Daily News
by Gail Helmer
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The SSI team sent us these exclusive "Lock On: Modern Air Combat" (LOMAC) from the E3 build. LOMAC is SSI's follow-up to Flanker 2.x. What you always wished Flanker 2.x had, you'll see in LOMAC. Flyable US planes such as the F-15C and the A-10 just to name a few. Release Date: Q3, 2001. Enjoy!
Fly! II Patch 2
Terminal Reality has announced the latest patch has been released for Fly! II. You'll need the first patch installed in order to use this one. Click here to download the patch. For more on Fly! II click here
X-Plane Meets Military Combat
In Bob Marks's E3 report he mentioned a cool piece of news. Reto Bodmer, President of Xicat Interactive and publisher of Austin Meyer’s X-Plane, told Bob that "they’ve signed a deal for the production of an X-Plane-like military/combat sim." Cool, design your own airplane, then dogfight in it!
Bob was also told that X-Plane is selling extremely well, and that Austin is on the verge of having X-Plane v6.0 ready soon.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhu Bangzao announced earlier that China and the US had reach an agreement requiring the EP-3 aircraft be dismantled and shipped back to the U.S. in pieces. Zhu said "The U.S. side submitted a proposal to the Chinese side to take apart the U.S. aircraft and transport it back. The Chinese side has agreed to that and the two sides will continue to hold consultations on the technical aspects of the return of this aircraft."
The Pentagon has denied that an agreement had been made, and are unclear why the Chinese have announced otherwise. The two sides continue to hold technical consultations on how to dismantle and remove the aircraft.
2001 Society for Military History Conference
The 2001 Annual Meeting of the Society for Military History is meeting in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, on May 24 to 27, 2001. This year's themes for the conference are, "Revolutions in Military Affairs", "Societies at War" and "Operational Arts".
In addition to panels on specialist topics, several Round Table sessions will address issues of broad significance to the themes of the conference, and leading scholars will deliver keynote lectures. The conference will be held at the University of Calgary.
Our own Contributing Editor, James Sterrett, will be presenting his talk on Soviet Air Force Lessons Learnt and Forgotten, 1936-1941. For a complete list of panels and events click here.
Here are just a couple of the panels presented.
Air Power in World War Two and After:
The 24 crewmembers of the downed EP-3 Aries were formally recognized for their heroic efforts May 18, during an awards ceremony at the Joint Services Open House at Andrews Air Force Base, Md.
The pilot/mission commander, Lt. Shane Osborn, was presented the Distinguished Flying Cross for regaining control and safely landing the aircraft after it was struck by a Chinese F-8 aircraft. Osborn fought with the controls and landed the aircraft despite the loss of an engine, the nose radome, and all airspeed and altitude information.
Osborn was also awarded the Meritorious Service Medal for his professionalism after the forced landing. He took charge of the situation in preparing the crew to encounter an armed force. He continued to assert the rights of the U.S. government over the aircraft and refused to permit Chinese forces to board the plane until he was forced to do so.
The senior enlisted person aboard the plane, Senior Chief Aviation Machinist's Mate (AW) Nicolas A. Mellos, was awarded the Meritorious Service Medal for his professionalism in keeping the crew acting as a team during their 12-day detention period on Hainan Island. He established watchbill assignments, identified a chain of command for everyone to follow, and ensured that proper discipline was maintained and morale remained high in the face of a possible long-term detention period.
While Osborn received the Distinguished Flying Cross, the rest of the crew each received the Air Medal for various tasks, including the execution of emergency procedures that
ultimately saved the lives of everyone aboard. The event was attended by Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld; Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Army Gen. Henry H. Shelton; and other distinguished guests.
"We honor you today and celebrate the fact that you returned home safely to your families and to your country," said Rumsfeld. "Lt. Osborn, thanks to you and your fine crew, for your bravery and to your dedication to duty. We're proud of you all."
Rumsfeld continued, speaking to all members of the military, "For your service to our country, your sacrifices you make and the risks you take to defend our nation, we thank you and we honor you."
Northrop Grumman Offers Exchange of Outstanding Shares of NNS
Northrop Grumman Corporation announced today the commencement of its exchange offer for all the outstanding shares of common stock, including associated rights, of Newport News Shipbuilding Inc.
The offer states that Newport News shareholders will be provided the option to receive for their shares $67.50 per share in cash or shares of Northrop Grumman common stock designed to provide a value of $67.50 per share, subject to certain proration and other limitations as more fully described in the offer. The exact exchange ratio will be determined by dividing $67.50 by the average of the closing sale prices for a share of Northrop Grumman common stock on the New York Stock Exchange as reported in The Wall Street Journal over the 10-day trading period ending on the third trading day before completion of the offer. Northrop Grumman would expect to issue approximately 16.6 million shares of its common stock to complete the proposed transaction.
Northrop Grumman also indicated in its offer that if it is provided the opportunity to conduct a due diligence review of Newport News, Northrop Grumman would be prepared to enter into negotiations immediately with respect to all aspects of its offer
Successful LIFE Testing Against Live-Fire Missiles
The US Air Force performed the first successful laser-based threat adaptive jamming of live-fired, surface-to-air heat-seeking missiles at the US Army White Sands Missile Range Aerial Cable Range (ACR) in New Mexico. The missiles were jammed using the Laser Infrared countermeasure Flyout Experiment (LIFE) testbed developed by programme prime contractor Lockheed Martin Naval Electronics and Surveillance Systems, Akron, Ohio.
Tests conducted at White Sands used man-portable surface-to-air missiles launched from an operationally significant range. Once a missile was detected, the LIFE system responded causing large miss distances, according to Mark Wunderlich, LIFE programme manager at the US Air Force Research Laboratory, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio. "The recent results confirmed our expectations about the effectiveness of the closed-loop process," said Wunderlich.
"LIFE is a closed-loop infrared countermeasure (CLIRCM) system, capable of performing missile-defeating functions very rapidly and effectively. Quick reaction is possible because of the threat adaptable nature and the ability to select an optimal jamming response. A closed-loop system like LIFE would have robust capabilities against current or future IR threats. This would allow pilots and aircrews to focus on their mission," said John Wojnar, director-advanced programmes business development.
The next steps for LIFE are continued testing against a wide variety of surface-to-air and air-to-air infrared missiles this summer at White Sands Missile Range. The US Air Force would follow that evaluation with flight-testing on a C-17.
The LIFE program, initiated by NE&SS-Akron in 1996, was defined by the US Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), Wright-Patterson AFB, as a testbed to evaluate the most advanced aircraft self-protection technologies for detecting, tracking and threat-adaptive countermeasure of IR missiles. The LIFE testbed includes a two-colour IR missile warning sensor/processor subsystem, a large array IR track camera, a laser-specific gimbal, closed-loop IRCM signal processing, and countermeasure effectiveness assessment.
US Army Upgrades AH-64A Simulator
CAE has announced the company has been selected to upgrade the US Army's AH-64A Combat Mission Simulator (CMS) located at Storch Barracks, Illesheim, Germany. The value to CAE of the initial programme is approximately US$9 million.
CAE will provide its Medallion visual system with sensor capabilities and develop new visual databases as well as integrate a new tactical threat environment using CAE's Interactive Tactical Environment Management System (ITEMS(TM)) application. CAE will also upgrade the simulator's computer system and replace the current instructor operator station (IOS) to establish concurrency with the Army's fleet of AH-64A attack helicopters.
TRW will serve as the prime contractor on the program, which was awarded by the US Army Simulation Training and Instrumentation Command (STRICOM) under the STRICOM Omnibus Contract (STOC). The Apache CMS upgrade was the first delivery order awarded under STOC in the virtual domain.
"The Apache CMS is a sophisticated training device that is critical to the performance and mission readiness of the Army aviators who fly the Apache helicopter," said Don Campbell, Executive Vice President, CAE Military Simulation and Training.
The upgraded Apache CMS will be ready for training in January 2003. The contract includes options with a potential value of US$22 million for upgrading six additional AH-64A simulators being used by the US Army.
CAE's Medallion visual system is the company's high performance image generator designed to meet the demanding tactical requirements typically found in helicopter simulators. A Medallion system is currently in use at the US Army Research Institute's Simulator Training Research Advanced Testbed for Aviation (STRATA) in Fort Rucker, Alabama.
First C-17 Arrives At RAF Brize Norton
The first of four Boeing C-17 military cargo aircraft being leased to the United Kingdom Royal Air Force arrived today at RAF Brize Norton, its new home base.
The aircraft was flown in from Charleston Air Force Base in South Carolina where it picked up support equipment. Wing Commander Malcolm Brecht, commander of the RAF's 99th Squadron, was at the controls for its delivery flight. Also on board for the historic flight was US Air Force Gen. Tony Robertson, Commander in Chief, US Transportation Command.
Vice Chairman Harry Stonecipher and Jerry Daniels, president and chief executive officer and president, Boeing Military Aircraft and Missile Systems, represented The Boeing Company.
"We deeply value our international teammates. Today's delivery of the first C-17 to the U.K. Royal Air Force is the latest in a long line of excellent programmes that we have, and I hope just the start of many more," Stonecipher said. "Maintaining and expanding our international relationships is the key to the future of a global Boeing Company. I was honoured to be a part of these ceremonies."
The Ministry of Defence announced its decision to lease the four C-17s on May 16, 2000, and the first aircraft was delivered to the U.K. customer on May 17, 2001, just one year and one day after the announcement.
All four U.K. C-17s will be delivered this summer. They are being acquired on a seven-year lease arrangement, with training and maintenance support through a separate contract with the US Air Force and Boeing.
The United Kingdom is the first international customer for the C-17 Globemaster III. The USAF has received 72 C-17s.
[ Send Us News | Archives ]
by Gail Helmer
Thursday, May 24, 2001
- Lock On: Modern Air Combat Screen Shots
- Fly! II Patch 2
- X-Plane Meets Military Combat
- No Deal To Return US Spy Plane
- 2001 Society for Military History Conference
- EP-3 Heroes Receive Medals from SECDEF
- Northrop Grumman Offers Exchange of Outstanding Shares of NNS
- Successful LIFE Testing Against Live-Fire Missiles
- US Army Upgrades AH-64A Simulator
- First C-17 Arrives At RAF Brize Norton
PC News
Lock On: Modern Air Combat Screen ShotsThe SSI team sent us these exclusive "Lock On: Modern Air Combat" (LOMAC) from the E3 build. LOMAC is SSI's follow-up to Flanker 2.x. What you always wished Flanker 2.x had, you'll see in LOMAC. Flyable US planes such as the F-15C and the A-10 just to name a few. Release Date: Q3, 2001. Enjoy!
Fly! II Patch 2
Terminal Reality has announced the latest patch has been released for Fly! II. You'll need the first patch installed in order to use this one. Click here to download the patch. For more on Fly! II click here
X-Plane Meets Military Combat
In Bob Marks's E3 report he mentioned a cool piece of news. Reto Bodmer, President of Xicat Interactive and publisher of Austin Meyer’s X-Plane, told Bob that "they’ve signed a deal for the production of an X-Plane-like military/combat sim." Cool, design your own airplane, then dogfight in it!
Bob was also told that X-Plane is selling extremely well, and that Austin is on the verge of having X-Plane v6.0 ready soon.
Military News
No Deal To Return US Spy PlaneChinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhu Bangzao announced earlier that China and the US had reach an agreement requiring the EP-3 aircraft be dismantled and shipped back to the U.S. in pieces. Zhu said "The U.S. side submitted a proposal to the Chinese side to take apart the U.S. aircraft and transport it back. The Chinese side has agreed to that and the two sides will continue to hold consultations on the technical aspects of the return of this aircraft."
The Pentagon has denied that an agreement had been made, and are unclear why the Chinese have announced otherwise. The two sides continue to hold technical consultations on how to dismantle and remove the aircraft.
2001 Society for Military History Conference
The 2001 Annual Meeting of the Society for Military History is meeting in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, on May 24 to 27, 2001. This year's themes for the conference are, "Revolutions in Military Affairs", "Societies at War" and "Operational Arts".
In addition to panels on specialist topics, several Round Table sessions will address issues of broad significance to the themes of the conference, and leading scholars will deliver keynote lectures. The conference will be held at the University of Calgary.
Our own Contributing Editor, James Sterrett, will be presenting his talk on Soviet Air Force Lessons Learnt and Forgotten, 1936-1941. For a complete list of panels and events click here.
Here are just a couple of the panels presented.
Air Power in World War Two and After:
- Mr. S. Mike Pavelec Ohio State University The Invention of the Jet Aircraft in Britain, Germany and the US: A Multi-National Analysis
- Aleks Milutin OSU Allied Bombing Campaign in World War Two
- Major John Plating USAF Academy Failure in the Margins: The Aerial Resupply at Dien Bien Phu
- Dr. John R. Ballard Professor of Military Operations, US Naval War College Learning in Combat: Eisenhower and Operational Art, 1942-1944
- Bradley Gladman Operations, Airpower and Intelligence
- Major Bradford Shwedo Joint Chiefs of Staff – J3 XIX Tactical Air Command and ULTRA: Patton’s Force Enhancers in the 1944 Campaign in France
The 24 crewmembers of the downed EP-3 Aries were formally recognized for their heroic efforts May 18, during an awards ceremony at the Joint Services Open House at Andrews Air Force Base, Md.
The pilot/mission commander, Lt. Shane Osborn, was presented the Distinguished Flying Cross for regaining control and safely landing the aircraft after it was struck by a Chinese F-8 aircraft. Osborn fought with the controls and landed the aircraft despite the loss of an engine, the nose radome, and all airspeed and altitude information.
Osborn was also awarded the Meritorious Service Medal for his professionalism after the forced landing. He took charge of the situation in preparing the crew to encounter an armed force. He continued to assert the rights of the U.S. government over the aircraft and refused to permit Chinese forces to board the plane until he was forced to do so.
The senior enlisted person aboard the plane, Senior Chief Aviation Machinist's Mate (AW) Nicolas A. Mellos, was awarded the Meritorious Service Medal for his professionalism in keeping the crew acting as a team during their 12-day detention period on Hainan Island. He established watchbill assignments, identified a chain of command for everyone to follow, and ensured that proper discipline was maintained and morale remained high in the face of a possible long-term detention period.
While Osborn received the Distinguished Flying Cross, the rest of the crew each received the Air Medal for various tasks, including the execution of emergency procedures that
ultimately saved the lives of everyone aboard. The event was attended by Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld; Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Army Gen. Henry H. Shelton; and other distinguished guests.
"We honor you today and celebrate the fact that you returned home safely to your families and to your country," said Rumsfeld. "Lt. Osborn, thanks to you and your fine crew, for your bravery and to your dedication to duty. We're proud of you all."
Rumsfeld continued, speaking to all members of the military, "For your service to our country, your sacrifices you make and the risks you take to defend our nation, we thank you and we honor you."
Northrop Grumman Offers Exchange of Outstanding Shares of NNS
Northrop Grumman Corporation announced today the commencement of its exchange offer for all the outstanding shares of common stock, including associated rights, of Newport News Shipbuilding Inc.
The offer states that Newport News shareholders will be provided the option to receive for their shares $67.50 per share in cash or shares of Northrop Grumman common stock designed to provide a value of $67.50 per share, subject to certain proration and other limitations as more fully described in the offer. The exact exchange ratio will be determined by dividing $67.50 by the average of the closing sale prices for a share of Northrop Grumman common stock on the New York Stock Exchange as reported in The Wall Street Journal over the 10-day trading period ending on the third trading day before completion of the offer. Northrop Grumman would expect to issue approximately 16.6 million shares of its common stock to complete the proposed transaction.
Northrop Grumman also indicated in its offer that if it is provided the opportunity to conduct a due diligence review of Newport News, Northrop Grumman would be prepared to enter into negotiations immediately with respect to all aspects of its offer
Successful LIFE Testing Against Live-Fire Missiles
The US Air Force performed the first successful laser-based threat adaptive jamming of live-fired, surface-to-air heat-seeking missiles at the US Army White Sands Missile Range Aerial Cable Range (ACR) in New Mexico. The missiles were jammed using the Laser Infrared countermeasure Flyout Experiment (LIFE) testbed developed by programme prime contractor Lockheed Martin Naval Electronics and Surveillance Systems, Akron, Ohio.
Tests conducted at White Sands used man-portable surface-to-air missiles launched from an operationally significant range. Once a missile was detected, the LIFE system responded causing large miss distances, according to Mark Wunderlich, LIFE programme manager at the US Air Force Research Laboratory, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio. "The recent results confirmed our expectations about the effectiveness of the closed-loop process," said Wunderlich.
"LIFE is a closed-loop infrared countermeasure (CLIRCM) system, capable of performing missile-defeating functions very rapidly and effectively. Quick reaction is possible because of the threat adaptable nature and the ability to select an optimal jamming response. A closed-loop system like LIFE would have robust capabilities against current or future IR threats. This would allow pilots and aircrews to focus on their mission," said John Wojnar, director-advanced programmes business development.
The next steps for LIFE are continued testing against a wide variety of surface-to-air and air-to-air infrared missiles this summer at White Sands Missile Range. The US Air Force would follow that evaluation with flight-testing on a C-17.
The LIFE program, initiated by NE&SS-Akron in 1996, was defined by the US Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), Wright-Patterson AFB, as a testbed to evaluate the most advanced aircraft self-protection technologies for detecting, tracking and threat-adaptive countermeasure of IR missiles. The LIFE testbed includes a two-colour IR missile warning sensor/processor subsystem, a large array IR track camera, a laser-specific gimbal, closed-loop IRCM signal processing, and countermeasure effectiveness assessment.
US Army Upgrades AH-64A Simulator
CAE has announced the company has been selected to upgrade the US Army's AH-64A Combat Mission Simulator (CMS) located at Storch Barracks, Illesheim, Germany. The value to CAE of the initial programme is approximately US$9 million.
CAE will provide its Medallion visual system with sensor capabilities and develop new visual databases as well as integrate a new tactical threat environment using CAE's Interactive Tactical Environment Management System (ITEMS(TM)) application. CAE will also upgrade the simulator's computer system and replace the current instructor operator station (IOS) to establish concurrency with the Army's fleet of AH-64A attack helicopters.
TRW will serve as the prime contractor on the program, which was awarded by the US Army Simulation Training and Instrumentation Command (STRICOM) under the STRICOM Omnibus Contract (STOC). The Apache CMS upgrade was the first delivery order awarded under STOC in the virtual domain.
"The Apache CMS is a sophisticated training device that is critical to the performance and mission readiness of the Army aviators who fly the Apache helicopter," said Don Campbell, Executive Vice President, CAE Military Simulation and Training.
The upgraded Apache CMS will be ready for training in January 2003. The contract includes options with a potential value of US$22 million for upgrading six additional AH-64A simulators being used by the US Army.
CAE's Medallion visual system is the company's high performance image generator designed to meet the demanding tactical requirements typically found in helicopter simulators. A Medallion system is currently in use at the US Army Research Institute's Simulator Training Research Advanced Testbed for Aviation (STRATA) in Fort Rucker, Alabama.
First C-17 Arrives At RAF Brize Norton
The first of four Boeing C-17 military cargo aircraft being leased to the United Kingdom Royal Air Force arrived today at RAF Brize Norton, its new home base.
The aircraft was flown in from Charleston Air Force Base in South Carolina where it picked up support equipment. Wing Commander Malcolm Brecht, commander of the RAF's 99th Squadron, was at the controls for its delivery flight. Also on board for the historic flight was US Air Force Gen. Tony Robertson, Commander in Chief, US Transportation Command.
Vice Chairman Harry Stonecipher and Jerry Daniels, president and chief executive officer and president, Boeing Military Aircraft and Missile Systems, represented The Boeing Company.
"We deeply value our international teammates. Today's delivery of the first C-17 to the U.K. Royal Air Force is the latest in a long line of excellent programmes that we have, and I hope just the start of many more," Stonecipher said. "Maintaining and expanding our international relationships is the key to the future of a global Boeing Company. I was honoured to be a part of these ceremonies."
The Ministry of Defence announced its decision to lease the four C-17s on May 16, 2000, and the first aircraft was delivered to the U.K. customer on May 17, 2001, just one year and one day after the announcement.
All four U.K. C-17s will be delivered this summer. They are being acquired on a seven-year lease arrangement, with training and maintenance support through a separate contract with the US Air Force and Boeing.
The United Kingdom is the first international customer for the C-17 Globemaster III. The USAF has received 72 C-17s.