CV32

Kuznetsov could never hope to produce the kind of sortie rate that is capable from an onshore airfield at the best of times. With only three (maybe two?) MiG-29KR and the Su-33s only carrying a pair of 500 kg iron bombs, this was going to be even worse. Meanwhile ... Russian MiG-29 Crash: More than Meets the Eye (RUSI)

From the perspective of the Red player, I think it was the correct decision to attack and attempt to disable or destroy the warship first. Ordinarily, and from a philosophical point of view, I would typically advocate pitting your strongest weapons against the enemy's weakest defences, but in this case, there was really only one opponent. The merchant ship would be, for all intents and purposes, completely defenceless once the Kashin had been put out of action. Attacking the Kashin with the extended reach of the Sea Killer antiship missiles and following up with the 4.5 inch gun was absolutely the correct move, imho. [The fact that there is unlimited ammo for the 4.5 inch gun is no small factor to consider. Noting that she had a little over 300 rounds available in real life, there is a possibility in some scenario that Sahand could have run out of ammo and been unable to continue the fight or destroy the merchant.] If nothing else, Eric can take some comfort in the fact that Sahand met her own fate a year to the day later, on 19 April 1988.

This is somewhat of a major overhaul, and I don't expect the first few iterations of the HCDB2 will be terribly reliable for scenario authors. I am, for example, weeding out things like duplicated installations, useless relics like SAM barges, some hypotheticals, etc and there will be a period where the DB will be in a major state of flux while I finalize certain things like the intended philosophy for issues like electronic warfare, guidance/seeker generations, etc.

The Project 61 (NATO Kashin) class ships built at Nikolaev received the Volga navigation radar vice Don-2 from Smyshlenyyy onward (so, from 1968), including Sposobnyyy. Units constructed at Leningrad received the Volga nav radar later, probably in the mid 1970s. There will always be some discrepancies in H4 data annexes (or database in a computerized version of Harpoon), whether because of differing sources, outdated information, or human error. What matters, however, is that the game proceeds on the basis of the information supplied or agreed upon by the parties involved, most preferably at game start and only later if it is mutually acceptable and doesn't substantially or materially change the course of events.

Yes, it will be HCDB2-161201, for example.

I expect to release the first iteration of HCDB II this coming weekend.

Depending on the scenario, I may be interested.

Developmental test F-35s need service life extension (Flight Global)

I am liking the altitude changes very much, and it has contributed to at least a couple of aircraft losses on my part which would not have happened otherwise (and that is a good thing! believe it nor not), but if it is causing difficulty on that kind of level, I will grudgingly sacrifice the feature.

Liberals to buy 18 Boeing Super Hornet fighter jets to fill 'capability gap' (CBC)

Assessing the Admiral Kuznetsov Deployment in the Syrian Conflict (Real Clear Defense) Looks like the Su-33s are carrying a pair of FAB-500 iron bombs on the centreline and a reduced AAM loadout of 2x R-73 (AA-11) on the outboard pylons.

Syrian Regime Bombs Eastern Aleppo While Russia Focuses Its Bloody Strikes Elsewhere (War is Boring)

Russians Blame MiG-29K Crash on Broken Arrestor Cable, Catastrophic Engine Failure (USNI News)

Please note that the Middle East Battleset has no relationship with the EC2003 Battlesets, and this could be confusing to new players. I would suggest editing your scenario information accordingly.

The US Military Will Bring F-35s Into Service Without Finishing Them (War is Boring)

DOT&E Memo: F-35 Still Challenged (Aviation Week) Link to 14 October 2016 DOT&E Memo here (pdf)

Possible, though I think less likely.

Russia reveals Bastion-P deployment, land attack role in Syria (Jane's) Well, there ya go.

Today it looks like Kalibr-NK from the Admiral Grigorovich and possibly Iskander-K (although at least one source said Onyx, which would mean K-300P) cruise missiles from an onshore TEL. No doubt (at least in part) to distract from the crash of the MiG-29KUBR on 13 November. Edit: Definitely looks like K-300P, interesting that it is being used in the land attack role (assuming the vid is genuine):

So, its been a year since I tabled this idea for discussion and consideration. And the conclusion I have reached is that basically I do not have the time or energy to commit to an entirely new version of the HCDB. Instead, I will continue to work with the current HCDB template, except that there will be some changes that may affect scenarios built with earlier versions of the HCDB. One of these changes will be separation of platform entries (existing and newly added) by year of service. The 'old' HCDB (HCDB-150928) will remain available for continued compatibility.

User scenarios in EC2003 IOPG will have the filename suffix *.scp, while saved games will be *.hpp From the start screen, uncheck the box (below the map) entitled "Enable Instant Action".

A better practice would be to call the directory 'User Scenarios', as that is the nomenclature used by the sim. Andy, it may be worthwhile to check the FAQ at the top of the forums to refresh your memory on how the battleset and scenario filenames are structured.

Confirmed: India’s Next Aircraft Carrier Will Be Nuclear (The Diplomat)

China to Start Construction on 1st Type 075 LHD Amphibious Assault Ship for PLAN Soon (Navy Recognition) Type 075 Watch: China's Navy May Soon Be Second to the US Navy in Amphibious Assault (The Diplomat)

New Warship’s Big Guns Have No Bullets (DefenseNews)