CV32

I'm sure he'll be glad to hear it. My information (Harpoon 4.1) is that Ambuscade, Ardent and Avenger had the triple Mk32 tubes. Adding helicopters is one thing that is within the power of the scenario writer.

I want to add that the missing Exocets in wmarsh's battleset have nothing to do with either the battleset or the scenarios he created, but rather are a result of the HCDA database. When wmarsh did this work, the HCDA was missing the various differences among the Type 21 class entry. I've since added further entries for the various Type 21 ships as they appeared in 1982, and these will appear in the next iteration of the HCDA.

"Well, boys, we got three engines out, we got more holes in us than a horse trader's mule, the radio is gone and we're leaking fuel and if we was flying any lower why we'd need sleigh bells on this thing... but we got one little budge on them Rooskies. At this height why they might harpoon us but they dang sure ain't gonna spot us on no radar screen!"

From DefenseNews Mechanical Failure Keeps Troubled LPD-17 at Pier By andrew scutro Published: 26 Aug 15:20 EDT (19:20 GMT) NORFOLK, Va. - Hydraulic problems have delayed the maiden deployment the amphibious transport dock San Antonio (LPD-17), which was supposed to leave Aug. 26 with the Iwo Jima Expeditionary Strike Group. The ship, which has endured lengthy delays and cost overruns, had to stay back in Norfolk due to a broken stern gate that will take days to repair, said U.S. Navy Lt. Cmdr. Herb Josey, spokesman for Naval Surface Force Atlantic. The amphibious assault ship Iwo Jima left the pier at 11 a.m. without San Antonio and is headed to North Carolina to onload the rest of the Camp Lejeune-based 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit. Capt. Brian Smith, Amphibious Squadron 4 commander, said the problem with San Antonio was discovered Aug. 24 and he expects the new amphib - the lead ship of the LPD 17 class - to be repaired and outbound by the end of this week. "There is nothing that will keep San Antonio from getting underway," he said. The problem is a mechanical failure in a ram cylinder piston that controls the stern gate, he said, crucial for conducting well-deck operations, an amphib's very reason for existence. San Antonio's fleet debut has been a rocky one. It underwent two scathing inspection reports and had to miss its first shot at deployment in February with the Nassau ESG. Smith defended both San Antonio and the San Diego-based amphib New Orleans, the second ship in the class, which was deemed "degraded in her ability to sustain combat operations" by a recent Navy inspection. "Any new ship is going to be scrutinized and discrepancies will be generated," he said. The remaining ships of the strike group - destroyer Ramage, cruiser Vella Gulf, destroyer Roosevelt and dock landing ship Carter Hall - will deploy through the week. Ramage will be the first Atlantic-based destroyer to deploy with a full-up Ballistic Missile Defense capability, Smith said.

SPOILERS APPLY ... * * * * * * pboiler, Although I have just opened your scenario to take a quick look, I have just a couple of (hopefully) helpful comments: (1) Although you appear to intend that this scenario by played by RED, there are no RED orders included. (2) The map is much less cluttered if you place airbase air defenses inside the airbase's formation.

From ARES Netherlands, Norway Fighter Pitches Are In Posted by Bill Sweetman at 8/27/2008 8:00 AM CDT Both the Joint Strike Fighter and Gripen teams have released unclassified executive summaries of firm proposals to Norway and the Netherlands - which, after several years during which they looked like safe markets for JSF, are now running competitions to replace their F-16s. The JSF document can be found here, and the Gripen equivalent here. There are some interesting comparisons between the two. Here's JSF's range chart: The annotation and accompanying text make clear that the mission is maritime surveillance - pretty much the easiest mission you could want in terms of range, all-subsonic at optimum altitude - and that the 728 nm radius is with external tanks. Weapons are two 1,000-pound-class GBU-12s and two AMRAAMs. Two very interesting points: the cruise altitude is given as 5,000 to 25,000 feet and the external tanks add only 55 nm (8 per cent) to the operating radius, even though two 425 USG tanks add 30 per cent to the jet's fuel load. It surely can't be that the JSF can't cruise subsonically above 5,000 feet when loaded with external fuel - but something's strange when you burn 30 per cent of your fuel to cover 8 per cent of the range. It says that the specific range (miles per pound of fuel) is for some reason much lower at the start of the mission - which is when you would be using the extra fuel. (Graham Warwick suggests that the "5,000 foot" number may be to drop below a cloudbase for an electro-optical target ID.) And on a radar surveillance mission, wouldn't you want to cruise higher than 25,000 feet if you could? Now, here's the equivalent from Gripen: This claims a 700 nm radius - but look again. It includes 30 min on station, equivalent to another 100-150 nm radius. And the weapon load of six AAMs is not far off the JSF's mission load in the example above. So the pint-sized Gripen is claiming more range than the F-35A - which, by the way, tips the scales fully loaded at the same weight as an F-15C, 68,000 pounds. However, this one is not hard to explain. Roughly speaking, Gripen's operating empty weight is half that of the F-35 and its engine is a little more than half as powerful. But with external tanks it carries about 15,600 pounds of fuel, which is almost two-thirds of the F-35A's total fuel load including drop tanks. I canna alter the laws of physics, Captain- or the Breguet range equation, come to that. Moreover, let's look at another airplane, one not unfamiliar in Fort Worth: The F-16 in this case is loaded with all the fuel it can possibly carry, and the radius is 100 nm short of the advertised number for the F-35A, but look at the details. It's doing a 50 nm low-altitude ingress/egress and twice the weapon load that the JSF is carrying in the example above - four AAMs and two 2,000-pound bombs. This is also an old chart - today's F-16s carry internal jammers and would not be burdened with an ALQ-184 pod. And, by the way, at last count the external tanks for the F-35A were an option (the US plans to certify them only for the B-model). Moreover, with external tanks the F-35A marketeers can't play their stealth trump card quite as boldly because (as their brochures emphasize) external stores compromise stealth. Range is not a trivial matter for a fighter. It determines how much tanker support you need for a given mission, how long you can stay on a close air support station, or how long you spend searching for a maritime target at a given range. It's also related to fuel burn, a large and increasing element of operating cost. Meanwhile, Norwegian newspapers are reporting that Eurofighter is re-entering the fray in Norway, with the encouragement of the Norwegian MoD. The European consortium bailed from Norway in a huff late in 2007, but is apparently detecting a changed climate now. The report says (thanks to Johan Boeder for translation) that state secretary for defense Barth Eide asked Eurofighter to reconsider and that the consortium could out an offer together in time for the formal evaluation this fall.

"Strategic display error" sounds nasty, but fortunately it isn't.

From Flight International DATE:26/08/08 SOURCE:Flight International Northrop declines to rule out platform switch for new KC-X bid By Stephen Trimble As Boeing reportedly considers alternate platforms or withdrawal from the US Air Force's KC-X tanker competition, the Northrop Grumman/EADS North America team may also consider upgrading its tanker offer. The US Department of Defense plans to release a final request for proposals during the last week of August, in defiance of Boeing's public requests for an extension period. Boeing's chosen 767-200ERX platform is likely to be too small to compete against the KC-30B version of the A330-200 if fuel offload capacity remains a key evaluation criteria. Northrop, meanwhile, now refuses to rule out the option of switching to a different platform when it submits its proposal in early October. "We'll consider all of the options that are available to us and we'll propose the platform that best meets the customer's requirements," it says. The A330-200 was selected for the competition in 2006 because Airbus had not yet launched the A330-200 Freighter. Northrop instead proposed to deliver the A330 passenger model, convert it into a freighter and then further modify the aircraft as a tanker. Switching to the pure freighter model, which was launched last year, is likely to be more efficient. Previously, Northrop tanker vice-president Paul Meyer told Flight International that his team would "inevitably" switch to the freighter if it won the original KC-X competition. Northrop also plans to build new commercial freighters in Mobile, Alabama, if the KC-30B finally secures the tanker contract. Israel is meanwhile to convert additional Boeing 707s into tankers to close the gap until the USAF fields a replacement for its oldest KC-135s. "The delayed [KC-X] selection process will result in the conversion of more 707s to the tanker role," confirms an Israeli source. The Israeli air force plans to use US foreign military financing to acquire the same tanker that will enter USAF service. ** and, hand in hand with that report ... ** From Flight International DATE: 25/08/08 SOURCE: Flightglobal.com EADS lets US market strategy slip in job ad By Stephen Trimble A new job advertisement inadvertently confirms EADS North America’s serious intention to use Airbus platforms to compete for a variety of Boeing 707- and 747-based platforms flown by the US Air Force. The advertisement posted on the EADS-NA web site, dated 21 August, seeks candidates for a position titled “Business Development Director (tanker & derivative aircraft)”. The fifth bullet point under a description of position responsibilities states: “Anticipate and provide analysis and marketing strategy for Airbus platforms which could compete for Air Force programmes, such as E-4B, JSTARS, AWACS and other C2ISR Platforms”. The existence of such a role reveals new details about EADS-NA’s ambitions to grow beyond the KC-X tanker replacement contract in the US market. Northrop Grumman and EADS are teamed for the second round of the KC-X competition. The USAF’s original decision to pick their KC-30B proposal over the Boeing KC-767 was over-ruled by the US Government Accountability Office, which cited several procedural mistakes in the USAF’s acquisition process. The winner of the KC-X competition is in a strong position to compete for other 707-based aircraft in the USAF fleet, including the Boeing E-3 airborne warning and control system (AWACS) and the Northrop Grumman E-8C Joint Surveillance and Target Attack Radar System (JSTARS). The USAF also operates the RC-135 Rivet Joint for electronic surveillance missions. The E-4B is the only 747-based platform on the list. Last year, both EADS and Airbus also confirmed that the USAF had requested information about several aircraft types, including the A380, to replace the VC-25 Air Force One fleet.

A neat interactive map showing US military presence worldwide since 1950 to present ... http://www.motherjones.com/military-maps/

Thanks for the AAR's, guys. Like I said in my post at Matrix, this part is pretty cool! Stumbling around in the proverbial dark with a penlight, hehe.

And, in related news ... From Navy Times Latest in LPD series headed for delivery By Alan Sayre - The Associated Press Posted : Monday Aug 25, 2008 10:37:41 EDT AVONDALE, La. — The fourth in a series of amphibious warships is about to be turned over to the Navy and for everyone associated with the LPD 20, there’s a sense of awe. The Green Bay — it officially becomes the USS Green Bay when commissioned Jan. 24 at Long Beach, Calif. — is scheduled to be delivered to the Navy on Aug. 29 by the Northrop Grumman Corp. shipyard in this New Orleans suburb. Like its three sisters already in service — the San Antonio, New Orleans and Mesa Verde — the 25,000-ton Green Bay is 684 feet long and 105 feet wide, suitable for a naval crew of 360 and 800 Marines. It can carry landing vessels and helicopters to deliver the Marines to shore. The vessel, which cost more than $1 billion, recently completed sea trials successfully. “I love it,” said Northrop Grumman electrician Susie Davis, one of the company workers who went on the sailing trials. “To actually see it all come to a conclusion is breathtaking. It makes me want to join the military.” The Green Bay is the final project for electrician Gerald Dufrene, who will retire in September. “I’m going out with a bang,” he said. The vessel will be around Avondale a while after the Navy takes delivery. Naval inspectors must certify the crew as ready to handle the vessel and will put them through a series of drills. If all goes well, the process should wrap up by November and the Green Bay will head to California. Cmdr. Joe Olson, the Green Bay’s prospective captain, will have his first command after 17 years in the Navy. “Every ship I’ve served on has been great,” said Olson, a native of Madison, Wis. “But this is a fantastic opportunity. I’m very excited.” The Green Bay is the second Navy vessel to carry the name. The first was a patrol gunboat commissioned in the 1960s. The fifth ship in the LPD series — the New York — was christened on March 1 at Avondale and is in the final stages of construction. The San Diego is being built at Northrop Grumman’s yard in Pascagoula, Miss., while the seventh ship, the Anchorage, also is being built at Avondale. Initial work is under way on the eighth and ninth ships — the Arlington at Pascagoula and the Somerset at Avondale. Funding for a 10th LPD is pending before Congress. A House committee has earmarked $1.8 billion in full funding, while a Senate committee has signed off on $170 million, which when combined with other funds, would provide $323 million in pre-construction expenses. A conference committee will decide on funding for the next federal budget later this year. The Pascagoula yard has 11,500 employees, while 5,500 work at Avondale. Northrop Grumman also has 200 workers at its Gulfport, Miss., yard and 120 at a yard in Tallulah, La.

From Navy Times San Antonio shipping out After delays and nearly $1 billion in cost overruns, amphib’s maiden voyage nears By Andrew Scutro - Staff writer Posted : Monday Aug 25, 2008 11:22:04 EDT NORFOLK, Va. — The banner on the brow of the amphibious transport dock San Antonio reads, “Never Retreat. Never Surrender.” And for a while there, it also looked as if the ship would never deploy. But after years of design problems and delays, the San Antonio finally is ready to head overseas. The ship, the first of the LPD 17 class, is scheduled to depart Norfolk this week as part of the Iwo Jima Expeditionary Strike Group, Navy officials say. “She is ready for deployment,” 2nd Fleet spokesman Cmdr. Herman Phillips said. The San Antonio class represents a totally new design for amphibious warfare ships inside and out. And the first ship in the class will be closely watched during its maiden voyage. “Allowing the operators to explore how this ship can be used will be very, very important,” said Bob Work, senior defense analyst at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments. “I am anxious to hear the after-action reports.” At a hefty 25,000-tons displacement with a 105-foot beam — just a foot narrower than a Wasp-class amphibious assault ship — the San Antonio-class is replacing four “legacy” L-classes. It has a well deck, flight deck, and massive space for supplies and vehicles. It also has berthing for 720 Marines that, unlike the very spare quarters in older ships, features racks with enough headroom to sit up. From the very beginning, Marines were allowed to give input to the ship’s design. But the San Antonio had a troubled fleet debut. After arriving late and over-budget in 2005, an initial inspection report revealed major problems. Board of Inspection and Survey officers found the ship “incomplete” and unsafe for crew members to board in a July 5, 2005, report. Inspectors found “poor construction and craftsmanship ... throughout the ship.” Wiring was also problematic. “Poor initial cable-pulling practice led to what is now a snarled, over-packed, poorly-assembled and virtually uncorrectable electrical/electronic cable plant,” the report states. The San Antonio made headlines again in April 2007, after the ship was deemed “unsuccessful” because of several equipment failures and “unreliable” steering during March sea trials. However, the report commends the crew for presenting the ship “professionally.” Still, the catalog of problems prompted Navy Secretary Donald Winter to write a June 22, 2007, letter to shipbuilder Northrop Grumman complaining that two years after commissioning, the fleet “still does not have a mission-capable ship.” Over its early life, San Antonio’s price also rose from a 1996 estimate of $876 million to $1.85 billion, once all of its discrepancies were corrected. “All first ships of a class have problems, and LPD 17 has more than its share,” Work said. “And it was delivered in shockingly bad condition.” Now ready for deployment after extensive work by the crew and shipbuilder, Work said the test will be how the ship functions and whether it lives up to its flexible design. “We have to see if the ship performs well, and an operational deployment is where the rubber meets the road,” he said. “There’s never been a question in my mind that the design is solid.” Its wide beam and vast spaces, capable self-defense systems, advanced communications and electronic warfare gear mean it can serve as an amphib, a command ship or a hospital ship, he said. In addition to its well-deck and large-vehicle bays for Marine vehicles and equipment, the San Antonio is built with a forward space to hold 16 vertical launch system missile tubes. “If you wanted to put them in, in the future, it’s nice to have the space for it,” Work said. The San Antonio had been scheduled to deploy in March with the Nassau Expeditionary Strike Group, but it was taken out of that rotation when new systems were installed and further crew training was needed, Phillips said. The 38-year-old amphibious transport dock Nashville made the deployment, even after being delayed for two days on the pier due to a problem in its aging steam plant. The Navy recently announced that the aging Austin-class Nashville will be decommissioned. The San Antonio is expected to deploy with the amphibious assault ship Iwo Jima, dock landing ship Carter Hall, cruiser Vella Gulf, destroyers Ramage and Roosevelt, and attack submarine Hartford. The ESG will carry the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit.

HCDB-080824 Aircraft: EC725 Caracal - France Eurofighter - Austria Hermes 450 - Intl Ships: C-RAM AAA Bty - Intl SAM SM-3 BMD Bty - Intl Shi Lang (Varyag) CV - China Simon Lake AS - USA

A new version of the official Harpoon Commander's Edition (HCE) Database (HCDB-080824) is now available. Get the new DB in the Download section. New additions (or overhauls of existing entries) include: Aircraft: EC725 Caracal - France Eurofighter - Austria Hermes 450 - Intl Ships: C-RAM AAA Bty - Intl SAM SM-3 BMD Bty - Intl Shi Lang (Varyag) CV - China Simon Lake AS - USA Enjoy.

Its an error. Will be fixed in next version of the DB. Thanks for picking up on it.

From Globe and Mail Navy's support ship replacement program scuttled The Canadian Press August 22, 2008 at 11:53 PM EDT OTTAWA — The Conservative government has quietly scuttled the navy's $2.9-billion project to replace its aging supply ships, saying bids from the shipbuilding industry were “significantly” higher than the money set aside for the program. It has also cancelled a tender call for the purchase of 12 mid-shore patrol ships for the Coast Guard. The decisions were announced in a statement issued at 8:30 Friday night by Public Works Minister Christian Paradis. “These vessels are a key priority of the Government of Canada,” Mr. Paradis said in the release. “However, the government must ensure that Canadian taxpayers receive the best value for their money.” Both National Defence and the Fisheries and Oceans Department are considering “the next steps,” Mr. Paradis added. But the decision to halt the Joint Support Ship project is a major blow to a navy that is already struggling to keep its existing 1960s vintage replenishment ships — HMCS Preserver and Protecteur — in the water. The “tankers,” as they are known in the navy, are vital to keeping warships supplied with fuel, ammunition, spare parts and supplies during long overseas operations. Both were expected to reach the end of their service life between 2010 and 2012, but Friday's decision means they will likely have to remain at sea longer. No one at the Defence Department was available to comment late Friday night. The program to acquire three new multi-role ships was announced in Halifax in June 2006 by former defence minister Gordon O'Connor. The announcement was heralded at the time as the beginning of a new era for the navy. Almost right from the beginning the plan ran into trouble as designers tried to incorporate everything into the ships that naval planners had requested. The ships were expected to function as re-supply vessels, cargo carriers for the army, a floating headquarters and possibly a hospital ship, depending upon the mission assigned. Defence sources say the two consortiums that were bidding basically determined the ships could not be built for the amount of money the Conservative government had set aside. Within the navy proposals were kicked around to cut the number of ships to two, but it was ultimately determined not to be practical from an operational point of view, said the sources who spoke on background. The decision is also a blow to the coast guard. Last year, Fisheries Minister Loyola Hearn announced $324-million had been aside for the purchase and maintenance of six new vessels for the coast guard fleet. Among those plans was the purchase of 12 new mid-shore patrol vessels. They were to be used primarily for fisheries conservation and protection duties in the Maritime, Quebec and Pacific regions. But at least four of the ships were to be tasked for maritime security duties on the St. Lawrence Seaway-Great Lakes system.

Another report from the beautiful Western Pacific ... At dawn on the second day of the conflict, a large, combined USAF/USN strike finished the enemy occupied airfields at Hamamatsu and Tokyo, leaving only the battered or isolated remnants of their air defenses scattered around them. These succumbed to "plinking" during the afternoon by F/A-18s sweeping in from the carriers (now some 600 nm to the southeast) at low altitude and popping up only to illuminate targets for their bombs. Growlers flying at high altitude jammed and HARMed enemy radars wherever they threatened to interfere. Su-35s flying from Ukrainka (some 600 nm distant) attempted to intercept but were too late each time to disrupt the Navy bombing missions. A new trio of Russian submarines were detected in the path: an Akula II and two Oscar II SSGNs. These were hunted down and sunk one by one by the rather accurate and deadly Mk 50 Barracuda. When night fell the carriers were passing between the islands of Iwo Jima and Haha Jima, now about 800 nm of Guam. Before dawn on the third day, the Kara class cruiser Vladiovostok, last survivor of the massive Russian carrier battle group, had been sunk about 250 nm to the north of the USN armada. The attacks upon it would have been uneventful if it had not been for the rather careless loss of three USMC Harriers, downed by the cruiser's SA-N-3 SAMs after venturing too far into its still active missile envelope. Next objective ... transit through the Ryuku Islands. (I've been chatting with Joe about some possible enhancements for his scenario, and I'm happy (sorry?) to report that the next iteration will be even more difficult, although this one has been plenty challenging at times).

All you folks writing new scenarios around the South Ossetian affair can add the De Gaulle to the OOB. From ARES Blog 100 Says to Go Before Charles de Gaulle Returns to Active Duty Posted by Christina Mackenzie at 8/22/2008 11:33 AM CDT The Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier came out of its dry dock in the Mediterraean port of Toulon on a beautiful August 22 dawn and has another 100 days of maintenance and upgrade at quayside before it can go back to sea. The French flagship has been undergoing its first major technical stoppage (known in French as an IPER which stands for: Indisponibilité Périodique pour Entretien et Réparations or periodical indisposition for upkeep and repairs) since July 31, 2007, almost exactly six years after it entered active service on May 18, 2001. The €300 million ($444 million) IPER, being done by French military shipyard DCNS, took three years to prepare with the ship being out of action for 15 months. There are 1,700 people working on the ship who will have totalled 2,530,000 hours of work removing and applying 40 tons of paint, changing 80 kms of cable and replacing 32 combustion parts on the two nuclear power generators, amongst other things, by the time the aircraft carrier is ready to go back to sea. The main objective of the IPER, apart from giving the power generators new combustibles, is to adapt it to the arrival in 2009 of the F3 standard Rafale fighter aircraft and the ASMP-A and Scalp naval missiles. The French Navy has more pictures and video: Sortie de bassin pour le Charles de Gaulle

From RIA Novosti Georgia set for military action - Russian General Staff 15:23 | 22/ 08/ 2008 MOSCOW, August 22 (RIA Novosti) - Georgia is preparing for military action in its breakaway provinces of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, a senior Russian military official warned Friday. "We have registered an increase in [Georgia's] reconnaissance activities and preparations for armed actions in the Georgian-South Ossetian conflict zone," Col. Gen. Anatoly Nogovitsyn, deputy chief of the Russian military's general staff, told a news conference. Georgia has also embarked on a program to increase its weapons and military capability in the past few years, Nogovitsyn added. According to information at his disposal, since 2005, Georgian tank numbers increased from 98 to 183, armored vehicles from 83 to 134, artillery weapons from 96 to 238 combat helicopters from three to nine and warplanes from seven to nine. He said Russia reserved the right to build up its peacekeeping contingent in Georgia's conflict zone. "The number of peacekeepers in Abkhazia will be 2,142 people, and the number of peacekeepers in South Ossetia will be fixed at a later date," Nogovitsyn said. The Defense Ministry official also said Russia had set up 18 peacekeeping posts in South Ossetia and would build as many in Abkhazia "in order to avert looters and the transportation of arms and ammunition." Meanwhile, Russia has been continuing the withdrawal of troops from Georgia. Three Russian fighters and 25 strike aircraft involved in the recent military operation in Georgia have returned to their permanent bases, Nogovitsyn said.

From BBC News Russia to keep posts in Georgia A senior Russian general says Moscow intends to maintain a military presence of more than 2,000 troops in Georgia. Gen Anatoly Nogovitsyn said Russian forces would be stationed around the breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, the focus of recent conflict. BBC correspondents on the ground say they have seen what appears to be a significant troop movement from Georgian positions to South Ossetia. Georgia has said it will not accept any "annexation" of its land by Russia. Russia's land forces commander earlier said that all Russian combat troops would be moved back from Georgia proper to South Ossetia by the weekend and that most of the soldiers sent to the region as reinforcements would return to Russia within 10 days. The BBC's Gabriel Gatehouse says he has witnessed hundreds of Russian armoured vehicles, including tanks and armoured personnel carriers, withdrawing from the town of Igoeti, about 35km (21 miles) from the Georgian capital, Tbilisi. See a map of the region Our correspondent says buses of Georgian police are arriving to take control after Russian troops removed their road block and pulled out. There are also reports of a pull-back from the Georgian flashpoint town of Gori to South Ossetia. 'Snail's pace' At a briefing in Moscow, the deputy chief of the Russian military general staff, Gen Nogovitsyn, said the withdrawal of all combat troops was going according to plan. "The troop pull-back has been started at a rate to make sure that the Russian troops be within the zone of responsibility of the Russian peacekeeping contingent by the end of 22 August," he said. "We are not going to correct this plan or increase the speed of withdrawal." Gen Nogovitsyn said Russian troops were setting up checkpoints on the borders of South Ossetia and Abkhazia with Georgia. The so-called zone of responsibility also includes Georgia's main airbase at Senaki, and cuts across Georgia's main east-west highway, which stretches from Tbilisi to the Black Sea. Russian officials say the zone was established in principle in an agreement between Russia and Georgia which pre-dates this month's conflict, but was never put into force. Georgian State Minister for Reintegration Temur Iakobashvili told Reuters that such a zone was "a violation of any agreement". Russia's four-day war with Georgia began after Tbilisi tried to retake the Moscow-backed breakaway province of South Ossetia on 7 August, following days of clashes with separatists. The fighting ended with an EU-brokered ceasefire deal, and a promise by Moscow to pull back its forces by 22 August. But the commander of US forces in Europe, Gen John Craddock, said Russia was taking too long to pull back, saying "if they are moving, it is at a snail's pace". The first of the Russian Black Sea Fleet warships, which have been deployed off the west coast of Georgia's province of Abkhazia, has returned to its base at Sevastopol in Ukraine. Ukraine's President Viktor Yushchenko criticised Russia's use of ships from the base leased to Moscow, saying there was a danger of his country being passively drawn into an international conflict against its will. Protesters reportedly greeted the ship's return on Friday. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Antonio Guterres, has arrived in the capital of South Ossetia, Tskhinvali, to assess the humanitarian situation there. Thousands of civilians are reported to be in urgent need of relief supplies. The UN estimates that nearly 160,000 people have been displaced across the whole of Georgia since the conflict began. The Georgian government is seeking $1-2bn (£0.5-1bn) in aid to repair and develop infrastructure following the conflict with Russia, the head of the US government aid agency, USAid, said. The World Bank has also announced that it is sending a team of experts to the country to assess its reconstruction needs. 'War with Nato' Diplomatic efforts at the UN have reached deadlock over rival resolutions on the crisis from France and Russia. A woman walks down a destroyed main street in Tskhinvali, South Ossetia Thousands of civilians are reported to be in urgent need of relief supplies Russia has reiterated its opposition to a rival French text, which reaffirms Georgia's territorial integrity. Georgia's President Mikhail Saakashvili told the BBC he would never accept what he called Russia's "annexation of its territory". He warned that Russia's involvement in South Ossetia, Abkhazia and Georgia were intended to send a strong message to the West. "If Nato fails now to come up with a united response, nobody's safe, even if they are in Nato already," he said. "It's all about reconsidering the role of Nato, the role of international law and borders in this part of the world. This is no longer about Georgia anymore. "Russia decided to win war with Nato without firing a single shot at it." A Nato spokeswoman says Russia's defence ministry has decided to halt all military co-operation with the bloc to protest at what Moscow calls the alliance's biased, pro-Georgian view of the conflict. The move by Moscow followed a Nato statement that there would be no "business as usual" with Moscow unless its troops pulled out of Georgia.

An interesting slide show of a tour of the Virginia class SSN, USS Texas: USS Texas slide show

That has got to be the best mod ... ever. Well done, comrade commissar! You'll receive the Order of Lenin for this! (Or, at least, avoid the gulag this year).

From Aviation Week India's Advanced Su-30MKIs Come to USA Aug 21, 2008 By David A. Fulghum American, French and South Korean aircrews are getting a close look at one of the world's fabled aircraft - the Indian air force's Su-30MKI strike fighter. An Indian air force group of 50 pilots and weapon systems officers - flying eight Su-30MKIs, two Il-78 tankers and an Il-76 transport - are just finishing a month-long deployment to the United States with a training cycle at the latest, annual Red Flag aerial combat excercises based at Nellis Air Force Base, Nev. They were part of a contingent of 246 IAF personnel selected from 20 (fighter) Squadron, Poona; 78 (tanker) Squadron, Agra; 44 (transport) Squadron, Nagpur, and a special operations team trained for combat search and rescue, says Group Captain Dee Choudhry. Of great interest to observers - and no doubt to U.S. intelligence - was the Su-30MKI's Russian-made, long-range radar and AA-12 Adder air-to-air missile capability. In fact, foreign air force officials admit that they suspect that intelligence gathering goes on at an event like Red Flag. India's Su-30MKI aircraft offers an especially attractive target. It carries the Tikhomirov Scientific Research Institute of Instrument Design NIIP-BARS radar that so far has only been seen on the MKI. But it's considered a variant of what NIIP developed for Russia's new Su-35 multi-role aircraft and what it's working on for the next-generation PAK-FA fifth-generation stealth fighter. One long-time military analyst mused to Aviation Week that the event might provide insight, although it was no certainty. "I'll bet your [intelligence] boys hovered up every little squiggly amp from BARS. [Yet] sometimes the [radar's] training mode is just a software package that emulates the radar transmissions, but it's actually not emitting." Indeed, to observers' dismay, and no doubt to that of the U.S. intelligence community, the IAF flew with a number of handicaps, some of them self-imposed, some not. Their powerful Russian-made radar was, in fact, emitting, says Choudhry, but operating only in the training mode which limited all its range and spectrum of capabilities. In addition, the IAF wasn't allowed to use chaff and flares to avoid being targeted by surface-to-air missiles nor did its aircraft have the common data link. CDL brings a flow of targeting information into the cockpit displays that improves the accuracy and speed of data transfer and eliminates the need for most communications. The Indian air crews had to rely on voice communications which slowed the process and limited situational awareness. Despite its limitations, the Su-30MKI's radar was able enough to allow the IAF's Sukhois to participate in a beyond-visual-range fight with U.S. aggressor aircraft carrying simulated AA-10C air-to-air missiles. Because there were so many foreign aircraft capable of offensive counter-air/escort missions (including French Rafales and South Korean F-15Ks), the Sukhois are flying fewer air-to-air missions than Indian team members had hoped, Choudhry says. "It was almost what we expected," Choudhry says. "Because we couldn't use our chaff and flares, when we were targeted by SAMs we were shot down. And there was no picture in the cockpit to help our situational awareness so the workload on the [aircrews] was very high." Nonetheless, "We came a long way. We trained hard. And the degree of difficulty was not unexpected." ** And, on a related note, from the ARES Blog "The high-supersonic, ramjet-powered BrahMos is designed for export, and "2009 should be the year" for announcing export orders, Dr Pillai said here. The "critical path" for tests of the third BrahMos version, for air launch, is the modification of a Sukhoi Su-30MKI fighter as a test platform. Dr Pillai says that Sukhoi's workload on other projects (the Su-35 and PAK-FA future fighter) has delayed this work. Sukhoi and the Indian Air Force have decided on a single-missile configuration for the Su-30, rather than the two- or three-missile loadouts seen earlier; the aircraft needs a new pylon and some structural strengthening, as well as a modified fire control system to handle the new missile."

No problem. If nothing else you've prompted me to look at the old Horizon entry.

Oh, ok. In any case, the Forbin and Andrea Dorea entries do have a 48 cell Sylver VLS, containing 32x Aster 30 and 16x Aster 15 missiles. Am I missing something?