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Daily News
By Gail Helmer

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Tuesday, June 12, 2001

PC News

WWII Online Patch Update
Work continues on the WWII Online patch that was expected to be released yesterday, June 12. I'll post here when it's available.

The patch addresses a few issues, here's a snippet from the readme:

  • A new "Settings.exe" and will address a few problems we are seeing out there. The major issue was that the app was not always saving an accurate config file. This will be fixed in the patch. Once your config file is saved, your changes will take effect.
  • The other file will be a new WW2.exe, the actual game client. We are testing some optimizations and things are looking good
  • Fixed a joystick error culling bug that cut input from a device that sent any errors through. We upped the amount of errors culled to shut down the device and this should fix folks that "lost JS input" after a bit of play.
  • Fixed a shadow calculating bug that was drawing shadows for vehicles that were not within your visible range. This should help in increasing overall performance. Clearly this will not apply to a client with shadow size set to "0" from within "settings'exe".
  • Fixed a loading paradigm that held the connection validation segment until the end of the initial loading cycle, as well as displayed NO error message. This allowed a player to go through the lengthy loading cycle and then fail on connect attempt with no feedback. Now the connect will occur at the front of the cycle, and a player will know right away if the attempt was a success.
  • Fixed a list error in the settings app that allowed a player to select invalid resolutions and experience severe UI anomalies that were destructive to basic functionality.
  • Fixed an issue for Win95 users that failed to play the intro movies. Win95 users should experience identical functionality to other OS in that regard now.
Flanker V2.51 Patch Released
SSI has released the Flanker v2.51 patch. This patch should be used on a newly installed V2.5. DO NOT MIX THIS PATCH WITH ANY OF THE BETA VERSIONS. Note: If you have used the Beta patches up to Beta 6 then you have the same files as the final patch. Click here to download now.

Military News

USAF Announces $7 billion AWACS Contracts
US Air Force officials at Hanscom AFB have signed a $7 billion contract with three aircraft contracting giants recently that continues Airborne Warning and Control System aircraft modernisation, sustainment and support for the next 18 years.



The AWACS Programme Office signed the AWACS Modernisation and Sustainment Support agreement, or AMASS, with Boeing and its subcontractors Northrop-Grumman and Lockheed Martin. The agreement provides a complete, start-to-finish system perspective for AWACS, said Lt. Col. Sidney Kimhan, AMASS programme manager who is now retired.

"AWACS is... unique in that it's been in service for almost 25 years and will likely be around for at least another 25," Kimhan said. "The system has had tremendous success, but we realised that to maintain and expand on that success, we needed to look at a somewhat different management approach."

AMASS offers a "top-down" focus and places greater responsibility on the contractor to integrate the contractor teams' support to the customer and to identify ways to maximise weapon system performance, said Col. Chuck Turbe, AWACS systems division chief here.

The contract length provides a long term planning foundation for the contractors and encourages them to invest in innovative research and development specifically focused on airborne early warning and control systems.

The programme office designed the contract to be incentive-laden, offsetting concerns about how to ensure affordable, best-value solutions during the entire length of this contract. For instance, the contract contains a special award pool that rewards the contractor team for, among other things, developing enterprise integration initiatives and using cost-avoidance and cost-reduction practices.

"Collaboration with all our partners showed that everyone agreed we'd benefit from this approach," Turbe said. "It's clear to everyone that, every time we touch this plane, we've got to get the most out of it, and this will help us do that."

Dutch Companies Sign MOU For JSF Engine Work
A memorandum of understanding (MOU) between Pratt & Whitney (P&W) and six manufacturing companies from the Netherlands was signed today, signifying the companies' agreement to work together in support of the P&W-powered Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) program.



Signing the MOU for Pratt & Whitney was Bob Cea, Vice President, JSF119 programs. Signers for the Netherlands companies were Ger de Vlieger, Vice President and General Manager, Eldim B.V.; Gerard van Beek, President, Fokker Elmo B.V.; Dennis Flanagan, Managing Director, Hamilton Sundstrand Customer Support Center - Maastricht B.V.; Ir. Huub J.G. van Heel, Managing Director, Nederlands Centrum voor Laser Research; Dick Alta, General Manager, Urenco Nederland B.V.; and Kier Vis, Executive Vice President, Marketing and Sales, Stork N.V.

"Even though Pratt & Whitney already has individual agreements with many of these companies related to specific JSF119 work, we mutually agreed to take a team approach to assure success of the program," Cea said. "The MOU will assure that Pratt & Whitney and our Dutch partners can share information, coordinate our communication and marketing efforts, and be attuned to issues that affect the Netherlands aerospace industry as a whole."

Cea said that the MOU was signed in anticipation of the government of the Netherlands joining with the U.S. government as a partner in the development of the JSF weapons system. In discussing the advantages the JSF program offers to the Netherlands he said, "In addition to being an extremely capable and low cost aircraft, the JSF program presents great opportunities for industrial cooperation. There is also the issue of interoperability with their allies in the U.S. and United Kingdom, which is of great interest."

P&W's JSF119 engine was selected by both JSF weapons system contractors, Boeing and Lockheed Martin, to power their competing aircraft designs. The engine, a derivative of the F119 engine powering the F-22 Raptor, has powered more than 185 flights over all JSF candidate aircraft variants. It is expected that more than 6,000 JSF aircraft will be produced over the life of the program.

Eurofighter Set To Meet Korea's Offset Requirements For FX
Cesare Gianni, president of Eurofighter International, said that the European consortium would make efforts to meet the offset requirements for Korea's next-generation FX fighter programme, which have been raised from 30% to 70%.



"They are very demanding requirements, but we are willing to meet them," Gianni said in a press conference in Seoul on Monday. "The value of this proposed offset production to Korea would amount to $2.8 billion."

According to a Defence Ministry official the offset requirements were raised in order to acquire core technologies and parts production in case Korea introduced locally produces fighters in the future.

Currently, the Defense Ministry is considering buying fighters in a direct purchase or produce fighters under a license contract.

Gianni said the European consortium was also considering measures through which Korea could expand its offset package in commercial aircraft within the framework of the FX project. "Korea will be able to produce components for many aircraft and customers in Europe," he said.

Gianni said European suppliers of the Eurofighter would explore partnerships and other avenues of co-operation with Korean counterparts should the Eurofighter Typhoon be selected as the fighter jet for the FX project.

Three other foreign defence firms, Boeing of the United States, Dassault of France, and Russia's Rosvorgenia - are competing for Korea's $4 billion FX fighter programme.

In particular, the United States has stepped up pressure on the South Korean to opt for Boeing's F-15K as a solution to the fighter upgrade. According to the Korea Herald newspaper the South Korean Defence Ministry admitted in March that it has received a letter from the US DoD offering to sell $1.5 billion worth of up-to-date guided missiles and avionics systems to Korea on condition that Seoul buys Boeing's F-15.

"We received a letter from the US Department of Defense Feb. 15 in which it expressed its willingness to sell advanced guided missiles and avionics systems to Korea on the condition that Seoul purchases Boeing F-15 fighter jets," said an unnamed ministry official then.


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