Sink the Kuznetsov

[DrRansom]

Gunner98 - maybe add in the threat of a Syrian coastal defense battery and a dispersed Russian ADN in Syria itself.

It would be interesting to see a scenario which stresses the difficulty of targeting road-mobile launchers in a congested environment. I don't know if CMANO has the ability to replicate the affect of urban terrain on searching for a target, though.

[mikkey]

I look forward to this your new scenario Gunner98

[Tailhook]

Would the French CDG group in the Eadtern Med be better suited for this than the RAF and RN? I wasn't able to figure out which ships are in that task force.

[AlGrant]

Well it's not the Kuznetsov but I couldn't resist having a go at her big hitting escort the Petr Velikiy - but thought I'd approach it from a different direction:

"Harpy Swarm" Large numbers of small, slow, cheap 'suicide' UAV's.

Israel produces a couple of suitable systems that have been fairly widely exported (China, Turkey and others).
http://www.iai.co.il/2013/36694-en/Business_Areas_Land.aspx

So I set a very quick scenario:
Red = Petr Velikiy, 100nm off the coast under full EMCON
Blue = 1x Harpy TEL (48 UAV) ARM seeker head, 1x Harop TEL (48 UAV)
1x Hermes Jammer UAV and an E-3A to supply locating data.

Once the E-3 had a fix on the Petr V. I launched all 48 Harop's closely followed by all 48 Harpy's on a BOL.
The Hermes jammer ran along between each swarm.


The Harops got in close enough that the first defences the Petr V. used were CIWS.
She took a good few down but enough got through to cause 39% damage, as she was under attack she also switched on her radars and the Harpy's soon got a target emission to lock on to.


Petr V. sent out SAM's but many were jammed, CIWS also got involved but again engough UAV's got through to leave here with a total of 60% damage.

The Petr V's expenditure was
------------------
56x 30mm Twin Gatling Gsh-6-30KD [375 rnds]
109x AK-130 130mm/54 Twin Frag Burst [2 rnds]
34x PK-10 Flare [SO-50]
55x SA-N-11b Grisom [9M311K-1]
32x SA-N-20b Gargoyle [48N6M]
69x SA-N-9 Gauntlet [9M330-2 Kinzhal]
------------------

I also tried a run with the Petr V's radars on but it was pretty much the same story, she started shooting at longer range but jamming took care of most of them. Without a jammer the UAV's don't even get close!

These UAV swarms are certainly not an alternative to other forces, but a couple of well timed swarms can not only do some damage but could keep an opponents air defences busy whilst the bigger ASM's follow them in.

Edit:
just to add that I think the Harop might be a little too effective in Command.
The Harpy could easily cause serious damage to radars/sensors but I doubt the small Harop warhead would do as much damage against a Kirov hull.

[DrRansom]

The Hermes seems a bit too effective? Would the ship have HOJ mode for its missiles?

Also, is the escorting Kirov recently modernized or out of date?

[ExNusquam]

Pytor Veliky is dated at best. Her sister ships Lazarev and Nakhimov are both slated for refit and modernization but are not in service yet. Pyotr Veliky is scheduled for a refit in the 2019 timeframe.

[DrRansom]

Ok, then the jamming makes sense, a modern jammer against an outdated radar. Though the Hermes can defeat a Tomb Stone?

[Gunner98]

Gunner98 - maybe add in the threat of a Syrian coastal defense battery and a dispersed Russian ADN in Syria itself

Hadn't planned on being that fancy. Was planning on something mid Atlantic and isolated, sort of a sandbox. But that's an interesting idea. Will think about it.

B

[StellarRat]

From what I've been reading the Kuznetsov will sink all by itself if you can keep it out at sea for a while. [:)]