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Daily News
By Gail Helmer

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Thursday September 20, 2001

PC News

COMBATSIM FTP Server Temporarily Offline
The COMBATSIM FTP Server will be offline until next week so that we can make upgrades. We will let you know when it is back up.

Medal Of Honor Video Part 2
EA has released the newest video from Medal of Honor: Allied Assault. This Part 2 of the four part series on Mission 5 Level 1 shows the deployment to the Brittany Peninsula in western France.

WWII Online Gun Sight Intstructions
Cornered Rat has announced that the Gun Sight Operating Instructions has been published .An official guide to gun sight operations in version 1.2.5 is available as an Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) download. "To determine range with the 88mm, go to the Commander position and switch to the binocular view. This is a standard 10x50 set of binoculars with a 10x magnification. A crosshair is provided to specify what is to be used as a target for range finding. Line up the target and hit the "r" key to start the crew working. Around 8-10 seconds later, the crew will report their estimation of the range, to the nearest 50 meters." Download

War Engine Goes Gold
Shrapnel Games has announced that the latest game from Boku Strategy Games, The War Engine, has Gone Gold. The War Engine is the ultimate wargame construction kit. With it you can easily construct any number of war, strategy, or conflict based games by simply defining the rules, and units involved. To show off how versatile this engine is we are including 7 full games to highlight the systems strengths. Release Date: October 22nd

CH Products Releases Its New USB Controllers
CH Products has announced the release of two new products to complete their HOTAS set-up. The "USB Combatstick 568" and the "USB Fighterstick".

"USB Combatstick 568" offers an eight way (POV) HAT, one 4 way HAT and six push buttons. The 8 way POV HAT can be used as either a traditional POV HAT or all eight directions can be programmed to perform a variety of functions (mouse buttons, joystick buttons, keyboard strokes and combinations). As with our other USB devices, the axis of the Combatstick 568 can now be programmed with keyboard strokes.

The "USB Fighterstick" offers one 8 way POV HAT, 3 push buttons, one mode switch, three 4 way hat switches, and an LED Mode indicator light. The Mode capability is activated in the Control Manager software. Once activated, the Mode Switch allows the end user to switch through three separate modes, with each mode having completely different programmed functions for the entire controller.

Military News

USS Theodore Roosevelt, USS Bataan Deploy
More than 15,000 Sailors and Marines assigned to ships and squadrons of the USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71) Aircraft Carrier Battle Group (CVBG) and USS Bataan (LHD 5) Amphibious Ready Group (ARG) sailed out of Norfolk Sept. 19 for a scheduled six-month deployment.

The CVBG and ARG have trained during the past eight months in preparation for this deployment through a series of increasingly demanding exercises and operations. These pre-deployment exercises culminated last month with the successful completion of Joint Task Force Exercise 01-3.

In addition to Theodore Roosevelt and its embarked air wing, Carrier Air Wing 1, deploying ships of the CVBG include USS Leyte Gulf (CG 55), USS Vella Gulf (CG 72), USS Ramage (DDG 61), USS Ross (DDG 71), USS Hayler (DD 997), USS Peterson (DD 969), USS Elrod (FFG 55), USS Detroit (AOE 4), USS Hartford (SSN 768) and USS Springfield (SSN 761). Ramage, Ross and Hayler were scheduled as late deployers.

The Bataan ARG, with the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit, Special Operations Capable (MEU[SOC]) embarked, will also deploy as a major component of the battle group. The ARG is comprised of Bataan, USS Shreveport (LPD 12) and USS Whidbey Island (LSD 41).

Northrop Grumman Radars For DDG 51 Destroyers
Northrop Grumman Corporation has been awarded a contract by Bath Iron Works to supply commercial-off-the-shelf surface search radars for new ARLEIGH BURKE (DDG 51) Class destroyers. Northrop Grumman's Marine Systems business unit will supply the Decca BridgeMaster E naval radars for the next 19 ships in the class, replacing the SPS-64 radars installed on the earlier DDG 51 Class ships.The first installation is scheduled to take place on USS MASON (DDG 87), which will be commissioned in 2002.



In addition to the radars, the contract also includes application engineering, installation, technical support, commissioning and crew training. Marine Systems currently supplies the steering machinery and controls system, the AN/WSN-7 Ring Laser Gyro Ships Inertial Navigator and the Doppler Sonar Velocity Log. Northrop Grumman's Ship Systems' Ingalls Operations currently has contracts to build 24 DDG 51 destroyers and has delivered 15 ships to date.

"The selection of BridgeMaster E naval radars for the remaining ships in the DDG 51 Class is an important validation of the company's position as a leading supplier of naval navigation radars world-wide," said Wayne Humphreys, vice president and general manager for the military sector at the Charlottesville, Va.-based Marine Systems."BridgeMaster radars have been installed on the ships of more than 50 international navies and coast guards over the last 40 years."

Boeing Projects $144 Billion Market For New Airplanes In China
China, including Hong Kong and Macau, will require 1,764 commercial jet aeroplanes worth $144 billion between 2001 and 2020, according to The Boeing Company's Current Market Outlook - The China Market Forecast 2001. By 2020, Chinese carriers will be flying more than 2,200 aeroplanes, making China the largest commercial aviation market outside of the United States. However, the prediction was made before the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Centre on 11 September.

China's airlines will add 1,459 new aircraft to serve domestic markets including Hong Kong and Macau, in which single-aisle aeroplanes are dominant. Regional jets and single-aisle aeroplanes will account for 78 percent of the aircraft serving the domestic market. Thirteen percent of the units in the 2020 fleet will be small and intermediate-size regional jets. Another 19 percent will be intermediate-size twin-aisle aeroplanes, and just 3 percent will be 747-size and larger.

The need for new aeroplanes is required to support a 9.3 percent increase in air travel in China from 2001 to 2020, compared to the world average of 4.7 percent.

According to Boeing the Asia-Pacific region will show healthy growth throughout the 20-year forecast period. The entire Asia-Pacific market will grow at an average annual rate of 6.4 percent between 2001 and 2020. From 1985 through 1995, China's average annual passenger growth rate was 19 percent; from 1996 through 2000, it averaged 7 percent.

"China is one of the fastest growing markets in the world for commercial aviation," said Randy Baseler, Boeing Commercial Aeroplanes vice president - Marketing. "China's 20-year Gross Domestic Product (GDP) forecast is 6.1 percent -- the highest in the world, and Boeing projects that air travel growth will outpace the GDP growth over the next two decades."

"The China market represents tremendous growth opportunities for The Boeing Company," said Fred Howard, president of Boeing China. "Boeing has been in China for almost 30 years, and 64 percent of the commercial aeroplanes in the China fleet are Boeing products. We have a long-term growth strategy for the China market, which includes offering an expanded set of products and services."

The Boeing forecast estimates the world fleet will more than double by 2020 to a total fleet size of 32,954 aeroplanes. In the same forecast period, 7,261 aeroplanes will be retired from active commercial service and be replaced. During the next 20 years, airlines will take delivery of more than 23,000 aeroplanes and require $3.1 trillion in aviation support services.

Brashear LP Wins SAFCS II Contract
Brashear LP has won a contract from the United States Army for the type classification and production of a multi-purpose fire control system -- SAFCS II (Small Arms Fire Control System II) -- that will be used on the MK-19 (40mm) grenade machine gun and other weapons. This contract includes multi-year production options with a potential value of $54.5 million over the next 6 years.



The SAFCS II improves the accuracy of the MK-19 by 18 times at a range of 1,000 meters. A high-resolution video sight provides daylight range finding, target engagement and situational awareness while increasing the effectiveness of the weapon. For night operations, SAFCS II includes an internal infrared night-vision system. Field-testing by the US Army and the US Marine Corps demonstrated that the MK19 probability of hit increased from 12% to 75% at 600 meters with SAFCS II.

According to John Kidder, Director of Business Development for Brashear, the potential market for the SAFCS II, including US forces and other nations, is well over 5,000 units.

Brashear, the first company to design a hand-held weapon-mounted fire control system for the US Army in 1991, is also the developer of the fire control system for the US Army Objective Individual Combat Weapon (OICW), the US Army's next-generation military rifle system.

"This is an exciting time for Brashear," says Dawn Rucker, Chief Operating Officer of Brashear. "Our engineering and manufacturing teams have been involved in the development of several key advances in military technology -- a High Energy Laser Beam Director which achieved recent success for the US Army's Tactical High Energy Laser (THEL) program, the design and fabrication of beam forming optics for the US Air Force Airborne Laser (ABL) programme -- and now we have the opportunity to be leading a revolution in the infantry soldier's capability."

Kaiser Electronics Delivers First F-22 Projection Display Unit
Kaiser Electronics has delivered the first Projection Primary Multi Function Display (P PMFD) to Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company (LM Aero) for the F-22 programme. This is the first projection display unit of its kind to be delivered on any programme for lab integration and evaluation.

The P PMFD is a smart 8 X 8-inch high performance rear projection display using reflective micro liquid crystal devices. Projection technology offers unique features such as using an identical projection engine for various display sizes. This provides a larger field of view, allowing concurrent activities to be shown on the display at the same time. Use of commercial off the shelf parts facilitates resource acquisition.

Kaiser Electronics was awarded the P PMFD development contract in November 1999. The development effort is part of the LM Aero F-22 Product Improvement Programme aimed at reducing costs and improving the performance and reliability of the F-22 Raptor.

In addition to the P PMFD, Kaiser Electronics supplies the Up Front Display and the Secondary Multi Function Display for the F-22. The displays provide critical flight information ensuring mission success.

Attack on America

Army Units Ordered to Deploy
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Army units have been ordered to deploy for possible military operations as part of a major Pentagon build-up in and around the Middle East in response to last week's attacks on America, Army Secretary Thomas White said on Thursday.[More...]

MetLife to Waive 'Acts of Terrorism, War' Policy Exclusions
In the wake of the terrorist attacks at the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, concerns have been raised about the ability of insurance companies across the country to pay claims and plans to waive "Acts of Terrorism" and "Acts of War" policy exclusions.

Estimates for insurance industry claims stemming from the attacks could reach as high as $30 billion, which would make it the most expensive disaster insurers have ever faced. Despite these losses, most insurance companies have made it very clear that they intend to pay claims quickly during this time of great tragedy.

Claims include life, property, and casualty, among others. According to industry sources, members of the life insurance community understand the special circumstances faced by policyholders, and are seeking to assist beneficiaries as quickly as possible.


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