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Daily News
By Gail Helmer

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Friday April 26, 2002

PC News
LO:MAC The Movie!
Ubi Soft has released the first in a series of videos which will concentrate on the many different features of Lock On: Modern Air Combat. The first move shows the Su-27 Flanker in action. (This is actual in-game play, not a render).Download

Panzer Campaigns 6: Korsun '44 Announced
HPS Simulations and John Tiller have announced Korsun '44, an operational level World War II simulation. Korsun '44 covers the Soviet encirclement of the German forces at the Dnepr river line which created the Korsun Pocket. With two Ukrainian Fronts smashing their way past the defenders, the Germans quickly found themselves in a difficult situation. Korsun '44 is scheduled for release on 3 May 02.

Korsun '44 features:

  • 1 km hexes, 2 hour turns, with a master map measuring approximately 200 by 180 kilometers. Over 2,800 units represent the German and Soviet forces in this classic battle of encirclement, mainly at battalion and company level.
  • Players control tank, reconnaissance, artillery, infantry, parachute, engineer, antitank, flak, rocket, headquarters, and a wide variety of other specialized units.
  • Over 25 historically based scenarios are included, with several "whatif" scenarios and a Kanev bonus scenario. There are several grand historical scenarios (25 Jan, 1 Feb, 10 Feb) with the first lasting 240 turns (to 18 Feb 1944).
  • Korsun '44 can be viewed and played in either 2d or 3d mode.
  • Supports single person play against the computer, twoperson hot-seat, two-person Play-By-E-Mail, and multiplayer network play over LANs and the Internet.
  • Comes with Main Program, full-featured Scenario Editor, and Order of Battle Editor.
  • Complete on-line Help documentation plus on-line printable documentation in Microsoft Word format.
The Sum of All Fears Announced
Ubi Soft has announced The Sum of All Fears, its upcoming tactical action game based on the upcoming motion picture The Sum of All Fears, which is in turn based on the Tom Clancy novel of the same name. The game will let players assume the role of a member of an elite FBI hostage rescue team on a mission to foil a conspiracy against the United States.



The Sum of All Fears will follow the storyline of the film and the book, and it will be set in a number of modern-day locations, including West Virginia, the Middle East, and South Africa. Players will have the option to play as part of a three-person team or join up to 35 other players in the game's multiplayer mode. The game is powered by the engine used in Ubi Soft's recent tactical action game Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon.

The Sum of All Fears is in development at Ubi Soft's Red Storm Entertainment studio, and it is scheduled for release in May in conjunction with the release of the film. Ubi Soft plans to release console versions of the game in the months following the film's release.

Military News
Fixing F-15 Rotors Smarter, Faster, Cheaper
Engineers in the electronic directorate's production support division here developed a process to repair the F-15 Eagle exciter rotor -- instead of replacing it. The rotor is part of an oil-cooled generator that helps supply power to the aircraft. This approach is not only more economical, it also allows the rotor to be returned to the shop quicker. In the past, the rotor was replaced. Not only was the replacement part expensive, it also had an 8 to 9 month lead time for purchase.

"The rotor would normally become damaged if it happened to rotate or slip on the generator shaft," said Ron Smith who, teamed with Richard Griffin, oversees the process.

Engineers from the Airborne Accessory Directorate aerospace accessory division at Tinker AFB, Okla., in conjunction with LEPE engineers, first developed the "grind-plate-grind" procedure -- first grind down the internal bore, then plate it with a metal, and then grind it back down to the original specifications. Working closely with the Tinker engineering group, the team here set off to make this goal a reality.



In the 4-month development process many obstacles were overcome. After Kent Argyle and Humberto "Kidd" Perez ground the bore, the LEPE team had to find a suitable method to apply the metal plating to it. They tried to use a method known as brush plating, but the team had a difficult time holding tolerance levels.

The team approached Hal Olmstead, a process engineer in Hill's Commodities Directorate technical support division, who helped them develop and implement an electroless nickel-plating procedure. To implement this every aspect of the rotor, which didn't need to be plated, had to be completely covered or protected.

To solve this problem they enlisted the aid of Karen Steed in the plastic shop who then covered the rotor with Plastisol. This allowed the team to plate the bore without damaging the other rotor surfaces. The bore was then ground back down to original specifications.

More than 120 F-15 of the rotors are slated to be repaired, and officials expect to repair an additional 20 to 30 per quarter. This particular rotor has a cost of roughly $3,000 new; however, the team can repair it for $500 to $600 -- one-sixth the cost. With the 120 rotors slated for repair, it is projected to save the Air Force more than $300,000.

"And that is not the most impressive part," Smith explained. "Now we can repair the rotor in a week and avoid the typical 8 to 9 month lead time for replacement rotors." (Courtesy of Air Force Materiel Command News Service)

Air Force Launches Rocket From Kodiak Island
An Air Force and aerospace industry team successfully launched a quick reaction launch vehicle here on April 24. The rocket launched at 2 p.m. ADT and flew a sub-orbital flight for a little more than seven minutes before hitting the ocean as scheduled in the Gulf of Alaska about 375 miles downrange. The QRLV-2 was a 30-foot long single-stage vehicle weighing about 14,000 pounds.

The primary objective of the $13.5 million QRLV-2 mission was to provide a theater ballistic missile scenario in support of the Alaskan Command Northern Edge 2002 exercise. This is an annual joint-service arctic-weather training exercise involving more than 7,500 troops from all branches of the U.S. armed forces and Alaska-region Canadian forces.



The exercise is designed as a regional crisis response scenario. The QRLV-2 rocket flight allowed Northern Edge participants to execute defensive strategies and test response scenarios that would occur during an actual ballistic missile attack.

Secondary objectives included several experiments -- a U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command developmental flight battery and advanced accelerometer package (a device to measure acceleration being developed by the University of Mississippi), and an Air Force Research Laboratory Ballistic Missile Range Safety Technology mobile range safety tracking system. The QRLV-2 flight provided an opportunity for the U.S. Navy Sea-based Midcourse Defense program to exercise tracking capabilities and computer-simulated intercept scenarios.

The QRLV-2 development, acquisition, and launch process are managed by the Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center, Detachment 12, Rocket Systems Launch Program located at Kirtland Air Force Base, N.M.

The QRLV program began in fiscal 2000, and consists of launching up to eight sub-orbital vehicles (one QRLV per year) until fiscal 2008.

This was the fourth sounding rocket launched by the Air Force in four years from the commercial launch facility here. The Air Force previously launched two atmospheric interceptor technology rockets from the complex in November 1998 and September 1999, and the first QRLV in March 2001. All of the rocket flights have been in a southeasterly direction from Kodiak Island. (Photo by Tom Rogers)

Republic of Korea Navy Receives Mk 45 Mod 4 Gun
United Defense and World Industries Ace (WIA), have delivered the first internationally produced Mk 45 Mod 4 gun to the Republic of Korea (ROK) Navy. This is the first time a Mk 45 Mod 4 gun was sold overseas and is the culmination of superb teamwork by WIA and United Defense over the past 27 months.

United Defense and WIA jointly produced components for the Mod 4 guns. United Defense provided technical assistance, spare parts, and training, while WIA performed final assembly and test in Korea. The ROK Navy worked closely with United Defense to help WIA successfully build and deliver the first Mk 45 gun.



"The contract with WIA is a manufacturing license agreement in which United Defense delivers most of the upper gun, the shield and the loader and WIA is responsible for the production of the lower hoist, the panels and the assembly and test of the gun itself," said Scott Sismilich, Mk 45 Korea Program Manager.

In December 1999, United Defense won a competitive $22 million contract to co-produce three Mk 45 Mod 4 guns for Korea's KDX II lightweight destroyer shipbuilding program. WIA will deliver the second gun in October 2002 and the third one in August 2003. Since the original contract, United Defense has begun discussions with WIA to co-produce the next purchase of guns for the Korean Navy.

"This delivery is especially significant because it is our first international Mk 45 Mod 4 gun sale and it demonstrates our ability to meet foreign naval requirements using co-production," said Scott Thompson, Director, International Programs.


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