Herman

Here's another excellent AAR. It is reprinted here with permission of the author:

High-Flying, Secret Drone Unveiled DefenseTech Lockheed Martin has pulled the lid off of a secret, stealthy, high-flying drone. Built and flown by its famous "Skunk Works" division, the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) could serve as a model for a new generation of robotic aircraft that hits targets halfway around the world. With a 90-foot wingspan and a tailless design, the "Polecat" UAV looks like a smaller version of the B-2 stealth bomber. And like the B-2, the drone has been built to be stealthy and sneaky. But the twin-engine Polecat is "90 percent composite materials, rather than metal," the L.A. Daily News notes. "The vehicle is also made from less than 200 parts," adds Aviation Week. "Adhesives are used rather than rivets, decreasing the amount of labor needed to construct it -- that approach also contributed to a lower radar cross section inherent in the design." The Polecat has taken two subsonic flights, around 15,000 ft. But, eventually, the idea is to fly it 60,000 and higher -- and break the sound barrier. Up there, contrails don't form, Jane's observes, so the plane can stay hidden even better. Plus, Lockheed wants to see how its composites hold up at high altitudes. Skunk Works is also trying to rig Polecat up with "a fully autonomous flight control and mission-handling system that will allow future UAVs to conduct their missions, from take-off to landing, without the intervention of human operators," Jane's adds. Already hard at work on a number of shape-shifting planes, Lockheed is working on ways for the Polecat and future UAVs to alter their structure -- and change their roles mid-mission, Jane's continues. An "extended-wing long-loitering [recon] planform" could suddenly change into "a swept-wing attack configuration." The addition of a tail, for example, that could morph from a horizontal into a vertical configuration - to allow a laminar-flow wing to fly and manoeuvre without undue risk in the thin air above 60,000 ft. A morphing tail might also be a desirable feature for a carrier-borne UAV. The company built the plane with $27 million of its own money over an 18-month period. But with the Air Force already pouring money in to high-altitude drone development -- and looking to put a new, multi-billion dollar fleet of long-range bombers in the air by 2018, that could be money extremely well spent.

Sonobuoy deployment altitude Sonobuoys can be deployed at any altitude. Sonobuoy datalink cannot be turned off Although the manual says that sonobuoys can be dropped / discarded by turning off the Comm Datalink to them, this is not true under any realism setting.

Sonobuoy deployment altitude Sonobuoys can be deployed at any altitude. Sonobuoy datalink cannot be turned off Although the manual says that sonobuoys can be dropped / discarded by turning off the Comm Datalink to them, this is not true under any realism setting.

Here's another excellent AAR. It is reprinted here with permission of the author: I'm not an old hand at this game so after a few attempts to work out the interface and how its done, this was my first "proper" game. Only Women and Children was the scenario - in short, the British evacuation of Hong Kong after a Chinese invasion. I'm playing the Brits. Starting assets were two frigates (a Type 23 and a Type 22 Batch 3) and two destroyers (the Brit AA destroyers with Sea Darts and not much else) guarding a convoy, a whole bunch of cruise liners and tankers at Hong Kong. For whatever reason, those four surface ships have no helicopters, which proves quite a drawback later on. HMS Triumph, Trafalgar class SSN, is not too far away, about a hundred miles east of HK or so. British air power is pretty absent, Hong Kong is bare, but I got some Nimrods, E-3s and Tornados at Naha, which is a damn long way away. The CHinese have one airbase north east along the coast from HK aways, and unknown naval assets. So, we set off. Everybody is observing passive ENCOM so we're as sneaky as possible. The frigates lead the convoy, the destroyers are on the northern edge on AA picket duty about 15 miles out from the vulnerables. Plan is to head south of Taiwan and then double around to Naha, rather than sail up the Chinese coast, which seems to be begging for death. HMS Triumph is sent first and a Nimrod is scrambled to do recon on the straits south of Taiwan, as it looks like thats the choke point. While they are vectoring in that direction a whole bunch of Chin aircraft sortie but far to the northeast of the convoy and not threatening it in any way. When my Nimrod gets in range just south of Taiwan, lo, a submarine contact is discovered, a Kilo-class. It's a sneaky little ***** so it resists my ASW attempts. My Nimrod ends up dropping a few sonobuoys and running away, as the Chinese scramble fighters from the mainland to try and engage it. But! they must be at max range or thereabouts as soon they have to turn back, and then my Nimrod doubles back. This happens a good half a dozen times. Eventually the Kilo is buried underneath a mass of sonobouys, and then the Stingray torpedoes follow. It takes a good four to kill the thing as they keep missing... but kill it they eventually do. All shows blank after a quick further patrol, and its dangerous with these Chin fighters, so the Nimrod goes home. Time passes. The Chinese air sortieing quiets down a bit. My E-3 east of Taiwan spots Chinese naval units along the coast, so just as well I didn't go that way. I'm just congratulating myself on a job well done when HMS Triumph, now at the area where the Nimrod was battling, finds another contact which the ASW a/c must have missed, a Han class SSN. I try and scramble my Nimrod again as its still a fair way away, but for some weird code reason it won't take off! Apparently the erks are on a break or something, but the bottom line is, the Han has to be dealt with by my naval assets. Triumph sneaks up on the Chinese Han without too much problem. By now the convoy is drawing near, must be about 80 miles west of Triumph, so I wanna make sure the strait is clear so the convoy can go through. And then another problem! the water is apparently too shallow for Triumph to get too close, the strait is apparently off limits to subs (even trying to go on the surface doesn't work apparently). I fire off a couple of Spearfishes at a decent range but both miss the Han, and the Chinese sub retreats a bit, out of easy passive sonar listening range, so the screen goes a bit blank aside from a very vague contact. So, decisions. Triumph can't deal with it apparently, and the convoy is near. I sling Triumph onto active sonar, to pinpoint the Han, which Triumph manages to do. Its way out of torpedo range - mutually, fortunately. Triumph sits back and acts as spotter. I detach my two frigates from the convoy and form a mini SAG with them, two frigates line abreast, and they burn rubber at flank speed towards the Han, wanting to make sure the tankers are nowhere near the thing. Locating it isnt a problem as Triumph has it well lit up from further back. The frigates get in range and let rip with baby torpedoes, Mk46s and Mk50s, the things the choppers normally carry. Needless to say the sub has noticed these flank speed frigates so it fires a volley of torpedoes back - the frigates about turn and flank speed away! All torpedoes miss. The frigates about face again for another pass, and this time the Han is stupid and comes straight at them. There's another mutual volley - the frigates about face again and the Chinese torpedoes miss, but the Chinese sub keeps on a-coming, and gets three baby torps in the face. (it takes all three to kill it as well...). Victory! the frigates return to the convoy and resume station ahead. ...and thats about it really. The convoy cruises past the strait unmolested, the rest of the Chinese units too far away to catch. Now my convoy is on the far side of Taiwan and all seems peachy. And its late RL, so I save the game and hit the sack! However, there looks to more to come, as those Chinese naval units are nosing around the northern end of Taiwan, and might possibly be able to intercept me. (And maybe theres another sub...) SZO file archives - Home of the Harpoon3 PlayersDB FilesOfScenShare HarpGamer.com - Home of the HCDB.

Here's an excellent AAR. It is reprinted here with permission of the author: 24 December 2003, 00:00:00 Zulu: First I took some time to study the scenario; what units are available and the best tactic to eliminate as many enemy targets as possible. Several aircraft are already airborne. 4 Backfire-C [no payload] aircraft have been ordered to return to Yelizovo AB. 4 groups with 4 Backfires each, armed with AS-4 Kitchen missiles are cruising east of Misawa. They have to close to a distance of less than 190nm in order to launch their deadly payload. Few fighters, as well as EW/AEW units, are airborne. My naval assets are 9 ships and 6 submarines. 2 SSK KILO submarines are just a few miles away from the entrance to the Port of Yokosuka. They have orders to intercept the Kitty Hawk and her escort group when she enters the Bay. The surface vessels are too far away to conduct anti-ship missions. The surface battle group, centred on the ARKR Admiral Lazarev, is now moving southwards. The K-139 Belgorod, a SSGN Oscar-class nuclear submarine armed with SS-19-N-Shipwrecks, is within launch distance and ready to launch missiles as soon we know the exact position of the Kitty Hawk. Another OSCAR-class submarine, the K-410 Smolensk, is closing in from the east at top speed and maximum depth to bridge over 100nm before she can launch her missiles. The K-331 Magadan [Akula II SSN] is about 100nm distance from the enemy Aircraft Carrier Group and will kill the Kitty Hawk with torpedoes if she wasn't sunk by missiles before. I have to wait with the missile-attack until all units are in position. That will take about 3 hours. During that time I will attack enemy air defences...The land-based Backfires will be used for ground-attacks on Japanese/US/South Korean military bases/objects. I expect a ground-strike with cruise-missiles against my airbases; therefore, some fighters will patrol nearby the airfields to intercept incoming enemy missiles. GAME ON!!! ======= 24 December 2003, 00:30:00 Zulu: In the first 30 minutes of the hostilities no aircraft were lost on either side. My radar picked up several contacts of aircraft taking off from their airbases. Now I am able to start the air strike against land-based targets. I launched 20 Backfire-C Bombers loaded with AS-4 Kitchen [AGM]. 1 group [6 planes] to attack Chitose and Misawa in the north, 1 group [ 6 planes] to attack airfields in Central Japan and 2 groups [4 planes each] to attack ground targets in the southern part of Japan and Kunsan AB in South Korea. Soon the first air-to-air missiles were fired; I managed to shoot down 4 fighters and an E-2C Hawkeye against 1 loss. All available land-based aircraft are now underway. More and more enemy aircraft are in the air now. No doubt that I will suffer more losses as well. Between 00:30 and 02:00, it all happened; dog fights between Russian Flankers and Japanese F-15 and US Hornets. Most of my Backfires managed to launch their missiles. Destroyed many Ground facilities/aircraft. Soon the Sky belonged to us. I could not prevent taking hits by Tomahawk cruise missiles. Some slipped through the Barrier and destroyed facilities at XXX airfield. The 16 Backfires [now within launching distance] launched their attack on the American surface group. I managed to destroy all 4 ships. The 2 OSCAR-class submarines were still submerged and could be used for other targets, but I managed to reach VC and stopped playing realising that more [Japanese] units could be destroyed by the OSCAR submarines when I would go on with playing. Summary of losses [at 01:48 Zulu]: Japan/USA/South Korea: 116 aircraft of all types 4 ships, including USS Kitty Hawk 16 facilities Russia: 15 fighters and 1 bomber 1 Ground facility Thanks for this nice and interesting scenario. It is currently posted at SZO file archives - Home of the Harpoon3 PlayersDB FilesOfScenShare HarpGamer.com - Home of the HCDB.

PRC's new 'Type 094' submarine has no bite By Cheng Ta-cheng 鄭大誠 Taipei Times Saturday, Jul 15, 2006,Page 8 Advertising Advertising Recent reports indicate that China's Type 094 Jin-class nuclear-powered guided ballistic missile submarine is already in service. Some of the media haven't been able to avoid buying into the hype surrounding its production, calling it "the complete equal of the American Ohio-class nuclear submarine." The 094's construction process has been shrouded in mystery, even to the extent that authorities have cordoned off a restricted area extending several kilometers around the construction facilities on China's Hulu Island, strictly prohibiting outsiders from approaching or entering. Despite the secrecy, sources have said that all of the 094's capabilities are more advanced than those of its predecessor (the Type 092 Xia-class), and that the Julang 2 long-range submarine-launched ballistic missile that it is capable of launching constitutes a more advanced and credible global nuclear deterrent. However, when viewed from a comparative standpoint, it becomes clear that aside from their nuclear reactors, the next-generation nuclear weaponry that China has assembled (especially its missiles) has only reached the level of US technology from the 1960s, and it certainly cannot be compared to the Ohio-class submarines and Trident II D5 submarine-launched missiles currently deployed by the US Navy. `The next generation nuclear weaponry that China has assembled has only reached the level of US technology from the 1960s.' Furthermore, although its Julang 2 missiles are capable of reaching targets 8,000km away, there are doubts as to whether or not the Type 094 is capable of breaching another nation's anti-submarine blockade in particular that of the US seventh fleet. The Chinese navy has not deployed an effective early warning system, or the necessary computer hardware and software to link communications between satellites and submarines. As a result, there is still some skepticism as to whether the Type 094 would be effective in combat. In addition to these shortcomings, China currently docks its submarines in the open, making it difficult to prevent direct detection by other countries' radar and optical satellites. Although China may later construct large-scale submarine hangars to keep them from being spotted, the "Hyperspectrum Surveillance System" currently under research in the US will have the capability to find the subs through indirect means. By observing changes in temperature and small gas emissions surrounding the hangar, the system can deduce whether or not there is a submarine inside. Less clear is whether or not China will be able to construct a number of self-guided decoy subs to trick enemies into thinking that there are subs in ports and surrounding waters when there are not. The cost to construct one basic Type 094 decoy submarine is several millions of dollars, and making it self-guided will increase the price. Whether or not the Chinese navy gets the necessary funding to produce enough decoy subs to confuse its enemies will depend on how committed Beijing is to the program. Cheng Ta-chen is an independent defense analyst.

Here's an excellent AAR. It is reprinted here with permission of the author: I tried Power Sweep from the NATO side. As I started the game, I got a passive sonar contact from my brit SSN that was behaving as a submarine; it course was quickly plotted to be right towards me so I calculated intercept time at 2 hours and started moving Kobben at 12 knots at periscope depth to cover the area left by my SSN. Two hours later the sub, now confirmed as Victor was at 6nm and two 81 knot torpedo's 'flew' towards it. destruction was instant w/o any chance of counterfire! I next moved the Brit SSN at 20 knots (it would not go to Flank) to cover the Norwegian Kobben. Midway during the sprint a subcontact and torp were detected very close aboard! The torp disappeared and my counterfired spearfish missed. When I slowed down it appeared a Russian Tango had fired from long range (presumably making a wrong TMA!). I slowed Trafalgar and moved her to the Tango. A few hours later I was in range and killed her with the magic Spearfish. At the same time Kobben detected a Charly, still 20 nm away. It raced north when I fired at the Tango (even though it was 30nm away!), but now it creeped towards Kobben again. Kobben drifted at 5 knots. Just when it was 4 nm away and I prepared to fire, Charly fired at me! Kobben 'raced' south at 17 knots after having fired 3 torps. Miraculously, Charlies torp seemed to circle and the third of Kobbens hit. A pleasant small scen, probably very suitable for MP! SZO file archives - Home of the Harpoon3 PlayersDB FilesOfScenShare HarpGamer.com - Home of the HCDB.

Here's an excellent AAR. It is reprinted here with permission of the author: SZO file archives - Home of the Harpoon3 PlayersDB FilesOfScenShare HarpGamer.com - Home of the HCDB.

Sensors won't turn off Intermittent After sensors have been turned on Intermittent setting, it is not possible to change their setting in the future. Even if a player turns them either on or off, the Intermittent setting returns. Apparently, this is only problematic for multi-player games and does not present itself in solitaire games.

Nukes won't work without AALog activated Nuclear weapons for BCGN Kirov do not work unless AALog is activated. Run test scen in GE or ANW with AALog OFF. Watch BCGN fire on target and all missiles 'miss'. Re-run test scen with AALog ON. Missile warheads will perform normally. Sample file has been attached for ODb. StrategyZoneOnline

ECM nullifies BOL weapons ECM nullifies weapons on Bearing-Only-Launch. All missiles are automatically drawn to the jammer regardless if it can hit the target or not due to the Home-on-Jam flag. Run test scen in GE. Order all three BCGN to launch every SSM on BOL towards the BOL RefPt. Sample file has been attached for ODb. StrategyZoneOnline

Units out of range can be destroyed when part of a group Units out of range can be destroyed if they are part of a group. Run test scen in SE with Show all (Results will be the same with GE, but it is easier to see the results in SE. BB will destroy group. All facilities within the group will be destroyed even though they are all out of range of the guns. The distances between facilities has been exaggerated for the purposes of this demonstration. Sample file has been attached for ODb. StrategyZoneOnline

Hidden units can be destroyed without detection When hidden units are part of a group, attacks on the Group Icon can destroy the hidden units without the need to ever detect them. Run test scen in SE with Show all (Results will be the same with GE, but it is easier to see the results in SE. BB will destroy group. All facilities within the group will be destroyed even though none of them have ever been detected. The distances between facilities has been exaggerated for the purposes of this demonstration. Sample file has been attached for ODb. StrategyZoneOnline

Weapon ignores range limitation Weapon sometimes ignores range limitation and fires on targets outside of the range set by the Database. This can sometimes result in guns hitting targets 100s of miles away. Often, it occurs when the target is vaguely detected. Run test scen in SE with Show all from the side of the minesweepers. Minesweepers will approach two mines. Red ASuW Range circle of 1nm radius is around each mine. While the minesweepers are still quite distant (usu. 5nm), the ASuW range circles around the mines will disappear. They have fired. If you run the test scen a few times, one of the minesweepers will be hit. This is not every time. The ships should not be engaged outside of maximum range of the weapons. This phenomenon has occurred numerous times and is usually limited to air-to-air engagements. This is the first time it has been purposely re-created. Sample file has been attached for PlayersDb. StrategyZoneOnline

Fly off the world CTD It is possible to 'fly off of the world' and cause CTD. Run test scen. Sample file has been attached for PlayersDb. StrategyZoneOnline

E-3 lands and goes to 1092min ready E-3 lands and goes to 1092min ready time. Run test scen. Order both Sentries to land One Sentry will have 30min ready time and the other 1092min ready time Do not believe that this is a DB problem because both a/c are identical (except for the name) Sample file has been attached for PlayersDb. StrategyZoneOnline

Mission ignores target list Targets not restricted to target list for mission. Run test scen. Mission specifies the Runway as the target, yet the Air Station is also destroyed. Sample file has been attached for ODb. StrategyZoneOnline

CTD when Air Station destroyed CTD when Air Station is destroyed by ALCM. Run test scen Sample file has been attached for ODb. StrategyZoneOnline

Ferry mission fails to execute Ferry mission fails to execute. If user runs in ScenEdit and orders planes to launch, they mission executes properly. 42 aircraft ordered on Ferry mission do not launch Sample file has been attached for ODb. StrategyZoneOnline

Planes disappear from base Planes were added to a base and assigned to a mission. However, they disappear and access through the Mission editor is not possible. 42 aircraft ordered on Ferry mission cannot be seen except through Show-All function. Sample file has been attached for ODb. StrategyZoneOnline

AC Stuck on Plotted mission Aircraft on Plotted mission cannot be removed from this mission in Mission Editor Give a/c plotted mission Order a/c to land on base Try to remove the a/c from the Plotted mission with the Mission Editor Error message: **** Error **** The selected mission cannot have landed aircraft assigned Sample file has been attached for PlayersDb. StrategyZoneOnline

Akula at Flank gets passive contact Akula at Flank is able to get passive contact Run test scen Watch Sonar contact appear as passive contact. Sample file has been attached for ODb. StrategyZoneOnline

Plane ignores Nav Zone Plane totally ignores Nav Zone Start up scen in SE Watch plane fly out of Nav Zone. Sample file has been attached for ODb. StrategyZoneOnline

Formation air patrols cancelled by Edit A/C function Formation air patrols cancelled by use Edit A/C function on the launching platform or hangar. Start up scen in SE Assign any of the a/c to a formation air patrol. Use the Edit Aircraft function to add aircraft to the hangar. Formation Air Patrol will not launch even though it appears in the Formation editor Sample file has been attached for PlayersDb. StrategyZoneOnline