybrid War: Insights from the Israel Defense Forces in Lebanon and Gaza (PDF)

From Air Force Magazine, July 2007 “Enemy troops 75 meters away. ... I need guns only!” The Art of Strafing By Richard B.H. Lewis Modern fighter pilots risk their lives every day performing the act of strafing, which to some may seem like a tactic from a bygone era. Last November, an F-16 pilot, Maj. Troy L. Gilbert, died strafing the enemy in Iraq, trying to protect coalition forces taking fire on the ground. My first thought was, “Why was an F-16 doing that mission?” But I already knew the answer. In the 1980s, at the height of the Cold War, I was combat-ready in the 512th Fighter Squadron, an F-16 unit at Ramstein AB, Germany. We had to maintain combat…

Blunt arrows: the limited utility of ASATs by Dwayne Day Excerpt from The Space Review Monday, June 6, 2005 Last week in The Space Review Mark Listner wrote about the Outer Space Treaty and anti-satellite weapons (ASATs): “Although technically the treaty does not allow these types of weapons (considering the ban on military activities), the fact is that these have been under development at times in the past, and may be so today.” (See “It’s time to rethink international space law”, May 31, 2005) This is false. The Outer Space Treaty places no limits on anti-satellite weapons and never has. During the Cold War neither superpower actively sought an international …

From The Virginian-Pilot Nuclear ships: Millions to build, and now millions to trash By JACK DORSEY, The Virginian-Pilot © July 4, 2007 For more than two decades, the Hyman G. Rickover plied the North Atlantic and other oceans, stealthily traveling the equivalent of 26 times around the world. The nuclear-powered sub and its crew of 160 sailors packed torpedoes and missiles to help keep Cold War foes in check and support ground troops in the war on terror. The Rickover will soon face its demise when it is shredded into millions of pounds of recyclable steel and lead, plus lesser bundles of aluminum, brass, bronze, copper and zinc. Only its radioactive “hea…

I'm not sure if this belongs in "Military History" or another part of the forums, but this seemed like the best place for it... What do you think are the five most likely wars (regional or global) that we could see in the next five to ten years? Syria and Turkey? India and China? The US and Iran? Indonesia and Australia? Who will fight these wars and what will cause these nations to come to blows?

This month's issue of Foreign Affairs has several thought provoking articles that you may want to check out, including: The Logic of Zero, Toward a World Without Nuclear Weapons, by Ivo Daalder and Jan Lodal Summary: Washington must lead the way to a world without nuclear weapons. The first step will be dramatically limiting the U.S. nuclear arsenal's declared size and purpose.

2014 NTI Nuclear Materials Security Index released (Nuclear Threat Initiative)