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    Strike Fighters 2 North Atlantic Is Released!
    Dave
    By Dave,
    Thirdwire's much anticipated release of Strike Fighters 2 North Atlantic has finally come.   Strike Fighters 2 North Atlantic is a jet air-combat game set in hypothetical Cold War Soviet invasion of Iceland. The player flyable aircraft include F-14 Tomcat and A-7 Corsair II. The campaign is set in 1979 hypothetical "Cold War gone Hot" scenario - what if the Soviet Union had decided to invade West Germany in 1979? The key to Soviet victory in Europe rests in the capture of Iceland and its vital strategic US base located there. With the Soviet in control of Iceland, the NATO forces would not be able to contain the Soviet Northern Fleet, and the American reinforcement fleets would not be able to reach Europe. Join the US Navy and USS Nimitz Carrier Battle Group sent to reinforce the Iceland defense, protect the carrier from Soviet long-range bombers, and strike the Kiev battle group of the Soviet Northern Fleet! The game is designed for Windows 7/Vista and DX10 capable video card. It can be merged with other games in the series (Strike Fighters 2, Strike Fighters 2 Vietnam, Strike Fighters 2 Europe, and Strike Fighters 2 Israel) for additional aircraft, maps, missions, and campaigns.   Player Flyable Aircraft • F-14A Tomcat • A-7E Corsair II AI Aircraft • A-6E Intruder • EA-6B Prowler • E-2C Hawkeye • F-4E Phantom II • MiG-21 "Fishbed" • MiG-23/27 "Flogger" • Yak-38 "Forger" • Tu-16 "Badger" • Tu-22 "Blinder" • Tu-22M "Backfire" • Tu-95 "Bear" • An-12 "Cub"   Available by going to the Thirdwire online store by clicking the link below.   https://store.thirdwire.com/store.htm

    US Navy Fires Off Its New Weaponized Railgun
    FastCargo
    By FastCargo,


    The Navy has spent seven years testing out the components of a way-futuristic weapon: a shipboard cannon that blasts bullets over vast distances at hypersonic speeds using bursts of electricity. But so far, that weapon, known as the Electromagnetic Railgun, has been more of a lab experiment than an honest-to-God weapon. It didn’t even have basic gun-like features, like a barrel. Now, however, the Navy is unveiling the first actual railgun guns, which it’ll test for another five years, in the hope of winning over legislators who consider it a waste of time, money and electricity.

    Previous versions of the railgun have been laboratory test models, stored in a hangar at Dahlgren Naval Surface Warfare Center in Virginia. They look like shipping containers or school buses put up on blocks, hooked up like Frankenstein’s monster to giant generators that pump dozens of megajoules of energy necessary to fire the bullet. All that has cost nearly a quarter of a billion dollars. And you couldn’t fit any of it onto a ship, and it wouldn’t actually be a real weapon if you did.

    At least not until Jan. 30, when BAE Systems sent its first actual gun-shaped railgun to Dahlgren. Competitor General Atomics will send its own design there in April. Both designs have 12-meter barrels. “Now that looks like a real gun,” said Roger Ellis, the railgun chief for the Office of Naval Research, which has inaugurated the next phase of tests to determine the gun’s practicality — something many in Congress doubt.

    The Navy released video of the first tests, viewable above, on Tuesday. The dramatic mini-inferno in the wake of the slug fired from the railgun is the result of “1 million amps flowing through” the gun, said test chief Tom Boucher, the hypersonic speed of the shot, and the actual aluminum of the bullet — “reactive in the atmosphere” — burning off.

    It’s the next step in a process — an expensive one — the Navy hopes will lead to a whole new era of self defense for ships, and way, way long-range strikes from on deck by the early 2020s. The Navy’s current 5-inch deck guns top out at 13 kilometer ranges. By 2017, the Navy wants the railgun prototypes to fire several shots per minute without soaking up a ship’s juice.

    The idea behind the Electromagnetic Railgun is to fire a bullet at hypersonic speeds using dozens of megajoules of electricity. The Navy wants it to guard the surface ships of the 2020s, unsubtly boasting to adversaries that messing with the ships will lead to bullets shooting across hundreds of miles of ocean in mere minutes. The Office of Naval Research says it will give sailors “a dramatically increased multimission capability,” like fire support for land strikes over long, long distances beyond the reach of enemy defenses, and defense against “cruise and ballistic missiles” that target ships. No wonder the railgun’s official motto is “Velocitas Eradico” — “Speed Kills.”

    Lab tests have pleased the Navy, if not Congress. In December 2010, the Office of Naval Research fired a shot with 33 megajoules of energy, a world record, sending a 23-pound bullet 5500 feet in a single second. The Senate Armed Services Committee still found the science too impractical, and recommended killing the railgun, until a Navy congressional counterstrike revived the program.

    Now that the Navy has an actual prototype railgun to shoot, the plan is to hook it up to sensors and cameras to test its performance at 20 and 33 megajoules’ worth of energy. Its goal is produce accurate shots from 50 to 100 nautical mile distances, which the Navy wants by 2017.

    Even railgun advocates concede there are a host of other challenges the hypersonic weapon will have to overcome. Its barrel will have to withstand repeated fires without wearing out. (The Navy wants to up firing rates to 10 per minute.) It’s got to fire smart bullets without frying the guidance systems during a blast. (The Navy says both BAE and General Dynamics are starting to design “a next-generation thermally managed launcher.”) And it’s got to be affordable. (The Navy has spent $240 million on the railgun so far, and it expects to spend about as much through 2017 on tests — before buying a single one of the things.)

    Another big problem: the current generation of Destroyers can’t produce the power to fire the railgun without diverting juice from the propulsion systems. One of the goals of the railguns over the next five years is to create workarounds, so the guns will be relevant to their intended ships. Those include “an intermediate energy store using energy-dense batteries, similar to [those on] hybrid cars,” Ellis told reporters on a Tuesday conference call. “That enables us to put the railgun on ships that don’t have larger power supplies.”

    Which should underscore how the Navy really, really loves its railgun — enough to go to the mat with Congress about it and win. That’s not going to relent now that it actually has a real cannon to shoot.

    by Spencer Ackerman

    Wired Magazine Article

    TM HOTAS and MFD Giveaway
    Ruggbutt
    By Ruggbutt,
    Thrustmaster Prize Giveaway Xmas 2011   Sign up on the Virtual Thunderbirds page to be part of their free prize GIVEAWAY contest featuring the following merchandise brought to you by their sponsor Thrustmaster.*   Contest ends at midnight (GMT), December 31, 2011. The winners will be announced January 2, 2012.   A brand new Thrustmaster HOTAS Warthog.     A pair of Thrustmaster MFD Cougar Packs.     *Note: To enter the contest follow the steps in the Facebook status titled "OFFICIAL Thrustmaster Prize Giveaway Xmas 2011".

    OVER FLANDERS FIELDS - PHASE 4 PREVIEW MOVIE
    Polovski
    By Polovski,
    OVER FLANDERS FIELDS - PHASE 4 PREVIEW MOVIE #1   For a Christmas present for people patiently waiting we have put together some clips from our Work-in-progress from PHASE 4 of OVER FLANDERS FIELDS.   NOTES: This is a PREVIEW of PHASE 4 (Working title) of the next generation of Over Flanders Fields WW1 Flight Simulator - * * Damage Model and some Effects shown are still using older Phase 3 code for the moment until we update * * * * Please note this is still WORK -in- PROGRESS * *   Many things are not shown but we will when we are ready :) ...and no don't ask when it's out - you know the answer already :)!   Movie is shown on our main info page on our website.   You can click through on the movie of course direct to youtube for HD version (recommended :))   http://www.overflandersfields.com   Enjoy!

    Rise of Flight 1.022 patch is released
    Dagger
    By Dagger,
    The new Rise of flight patch is released, with the much awaited FM fix for the N17 and the release of the R.E.8 From the Rise of Flight Team --   Dear Customers! Rise of Flight team is glad to inform you that we have completed the new update for your favorite game – version 1.022. This version contains several very noticeable features, so I’ll point on some of them here. First of all, this update contains the new plane – it’s long-time expected Allies multirole plane for early period of Great War – R.E.8. This plane has very interesting airframe, it has enthralling careers, it takes a part in 4 squadrons, and it is a big challenge to piloting it. Second major thing is a new options section in the game GUI. Now any game setting may be adjusted in game, most of them can be adjusted without exiting the sortie. Input options dialogs were improved; now you can assign unique response for each plane separately. Also, there are new usable smoothed response curve shape is available. Plus: curves presets, curve shift up/down functions, import/export curves/assignments feature and many other improvements. Third one is new skins packs. This update is including the approving of the vol.9 skins packs, which are including 420 skins in total. Fourth one is another long-time expected feature – oil on goggles when your engine is damaged by some reason. And the last but not least – is a promised fix for Nieuport 17.C1 Flight Model. Plane physics was totally re-designed. Plane stability, agility, maneuverability, control and performance are corresponding to source data much better now. Rise of Flight team is continue work on the project evolving, we sincerely wish you to have some new joy with this update.   Features list version 1.022   GENERAL FEATURES: 1. R.E.8 plane was added (with Skins, Career (4 squads), Missions) 2. Nieuport 17.C1 now have revized FM (stability, agility, maneuverability, speed, climb, construction strenght, anything...) 3. Official Skins Pack ver.1.022 was approved (+20 skins) 4. Community Historical Skins Pack vol.9 was approved (+151 skins) 5. Community Fictional Skins Pack vol.9 was(+249 skins) 6. Oil on Googles effect, it's appearing when palne engine is damaged and running and you're looking on it while you're in pilot view. 7. Remote Server Control protocol was added to DServer, now you're able to control DServer via your own custom application from remote computer, also we have added an example Control-Console to make your own Control-Application progremming easier   OPTIONS FEATURES: 8. All game options which were presented in launcher tool - now are available in Game GUI 9. GUI hotkeys like Map, Icons, Gauges now can be mapped like any other input command 10. "Slight Response Curves" were added, now you're able to make a curve by operating with only 1-2 points. 11. Response curves basic presets were added. 12. Response curve shift up/down feature was added 13. Input system was re-designed, read warning on first game start cearfully. Now you may assign individual response curves for each plane separately or use common curve, by your wish   OTHER FEATURES: 14. Cinematic Camera Effect feature was added     Change list of version 1.022   GENERAL CHANGES: 1. When MODS are ON the binary (.msnbin) mission have more priority to load now (Career and QuickMission loading time are the same in Mods On and Off now) 2. Skin previews in Skinpacks were switched from .JPG to .DDS to save your memory and to reduce quantity of "OUT_OF_MEMORY" errors   GUI CHANGES: 3. Measurement system switch will apply without mission restart now 4. Gauges and map are draging below Settings window when I'm operating with settings controls 5. Bristol now have unique bombsight mask 6. Map disapearing when Nav Icons are off - fixed   CAREER CHANGES: 7. Kills without squad and ranks of Albatros D.IIlt in Spetember 1916 were fixed 8. Incorrect skins on player squad planes were fixed 9. Nieuport 17.C1 AI planes skin bug (skin from other plane) was fixed 10. Merged Planes Spawns were fixed 11. SPA3 error of spawn area in 2nd half of 1917 was fixed 12. Fokker Dr.I now is taking a part in sorties together with Albatros D.Va when the date is less than 1918 13. Reported problematic locations of trains were fixed, should be no de-railing now 14. Ground Attack now requires to destroy 50% of column, now the whole column 15. Filter by Plane on Career creating - planes order now is correct (Germans->Frenchs->Britishs, like in Quick Mission) 16. Airfield selection zone on Career creating was fixed 17. AI Bristols flights which you will meet on your way will have their loadouts which will correspond to their mission 18. Skins were attached to Nieuport 11.C1 in N31, N26, N103   OTHER CHANGES: 19. Joystick Axis which were assigned with key-modifier now is working properly (it's keeping last adjusted position when you have released modifier) 20. Kill Notifications are not fully hided when option is off on server   Notes of 1.022 1. Please be sure, that you have installed "Skins *.jpg to *.dds thumbnails conversion pack", in case if you don't - skin thumbnails will not be shown in skin lists. 2. Don't take in mind the themperature indication on the simple gauges of the Nieuport 17.C1 - his engine have redisigned themperature ballance and simple gauges indication will collaborate with it correctly only in 1.023, together with Nieuport 11.C1 FM fix. 3. Russian, Spanish, German, French localizations for the new GUI elements is to be added in upcoming updates.     Also there is this bit of reading which explains more.       Version 1.022   Hello Dear Friends!   Let me tear you away from your joystick for a minute and fill you in on version 1.022. We hope you will enjoy this update because it is very difficult to please everyone in our great and sometimes controversial community. We try to read all of the major forums and we read your messages carefully where you have either praise or criticism of ROF. Our first rule during each development cycle is to try not to break what works and second, try to change some broken items to make ROF better and more enjoyable for you to play. Any criticism sent our way should be constructive and not laced with insults. That turns us off and hurts the image of the community and project as a whole.   Along those lines, when we look at items to change or fix you have to remember the challenges that we face as a developer. We have to please all parties. For instance, many of you have been playing for a few months, maybe years and you know about everything in ROF. And of course, there are issues you want us to change or there is something that you think ROF is missing and you are trying to bring it to our attention. Now imagine a new pilot who joined our community just a day or two ago and is still under the influence from the first flight, first air battle or the first mission in the rain when you are completely lost and could not find your base. There are very different segments in the community due to different levels of understanding of the game and it is very important to find ways to please both these groups. For us, it is important to view both the concerns of the master and the novice pilots equally. Believe me, we are on your side and it is a great joy to know that you enjoy your time flying ROF, but we have very limited resources and thus have to carefully choose the amount of tasks we take on. Some of your requests can be addressed very quickly, but some require several months of work. If you are constructive in your criticism or requests we will try to find the time to read them and make changes to the game. Remember that your opinion is one of many thousands and when you let your emotions do the talking the chorus becomes too loud and we perhaps won’t hear the most important or helpful voice.   Now let's get back to the new version. We are pleased to present you the R.E.8 or “Harry Tate” as it was known. It’s a famous British two-seater which was used as a scout or light bomber. As always, differences in hard data and emotional descriptions of the pilots cloud reality. We expected to get quite a weak and unstable aircraft, but actually, even with all its shortcomings it is a pretty robust platform if flown appropriately. From the moment it entered service early in the war, the R.E.8 became the essential two-seater and will work well in the Career. Of course it has its own character and sometimes it can show in a surprising moment, but if you maximize its strengths and avoid its weaknesses it is a stable and pleasurable aircraft to fly. So get your keys for it, the machine is already in your hangar.   During this time, we were able to revise and clarify the performance of another plane - the Nieuport 17. As is the case with S.E.5a refinement does not always mean better. Of course, this plane has become more dangerous at low and medium altitudes, but now loses all the advantages at higher altitudes. Altitudes higher than 3km are now dangerous for N.17 pilots and to fight high up in this plane is difficult. No one can say more about the plane than the engineer who tuned it. Here is Andrey in his own words:   "The plane turned out interesting, with a character that was different than before, but now it has some special characteristics. Good response to inputs, sharp, nimble, agile, but at the same time possessing a sharp breakdown when you drag the handle. It’s able to work in small areas. For takeoff and landing a piglet size runway of 50-60 meters is enough! It has a high thrust-weight ratio. Immediately after take-off Nieuport 17 can perform a spectacular climb, reaching its maximum altitude at a speed less than 100kph. A large area of ??the rudder and elevators are in a powerful stream of the propeller wash. N.17 pilots can experience fantastic pirouettes in the air at extremely low speeds, but when combined with the unpredictability of the aircraft near the stall envelope requires some skill. Personally, I liked to pilot the new Nieuport 17, once you touch it, it leaves an impression of a daring thoroughbred horse and if you speak its language then you'll be surprised at what you can accomplish with it. It's a real fighter. I'm sure many of you will like it and you'll get real pleasure from flying on this remarkable airplane."   In the future, we hope to revise a few more previously released planes as well. Thanks to all those who helped us in during this work on the Nieuport 17.   We have also completed some changes to the in-game interface. We have copied all the basic settings of the game that were in the launcher to inside the game, as well as added some much requested flexibility. This new flexibility now enables users to assign any button to the Service functions, such as the "Map" key and others which were previously blocked. We know this will be a welcome improvement.   We also took on the huge task of allowing the user to assign a unique Response Curve for each individual aircraft. This is an optional feature and for all those who do not need this additional tuning capability you can be assured; we still provide the ability to us a single curve for all aircraft. Please read the message about how we separated the Key Assignments and the Response Curves from your old input profiles into two separate files. You will be presented with this message after you complete the update and launch ROF.   We’ve also taken a big step with DServer functionality in this update. We have transferred to user’s new abilities and functions in controlling DServer. Of course, this change is almost impossible to see in the game, but we hope that the fruits of this change will be seen on MP servers. Now the owners of servers or users who are familiar with programming will be able to create entire systems to manage ROF servers. This may lead to the creation of powerful projects that reconstruct the various stages and aspects of the air war in WWI. We are very curious to see what comes of this new server functionality.   And finally, we have changed how Mod On mode loads missions so now the load time of Mods On and Mods Off game modes are similar. This should make using and creating mods more popular and enjoyable. However, we have not had a lot of time to test this and we are not sure it is completely perfect, so please use with caution and report any problems to us. We didn’t want you to wait any longer for this change, but again, we are cautious about how well it works. In Beta we had no bad reports, but we need more testing to be sure.   As always, you can find a complete list of changes on the forum. We leave you to begin the preparing of the version 1.023, in which you will find many surprises.   Best wishes!

    Blackburn Buccaneer Released for SF2
    Dave
    By Dave,
    After months of screen shots and teasers, the Blackburn Bucaneer is finally released for Strike Figthers 2. It features the Bucaneer Mk.50, the ones used by the Fleet Air Arm and the Royla Air Force. The model is highly detailed and comes with its own set of unique weapons, sounds and many many skins. This new aircraft truly sets a new standard for the Strike Figthers 2 Mod world.       Click here for the RAF Bucc   Click here for the FAA Bucc   Click here for the SAAF Bucc

Portal by DevFuse · Based on IP.Board Portal by IPS


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