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View File Two of Five Carriers: Battle for the Eastern Med. Late November 2022. Historical Alternate Scenario. Two of Five Carriers: Battle for the Eastern Med. Late November 2022. Historical Alternate Scenario. A Harpoon Commander's Edition scenario for EC2003 Battle for the Mediterranean Battleset and the HCDB2-170909 (or later) 1980-2025 era Platform Database. This scenario is designed with Advanced Scenario Editor Build 2017.013 and to be run with HCE 2015.008+ or later. This scenario is designed to be played from the Blue/NATO side or from the Red/Russian and allies side. You should play a few times first the Blue side to avoid spoilers, and only later play the Red side. Image: The Italian navy flagship, aircraft carrier ITS Cavour (CVH 550), arrives at Naval Station Norfolk, Virginia, March 26, 2021, deployed to the United States for its initial period of flying trials with the F-35B, and just after when the trial was completed. The Italian Navy received four F-35B in March 2022, the original prevision was to embark them from 2024, but the Russian invasion of Ukraine marked their early naval deploy in the ITS Cavour (CVH 550) from mid-2022, including also many AV-8B+ Harrier II Plus. Italian F-35A/B from March 2018 to 2022 are armed with AIM-120C5 (Meteor probably from 2027), and perhaps with the first AIM-9X-2 requested 2021 as per SIPRI (As in the case of the Norwegian F-35A, very probably IRIS-T will be not integrated on F-35). US Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Mitchell Banks, a serviceperson on duty and in consequence on public domain. From the eventful year of 2014 (Mainly from the Russian invasion of Crimea) the world was beginning clearly the so-called Second Cold War, the President of Russia Vladimir Putin (ex-KGB lieutenant colonel) was showing clearly his plan to recover the Russian Empire including previous Soviet territories for reinstitute the greatness of "his" Russia, and to guarantee his passage on the History as saviour of the Rodina. After the massive Russian build-up of forces from late 2021 in Russia and Belarus near the Ukrainian border, NATO forces were forced to an increased and constant deployment near Ukraine and the Eastern Mediterranean, to deterrent Putin's ambition. The probably original plan was to avoid an intervention by NATO ground forces but preventing the Russian main forces to enter Ukrainian territory, and to get this target to establish an air and sea exclusion zone around and over Ukraine. But at last, on February 24, 2022, Russian forces invaded Ukraine against most forecast, sinking the world in a new state of international relations, as consequence of a long and failed campaign of unexpected outcomes. Aside air elements deployed to near NATO countries and strategic bombers in UK, and a constant monitoring of the Russian movements, after three aircraft carriers (USS Harry S Truman CVN 75, FNS Charles de Gaulle R91 and ITS Cavour CVH550) were deployed on the Eastern Mediterranean on February 2022, to keep at bay the Russian forces in Syria and the Mediterranean, and later to reinforce the possible exclusion zone and to execute offensive actions against the Russian forces in the Black Sea and Ukraine. Later, on November 2022 the forces were expanded to five deployed carriers, with USS Gerald R Ford CVN 78 (On her first deployment) and HMS Queen Elizabeth R08 in the Atlantic, and USS George W H Bush CVN 77 replacing Truman in the Mediterranean, but keeping positions near a possible unrest in Algeria. Included in the Mediterranean forces was the STANDING NATO MARITIME GROUP TWO (SNMG2), flagship USS Forrest Sherman, Italian FREMM frigate Alpino F594, Spanish AEGIS frigate Cristobal Colon F105 and German oiler Spessart A1442. For the Russian side a great number of elements of the Northern, Pacific, Baltic and Black Sea fleets were deployed in the Mediterranean, including amphibious ships sailing to the Black Sea, dangerously depleting the reserves of all the Russian fleets, but after more than six months sailing most have been retired to their parent fleets (Excluded of course the return to Black Sea). Also, Tu-22M3 Backfire-C with Kh-32 anti-ship missiles and MIG-31K Foxhound with Kh-47M2 Kinzhal/AS-24 Killjoy were deployed in the infamous Russian base of Khmeimim in Syria. And of course the surviving forces of the Assad regime after the 2011 civil war are in the Russian side, defending its country. On the paper the Russian forces are weaker, but employing old Cold War era tactics could settle a surprise and propaganda blow to the Western forces. And with Truman keeping an eye on Algeria, only the French and Italian carriers could keep at bay the residual Russian forces on Eastern Mediterranean. Enrique Mas, November 27, 2022. Submitter broncepulido Submitted 11/27/2022 Category MEDC  

View File POLARIS 21 exercise, late 2021. Historical Training Scenario. POLARIS 21 exercise, late 2021. Historical Training Scenario. A Harpoon Commander's Edition scenario for EC2003 Battle for the Mediterranean Battleset and the HCDB2-170308 new standard 1980-2025 Platform Database. This scenario is designed with advanced Scenario Editor and to be run with HCE 2015.008+ or later. This scenario is designed to be played from the Blue/NATO side or from the Red/"Mercury" side. You should play a few times first the Blue side to avoid spoilers, and only later play the Red side. Image: The U.S. Military Sealift Command fast combat support ship USNS Supply (T-AOE-6, lead of her class), the Italian Marina Militare frigate Federico Martinengo (F 596, FREMM-type, ASW variant) and the ubiquitous U.S. Navy guided-missile destroyer USS Porter (DDG-78, Burke-class Flight II, with modifications for Ballistic Missile Defence tasks and forward deployed from 2015 to Naval Station Rota, Spain) conduct a photo exercise during joint operations in the Mediterranean Sea, 22 April 2020. Photo took by a US serviceperson on duty and in consequence in public domain, took from Wikipedia Commons. From the eventful year of 2014 the World was beginning the so-called Second Cold War, the President of Russia Vladimir Putin (ex-KGB lieutenant colonel) was showing clearly his plan to recover the Russian Empire including previous Soviet territories for reinstitute the greatness of his Russia, and to guarantee his passage on the History as saviour of the Rodina. And meanwhile, more towards Far East a less perceived and gradually growing problem was China, as reflected in the transfer of the 60% of the USN and USAF combat forces to the Pacific Theatre of Operations from 2012, move completed by 2020. This time period is characterized by constant drills and exercises of the Western forces to keep its proficiency and fighting readiness. At last, from November 25 to December 3, 2021, was developed the exercise POLARIS 21, acronym for Preparation Operationnelle en Lutte Aeromaritime, Resilience, Innovation et Superiorite (Operational Preparation on Antisubmarine Warfare, Resilience, Innovation and Superiority). It was a mostly French exercise, but centred on a NATO near future all-out confrontation with a near-peer enemy. Both sides reflect the exercise historical limited resources of its respective orders of battle, with slight modifications for playability. Despite I'm the author, could say is a replayable, fun and balanced scenario, and as in the real life both sides have many paths to victory. Of course this is a training exercise and actual shots, torpedoes and missiles aren't fired and nobody is hurt ... Enrique Mas, December 19, 2021. Submitter broncepulido Submitted 12/19/2021 Category MEDC  

File Name: Operation Lancette, May 15, 1981. Historical Scenario, Updated HCDB2 version. File Submitter: broncepulido File Submitted: 15 Oct 2017 File Category: MEDC Operation Lancette, May 15, 1981. Historical Scenario. A Harpoon Commander's Edition scenario for EC2003 Battle for the Mediterranean Battleset and the HCDB2-170909 (or later) 1980-2025 era Platform Database. This scenario is designed with Advanced Scenario Editor Build 2017.013 and to be run with HCE 2015.008+ or later. Image: Sister ship of R98 Clemenceau, a port quarter view of the French navy's aircraft carrier R99 Foch underway during exercise Dragon Hammer 1992. On the crowed deck are present F-8E(FN) Crusader fighters (not yet F-8P), Super Etendard attack aircrafts (not yet modernized), Alizé ALM ASW aircrafts, a SA.321Gb Super Frelon assault, transport, utility and SAR helicopter of Flotille 32.F or 33.F (To 1980 employed for ASW, but replaced on that task by Lynx), and a AS.365F Dauphin 2 helicopter of Escadrille 23.S replacing Alouette III on board the French carriers from 1990 in "Pedro"/SAR tasks. May 1992 photo by PHC (Chief Photographer's Mate) Jack C. Bahm, a US serviceperson on duty, and in consequence in public domain, took from Wikipedia Commons. This scenario is designed to be played from the Blue/French side or from the Red/Soviet side. You should play a few times first the Blue side to avoid spoilers, and only later play the Red side. An apparently simple and introductory scenario based on historical facts. In the heydays of the Cold War at a time of particular tension, two days after the Pope John Paul II assassination attempt in Rome instigated by the Bulgarian/Soviet Secret Services, was the moment of one of the most scaring naval situations in the Cold War. Just when the R98 Clemenceau CVBG and his reduced peacetime escort was sailing from Toulon for the exercise Coriolan, was detected a submarine contact by the ASW picket (Destroyers D640 Georges Leygues and D632 Guepratte) only 50 nautical miles from Toulon and actively stalking the carrier group. The subsequent Operation Lancette was launched, resulting in the chase of the unknown submarine continuously for more than eighteen hours and with the submarine alternating creep speeds with peaks of 28-30 knots and even passing below the Georges Leygues towed sonar array. La Royale (French Navy) employed both forward escort destroyers, Lynx helicopters and Atlantic ASW planes based in the very near BAN Nimes-Garons, and at last forced her to surfacing. Ultimately she was visually identified on surface at night from a Lynx helicopter of the Georges Leygues as a Soviet Victor-type SSN and compelled to quit the area. But this scenario represents the possibility of the things going wrong and hot, and both sides firing in anger at the enemy forces. This scenario also could gives an idea of the difficult submarine hunting, the difficult of hunting surface ships with submarines without long range target determination, the limited sonar ranges and convergence zone feasibility on a sea with high levels of salinity and density, the high limitations of small diesel-electric submarines employed as hunter-killers against SSN (the French SSN force was then yet two years on the future), and about the necessity of employing half of the French Aeronavale ASW forces to catch only one submarine, even when she was fortunately emplaced very near to a main ASW air base. Enrique Mas, December 4, 2011 - October 14, 2017. Click here to download this file

File Name: Operation Lancette, 1981. Historical Scenario. File Submitter: broncepulido File Submitted: 04 Dec 2011 File Category: MEDC Operation Lancette, 15 May 1981. Historical Scenario. A Harpoon Commander's Edition scenario for the EC2003 Battle for Mediterranean Battleset and the HCDB-140909 1980-2015 era Platform Database. Image: The French aircraft carrier Clemenceau (R98) underway in the Mediterranean Sea. The photo was taken by a U.S. Navy Grumman F-14A Tomcat from Fighter Squadron VF-84 Jolly Rogers, Carrier Air Wing 8 (CVW-8), from the USS Nimitz (CVN-68) using a TARPS reconnaissance pod. November 1981. Taked from Wikipedia Commons. This scenario is designed to be played from the Blue/French side or from the Red/Soviet side. You should play a few times first the Blue side to avoid spoilers, and only later play the Red side. A simple and introductory scenario based on historical facts. In the heydays of the Cold War at a time of particular tension, two days after the Pope John Paul II assassination attempt in Rome instigated by the Bulgarian/Soviet Secret Services, was the moment of one of the most scaring naval situations in the Cold War, Just when the Clemenceau CVBG and his reduced peacetime escort was sailing from Toulon for the exercise Coriolan, was detected a submarine contact by the ASW picket (DDs Georges Leygues and Guepratte) only 50 nautical miles from Toulon and actively stalking the carrier group. The subsequent Operation Lancette was launched, resulting in the chase of the unknown submarine continuously for more than eighteen hours and with the submarine alternating creep speeds with peaks of 28-30 knots and even passing below the Georges Leygues towed sonar array. La Royale (French Navy) employed both forward escort destroyers, Lynx helicopters and Atlantic ASW planes based in the very near BAN Nimes-Garons, and at last forced she to surfacing. Ultimately she was visually identified on surface at night from a Lynx helicopter of the Georges Leygues as a Soviet Victor-type SSN and compelled to quit the area. But this scenario represents the possibility of the things going wrong and hot, and both sides firing in anger at the enemy forces. This scenario also could gives an idea of the difficult submarine hunting, the difficult of hunting surface ships with submarines without long range target determination, the limited sonar ranges and convergence zone feasibility on a sea with high levels of salinity and density, the high limitations of small diesel-electric submarines employed as hunter-killers against SSN (the French SSN force was then yet two years on the future), and about the necessity of employing half of the French Aeronavale ASW forces to catch only one submarine, even when she was fortunately emplaced very near to a main ASW air base. Key of the unnamed Air Bases: AGa BAN Nimes-Garons LFTW, France (closed on July 2011). At Nimes-Garons on this time period were based two Aeronavale ASW units, the Flotille 21F equipped with Atlantic and the Flotille 6F with Alize. Enrique Mas, December 2011. Click here to download this file