Rookster

Brad has just completed a new revision for the HCDB, HCDB-050314 Find it at the usual location on HarpGamer.com via the "DB Share" navigation button. A more complete announcement will soon be made, summarizing the changes in this new rev, but for now we wanted to let you know that it's up on the site and available for download. Enjoy!

That effort has been undertaken by yours truly, and I'm happy today to announce the completion and posting of the Aircraft Appendix to the PE User's Guide. The Aircraft Appendix is the first in what will be a series of documents exploring other aspects of the PE in deeper detail than what we are able to offer in the original HCGold PE User's Guide. When Tony Eischens and I wrote the PE User's Guide for HCGold almost two years ago, we knew then that it was only a beginning, a very basic introduction to Jon Riemer's wonderfully produced Platform Editor for Harpoon Classic Gold. It was always our plan to provide a more comprehensive companion to the PE, and since that time, Tony has made some significant changes to both the DB structure and Jon's original Platform Editor as well, thereby making the need for this effort all the more pressing. The Aircraft Appendix currently details two elements for data entry in the Aircraft Annex of the HCDB: Aircraft Flags and RCS (Radar Cross Section). If, in using the PE, you find you are unsure of any of the other Aircraft Annex fields, please post to this forum and we will try to assist you. If it turns out that we see a need to further expand the Aircraft Appendix as the result of your questions, we will certainly do so at the earliest opportuniy. You can also expect to see additional appendices posted in the weeks ahead, so please keep an eye on this forum for future announcements. To view the Aircraft Appendix, just visit the HarpGamer Home Page and use the Tools & FAQ navigation button, then click on the listed link for the appendix. You can also use this link: Aircraft Appendix to PE User's Guide

Original article, reprinted here in its entirety, can be viewed at: Sunday Times of London Online Revealed: Israel plans strike on Iranian nuclear plant by Uzi Mahnaimi ISRAEL has drawn up secret plans for a combined air and ground attack on targets in Iran if diplomacy fails to halt the Iranian nuclear programme. The inner cabinet of Ariel Sharon, the Israeli prime minister, gave “initial authorisation” for an attack at a private meeting last month on his ranch in the Negev desert. Israeli forces have used a mock-up of Iran’s Natanz uranium enrichment plant in the desert to practise destroying it. Their tactics include raids by Israel’s elite Shaldag (Kingfisher) commando unit and airstrikes by F-15 jets from 69 Squadron, using bunker-busting bombs to penetrate underground facilities. The plans have been discussed with American officials who are said to have indicated provisionally that they would not stand in Israel’s way if all international efforts to halt Iranian nuclear projects failed. Tehran claims that its programme is designed for peaceful purposes but Israeli and American intelligence officials — who have met to share information in recent weeks — are convinced that it is intended to produce nuclear weapons. The Israeli government responded cautiously yesterday to an announcement by Condoleezza Rice, the US secretary of state, that America would support Britain, France and Germany in offering economic incentives for Tehran to abandon its programme. In return, the European countries promised to back Washington in referring Iran to the United Nations security council if the latest round of talks fails to secure agreement. Silvan Shalom, the Israeli foreign minister, said he believed that diplomacy was the only way to deal with the issue. But he warned: “The idea that this tyranny of Iran will hold a nuclear bomb is a nightmare, not only for us but for the whole world.” Dick Cheney, the American vice-president, emphasised on Friday that Iran would face “stronger action” if it failed to respond. But yesterday Iran rejected the initiative, which provides for entry to the World Trade Organisation and a supply of spare parts for airliners if it co-operates. “No pressure, bribe or threat can make Iran give up its legitimate right to use nuclear technology for peaceful purposes,” said an Iranian spokesman. US officials warned last week that a military strike on Iranian nuclear facilities by Israeli or American forces had not been ruled out should the issue become deadlocked at the United Nations. Additional reporting: Tony Allen-Mills, Washington

Hans Bethe, Father of Nuclear Astrophysics, Dies at 98 -- 5 page article, interesting historical anecdotes [Excerpt from an article by William J. Broad in today's New York Times www.nytimes.com (registration required, no fee)]

If you downloaded the new release of the HCDB within the last 8 hours, you probably have the 050220 version. I forgot to change the link at the HarpGamer.com DBShare page, and have since corrected it. It's properly linked now, so please re-download if need be. I apologize for the inconvenience and would like to thank Jan Masterson for picking up on this error and calling it to our attention today in our #HarpGamer IRC Chat channel. If you haven't downloaded the new DB yet, please get it here: HCDB-050305.zip

HarpGamer.com has just been updated to include the following: 1) Detailed info and download link for new Public Beta of HC2005 2) Newly posted HC Databases: HCDB_050305 Rene' Haar's HC_EURO-DB_050227 3) Newly posted Harpoon II / Harpoon III Databases Link to the DB200 at Harpoon Headquarters Darren Buckley's HUDII 4) Three New Scenarios for Harpoon Classic World War III (WestPac) by Fred Galano Resolve (WestPac) by Brad Leyte Operation Thistle (EC2003 GIUK) by Mark Gellis 5) A newly revised Live Chat system, accessible via our Java based web applet or from any stand alone IRC Client. Come visit us to discuss the latest Harpoon releases, to get help with scenario and database work, or just to say Hi

VIENNA (Reuters) - New satellite images show a heavy water plant in Iran, intended to supply a research reactor that could eventually produce plutonium for one atomic bomb a year, is nearly complete, a U.S. think-tank said on Friday. The photos of the plant in Arak, 240 km south of Tehran, were taken in February by the U.S. commercial satellite firms DigitalGlobe and Space Imaging and provided to Reuters by the Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS), a U.S. think-tank. "Adjacent to the reactor construction site (in Arak) is the heavy water production plant, which is almost completed and is anticipated to supply the necessary heavy water for the heavy water reactor," ISIS said in an analysis of the imagery. While there is nothing illegal about the plant, the news that it is nearly done will likely deepen U.S. suspicions that Iran wants heavy-water technology to get plutonium for bombs. On Thursday, Western diplomats close to the U.N. nuclear watchdog said Iran had already laid the foundations for the 40-megawatt heavy-water research reactor at Arak, despite calls by the European Union and the United Nations to scrap the project. Heavy-water reactors can be used to produce significant amounts of bomb-grade plutonium, which can then be extracted from the spent fuel by a process known as reprocessing. "No evidence of any reprocessing facilities can be seen in the satellite images," ISIS said in its analysis of the imagery. David Albright, who heads ISIS and was formerly a U.N. weapons inspector, said he had also seen photographs of what appeared to be steam coming out of the Arak heavy water plant. "We think they have been testing it," Albright said. The Arak heavy-water production plant, along with the Natanz uranium enrichment plant, was revealed by the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) in August 2002, an exile group that described it as part of a secret nuclear weapons programme. Iran, which denies wanting to produce anything but electricity with its atomic facilities, later declared the Natanz and Arak sites to the U.N.'s International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Washington sided with the NCRI view, accusing Tehran of pursuing weapons under cover of a civilian atomic programme. Iran has not been ordered by the EU to halt the heavy-water production plant, but ISIS analyst Corey Hinderstein said the plant had no purpose other than to supply the future research reactor -- which Iran has been urged not to build. © Reuters 2005. All Rights Reserved.

Done. Should be working fine now. If not, please let us know. Thanks!

Hello folks, Just a note to let you know we have activated the AAR section of the HarpGamer website. If you haven't read these before, I can't recommend them to you enough! It's always gratifying when folks take the time to write down their impressions of a scenario for the sake of giving feedback to the designer and for sharing with the community at large. Even better if it motivates you to play a scenario you had not yet looked into. And all the moreso if it motivates you to write your own AAR after playing. The scen designer appreciates the feedback and the players have another perspective to compare with their own experiences. Everybidy wins. To post an AAR of your own, please use this Forum and post to the Scenario Design and Discussion section of the Harpoon version you are writing about. From here, we'll give it a slot over at the HarpGamer AAR page, for easy future access for all. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- KNOWN ISSUE: Seems I'm a bit of an insomniac of late . By the time I got the first eight formatted and posted, I sadly had no head left for figuring out how I messed up the AAR nav button once you get to the AAR section itself. Now, with a shower, coffee and a bit of distance, I think I have the answer and will look to get it sorted out later today or this evening. Until then, you can use the AAR button from the HarpGamer Home page, and when you finish reading a particular AAR, just hit Home and then AAR again to return to the AAR listing. Sorry for any inconvenience and I will post confirmation when it'sfixed.

Access the "DB Share" navigation button, at HarpGamer.com While it still has a single active link to the current HCDB commondb.res (in .zip format), the new section includes reserved slots for future efforts from the members of this group. There are also instructions on what to do if you have a db you'd like to share with the community, so have a look, and if you need the current HCDB, please grab it there.