CV32

Will The F-14 Fly Again? Maverick Act Passes U.S. Senate 😃🫣

For those of you not active on social media, you may not have heard that long time Harpoon community member Byron 'JClark' Audler passed away on 15 April. His notable contributions included being a knowledgeable ship fitter (irl), scenario author, HC2002 program manager, and HULL mailing list moderator, and a Lifetime Pooner award winner. His bio can be found at Ed Ladner's website Dr Who's Harpoon Pages here : https://www.harpoonpages.com/Bios/bio022.htm Fair winds and following seas.

Yeah, in general I think that as long as the annex ceilings exist, more focus is better. For example, e.g. a battleset that focuses on the Persian Gulf from 1990 to 2002. And its usually easier to be backward looking in historical context when developing a DB (and a battleset that employs it) than trying to predict the future.

The ceiling limitations to the current DB structure are, in large part, what put an end to ongoing work on HCDB2 (and any of my other DB work). One potentially quick solution would be to break it down by having a DB focus on a smaller period of time, but even there you face potential obstacles. Consider, for example, that in 2026 we still have aircraft built in the 1950s and 1960s still playing important roles in modern conflicts.

If you're considering writing a scenario for the Black Sea that covers current (ongoing) events, this might be helpful: Know Your Enemy: Russian Military Aviation in European Russia and Temporarily Occupied Crimea

Constellation-class Frigate Program Cancelled, U.S. Navy Looking for Faster Procurement of Alternatives (Naval News)

Boeing Tests Redesigned Harpoon Anti-Ship Missile (Naval News) Like the sim, the missile just won't go away. ☺️

Nuclear powered battle cruiser sails again for the first time since 1997 (Barents Observer)

It occurred to me recently that the American strikes against the Houthi rebels in Yemen were under the umbrella of Operation 'Rough Rider' and ... In this MBX, our team's planned operations against targets in Yemen also used codenames from the cowboy world, e.g. Cowboy Strike, Jigger Boss, Round Up, etc. Life imitating art, perhaps. ☺️

There aren't many sims that can claim the longevity of Harpoon. As TonyE has said, the community has been the key factor to both its success and long life.

Finally picked up a copy of this one, and ran a couple of the stock scenarios. Seems fairly intuitive, but no doubt experience with Harpoon and CMO has helped. I think I would like to try scenario building in due course.

The stock database has relied to a considerable extent on the values found in Harpoon paper rules. Where they didn't exist, my best estimate was made after comparing to similar weapons, warhead type, warhead size, etc. Variation between facilities with the same runway size is typically attributed to whether the facility is civilian or military, in which case the latter would typically have hardening measures implemented to its infrastructure, including hardened aircraft shelters, bunkers, etc.

UK Admiral Credits F-35 Capabilities For Israel's Success In Taking Down Iran's Air Defense

The Russians have been using almost exclusively gun fire to attack naval drones generally, including machine guns from helicopters and deck mounted aboard ship.

A preview of ‘Sea Power: Naval Combat in the Missile Age’ (UK Defence Journal)

War Books: The Operational Level of War (MWI)

Submarines have historically always been easier to detect (within the game) if they were attached to a surface group. Almost always better to place them separately.

I believe both the 76mm OTO and the 30mm AK-630 were originally on the spec sheet when the configuration for INS Vikrant was being developed. Even the AK-630 series is getting rather long in the tooth.

No, but definitely interested, especially as it has a scenario builder.

Tales From The A-6 Intruder Cockpit: AGM-84 Harpoon vs Libyan Patrol Craft (Aviationist)

How China Could Quarantine Taiwan, Part 1 of a ChinaPower Series (CSIS, 5 June 2024) How China Could Blockade Taiwan, Part 2 of a ChinaPower Series (CSIS, 22 August 2024)

It is comforting to see folks still producing scenarios and folks still playing them. In related news, it does look like F-16s in Ukrainian will be receiving both AIM-9X and AIM-120C8.