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    F/A18 Hornets Join Australian Aerospace Service Support List
    Erik
    By Erik,
      F/A18 Hornets Join Australian Aerospace Service Support List   Defence Professionals -- 26/09/2010   Leading Australian defence contractor, Australian Aerospace Limited, has welcomed the addition of the F/A18 Hornet fighter to the inventory of Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) combat aircraft which the company supports through maintenance and service agreements with the Australian Defence Force (ADF).   The company has successfully teamed with the world’s largest tyre manufacturer, Michelin, to win a Defence Materiel Organisation (DMO) contract to manufacture and supply tyres for the F/A18 (Classic) Hornets, and the AP-3C Orion patrol and reconnaissance aircraft.   Australian Aerospace, which already provides Through-Life-Support to the Orion fleet under its P3 Program, and Michelin Australia, have signed a five-year Deed of Agreement for the supply of tyres and the management of tyre inventories for the FA/18s and P3s. In addition to supplying new tyres, the partners will also be responsible for retread-overhaul, inventory management and tyre storage, distribution and disposal.   Welcoming the Agreement, Dr Jens Goennemann, Chief Executive Officer Australian Aerospace said: “Winning the P3 tyres business is a natural extension of the Through-Life-Support services that Australian Aerospace provides the DMO under the AP-3C Orion Platform Systems Support Contract. However, the addition of the FA/18 Hornets is an exciting and welcome addition to our customer support base.”   As well as the F/A18s and P3 Orions, Australian Aerospace also supports the C-130J Hercules transport aircraft, the new Airbus A330-based KC-30 MRTT multi-role tanker-transports and, until recently, the now retired Caribou medium transports. Currently it is assembling and delivering 22 Tiger ARH armed reconnaissance helicopters to the Australian Army and 46 MRH90 multi-role helicopters to the Army and Navy.   Mr Rob Hunter, Vice President Fixed Wing / Operations Australian Aerospace said the Deed of Agreement also had scope to include future Australian Defence Force weapons systems.   “Our teaming with Michelin Australia is an excellent example of how, having identified an opportunity, our P3 Program team then went out and found the right partner to deliver an accountable and effective solution to Defence,” he said. “As a result, Australian Aerospace brings to the table its proven defence contract management, supply chain and authorised maintenance organisation skills, and Michelin contributes new product and retread capabilities and specialised tyre storage and distribution systems”.   Mr Hunter said the Deed of Agreement also provided for multiple extensions of the contract and he had no doubt that Australian Aerospace’s long-demonstrated good service delivery to the ADF would ensure that it would ultimately prove to be a life-of-type arrangement for both the F/A18 Hornets and the P3 Orions.     Defence Professionals

    MiG-27 crashes in India, pilot survives
    Erik
    By Erik,
      MiG-27 crashes in India, pilot survives   RIA Novosti. Sergei Subbotin -- 10:15 24/09/2010   A MiG-27 Flogger ground attack aircraft of the Indian Air Force (IAF) has crashed in the country's east, the third crash of a plane of this type in India this year, a spokesman for the Indian Army Eastern Command said.   The crash took place at 08:25 am local time (02:25 GMT) some 40 kilometers (25 miles) east of the Kalaikunda air base in West Bengal state.   "The pilot managed to eject and is unharmed. The crash did not cause casualties or destruction on the ground," Mahesh Upasani said, adding that investigation into the crash was under way.   An MiG-27 aircraft crashed in West Bengal in February near the Hashimara military base, killing the pilot and causing all MiG-27 flights to be suspended for a short period of time.   Another MiG-27 plane crashed into a village in the region in July during a routine training flight, killing a local resident and injuring 10 others.   The MiG-27 aircraft was originally built in the former Soviet Union in the mid-1970s before it was licensed to be produced in India.   India has about 150 MiG-27 planes, known as the Bahadhur (Brave) in the IAF.   According to the military, a current upgrade program will keep the MiG-27 operational for another 10 years.       NEW DELHI, September 24           RIA Novosti

    Worlds first (expert claimed) known cyber super weapon
    Atreides
    By Atreides,
      Interesting. If true this is awesome, killing their nuke program without the loss of human life.   Stuxnet malware is 'weapon' out to destroy ... Iran's Bushehr nuclear plant?   Cyber security experts say they have identified the world's first known cyber super weapon designed specifically to destroy a real-world target – a factory, a refinery, or just maybe a nuclear power plant.   The cyber worm, called Stuxnet, has been the object of intense study since its detection in June. As more has become known about it, alarm about its capabilities and purpose have grown. Some top cyber security experts now say Stuxnet's arrival heralds something blindingly new: a cyber weapon created to cross from the digital realm to the physical world – to destroy something.   At least one expert who has extensively studied the malicious software, or malware, suggests Stuxnet may have already attacked its target – and that it may have been Iran's Bushehr nuclear power plant, which much of the world condemns as a nuclear weapons threat.   The appearance of Stuxnet created a ripple of amazement among computer security experts. Too large, too encrypted, too complex to be immediately understood, it employed amazing new tricks, like taking control of a computer system without the user taking any action or clicking any button other than inserting an infected memory stick. Experts say it took a massive expenditure of time, money, and software engineering talent to identify and exploit such vulnerabilities in industrial control software systems.   Unlike most malware, Stuxnet is not intended to help someone make money or steal proprietary data. Industrial control systems experts now have concluded, after nearly four months spent reverse engineering Stuxnet, that the world faces a new breed of malware that could become a template for attackers wishing to launch digital strikes at physical targets worldwide. Internet link not required.   "Until a few days ago, people did not believe a directed attack like this was possible," Ralph Langner, a German cyber-security researcher, told the Monitor in an interview. He was slated to present his findings at a conference of industrial control system security experts Tuesday in Rockville, Md. "What Stuxnet represents is a future in which people with the funds will be able to buy an attack like this on the black market. This is now a valid concern."   A gradual dawning of Stuxnet's purpose   It is a realization that has emerged only gradually.   Stuxnet surfaced in June and, by July, was identified as a hypersophisticated piece of malware probably created by a team working for a nation state, say cyber security experts. Its name is derived from some of the filenames in the malware. It is the first malware known to target and infiltrate industrial supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) software used to run chemical plants and factories as well as electric power plants and transmission systems worldwide. That much the experts discovered right away.   But what was the motive of the people who created it? Was Stuxnet intended to steal industrial secrets – pressure, temperature, valve, or other settings –and communicate that proprietary data over the Internet to cyber thieves?   By August, researchers had found something more disturbing: Stuxnet appeared to be able to take control of the automated factory control systems it had infected – and do whatever it was programmed to do with them. That was mischievous and dangerous.   But it gets worse. Since reverse engineering chunks of Stuxnet's massive code, senior US cyber security experts confirm what Mr. Langner, the German researcher, told the Monitor: Stuxnet is essentially a precision, military-grade cyber missile deployed early last year to seek out and destroy one real-world target of high importance – a target still unknown.   "Stuxnet is a 100-percent-directed cyber attack aimed at destroying an industrial process in the physical world," says Langner, who last week became the first to publicly detail Stuxnet's destructive purpose and its authors' malicious intent. "This is not about espionage, as some have said. This is a 100 percent sabotage attack."   A guided cyber missile   On his website, Langner lays out the Stuxnet code he has dissected. He shows step by step how Stuxnet operates as a guided cyber missile. Three top US industrial control system security experts, each of whom has also independently reverse-engineered portions of Stuxnet, confirmed his findings to the Monitor.   "His technical analysis is good," says a senior US researcher who has analyzed Stuxnet, who asked for anonymity because he is not allowed to speak to the press. "We're also tearing [stuxnet] apart and are seeing some of the same things."   Other experts who have not themselves reverse-engineered Stuxnet but are familiar with the findings of those who have concur with Langner's analysis.   "What we're seeing with Stuxnet is the first view of something new that doesn't need outside guidance by a human – but can still take control of your infrastructure," says Michael Assante, former chief of industrial control systems cyber security research at the US Department of Energy's Idaho National Laboratory. "This is the first direct example of weaponized software, highly customized and designed to find a particular target."   "I'd agree with the classification of this as a weapon," Jonathan Pollet, CEO of Red Tiger Security and an industrial control system security expert, says in an e-mail.   One researcher's findingsLangner's research, outlined on his website Monday, reveals a key step in the Stuxnet attack that other researchers agree illustrates its destructive purpose. That step, which Langner calls "fingerprinting," qualifies Stuxnet as a targeted weapon, he says.   Langner zeroes in on Stuxnet's ability to "fingerprint" the computer system it infiltrates to determine whether it is the precise machine the attack-ware is looking to destroy. If not, it leaves the industrial computer alone. It is this digital fingerprinting of the control systems that shows Stuxnet to be not spyware, but rather attackware meant to destroy, Langner says.   Stuxnet's ability to autonomously and without human assistance discriminate among industrial computer systems is telling. It means, says Langner, that it is looking for one specific place and time to attack one specific factory or power plant in the entire world.   "Stuxnet is the key for a very specific lock – in fact, there is only one lock in the world that it will open," Langner says in an interview. "The whole attack is not at all about stealing data but about manipulation of a specific industrial process at a specific moment in time. This is not generic. It is about destroying that process."   So far, Stuxnet has infected at least 45,000 industrial control systems around the world, without blowing them up – although some victims in North America have experienced some serious computer problems, Eric Byres, a Canadian expert, told the Monitor. Most of the victim computers, however, are in Iran, Pakistan, India, and Indonesia. Some systems have been hit in Germany, Canada, and the US, too. Once a system is infected, Stuxnet simply sits and waits – checking every five seconds to see if its exact parameters are met on the system. When they are, Stuxnet is programmed to activate a sequence that will cause the industrial process to self-destruct, Langner says.   Langner's analysis also shows, step by step, what happens after Stuxnet finds its target. Once Stuxnet identifies the critical function running on a programmable logic controller, or PLC, made by Siemens, the giant industrial controls company, the malware takes control. One of the last codes Stuxnet sends is an enigmatic “DEADF007.” Then the fireworks begin, although the precise function being overridden is not known, Langner says. It may be that the maximum safety setting for RPMs on a turbine is overridden, or that lubrication is shut off, or some other vital function shut down. Whatever it is, Stuxnet overrides it, Langner’s analysis shows.   "After the original code [on the PLC] is no longer executed, we can expect that something will blow up soon," Langner writes in his analysis. "Something big."   For those worried about a future cyber attack that takes control of critical computerized infrastructure – in a nuclear power plant, for instance – Stuxnet is a big, loud warning shot across the bow, especially for the utility industry and government overseers of the US power grid.   "The implications of Stuxnet are very large, a lot larger than some thought at first," says Mr. Assante, who until recently was security chief for the North American Electric Reliability Corp. "Stuxnet is a directed attack. It's the type of threat we've been worried about for a long time. It means we have to move more quickly with our defenses – much more quickly."   Has Stuxnet already hit its target?It might be too late for Stuxnet's target, Langner says. He suggests it has already been hit – and destroyed or heavily damaged. But Stuxnet reveals no overt clues within its code to what it is after.   A geographical distribution of computers hit by Stuxnet, which Microsoft produced in July, found Iran to be the apparent epicenter of the Stuxnet infections. That suggests that any enemy of Iran with advanced cyber war capability might be involved, Langner says. The US is acknowledged to have that ability, and Israel is also reported to have a formidable offensive cyber-war-fighting capability.   Could Stuxnet's target be Iran's Bushehr nuclear power plant, a facility much of the world condemns as a nuclear weapons threat?   Langner is quick to note that his views on Stuxnet's target is speculation based on suggestive threads he has seen in the media. Still, he suspects that the Bushehr plant may already have been wrecked by Stuxnet. Bushehr's expected startup in late August has been delayed, he notes, for unknown reasons. (One Iranian official blamed the delay on hot weather.)   But if Stuxnet is so targeted, why did it spread to all those countries? Stuxnet might have been spread by the USB memory sticks used by a Russian contractor while building the Bushehr nuclear plant, Langner offers. The same contractor has jobs in several countries where the attackware has been uncovered.   "This will all eventually come out and Stuxnet's target will be known," Langner says. "If Bushehr wasn't the target and it starts up in a few months, well, I was wrong. But somewhere out there, Stuxnet has found its target. We can be fairly certain of that."   Link

    CombatACE Facebook Winner
    Erik
    By Erik,
      CombatACE Facebook Contest Winner Week 1 - Ivan Adamek   Meet Ivan Adamek. Ivan is our Facebook contest winner for week 1. Congratulations!     We dusted off the CombatACE Randomizer and carefully plugged it in. Using the punch card reader I input the value list from number 1 through 157. At about card 58 I swore I heard what sounded like, "Would you like to play a game?" but that is a story for another day. I finished with the cards then I stepped back just far enough to touch the [ENTER] key. You could almost feel the raw processing power as the whir of the fans started drawing power from the local grid. Behind the dull gray exterior illuminated by rows of red and amber glowing glass indicators some raw number crunching was taking place. In what seemed like an instant but was actually 13 minutes 24 seconds the all familiar egg timer "ding - fries are done" sound could be heard. I rushed to the output tray listening to the dot matrix printer churning away in a ritttta.... ritttta ..... ritttta .... zip sound of excitement. I waited. A few minutes later and as the puff of light smoke cleared there in the tray appeared the product of all the festivities. Printed in double strike fashion, the number 111 could be seen as our winner. I admit we haven't used the CA Randomizer in a while so it might be just a bit out of alignment but there's still nothing better than that crisp burning electronics smell in the morning. With the results in hand I moved on to the the CA list of fans on Facebook where we find number 111 is Ivan. So let's hear it for our Argentinian friend and winner of this weeks prize, a shiny new CA Subscription Plan courtesy of CombatACE.   Ivan drop us a message on Facebook and let us know what your username is here on CombatACE and we'll get your account upgraded.   Join us next week to see if our randomizer is working or not. Don't forget to join our Facebook page if you haven't done so already to be eligible for next weeks drawing.

    TrackIR 5 Review
    Erik
    By Erik,
      TrackIR 5 Review September 21, 2010 Ruggbutt puts the TrackIR 5 through its paces with some great outcome and performance news. The TrackIR 5 was everything it was expected to be and then some. Awarded "Best of the Year 2010" the TrackIR 5 is a great addition for any flight, racing, or combat rig where nothing short of total immersion is the ultimate desire. Read the TrackIR 5 review you'll be racing your way to order yours today.   READ THE REVIEW    

    TrackIR 5 Review
    Ruggbutt
    By Ruggbutt,
    TrackIR 5 Review September 21, 2010     Immersion.   It's what all flight simmers want for their games. To feel like you're part of the battle. To imagine ourselves as part of a real battle in a real world. To accomplish whatever mission we've chosen and to return our aircraft to home plate in one piece. We like our flight sims to be photorealistic. We like our aircraft flight models to mimics the real aircraft in performance. And sound, there's nothing like the sound of a Merlin engine. Those of us who have heard one for real appreciate it when our virtual P-51 put out the same dulcet tones. It helps us step into the game. Yes, immersion is what flight sim enthusiasts have wanted since we started flying the virtual skies. So we buy hardware, often the newest and most expensive in our quest to become one with the sim. We buy a larger monitor at better resolution. We buy faster processors and more powerful video cards. We throw an aftermarket sound card in and use 5.1 surround speakers. Or we buy a nice headset to replicate the sounds of the planes, weapons, radios, etc. We buy joysticks. We buy a HOTAS (Hands On Throttle And Stick). We buy rudder pedals. We want to be Eddie Rickenbacker. Chuck Yeager. Robin Olds. All of these items helps get us closer to the dream that all of us have. To be a pilot. Commercial, private or fighter, it doesn't matter. We want to fly, as bad as the Wright brothers did.     One of my earliest memories with any type of computer gaming was my grandmother's (then brand new) 386. Yeager's Air Combat was my holy grail. I flew the heck out of it with the keyboard. I'd fly with my face right up against that monitor, trying to spot enemy Messershmitts as far away as Chuck could. Yes, the graphics by todays standards were horrible but the game was enthralling for me. I felt like I was up against some of Germany's finest, doing my best to survive and to protect my wingmen. In those days it was as good as simming got. I spent hundreds of hours flying that sim, often all night and into the early hours of the morning. I was hooked. I went to the computer store and bought Jetfighter 2. The salesman at the store (being the fantastic salesman that he was) talked me into spending a goodly amount of money on a joystick. I couldn't wait to get home and plug it in. I'd hit the jackpot, those Messerschmitts never knew what hit them! I was twice as deadly with my new stick as I was with the keyboard. That's when the hardware race started for me. I speculate that many of you have similar stories. The joystick put me into the game even more so than I've ever been before. How many of you would even consider flying your favorite sim(s) and ditching your joystick/HOTAS? Me neither! No way am I taking that step back.     TrackIR is immersion exemplified.   TrackIR has changed simming for me the same way my first joystick altered my experience. I compare it directly with flying your fave sim with the keyboard. I had the baddest joystick sold anywhere and it had an 8 way coolie hat. No way was this piece of equipment going to trump my snap view skills. Boy was I wrong! We rely primarily on sight to disseminate information that helps us complete our tasks. Even more so with computer games. TrackIR mimics how we look around and view the world. We don't "snap" our views to 3 or 9 o'clock in real life. We look around. Everything is fluid. So is TrackIR. You move your head and your in-game head moves as well. How much and how fast is completely up to you. I fly Flaming Cliffs 2 and the A10 sees alot of action. I am a killer on the virtual battlefield. And I have fantastic situational awareness because I'm able to look around just like I do in real life. I can make a gun run in the jet, pull 90 degrees off target and as I'm turning keep the target area in the center of my screen. And I don't even have to think about it. It's that simple.     Hardware.   TrackIR consists of a transmitter/receiver (TrackIR Unit) and a reflector source (Track Clip). Light reflected off of the Track Clip is read by the TrackIR unit and it translates your head movements digitally into similar movements in game. TrackIR has a feature called 6DOF (Six Degrees of Freedom). If your game supports it (many new games do) you can turn your head right/left, up/down, tilt your head right/left and you can move your head forward/. All in your virtual cockpit. When in my trusty A10 I'm searching for targets I no longer have to change course to scan the battlefield for targets of opportunity. I can look around that HUD bracket. Or I can peer around my canopy frame to see that bad man in the Shilka trying to send 23mm death my way. In game,even in a hard bank you can keep the horizon level. No more feeling that your head is seatbelted in place in the pit. TrackIR is one more tool in our aresenal to immerse us in our game and to provide us with superior situational awareness. Every single person that I know (and fly with online) will leave a multiplayer game to start their TrackIR if they've forgotten to before joining a server. I have even teased a couple of my squaddies about leaving and told them "just fly without it". I won't repeat exactly what was said but it wasn't polite. Nope, once you've been bitten by the TrackIR bug you will NEVER go back. Ever.     TrackIR 5 is the model I've been testing. This is the 5th incarnation and upgrade of their product line. I started with a TrackIR 2 and fell in love with it right off the bat. As time progressed the TrackIR 3 was announced, although I didn't upgrade. I secretly thought to myself "they're just upgrading like TV or stereo manufacturers do" and I thought I wouldn't see much of performance upgrade. So I passed on the v.3. Then TrackIR 4 was released. My unit was old and I had some extra cash so I upgraded. I also liked the new Track Clip, there would be no more messing around with those reflective dots! To this day I've never tried a v.3 unit, but the change from the 2 to the 4 was tremendous. It wasn't like a stereo or TV upgrade where the bezels were new but the guts were basically the same. Mind you, this revelation didn't really have the impact it has now since I've tried the TrackIR 5. Trust me on this folks, the 5 isn't just a repackaged upgrade from the 4. There is a noticeable difference. In this case I love to be proven wrong, the crew at Naturalpoint have done a fantastic job with this model. It has a wider field of view than the 4. It feels more refined than the 4 was. I'm not saying the 4 is a bad unit. I'm saying there's a difference between the two models along the lines of how the P-51D was improved over the P-51B. TrackIR 5 is more precise as well. I am using the current version of TrackIR software and I used the same profile that I was using with my TrackIR 4. I did alter my favorite profile as a result of a conversation between Erik (CA site owner) and the folks at Naturalpoint. They requested that I test the new unit with the smoothing slider dropped below 20. Mine was at 40. The reason behind this was that the new unit was so precise that too much smoothing can work against the data the unit it outputting and it can sacrifice precision. He went on to say that the quickness of the tracking might be hard to get used to at first, but in the long run that it will give the user way more control over the unit. I'm glad I was offered this bit of advice. My profile really came alive and I haven't adjusted any of curves in the software. Good call!! The unit tracks fast. As fast as you can move your head. Some of the older units felt like they had a bit of input lag to them, nothing that was a deal breaker because even the TrackIR 2 was a good unit. I equate the input lag to what you feel when you're playing a first person shooter with a wireless mouse. The corded mouse always feels more accurate, quicker to me. Some of you might not even notice it if you own an older unit.   Side by side comparison between the TrackIR 4 and 5 .     Installation.   Mounting the hardware is a cinch. There is a three legged base for the Tracker Unit that articulates in a wide range of movement. Place the base where you intend to mount your unit and set the Tracker Unit on top. The Tracker is held in place magnetically. You can tilt the unit back and forth to fine tune where the Tracker is seeing the Track Clip. The Tracker Unit is attached to a USB cord, don't plug this in just yet. Software for the TrackIR is not included with the unit. Naturalpoint updates their software so often that they prefer you download it from their website, so you have the most current version. How many of us have bought a video card and thrown away the driver CD right away? I always do as the most current set of drivers are available online. The drivers aren't a large download so bandwith shouldn't be an issue for anyone. Installation is a breeze. Install the program you've just downloaded then plug in your TrackIR unit. It's that simple. TrackIR will run off of a USB hub as well. I recommend a powered hub. Placement of the TrackIR unit can be on top of your monitor, off to the side or even underneath your monitor. All you need is a clear line of sight from the Track Clip to the Tracker Unit. Some people have even turned the unit sideways and mounted it on the side of their monitor. This won't affect tracking as you can change the Tracker's aspect 90 degrees in the software. The Track Clip installs on the brim of a baseball cap. It's a friction fit. I tend to grab my ball caps by the brim and I was continually knocking off the Track Clip. So I punched two small holes where the brim meets the cap, on either side of where the Track Clip fits. I used a small zip tie to secure the Track Clip to my hat. It hasn't accidentally fallen off once!     If you wear a headset and don't or can't wear a ball cap with it, Naturalpoint sells a unit called the Track Clip Pro. It's USB powered and it attaches to the head strap on your headset. It comes in black, white and red. You can buy the unit separately or bundled with a TrackIR 5.   Track Clip Pro in Black     Software.   The first thing you want to do when you fire up your software is check for game updates. When Flaming Cliffs 2 was released there wasn't a default profile for it in the new TrackIR software. You had to make your own. Within a matter of a few weeks Naturalpoint did a game update that included the FC2 profile. The game updates are small and quick download, and you can do it right through the software. You can also choose to be notified of news updates regarding TrackIR. You can also option whether you want TrackIR to start when you boot up, whether to start it minimized or whether to keep it active in your taskbar.     There are several tabs in the software that allow you to pick which profile will be your default profile, or whether you want one to be default for racing, flying, shooters, etc. TrackIR auto detects which game is active and will autoload that profile for you. It's possible to not to have to touch the software again once you have it configured. TrackIR knows if I'm playing ArmA 2 or Flaming Cliffs 2. If you don't like the default profile you can create your own. I took the default FC2 profile and modified it for my needs. You can choose to modify each axis in several different ways (one to one, smoothing, etc) and you can also change the curves of each axis independantly. To the novice this may seem a bit daunting, luckily Naturalpoint has done their homework and most people are satisfied using the default profile for the game that they're playing. You can change the hotkeys to toggle on/off the unit, to center and for "precision". Precision is like a slowed down version of tracking and it works well for when you're at extreme zoom. You can choose to not use an axis as well. I prefer to manually zoom in my pit so I have the Z axis disabled. Some games may use the same hotkeys as is default so you can choose for the TrackIR software to "trap" those keybinds. They won't be sent to the game. You can also change the hotkey assignments.     For those that are new TrackIR owners I recommend you spend some time in the software using the head viewing option in the software. You'll have a solid shaped head that mimics your exact movements. Superimposed with that head is a wireframe head that will show you how far your in game head will travel in comparison. You can also choose several different views of your head. Back, side, top are all there.     I found that this addition to the software gave me a better idea of what I wanted for my FC2 profile. I prefer just a tad of deadzone, and for the first 30 degrees of head travel I prefer only about 50 degrees of view change. I like to ramp up my curves as I turn my head farther to the side. Remember, you can do this for every axis so you aren't stuck with the same speed when looking up as you are side to side. The software is infinitely programmable to cater to anyone's needs. Lets say you have limited mobility in your neck the farther you turn your head to the right. You can adjust the right side curves of your X axis to counter that without affecting the left side curves.     There's a speed control that will allow you to turn up or down the tracking rate. There's a smoothing slider that allows you to super fine tune that profile you've completed. You can adjust the intensity of the infrared LED's on the unit. You can adjust a filter to remove extraneous light that might interfere with the Track Clip. The Tracker Unit has LED's that show the user with a glance what mode it's in. One red LED left side shows the user the unit is active but not tracking and not in game. One red LED right and left side shows the user the unit is active, not tracking but is in game. One green LED left side shows unit active and tracking, not in game. Two green shows active tracking, in game. The software even allows you to dim the LED status lights if you like. Naturalpoint has thought of everything!   Specs.   # Raw Sensor Resolution: 640 x 480 # Reporting Resolution: 96,000 x 72,000 # Field of View: 51.7° # Resolution/Horizontal Degree: 1850 subpixels/degree # Sample Rate: 120 fps # Size (without base): 2" x 1.5" x 0.57" # Weight: 1.8 oz # Response Time: 9 ms   Comparison   TrackIR allows you views from your virtual cockpit that you cannot achieve any other way. An example is the F-15 from Flaming Cliffs . You cannot see behind nor around the Aces II ejection seat no matter how hard you slew your view. Your coolie hat can't help you here. TrackIR can.   Stock view, slewed as far right as possible     With TrackIR 5     There's my wingman! Ahh, but what if it was a bad man in a Mig? You'd never know anything was wrong till your jet fell apart.     Bottom Line.   TrackIR 5 outperforms all previous TrackIR units. By a wide margin. Resolution is more than doubled, FOV is 20% larger. Subpixel resolution ten-fold. What does that mean to those of us that aren't stats junkies? It means that if you're able to upgrade from a 4 or were thinking about purchasing a TrackIR now is the time to do it. Price difference between the 4 and 5 is $50. Spend the $50. I promise you'll be happy you did. The TrackIR 5 is cheaper now than my 4 was when it was brand new. That's another reason to buy. TrackIR is supported by more and more games, 105 at last count. TrackIR isn't cheap. It's roughly the cost of a quality joystick/throttle combo. It's also a peripheral that will see as much use as a joystick or HOTAS setup is. In the importance of peripherals to get I rate it number two right behind a quality joystick. You won't be disappointed.   A few thoughts and ramblings.   The TrackIR takes a little bit of getting used to. Some users experience minor motion sickness until they get used to using the unit. I'm one of those that isn't affected by motion sickness but I did experience a bit of disorientation when I first started to learn how to use the TrackIR. It didn't last long and I have yet to hear of anyone who couldn't get over any disorientation. I had no idea I moved my head around as much as I did when I flew until I got my TrackIR. I got used to the unit very quickly (a couple of hours) and I haven't had any negative effects since. One of my closest friends had a check ride in an F-16, he had use the barf bag. He gets motion sickness, even in automobiles. He had very little trouble with the unit as well.   I've tested or used TrackIR in Lock On, Flaming Cliffs 1&2, Black Shark, ArmA 1/2/OA (Operation Arrowhead), TK's series of flight sims, Microsoft FSX the IL2 series of sims and Dirt 2. It works flawlessly in all. You can visit the Naturalpoint website (www.naturalpoint.com) to see if your sim or game is supported.   There's nothing else I can say except that TrackIR 5 is a MUST HAVE for anyone who is a serious gamer. The amazing thing about reviewing the TrackIR 5 is that I have no negative opinions on it. No negatives about the software either. I can't even think of a "wish list" item for Naturalpoint to add to a software upgrade. Not even the price is a con. It's cheaper than the TrackIR 4 was when it was first released. This is a first folks. I rate the Naturalpoint TrackIR 5, 10 out of 10 points.   Shot of my pit with TrackIR 5 active, this unit is a keeper!    

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