kcdusk

F-15 attack aircraft has APS-70 (from memory) radar. In the notes it has SAR/ISAR capability. What is SAR/ISAR and can you refer me to a page/rule? Cant seem to find it anywhere.

Thanks for the commets CV32 - some items there for me to follow up on.

A French Super Entard is flying at High altitude (so missiles are able to be fired at maximum range per page 6-16) and 500kts with its search radar on. Its surface search radar is able to detect the Spruence Class Destroyer (medium size) at 85nm. Radar LOS is 244nm. The Spruence class radar is able to detect the small Super Entard at 112nm and the Radar LOS is 232nm. The Spruence ESM picks up the direction and radar type of the Entard at a range of 313nm. This encounter will begin with the range at 112nm which is the range the Spruence picks up the Entard. Tactical Turns 0:00 Range 112nm. Super Entard @ 500kts. 0:03 Range 87nm. 0:06 Range 62nm and the Super Entard picks up the Spruence Class destroyer on radar, exactly where it was expected to be. The Super Entard is armed with 2 x AM39 Exocets. The Exocet begins its journey as an inertial projectile. The missile flies towards a set point where its target is expected to be. Once near its target, in this case the Spruence. Terminal guidance kicks in near the target and has a good chance of locking on. Once locked on the exocet is an active radar homing missile (I assume all of this from the I/TARH description of the missile). The exocet has a maximum range of 38nm and is surface skimming. This is clearly a much better weapon system than the GBU-15 used by the F-15. The exocet has a much longer range and is more difficult for a ship to engage with anti missile defences (surface skimming capability). 0:09 Range 37nm. The Super Entard fires both of its Exocets. Each exocet flies at 613kts and impact with the Spruence is expected to be about 3 minutes 30 seconds later. First line of defence The Spruence class has two lines of defence against the incoming exocets. The first line of defence is the Sea Sparrow (question: can the sea sparrow engage an antiship missile?). The sea sparrow has a range of 12.0nm. I am not sure if it is able to engage the incoming exocet. I cannot see why it cant so I have to assume it can. The Spruence fires 4 sea sparrows, 2 at each incoming exocet. The sea sparrows roar off at 2640kts! The Air to air attack resolution table is used to determine how successful the sea sparrows are. The exocet doesn’t have an ata rating – therefore I will use 0.5. The calculation then is sea sparrow ata 5.0 subtract exocet 0.5 = 4.5. Minus an additional 1.0 for a sea skimming target being engaged by a sea skimmer capable anti air missile = 3.5. Therefore there is a 65% chance for each sea sparrow to hit an incoming exocet. The two die rolls against the first exocet are 99 and 8 (hit, exocet destroyed). The two die rolls against the second exocet are 53 (hit, exocet destroyed) The Spruence has 8 sea sparrow launchers and has a ROF of 15 – I think the 15 ROF for a magazine of 8 is to show how quickly the system can fire the 8 missiles! Only 4 sea sparrows were fired in this example, and with a 65% chance of each missile finding its target (the very capable exocet in this example), it looks safe to say the Spruence is a much better ship defensively than the French Tourville. Second line of defence The Spruence’s second line of defence would have been a single barrelled 127mm gun which looks to be capable of engaging air targets. Its range is 5.2nm and short range (2.6nm) chances of a hit are 35% . The exocet is a surface skimmer which halves the hit chance to 17%. With two inbound exocets, the 127mm gun could have only engaged a single exocet and even then had a small chance (17%) of hitting it. Exocets chances If an exocet had managed to make it through both layers of protection, its chance to hit the Spruence would have been; Question: would the Spruences 2nd generation decoys be any use against the exocet which is a radar homing missile? I didn’t think so but it appears so. The Antiship missile table on page 6-5 gives J, D and J&D so maybe the decoys do work? Medium target size, 2nd generation missile and 2nd gen decoys gives a to hit chance of 62%. If the exocet had hit the Spruence, 33 damage points would have been inflicted (Spruence can take 183 damage points before sinking). Worst case critical hits would be 33/(183-33) = 0.2 and a 6 would see 3 critical hits. Summary There were a few surprised and contrasts in this exercise for me. 1) the exocet is difficult to shoot down and has much longer range than the GBU (providing some protection for the delivering aircraft). 2) The GBU did more than twice as much damage than the exocet. Perhaps the GBU was not fit for purpose being easier to shoot down, however packing a heavier punch 3) The Spruence as expected seemed a much better ship defensively than the Tourville

Hahahaha. Yeah, not being critical at all. It was funny reading these AARs last night and realising myself they were 3+ years old! I've found them kinda inspirational for some of the small engagements i have going on.

I like your write ups. Interesting question re "Each Mk82 = 17DP. Target 5DP per vehicle, 8 vehicles, or 40DP?s". Surely an aircraft cannot drop 24 bombs and allocate 3 each to each of the 8 vehicles. So I'm not sure how I'd determine how many vehicles are hit/damaged/destroyed. I think this question has come up before in a thread but I cannot remember what the better suggestions were.

Nice write up. But whats this "Damage Ratio calls for 10 Critical Hits, but decide to roll for sinking 3D6 = 5 = merchant sinks in 5 Tactical Turns or 15min (at the +5 Hour Game Clock" bit mean? Is that a H4.1 rule? I'm gaming two destroyers escorting 3 merchant ships. So there is 5 contacts in play and the sub can only fire on the destroyers.

Land based general attack table Has anyone put any time/effort into determining damage points for items not included on the General Attack Table on page 6-20? I'm looking to put together an extended target type list. Has anyone got any ideas for potential extra targets and their damage points, armour level, size and critical hit results? Throw your ideas out there for potential targets, their damage points, armour level, size, critical hit results and other info that might be important. I'll put together some of my own, and comment on others rationalising of targets as they go up.

Silver Dragon I'm still finding my way around your site. Do you do all your posts in spanish and then english? I only speak english. Also, i am after a form for Kfir airplane, i'm not sure if you have anything that would be of use?

Scenario: An F-15 approaching and firing on, a French Tourville class destroyer. I had no expectations for how this might play out. The only reason for choosing a Tourville was because it was a Destroyer and I’d get to see how effectively a randomly picked destroyers radar and air-defences worked. Detection ranges The Tourvilles Air Search radar is able to pick up a medium sized target (F-15) at 146nm (low altitude and above). Radar LOS is 96nm. The F-15 is flying at 650kts and medium height. Radar LOS to the Tourville is 106nm. The F-15 radar range is 70nm. The F-15 flies at medium altitude with its search radar on, since it is not worried about being picked up by the Tourville or the Tourvilles defences (more on that later). The F-15 will detect the Tourvillie at a range of 70nm. The Tourville has 2G ESM and detects the F-15 search radar at 129nm. Intermeadiate turns Flying at 650kts the F-15 (33nm/3min) closes in on the destroyer. 0:00 range 129nm and Tourville detects the F-15 0:03 range 96nm 0:06 range 63nm and the F-15 detects the Tourville. 0:09 range 30nm. 0:10:5 range 15nm and in range of the GBU-15 (max range is actually 12nm, so not quite in range yet. Also, the EO (electro-homing, page 5-4) GBU-15 needs visual line of site, so time to work that out. Page 4-15 visual line of site. Air to surface table and the Tourville is a small target so the F-15 can pick it up at 14.0nm – ie the ship is visually detected before the F-15 gets within its 12nm firing range. 0:11 range is 12nm. The F-15 fires both of its GBU-15’s. While I don’t plot it out, the F-15 breaks away from the Tourville, staying within the 14nm visual sighting range but not getting closer than 5nm of the Tourville. Reason being the Tourvilles only air protection is a single barrel 20mm gun with a long range of 1.1nm. So the F-15 wont take any fire. Understanding this now, I should have picked a target with better defences. As it is, the 20mm can be used against the inbound missiles. OK. Correction called for. Page 6-16 details that the 12nm range is if weapons are released at high altitude. Weapons released at medium halve their range. So I’m assuming the same as above but released at 6nm and the F-15 still veering away at no more than 30degrees. Second correction. The operator can only control 1 weapon at a time, so the F-15 can only fire a single GBU. The Pointy End Outcome The Tourville waits until the GBU enters its 20mm short range band and fires at a range of 0.6nm with a 20% chance of hitting --> it misses and the GBU is free to see if it hits the Tourville. Which “to hit” table to use gets a bit confusing. I thought to use the Antiship missile table at 6-5 giving a 40% chance of scoring a hit. However, the GBU is EO and therefore a PGM meaning I use the table on 6-12 which gives an 85% chance of hitting and there is no adjustment for the Tourvilles Jaming and Decoying devices. Please let me know if I have interpreted this wrong or used the wrong table. Assuming the Precision Guided Munition table is the correct one to use, the to hit chance is 85% and the GBU (die roll) hits! The GBU-15 hits the Tourville (164 damage points before sinking) and inflicts 72 damage points which has the following results. 1. The Tourvilles top speed is reduced from 32kts to 24kts. 2. Critical hits calculation is 72 / (164 – 72) = 70% and the D6 roll is 6! Meaning 9 critical hit rolls. Summarising the 9 rolls sees 3 x weapon hits, a sensor hit, 2 x flooding results, an engineering hit, a bridge hit and a rudder hit. I did not follow through with the weapons or sensor hits. The Flooding results mean a breach has been made in the hull and water is coming in. In this case, there is both major and sever flooding which will result in more damage being taken over time and the threat of sinking if the flooding is not able to be brought under control. The engineering hit means the ships maximum speed is reduced to 8kts and a minor fire starts. The bridge is hit, the main control centre is damaged. The rudder hit means the ship is unable to issue new orders or change course for at least 30 minutes. Before determining further damage done by the two flooding results and the minor fire in the engine room (and trying to stem the flooding and put the fire out!), its easy to see that while the Tourville had 164 damage points and suffered a hit doing 72 points, the Tourville is effectively out of action loosing weapons systems, sensors, a much reduced operating speed and cannot change direction for at least another 30 minutes! The F-15 still has a remaining GBU and the Tourville is now a floating target! I have to say, I don’t know if the Tourville is a typical example of a “Destroyer”. Maybe I’ve been influenced too much by childhood memories of world war II movies where destroyers were bristling with guns and just looked … fearsome. But in this admittedly simple example, the Tourville was always going to suffer a catastrophic fate. Time to reverse the roles and have a French Super Entard attack an American Destroyer (Spruance) and see what differences there may be. PS: I did go back and determine flooding and fire damage. The fire was extinguished in 30 minutes. The flooding was stopped in 2 and a half hours. By that time total damage to the Tourville was 140 damage points. The tourville would be dead in the water at 148 damage points. So the flooding was literally stopped just in time.

Today, my F-15 was flying at 650kts when it fired a GBU-15 which flies at 515kts or so. Since my F-15 is going faster than the missile, does that mean the F-15 can fly over the target before the GBU arrives? The F-15 flies over and past the target (or can turn off course) and keeps LOS to the target so the GBU has a chance to hit. No debris damage to F-15. Is my logic OK?

What would have been "the most likely" Russian fighter/interceptor that NATO would have encountered through the mid-80's? By most likely I was thinking "what plane had the most numbers" but I probably mean "what aircraft was most used in the air". As an aside, its interesting that allot of Russian aircraft only carried 2 air to air missiles whereas NATO often carried 4 or more likely 6. Russian aircraft generally look to have been on the less manoeuvrable side, so maybe carrying less missiles helped them from having a worse AtA rating than they already have.

There are 4 inbound anti-ship missiles. A ships air defence guns fire ... if they hit, do they hit a single missile? Is there anyway to hit more than 1 incoming? Or is this thing only possible if there is a director and a weapon system capable of engaging incoming missiles per missile (ie 4 directors and anti air guns can engage 1 of the 4 incoming missiles each).

... and i guess my bigger point was the value of helectopters and other means of detection - combined arms.

Yeah, i've been a little unclear. In a recent engagement i has the Iowa Destroyer up against a small frigate. I dont have my books here but the numbers were something like this. The Iowa radar could detect a small target out to 36nm. But Radar LOS to a small ship reduced range to 18nm. Whereas the small chinese frigates less powerful radar could detect a large target at 22nm but radar LOS reduced this to 19nm. End result being, the Iowa had a more powerful radar but the small frigate detected the Iowa at 19nm while the Iowa was unaware of the frigates position and was able to fire first. I was surprised by this.

From some engagements i've run recently, it seems small ships often have a better chance of detecting large ships due to ESM detection ranges (large targets are picked up via ESM at greater ranges than small targets) and even when a large ship has greater radar range, radar LOS more than evens things out (again, large targets detected before small targets). So much so that even large ships with radars of greater range than small ships radars, are dectected before the small target because of the Radar LOS limits. Am i right?

Are the stats for the 403mm for a single turrent (ie 3 barrels combined)? Or for each gun in each turrent?

Re the picture again. Is that 3 to hit rolls, or 9? My guess is 3 (1 controller per turrent).

Whooooa! Great picture. I love the shape of the blast on the water. Port and Starboard ... how could i have not guessed that? I wonder if the helepad is clear in the picture because they are firing?

I'm currently reading The Iron Pirate by Douglas Reeman (excellent book so far) and have been inspired to use a big battleship. I've chosen the Iowa on page A-23 of H4.1. Some questions about her: 1) Weapons lists 2F/A(3)3 Mk7 406mm/50//2 Mk 13. Does this mean there are two lots of 3 x 406mm guns both forward and aft (front and back)? So thats 6 guns forward and 6 aft. I assume aft guns cannot fire forward and vice verca. Why is Mk7 listed and then a Mk13? 2) 2P&B/PQ/2S&SB/S&SQ®6 Mk28 127mm/38//4 Mk 25 What does the PQ and SQ stand for? I assume ® is rear? Can a port side gun fire to starboard? I dont mean that as a silly question, can the gun turrent (?) rotate and fire over the ships deck at a high enough angle that its practicle? 3) Mk143 ABL Tomahawk - i dont see it listed in Annex D. I can see Tomahawk I, II and III A&B's, but not a Mk 143 ABL. Which one do i use?

The annex lists the AGM-65 specifically as being EO (IIR) --> yet you say 5.3.9 and 5.3.10 dont apply?. How badly written is it???!!! Since the annex does not specify which version of AGM-65 can be carried by the A-10, can i choose from all of them? Geese, so the Laster Spot Tracker is really the AN/AAS-35(V) Pave Penny system? You really need to know your stuff outside the annexs. I still cant find the Pave Penny in the Radar Annex? Maybe its not a radar. Regardless, reading the annex it looks like the A-10 does not have any kind of radar? Hard to believe. M61 Vulcan has a rating of 4.0 compared to the GUA-8 30mm of 12.0. So not even close. Count me as surprised, and this is why i asked re the rules and do i have it right. Thanks for the responses. Appreciate it.

The A-10 warthog can carry 6 AGM-65 missiles. Both 5.3.9 EO and 5.3.10 (IIR) say an aircraft can launch as many weapons as their ROF allows as long as their is a seperate guiding unit for each weapon. 1. there doesnt appear to be a ROF for the A-10 so i assume it can only fire a single AGM-65 at a time, correct? 2. if there are special forces on the ground to "operate" an AGM-65 then could two be fired (one controlled by A-10 and the other by the ground unit)? 3. the A-10 has a Laser Spot Tracker under sensors. Can someone quote me a page/rule where i can find out more about it? 4. the A-10 has a Gun Attack rating of 12.0, is this rating used against other aircraft ie 12.0 - defense rating and then use the table on page 6-6? If so this is a fearsome weapon to use against other aircraft!

I didnt realise it was in high tide ... i found a H version of it at this site. http://membres.multimania.fr/harpoon4/ So thanks for the heads up.

I'm currently reading Barracuda 945 by Patrick Robinson. And i just found a data annex for the Barracuda. Its not very quiet, its extremely quiet.

If a submarine is moving along at a depth of 125m, and it moves into an area of ocean where the depth of water changes from 200m to 75m, does the submarine crash? Or would the game umpire rule the sonar detects the change in depths and inform the captain of the need to change depths so he could plot new movement? Seperate question, do rules for submarine nets or mines (floating or chained to the ocean floor) appear in any modules?

Hey Guys I've been playing the Harpoon 4.1 rules for a little over 12 months. I've just started looking at PC based harpoon type games. I know this is a Harpoon site, but i had a few questions. 1. Is harpoon the PC game more about large scale battles or running individual ships/subs? 2. Is Harpoon PC any good? 3. How does Silent Hunter PC game compare? 4. Can anyone comment on either game, preferences, strenghts or weaknesses?