Page 1

Daily News
By Gail Helmer

| Send Us News | Archives | Main |

Monday January 21, 2002

PC News
Ghost Recon Patch Update
Ubi Soft has announced that they will be releasing a Ghost Recon patch on or about February 1st of this year. The patch will address many of the issues and concerns communicated by the Ghost Recon community and by their technical support department. The patch will be approximately 35 MB in size. [More...]

Space Empires IV Gold Demo
Shrapnel Games, and developer Malfador Machinations, announced today that the demo for Space Empires: IV Gold is available for download. Click here

Starship Unlimited Patch v1.1
Matrix Games has a release patch version 1.1 for Starship Unlimited: Divided Galaxies. The v1.1 patch includes 13 new features and fixes, including:

  • A new cheat code allows players to double the maximum speed of the game.
  • All worlds will now have at least a 5% chance of stopping spies
  • Made the AI players more challenging in Intermediate/Advanced levels
  • Deep Mining Facilities no longer make Underground cities obsolete
  • Improved research choices made by the AI
  • Improved production choices made by the AI
  • Killer Beam no longer can give multiple shots
  • Corrected some context-sensitive help messages related to shortcut keys
  • 'About to go into battle' messages no longer repeat when multiple ships are going into battle
  • Mine logic improved when tracking multiple targets
  • Improved video rendering at start of game
  • Added a new icon
  • Fixed a few random bugs that caused the game to crash.
Download

Patch for La Grande Armee At Austerlitz Released
Matrix Games has released patch version 1.2 for La Grande Armee At Austerlitz. The version 1.2 patch includes 10 features and fixes:

  • A updated and printer-friendly PDF manual.
  • A modified time scale to 8 seconds per minute
  • An updated victory screen
  • A tweaked user interface
  • An updated and enhanced Tutorial
  • An F5 hotkey that shows you your current version
  • New sound initialization (for Win9x)
  • Modification in movement of units (Win9x)
  • New management of defensive line (game bug fixed)
  • Improved Direct X support for Video and Audio
Download

BCT Commander Completed
ProSim has completed BCT Commander, their newest commercial release. This Limited Edition of BCT: Brigade Combat Team will include the original BCT, all Expansion Packs, and the Construction Set, plus many new features and 12 new missions. A demo of the newest version, v. 1.27, which will ship with BCT Commander is now available. Download demo

Military News
Marine Chopper Crash Kills 2, Injures 5
Two Marines died and five others were injured Jan. 20 in the crash of a CH-53E Sea Stallion helicopter in Afghanistan, U.S. Central Command said. The injured have been evacuated to medical facilities in the area, officials said. Their injuries are not considered life threatening. Identities are withheld pending notification of next of kin.



Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said there is no evidence the helicopter -- on a routine resupply mission -- - encountered enemy fire. He said a mechanical problem was most thelikely the cause of the accident, but a crash investigation has begun. The chopper lifted off from Bagram air base near the Afghan capital of Kabul. It crashed at about 6:30 a.m. local Afghan time, about 60 kilometers south of the base. Officials did not say where the chopper was heading.

IAI, Boeing Sign Teaming Agreement On Arrow Missile
Boeing and Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI) have signed a teaming agreement which will lead to Boeing manufacturing components of the IAI developed Arrow missile. The Arrow missile is part of the full Arrow anti-ballistic missile system, the world's only operational anti-ballistic missile system.

The Israel Government received permission from the United States Government to allow IAI to negotiate with American firms with the goal of finding an American company to help increase the production rate of Arrow components because of the need to deploy more Arrow missiles in an accelerated manner.

Boeing will be responsible for production of approximately 50 per cent of the Arrow missile components in the United States. IAI, the prime contractor of the Arrow system, will be responsible for integration and final assembly of the Arrow missile in Israel.



Mr. Moshe Keret, President and CEO of Israel Aircraft Industries and Mr. James Evatt, Executive Vice President and General Manager of Boeing's Missile Defense Systems signed the agreement at IAI's Headquarter, Ben-Gurion International Airport, Israel.

Mr. Keret said "Arrow was developed by IAI in response to the threat facing Israel from ballistic missiles and having Boeing as our partner will help speed up the delivery of the Arrows missile that we urgently need for the security of the State of Israel. "

In order for Boeing to begin implementation of the Arrow component production agreement, an approved United States State Department - Technical Assistance Agreement (TAA) is required. Boeing submitted the TAA to the State Department on January 17.

Following TAA approval, Boeing will begin to establish the capability to produce the various Arrow missile components. In addition Boeing will coordinate the production of Arrow missile components already being manufactured in the United States. More than 150 American firms located in over 25 states are already manufacturing Arrow components, which were assembled at IAI.

Delivery of the first Boeing Arrow components is scheduled to take place approximately 20 months following receipt of a production order.

RAF Accepts New Missile Into Service
The Royal Air Force is to take into service the Advanced Short-Range Air-to-Air Missile (ASRAAM). The weapon system will be fitted to the RAF's Tornado F3 interceptors, and will also arm the Eurofighter when it enters service with the RAF.



Delivery of the very advanced weapon was delayed in April 2001, because of concerns that certain performance standards were not being met fully. Extensive work by the manufacturer, MBDA, and the Ministry of Defence has satisfactorily resolved the situation, allowing the RAF to bring into service the first batch of missiles at an interim standard, which is still significantly more capable than the current AIM-9 Sidewinder short-range missile carried by RAF aircraft. Ongoing development work will allow subsequent batches to be delivered with increased capability.asraamharrier.jpg

| Send Us News | Archives | Main |