Silent Hunter UK

Orders (Please ask if you need clarification) The helicopter will be going back to Bushehr, as we may be about to lose our floating helipad. When the bearing from Gorz to S008 reaches 170, turn all three vessels on a direct bearing intercept course against S008. To be clearer, point course at S008 and adjust course to keep pointing at it. All air and surface radars are to be activated. When the missile boats are at 30nm from S008 OR we detect enemy missiles heading in their direction, they are fire all eight, I repeat all eight, Harpoon missiles in a Range and Bearing attack at the then position of S008, which the terminal seekers activating at 5nm from said position i.e. target distance - 5nm. Gorz will then turn 90 degrees to port and accelerate to maximum speed i.e. 36 knots. Joshan will do the same, but turn 90 degrees starboard. Also, all jammers are to be activated and any hostile targets that come into firing range are to be engaged. These orders may change if the situation changes i.e. there is an alteration in the course and/or formation of the Blue surface force. **** My proposal for the timeframe is as follows: As soon as I turn my ships for the attack run, launch the F-4s and get them onto my own track (which will be visible when you turn on TRACKs) with the aim for them to be over me at 30nm from the Sovvie when I open fire. This may require some delicate moving.

Got it. Thanks.

Welcome to the forum! Are you an Airwolf fan by any chance?

The Tomahawk missile is essentially a small low-flying aircraft with no weaponry or capability to defend itself. If detected, it is possible to shoot down a cruise missile with an aircraft; indeed, it was done with the V-1s during the Second World War. With modern air-to-air missiles, it is a good deal easier. My Su-35s and MiG-25 engaged the Tomahawks, shooting them all down. They then had to return to base due to lack of fuel, which was problematic as a F-14 then promptly showed up and downed my Ka-31 AEW helicopter. The F-14 was shot down within three minutes, but I had lost a vital observation platform. A Hornet then dispatched two MiG-29s before they knew it and fled before I could intercept it. At which point, more Tomahawks showed up. The first wave of eight went down, but I was only able to destroy six of the next lot of 30 before they took out one of my infantry bases. An hour after that, another MiG-29 disappeared to an unseen assailant. A further hour after that, a single Hornet was detected and this time the Fulcrums did their job; they destroyed the interloper with the superb R-73/AA-11 heatseekers. Shortly after this, I got a ESM detection on an American aircraft carrier... (As a side note, I've just noticed the changing icons in the browser tab for this site. Nice feature!)

It may well be wise to dust off your copies of Persian Incursion and possibly update them; an Iran strike is arguably back on the table - although it will depend on whether Israel's current PM survives the current corruption allegations and who replaces him. I think that NATO vs. Russia is less likely - Clinton would be far more confrontational towards Russia for one thing. I personally doubt that Putin would invade the Baltic countries anyway if faced with sufficient chance that he'd face a protracted guerilla war from the Estonians. They invented Skype and have more mobile phones than people, so what they could do against an occupying force would be very 'interesting' to see. US vs. China - probably an increased war of words, but both sides have too much to lose from a conventional war, let alone a nuclear one. The bigger concern I have in the medium term is the continued existence of the United States in its current form. If Trump exits the scene by any other means than his natural death or term limits (impeachment, assassination or being declared incapable via the 25th Amendment), there are enough people with military-grade weaponry out there to make an uprising a serious problem in the US.

Yes, that is entirely correct. They only got the original version before the 1979 revolution. I am planning to engage from 30nm out to reduce the chances of my missile not hitting its target due to the movement of the enemy vessels. Hence my course change to bring me closer. Once at 175 degrees, I can change course for a flank speed approach towards the Soviet group and engage just before I would appear over the horizon. Actually make that 170 degrees, please.

Are all your F-4s airborne or is it just one?

Thanks. That works now. Orders Change course of my ships to 140 and increase speed to 25 knots please. Helicopter is to climb to medium altitude. Please let me know when bearing of the Sovvie is at 175 degrees from my lead missile boat - that will be the point in which it will be time to start our attack run.

In the meantime, Dylan, I may alter course to get my ships closer so they can engage.

Yes, I do have a AB-204. Please let me know when it is at bingo fuel. Also, the Turn File isn't opening properly - the zoom function isn't working, nor are the range circles. Without them, I can't see the plot clearly enough to give new orders. I get the following error when I open it:

Maintain current movement orders. Activate air search radar on Palang.

OK, thanks.

Are we identifying ourselves as well? We can just saying "Islamic Republic of Iran Aircraft" or something like that.

No changes in current orders. Remarks That confirms S009 is indeed the Krivak.

Harpoons can't be mid-course corrected; I have to give a bearing and range for the seekers to go active. The seeker angle is 30 degrees on either side and if I launch too far out, there's a chance, especially if Blue sees your F-4s coming in, of him changing course to the point my weapons don't reach their targets.

Switch off radars and accelerate to 20 knots, then continue on present course until reaching grid line North -51. Then, the two missile boats are to turn to course 110. The destroyer, however, will make the necessary movements needed to launch its chopper (which will be armed with two AS.12s) i.e. turn to 285 to put wind 30 degrees off starboard bow. Once chopper launched, hold in the current position until missile boats are 10nm away, then proceed on course 110. Helicopter is proceed on a direct intercept course for S009 at 500 metres, but not get any closer than 15nm until instructed otherwise.

Unfortunately the MiG-25s are not exactly the longest range aircraft in the world and the Super Hornet started to flee. So I sent some MiG-29s in its general direction, hoping to get a location for the American carrier group at the same time. These proved neither able to intercept the F/A-18 or find the CVBG. So I sent a Bear and a Coot to have a look. They located a Hawkeye and a Prowler... then were shot down without any warning. This wasn't exactly a good move for me. My personal guess is that they were shot down by Phoenix missiles fired from F-14s. Forty minutes later, a batch of inbound missiles turned up near my helicopter carrier group. Moskva managed to shoot them all down. Shortly afterwards, I picked up a pair of large aircraft contacts, which turned out to be F-14s - not exactly small planes after all. A bunch of Flankers were sent in their general direction, but could not get close enough to engage before having to return to base for lack of fuel. Six Su-35s and 5 Su-34s were then sent on a patrol near the location of the fighters; at which point, I figured out that ones returning to base could engage the Tomcats if they were then diverted to a closer facility on Iceland. This time, they managed to get in range, firing off R-37/AA-X-13 missiles... that ended up missing... a lot. Approaching bingo fuel, these fired off 16 missiles, which finally had the desired effect. In the fact that they actually shot down two F-14s. This, however, merely made the Americans mad and they started to engage my Su-34s, destroying all five of them. I ordered the -35s back to base as it wasn't worth losing them as well. They returned to base and shortly after - at 06:57, eight more cruise missiles turned up, doing 73% damage to one of my bases, only being defended by Strelas, those handheld SAMs only really being good for helicopters if that... Things then got quiet for a while. Until another Hornet turned up. I scrambled fighters to intercept it, as well as launching a AEW bird for a patrol. The Su-35s fired more R-37s at this and again took more than should really be needed for downing a Hornet... At this point, a batch of TLAM-D missiles turned up; but this time I had aircraft in a position to do something about it...

Unfortunately, if I launch from 52nm out, that's a full five minutes for the missiles to get there, by which time, the ships may have moved a full 2nm.

Story from The Aviationist

Agree. Also happy to class them as hostile. No change in orders at this time. Remarks If they're not going to let us get closer than 25nm, then I intend to fire from a distance of 30; possibly at -75, -25. That will give us a three minute missile run time. At 40nm out, it will probably be time to move your Phantoms towards the initial point.

Yes, that confirms my current plan. Since I need to know where the Ka-25 is, I'll turn on my own radars. Orders Activate air and surface search radars on my ships. Maintain current movement orders.

@kmart: Please continue with current orders for the formation. @dylanjones: We don't need a visual ID; we just need one of the warships to light off a search radar and that will be enough. You can approach as close as 15nm and be out of the range of the Sovvie's SAMs. However, it might be a better idea for you to orbit and I'll launch my helicopter once I get closer.

Orders Change course of formation to 180 and alter it in the following way, lined up from West to East (270 to 090) Joshan - 1nm gap - Palang - 1nm gap - Gorz Remarks The two warships are separated by enough distance that they might not be able to easily support each other against a missile strike and I can target said strike more easily on one target. We need to get them to light off their radars or get a visual idea. If the Sovvie is at the front i.e S008, then the strike from behind strategy doesn't work and I will try to engage from c.45 degrees to their starboard instead. That way any Harpoons that shoot past their target will lock onto a merchant (cf. Atlantic Conveyor, 1982). If it is S009, then I will go from c.135 degrees instead. I intend to launch my helicopter as soon as the lead ship closes with 70 nautical miles.

Thanks.

Ship Orders Change course to 230 while maintaining current formation. Remarks We'll need to positively ID all the contacts before we engage; there is almost certainly a fifth ship out there that we're not close enough to spot. If you've not already added range circles for the Harpoons (60nm) and the Sunburns (50nm) I suggest you do so. (GM: Four medium contacts? Is that correct? Maykop should be Large and both the warships are Small; the Sovvie has a reduced radar cross section. Unless they're not all the merchants we're looking for...)