CV32

Yes, they are on separate antennas.

in that case there is little doubt that we are being painted. Light up at your leisure, there is no reason to proceed blindly in the face of air and surface threats. Since the enemy surface threat is not nearby, should we recover the Hormone B or press on?

I don't have my rules with me on the road, but you could potentially work up a rough calculation of range to the P-3F based on the fact that the Hormone B can see it's contrails. We can work out the P-3F radar range too. Since the Hormone B has not spotted any ships, we can also assume they are still some distance away. I would not want to light up just yet but it is your call.

yep the Iranian P-3F has the aps-115. No harpoons though thankfully. It's going to negate our intentions to stay incognito pretty quickly though.

I am travelling at the moment, so my ability to communicate here will be spotty. Krivak I will be moving at strict emcon, with no sensors or comms radiating. BTW, I think it is important that the Hormone B not give away any bearings that point to the convoy, either while actively radiating or when capable of being spotted at altitude. It should take indirect vectors on departure and return.

A new version of the HCDB2 or Harpoon Commander's Edition Database 2 (HCDB2-161211) is now available. New additions include: Aircraft: B707 Phalcon - Israel Br.1050 Alize 80 - France Br.1050 Alize 80 - India Br.1050M/ALH Alize 97 - France Br.1050M/ALM Alize 91 - France EB-707 Condor 95 - Chile Eurofighter 10 - Austria Eurofighter 07 - Germany Eurofighter 11 - Germany Eurofighter 15 - Germany Eurofighter 17 - Germany Eurofighter F2000A 07 - Italy Eurofighter F2000A 11 - Italy Eurofighter F2000A 19 - Italy Eurofighter C.16 07 - Spain Eurofighter C.16 14 - Spain Eurofighter C.16 19 - Spain F-22A Raptor 05 - USA F-22A Raptor 08 - USA F-22A Raptor 13 - USA F-22A Raptor 19 - USA F-22A Raptor 23 - USA F-35A Lightning II 22 - Australia F-35A Lightning II 18 - Italy F-35A Lightning II 20 - Japan F-35A Lightning II 20 - Netherlands F-35A Lightning II 17 - Norway F-35A Lightning II 20 - South Korea F-35A Lightning II 17 - Turkey F-35A Lightning II 17 - USA F-35A Lightning II 19 - USA F-35A Lightning II 21 - USA F-35A Lightning II 24 - USA F-35B Lightning II 18 - Italy F-35B Lightning II 17 - UK F-35B Lightning II 16 - USA F-35B Lightning II 21 - USA F-35C Lightning II 19 - USA F-35C Lightning II 21 - USA F-35C Lightning II 24 - USA MQ-8B Fire Scout 14 - USA MQ-8B Fire Scout 15 - USA MQ-8C Fire Scout 17 - USA Tornado ECR 93 - Germany Tornado ECR 13 - Germany Tornado ECR 99 - Italy Tornado ECR 15 - Italy Tornado IDS LW 82 - FRG Tornado IDS LW 85 - FRG Tornado IDS LW 88 - FRG Tornado IDS LW 91 - Germany Tornado IDS LW 02 - Germany Tornado IDS LW 05 - Germany Tornado IDS LW 13 - Germany Tornado IDS MFG 82 - FRG Tornado IDS MFG 91 - Germany Tornado IDS MFG 02 - Germany Tornado IDS 85 - Italy Tornado IDS 92 - Italy Tornado IDS 95 - Italy Tornado IDS 98 - Italy Tornado IDS 07 - Italy Tornado IDS 15 - Italy Tornado IDS 86 - Saudi Arabia Tornado IDS 95 - Saudi Arabia Tornado IDS 13 - Saudi Arabia Tornado IDS 15 - Saudi Arabia Tu-22KD Blinder B 80 - USSR Tu-22KPD Blinder B 80 - USSR Tu-95K-22 Bear G 88 - USSR Typhoon 11 - Saudi Arabia Typhoon 15 - Saudi Arabia Typhoon 18 - Saudi Arabia Typhoon 20 - Kuwait Typhoon F.2 06 - UK Typhoon FGR.4 08 - UK Typhoon FGR.4 09 - UK Typhoon FGR.4 17 - UK Ships: Adelaide (80) FFG - Australia Adelaide (83) FFG - Australia Adelaide (84) FFG - Australia Adelaide (89) FFG - Australia Adelaide (92) FFG - Australia Adelaide (1/99) FFG - Australia Adelaide (2/99) FFG - Australia Adelaide (07) FFG - Australia Adelaide (13) FFG - Australia Allende (Knox/99) FF - Mexico Cheng Kung (FFG7/93) FFG - Taiwan Cheng Kung (FFG7/04) FFG - Taiwan Cheng Kung (FFG7/06) FFG - Taiwan Chi Yang (Knox/93) FF - Taiwan Chi Yang (Knox/05) FF - Taiwan Damiyat (Knox/94) FF - Egypt Damiyat (Knox/00) FF - Egypt Epirus (Knox/92) FF - Greece Gabya (FFG7/98) FFG - Turkey Gabya (FFG7/02) FFG - Turkey Gabya (FFG7/03) FFG - Turkey Gediz (FFG7/11) FFG - Turkey Gemlik (FFG7/07) FFG - Turkey Hangzhou (956E) DDG - PRC Jiangdao (056/13) FFL - PRC Jiangdao (056A/14) FFL - PRC Knox (1/80) FF - USA Knox (2/80) FF - USA Knox (3/80) FF - USA Knox (4/80) FF - USA Knox (5/80) FF - USA Knox (6/80) FF - USA Knox (7/80) FF - USA Knox (1/84) FF - USA Knox (2/84) FF - USA Knox (3/84) FF - USA Knox (4/84) FF - USA Knox (5/84) FF - USA Knox (1/88) FF - USA Knox (2/88) FF - USA Knox (3/88) FF - USA Knox (4/88) FF - USA Knox (5/88) FF - USA Knox (1/92) FF - USA Knox (2/92) FF - USA Mubarak (FFG7/97) FFG - Egypt OH Perry (80) FFG - USA OH Perry (81) FFG - USA OH Perry (86) FFG - USA OH Perry (88) FFG - USA OH Perry (94) FFG - USA OH Perry (98) FFG - USA Pulaski (FFG7/00) FFG - Poland Santa Maria (86) FFG - Spain Santa Maria (94) FFG - Spain Santa Maria (95) FFG - Spain Taizhou (956EM) DDG - PRC Underwood (83) FFG - USA Underwood (84) FFG - USA Underwood (88) FFG - USA Underwood (91) FFG - USA Underwood (94) FFG - USA Underwood (98) FFG - USA Underwood (00) FFG - USA Underwood (02) FFG - USA Underwood (1/05) FFG - USA Underwood (2/05) FFG - USA Underwood (08) FFG - USA Merry Christmas! Enjoy.

Bummer, lost someone?

Great. Looking forward to it.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all of the HarpGamer and greater Harpoon community. Pull yourself away from lobbing torpedoes and missiles and spend some quality time with your loved ones.

F-35 Development Could See 7-Month Slip, $530M Increase (Aviation Week)

North Korea’s Musudan Missile: A Performance Assessment (38 North)

F-35’s $400K Helmet Still Blinds Pilots on Night Flights (DOD Buzz)

Oh yes, I wasn't advocating that we turn hard left and make for the coast, but rather than plod straight up the middle of the Gulf we instead angle somewhat toward the west. Maybe it does nothing for us, but we don't know how much water separates us from the Red force, and how long before we make contact.

Yes, I think that is more or less what we have in mind. Though perhaps with the Sovremennyy slightly ahead and to starboard of the lead merchant, and with the Krivak I slightly trailing and to starboard of the final merchant.

Sounds good to me. Thinking out loud, should we angle towards the Bahraini/Saudi coast and skirt their territorial waters during our transit? This might serve to complicate Iranian action.

I like it. Although do we need to worry much about the western side of the Gulf? Given that Red air/ship threats will almost certainly come from the east? A thought. Our column formation will cause Red ships difficulty in being unable to distinguish followers from leaders in targeting, and will cause Red air difficulty in being unable to attack more than one ship at a time (unless they fly directly down the line, and into the teeth of the leading or trailing warship). I think Stoykiy should lead, btw. It has the most powerful combo of air and surface firepower.

Thanks, just a typo.

These are the DP values outlined in SITREP #48.

The Combattante IIB fast attack craft are the only surface threat that would worry me. Are they even available to Red? The Babr (ex US Allen M. Sumner FRAM II class), Damavand (ex UK Battle) DD and Sahand (Vosper Mk5 class) FF options meanwhile would all require Red to close the distance to relatively close range to use their missiles (whether SM-1MR Block II in SSM mode or the Sea Killer II). The RGM-84A Harpoon is obviously much more capable, though the warload aboard the Combattante IIB should be less than a full loadout (2x2). The possibility of Red airpower is absolutely a wild card, one that would significantly improve Red's odds. I would hope that they have limited sorties. I think you're right about that. Red may desire strict EMCON, especially as their offensive firepower is short range and/or limited and their defensive firepower is nearly non-existent. EMCON is not nearly as valuable for us, as our strengths lie with firepower and a need to stay vigilant (especially under a stricter ROE). I think we might be able to exploit the Ka-25Ts Hormone B in this regard. More on that below. The ROE is (as always) somewhat critical. I interpret the orders as follows: Weapons tight, do not fire without evidence of hostile intent. That does not necessarily mean we have to wait until we are fired upon. Just that there must be some evidence of hostile intent, e.g. refusing to turn away from approaching the Blue convoy upon demand. The umpire may have some further direction in this regard. I also agree that detection of the Red ships at the earliest possible opportunity is very important. This is where I think the Hormone B can offer its best value. See my comments below. Here's an idea: assuming at game start we do not have a decent idea of the location of the Red ships, we launch the Hormone B at the earliest opportunity. Keeping it at Vlow altitude until we attain distance/bearing change from the Blue convoy, and then climbing to altitude to perform a radar search. The Hormone B will be vulnerable to any Red air but it will have performed its job and its loss does not compromise victory conditions. Note that the Uspekh-2 (NATO Big Bulge B ) radar aboard the Hormone B is surface search (SS) only (60 deg search azimuth, range 89 nm vs Small targets) and won't provide any detection capability against Red air unless they are at Vlow altitude. I am not keen on the idea of splitting up our ships. I think our strengths lie in the strong, layered defensive firepower we have as a group. I think we are largely on the same page. I favour keeping the convoy together (playing to our strengths, making the convoy a difficult nut to crack), maintaining EMCON until we can loft the Hormone B and take a peek. Red air remains a wild card that we cannot prepare for, except to position our escorts to maximize defensive firepower. If Red air isn't airborne already, we will at least have some period of time to work with.

The Myth of Russian Aggression and NATO Expansion (Strategy Bridge)

Piracy.

Thinking this one ought to have been called the 'Grinch'. It definitely has potential to try and steal your Christmas joy. AAR to follow in due course.

China’s New Spratly Island Defenses (AMTI) Lots of satellite imagery and analysis.

China installs weapons systems on artificial islands: U.S. think tank (Reuters)

And I will happily accept command of the Project 1135 (NATO Krivak I) class frigate Ladnyy (pennant 824), on the assumption that it is ok with the umpire and in keeping with his intended scenario.