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View File Black Sea Ghosts. June 2023. 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/Ukrainian/NATO side or from the Red/Russian. You should play a few times first the Blue side to avoid spoilers, and only later play the Red side. Image: The Soviet Project 864 Meridian-class intelligence collection ship Kareliya (SSV-535), sistership of Priazovye (437) who was involved in the receiving side of the Ukrainian mid-2023 USVs open sea strikes, steaming alongside the U.S. Navy guided missile cruiser USS Texas (CGN-39) in the First Cold War. Texas was assigned to the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson (CVN-70) for a deployment in the Western Pacific from 15 June to 16 December 1988. US Navy photo by a serviceperson on duty and in consequence on public domain, and took from Wikipedia Commons. 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. On the conflict naval side, many new tactics and strategies has been employed as novelties in the Ukrainian campaign, including many that could be called of naval guerrilla warfare. One of the novelties is the employ of USVs (Unmanned Surface Vehicles) not only against moored ships in port, but also against underway ships on open sea. In concrete attacks on the Russian intelligence ships Ivan Khurs on May 24, and Priazovye on June 11, 2023, the first with three USVs, and the second employing six USVs. This scenario depicts those inconclusive Ukrainian attacks against Russian AGIs in the Black Sea. A very simple and easy scenario, at least apparently, and perhaps surprisingly balanced. Enrique Mas, June 17, 2023. Submitter broncepulido Submitted 06/17/2023 Category MEDC  

View File Black Death Sea, 13-14 April 2022. Hypothetical Historical Scenario. Black Death Sea, 13-14 April 2022. Hypothetical Historical 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-Ukrainian side or from the Red/Russian side. You should play a few times first the Blue side to avoid spoilers, and only later play the Red side. Image: Guided missile cruiser Moskva (Ex-Slava), lead ship of her class (Project 1164 Atlant), only partially modernized and flagship of the Russian Black Sea Fleet to her sinking on April 14, 2022. The bigger military unit sunk in combat after WWII. Photo by George Chernilevsky on July 22, 2009, ceded to public domain by the author and in took from Wikipedia. After the Transnitria War of 1990-1992, the 2008 Russian invasion of Georgia and the first Russian invasion of Ukraine and its Crimea Peninsula and Donbas from 2014 the World was beginning the so-called Second Cold War or the first stages of WWIII. Against all sensible warnings and erroneous appeasement politics the President of Russia Vladimir Putin (ex-KGB lieutenant colonel) was showing clearly his plan to recover the Russian Empire and later Soviet territories for reinstitute the greatness of his Russia, and to guarantee his passage on the History as saviour of the Rodina ... or more probably as a sad and sadistic clown. At last the Russian campaign for the invasion of Ukraine started on February 24, 2022, and the surprisingly bad performance of the Russian forces, forecasting a long war, and the Western steadfast support of Ukraine surprised the world. The two most prominent facts at strategic level on the naval side were the closure of the Bosporus strait by Turkey on February 28, and the Russian naval blockade of the Ukrainian ports from the war start, preventing the export of the very need on other world points of the Ukrainian grains. Most of the Ukrainian navy was seized, blockaded or scuttled in port the first days of the Russian invasion. But the more important naval actions at tactical, propaganda and boosting of the Ukrainian morale were the destruction or damage of some Russian ships, the naval use of Baryaktar TB2 drones and many retaliatory air strikes on the occupied Snake Island. And of course as the main and most outstanding action the sinking on April 14 of the guided missile cruiser Moskva, flagship of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, probably by the action of shore launched Ukrainian indigenous R-360 Neptune anti-ship missiles, based in ISTAR information supplied by NATO from day one of the invasion, and also prior to it. This partly hypothetical scenario is based in that last naval action, and in alternative modes of its resolution. Enrique Mas, May 24, 2022. Submitter broncepulido Submitted 05/24/2022 Category MEDC  

View File LCS in the Gulf, late 2022. Hypothetical Scenario. LCS in the Gulf, late 2022. Hypothetical Scenario. A Harpoon Commander's Edition scenario for EC2003 Battle for The Middle East 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/US side or from the Red/Iranian side. You should play a few times first the Blue side to avoid spoilers, and only later play the Red side. Image: The Freedom-variant littoral combat ships USS Wichita (LCS 13), USS Billings (LCS 15), and their embarked aviation detachments, as the in the photo MH-60S, participate in a maritime training exercise in the Caribbean Sea with the Freedom-variant littoral combat ship USS Sioux City (LCS 11), July 4, 2021. This exercise marks the first time three Freedom-variant littoral combat ships are deployed and operating together. Sioux City, Wichita, and Billings are deployed to the U.S. 4th Fleet area of operations to support Joint Interagency Task Force South’s mission, which includes counter-illicit drug trafficking missions in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Marianne Guemo/Released/A serviceperson on duty and in consequence on public domain) This scenario is inspired by the "Pasdaran Swarm Attack" by Chris Carlson published in Harpoon Naval SITREP 61. With the world centred early 2022 on the Russian menaces to Ukraine anything can happen the next months. The deployment of Freedom-class LCS in the Persian Gulf for late 2022 was announced January 2022. This scenario is simple on its planning and execution, but perhaps difficult to master. US ships steam near the Saudi east coast, protecting the sea lanes in the Saudi territorial waters, while waiting for a probably Iranian harassment attack with minor and irregular units. Because the complex world crisis land-based air (Or other type) support is not expected, as Gulf countries negate its bases use in this action for no irritate Iran. At last the LCS are alone on first line of battle, just what they were not designed for. Enrique Mas, January 30, 2022. Submitter broncepulido Submitted 01/30/2022 Category Middle East  

File Name: Attack of the Drone Clones, mid-2013. Hypothetical Scenario. File Submitter: broncepulido File Submitted: 19 May 2013 File Category: Middle East Attack of the Drone Clones, mid-2013. Hypothetical Scenario. Image: A MQ-9 Reaper unmanned aerial vehicle prepares to land after a mission in support of Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan. The Reaper has the ability to carry both precision-guided bombs and air-to-ground missiles. Photo by U.S. Air Force photo/Staff Sgt. Brian Ferguson. Source: Wikipedia. A Harpoon Commander's Edition scenario for the Middle East Battleset and the HCDB-130505 1980-2015 Platform Database. This scenario is designed to be played mainly from the Blue/CIA-Saudi Arabia side. You should play many times first the Blue side to avoid spoilers, and only later play a few times the Red/AQAP-Yemeni side, if you've interest on it, but I think the victory conditions are almost impossible to get for an AI-controlled Blue side. These aircrafts of many names, sometimes called pilotless, remotely-piloted vehicles (RPV), unhabited or unmanned air vehicles (UAV) or simply drones, were they of remote controlled or of autonomous flight, were in the aviation history from his begin, from the very early not manned flying prototypes (as the Samuel Langley's Number 5 of 1896), but those facts are not usually remembered. And later, from the First World War era Low Aerial Targets, Kettering Bug and Larynx, to the inter-wars Reginald Denny experiments and to the long series of Ryan Firebees from 1951, employed fully operational in Vietnam War (particularly for SAM sites hunting), in the Arab-Israeli Wars and in China overflights. As example to illustrate the extensive and widely use of drones historically, at least 578 drones were lost in action over China and North Vietnam between 1964-1975. From the 1980s advances in electronics, computing, remote sensors technologies and the Digital Revolution made more factible practical application of them to air vehicles and to the current use of pilotless aircraft. They're the Drone Clones. From Cold War end about 1991 and more from the September 2011 World Trade Center attack, the changing international situations and climate and the Global War on Terrorism recommend and permit the widely use of drones first on intelligence missions and supporting special forces operations, and later in strikes against terrorist and his leaders. As stated, previously his limited previous use not was cause of technical limitations, the determinant fact for his employ is the political approval (tacit or explicit) of his use in countries harboring terrorists, and as stated a drone is a nimble, of not very instant manoeuvre and fragile aircraft and habitually without RWR, and if it's detected easy prey for a fighter (as demonstrated in the few occasions this has happened, as in Georgia in 2008 or in Iraq in 1999), as consequence his use requires the connivance of the state in the strike receiving end. As conclusion, at the current state of art, drones strikes only can succeed on air supremacy conditions, without any opposition of enemy fighters. But only on the last years, from the early November 2002 Yemen drone attacks against Al Qaeda terrorist leaders, with the diffusion of the Predator series and the targeted killing tactics and strategies the mass media do attention to these aircraft on his headlines. This scenario is based on historical facts and has place in a very exotic country, with reminiscences of the Arabian Nights, near the Queen Balkis old Kingdom of Sheba and the skyscrapers of Sana'a, traversed by frankincense caravans or Three Wise Men, and south of the Empty Quarter Desert where perhaps lurk some innominate things without face neither soul near the nameless lost city of Iram of the Pillars, things without face neither soul as the headless aircrafts nowadays flying on his skies. On this scenario the air supremacy is not guaranteed. Because the menace of radical Islamist compelling the Yemen government to prevent drone incursions targeting his leaders and militants, with the excuse to avoid risk to the Yemeni civilian population, the Yemen government in this scenario is forced to used his armed forces to prevent the drone incursions. This scenario pretends also to show contemporary power relations and proxy actuations in the Arabian Peninsula. Unnamed places are: Saudi Arabia: ATa Tabuk/King Faisal AB, TUU/OETB AUa Jeddah/Prince Abdullah AB, JED/OEJN AXb Jeddah/King Faisal NB, -/OEJF Yemen: ZFa Al Anad AB, -/OY74. ZTa Al Hodeida IA, HOD/OYHD. ZUa Taiz IA, TAI/OYTZ. ZVa Sana'a IA, SAH/OYSN. Notes: this scenario is qualified as historical because it shows the complete Saudi and Yemeni air OOB in 2013, and with 104 aircraft in the USAF inventory, MQ-9 Reaper is probably the armed drone employed by CIA from his not so secret base in Saudi Arabia for the attacks in Yemen. Enrique Mas, May 2013. Click here to download this file