Erik

Post can be moderated. This is just a place holder.

Post can be moderated. This is just a place holder.

Post can be moderated. This is just a place holder.

I was having some birthday cake and saw this on the news, but that's not important now. Very sad. Rumack: What was it we had for dinner tonight? Elaine Dickinson: Well, we had a choice of steak or fish. Rumack: Yes, yes, I remember, I had lasagna. My condolences to his family and friends and thanks for the laughs Leslie. E

I've heard stories about our neighbors to the north getting the shaft when it comes to unregulated rates charged to consumers. A little known fact is that Canada has one of the highest per household densities of Internet users in the World and obviously rates to match. That's a fairly dramatic fact considering it's the second largest land mass behind Russia but with only 1/2 the population. Another scary fact is that high speed Internet in Canada is considered anything above 64K. I can't imagine trying to surf the web on a 64K connection.

Yes. The fact that our mirror is faster really puts the wrench to me. I'd like to have your traces and speeds to use as ammunition. Thank you.

Ticket is open and I'll need that information from you guys to proceed. Please post it up when you have it so we can get this resolved. Thanks.

Nobody is stuck with anything there are always options. The hard part is I have to have valid credible evidence to wield not just reports of problems. I'm not saying that the reports aren't credible I'm believing every word what I am saying is that when I make the complaint to our upstream provider the first thing they are going to ask for is the proof not the claim. That said I've already filed off the first complaint and we'll see where this takes us. What you can do in the meantime is help me get ready for their response. Here's how. For my upstream: 1. I need new traceroutes to combatace.com 2. I need new ping reports to combatace.com 3. You can also traceroute to files.combatace.com (they hate this because our files machine is on their competitors line). 4. Ping reports to files.combatace.com 5 Screenshots of the download windows of throughput while the file is downloading showing the 15kb/s. 6 Traceroute and ping a site you get good speeds from. For me: 7. Compare the download speeds between the two servers (The standard download button and the mirror download button) and report them along with the above. I'm sure you guys are up to the task so once I get those I'll do the return traces back to you and fill out the appropriate paperwork and continue the complaint. If they don't or can't explain the issue I always have the option of looking for another provider. If you are having problems with download speeds and are reporting them please read the entire thread, and provide the above. The more documented cases the easier it is to make things happen. Let me know. Erik

Disconnects usually happen because one end of the connection goes away. There are a few causes for this but mostly it's due to packet loss. Packet loss is a very loose term compared to the actual negotiation of traffic but what happens is this. Consider a packet of data like a box with stuff in it. This is what a good connection would look like. We send a packet --> You receive a packet and answer back you got it. We get the got it answer and send another --> You receive it and send back the got it. We get the got it answer and send another --> You receive it and send back the got it. This goes on until the file transfer is complete. The faster we get the "got it" answers the faster we send and the faster you receive. This is what most people consider bandwidth or connection speed. In actuality there is much more happening but for a basic overview this gets the job done. Now let's consider a bad connection or slow connection. We send a packet --> You receive it and answer back you got it. [somewhere in the connection, like a busy router, loses that data packet or delays sending it so we receive it late] This is considered packet loss or network congestion. We send another packet --> You receive it and answer back you got it. We get the got it answer and send another --> You receive it and answer back you got it. We receive the first got it answer and the third got it answer and send another with a longer wait time between it --> You receive it and answer back you got it. The traffic has now negotiated to a slower speed. This goes on until the file transfer is complete or the connection degrades to the point where we or you stop getting and receiving information. If you want to run a traceroute to combatace.com and post it here I may be able to help further. You can also run a ping test in conjunction with the traceroute for more helpful information. To do that it's the same command window but type. C:\ping combatace.com -n 20 Post those results here and we'll go from there. Thanks. Erik

The only two hops that responded are your router and our machine. Something is fishy. Either you have a firewall in play that is filtering that traffic or your ISP does. If the connection can't be negotiated properly and we're just blindly throwing packets back and forth between our machines it is no wonder you only get 21 kb/s. Start turning off firewalls, internet (anti-virus) suites, and disconnect from your router by going straight to the modem for testing to see if you can eliminate software and hardware as being the cause. Next would be a nice conversation with your ISP tech support to see what the heck is going on. Looking at our traffic today I'm not seeing any issues with our throughput. Let me know what you find out.

That is horrible and I apologize you're having problems. A connection to download files, videos, photos, etc is all the same in that it depends on a consistent ability to send and receive data across a routed path between two ends (you and us). As the connection becomes more and more complex that connection tends to degrade and if you have a bad or heavily trafficked router or carrier anywhere between your computer and ours that is when the connection becomes really bad. I'm suspect that you're somewhere in that mix. When I trace back to your machine from our server I get out 8 hops to London.opentransit.net and then the routing gets masked. The last machine to respond is out at hop 11 and it's difficult for me to see if that's even in your netblock or ISP. Up and to the last response the hops are out 200 milliseconds which isn't too bad considering that small thing between us, the Atlantic Ocean. Past hop 12 it's anyone's guess what's happening but I suspect that's where the problem is that's causing you such slow access. 9 * * so-6-0-0-0.loncr4.London.opentransit.net (193.251.131.185) 165.093 ms 10 * * * 11 * * * 12 87.237.20.241 (87.237.20.241) 199.839 ms 197.348 ms 193.335 ms You are welcome to run the following on your machine from a command line. C:\tracert combatace.com That will give you a look directly at your routing and latency from your machine to us. If you'll paste that trace into this discussion I can look at it and maybe give you a better idea of what's going on and where to start with a resolve. Erik

This is what happens when I get tired. I was fixing a display issue where the "Home" link in the site navigation never highlighted when you were on the home page and it made the navigation appear to work funny. Anyway I forgot to close a list and instead used an operator. I found the error and made the fix then tested in Opera, Chrome, IE8, and FireFox. All appears to be working normally for me. Can you test this on your end and confirm that? Thanks

This sounds like the zoom size has been changed. The zoom increases or decreases the text size / page size depending on browsers. The zoom can usually be found in the browser's "View" menu. Most browsers use the [ CTRL ] + [ + ] or the [ CTRL ] + [ - ] to zoom in or out. Additionally some browsers have a reset like [ CTRL ] + [ 0 ]. Let me know what browser you are using and see if you can find a zoom level setting to reset or change to adjust the text size. As a side note this may also be a resolution setting in your graphics card. Keep me posted. Erik

These are never good issues to have to resolve and I have been trying to work with you regarding this, as you know. File transfers and connectivity in general are bilateral. Specifically not only do we have to maintain a connection with your machine but your machine has to maintain a connection to us. If either side of the communication fails then they both fail. Consider it much like a phone call. If one person hangs up the phone on their end the conversation is over. The same applies to connectivity and file transfers. Since you were able to download from the site at a remote location it would suggest to me that the issue we are looking for is at home. Have you contacted your ISP to have them look at your connectivity? Some questions to ask them are. Is my cable modem reporting any errors or resets? Is my signal to noise ratio within acceptable range? Is my packet loss within acceptable range? This may require a technician to come out and diagnose the problem but this is the most common cause of problems. Please note that I'm not trying to step aside and say that our connectivity is perfect, although I'm confident it is well above normal, but when we have problems they are experienced by everyone or a group of people (example: all on the same ISP) not just one computer or connection. Please keep me advised and let me know if I can help in any way. Erik I see the error is happening in Internet Explorer, is it happening on other browsers? I will see what I can do to fix this. Thank you for the report. Erik

What browser do you use? What version of Java is installed on your machine? I would try the following without knowing the above. Clear your browser cache so that all pages being requested from CA are new and not cached. Update your version of Java if you're running an old version the java scripts like the menu drop down function may not depricate to older versions causing this problem. Let me know. Erik

Telegraphindia -- SUJAN DUTTA New Delhi, Oct. 20: New Delhi has decided to play hardball on military pacts with the Pentagon after expectations were raised that the pending agreements may be signed during the visit of Barack Obama in about two weeks from now. “We are in consultation with the armed forces about the benefits and utility of these (agreements),” defence secretary Pradip Kumar said here, in a rare public admission of the military’s discomfort over US proposals to sign a Logistics Supply Agreement (LSA) and a Communications Interoperability and Security Memorandum of Agreement (CISMOA). The discordant note was struck after reports that the US was lining up a $2-billion security aid package for Pakistan. Last month, during his visit to Washington, the defence minister had raised the issue with US secretary of defence Robert Gates. A.K. Antony also emphasised that India suspected Pakistan was using US military aid to reinforce its conventional war-fighting capabilities against India. The LSA will allow US warships, military aircraft and personnel to access Indian military bases for refuelling, rest and recuperation, and turnover on a reciprocal basis. It would allow the US to replenish its military platforms on a barter basis, meaning that the US would allow similar access and facilities to the Indian armed forces. The CISMOA is designed to ensure that equipment transferred to the Indian armed forces are encrypted, secure and compatible with US military systems. A highly placed defence source said a view that had emerged from the armed forces during consultations was that signing such agreements would “bind” India to US military equipment. The Pentagon argues that the signing of the agreements would facilitate the transfer of high-tech platforms and keep India-US military relations robust. The statement today — that the armed forces were being consulted to verify if the pacts would be beneficial — is a step back from the position that India was studying the agreements. Draft agreements have been pending with the cabinet committee on security (CCS) for three years now after they were vetted by the armed forces headquarters. Negotiations over such agreements can be protracted. It took three years for Washington and New Delhi to agree to a standard text on the End User Verification Agreement (EUVA) — through which the Pentagon judges if a military system is being used by a buyer for the purpose for which it was meant — that was signed last year. The expectations on clinching the agreements rose because of the high-profile visit by Obama. It is exceptional for a US President to visit India within the first two years of his first term in office — that demonstrates the priority the White House gives to India. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was also the first state guest of the Obama administration last year. The US was also expecting the agreements to be signed along with announcements of two major arms deals. The Indian Air Force has decided to buy 10 C-17 Globemaster-III heavy airlifters in a deal that could be worth $4.4 billion. A second deal — for up to 300 M-777 ultra light howitzers – under the Pentagon’s direct Foreign Military Sales programme is in the works but an announcement is unlikely because the Indian army has not yet finished evaluating the guns. The guns are for deployment in high-altitude border positions on the Chinese frontier. The Indian Air Force that had earlier contracted the C-130J Hercules from the US is getting the medium-lift aircraft minus some of the equipment that the Pentagon says could have been made available if the agreements were signed. But topping the US’ priority in all these deals is the mega-competition to sell 126 (possibly 200) medium, multi-role combat aircraft that could cost as much as $12 billion. Two US-origin aircraft, Boeing’s F/A-18 Super Hornet and Lockheed Martin’s F-16 Super Viper (Fighting Falcon) are in the running. The US has got a boost after a technical committee determined the GE-414 engine as the best option for India’s indigenous Tejas light combat aircraft programme. The GE-414 also powers the Super Hornet, as it does the Swedish-origin Gripen NG. (The other aircraft in the competition are the MiG 35 of Russia, Dassault’s Rafale of France and a European consortium’s Eurofighter Typhoon). Each of the countries is leveraging their diplomatic muscle to win the contract. Since the civilian nuclear agreement, Washington believes its claim is the strongest. Air Chief Marshal Pradeep Vasant Naik had said the air force had submitted its technical evaluation report and a selection was likely by 2010. The report is now with the government that will make a choice not only on financial but also on diplomatic and political considerations. Telegraph India

Håkan Buskhe has only been CEO of Saab for one and a half months but he has already travelled the globe marketing Gripen to several countries. Yesterday, Mr Buskhe got his first flight in the Gripen fighter, taking-off from the Saab airfield in Linköping, Sweden. Image: Ola Rignell, head of Saab Flight Test, congratulates Saab's new CEO Håkan Buskhe (right) after his first flight in Gripen. Photo: Per Kustvik SAAB -- October 2010 The flight, in a Gripen D (39827) lasted for 1 hour and 8 minutes, with Ola Rignell, head of Saab Flight Test in the front seat. That included two sorties with a hot refuelling in between. “I’m living my childhood dream right now, and the flight in Gripen was just the icing on the cake. I´ve been briefed by the engineers that design the aircraft, visited the different stages of production and talked to some of the fantastic people that build the aircraft and now I’ve spent time at our Flight Test department. And remember, Gripen is just one of our world leading products.” Håkan Buskhe had the opportunity to pilot the aircraft himself. He was also fortunate to meet up with one of the brand new Gripen aircraft produced for the Royal Thai Air Force and took part in formation flying. “What I remember most is when we were flying 60 feet above the Baltic Sea and then suddenly afterburner on and we were climbing straight up to 30 000 feet. Like a rocket.” Back on ground again Håkan Buskhe was congratulated by the first Gripen pilot, Stig Holmström, and presented with his own personal desk top model of Gripen D. “I don’t believe that I’m a pilot just because I have flown Gripen once, but it is amazing how easy it is to understand the system. Especially with a good instructor like Ola. I knew Gripen was an amazing aircraft, and now I understand why.” Håkan Buskhe has previously flown the Saab 105 jet trainer. Image: Saab's new CEO, Håkan Buskhe in Gripen. Photo: Per Kustvik SAAB

PalmBeachPost -- By Stacey Singer Sikorsky had picture perfect weather to show off the world's fastest helicopter Wednesday morning, and X2 test pilot Kevin Brendenbeck didn't waste the opportunity."Are you ready to get spanked?" he asked the Bell 407 pilot about to race him over the swampy tarmac off Beeline Highway. It was a first glimpse of the X2 for media and for many of the subcontractors whose components helped make the aircraft; an adrenaline-fueled day designed to amp up excitement for a project Sikorsky has spent over five years and untold millions developing, all on spec. Sikorsky is betting that the military and the civil aviation markets will welcome a high-tech aircraft able to combine the maneuverability of a chopper with the elegant speed of a jet. And so Sikorsky CEO Jeffrey Pino announced Wednesday that after 18 test flights, it was ready to incorporate its X2 demonstrator technology into a new light tactical military aircraft prototype dubbed the Sikorsky S-97, aka the Raider. "We are absolutely committed to doing this," Pino said during a media briefing after the race. Sikorsky engineers said the Raider is actually needed by the U.S. Army right now, and in a big way. The mountainous terrain of Afghanistan isn't just inhospitable to Jeeps. High altitudes and thin air make about 53 percent of the country out of reach of helicopters. But not the X2-based Raider, Pino said. Because the helicopter is powered by both its twin rotors and its pusher propeller, it has enough force to fly at 10,000 feet, enabling it to cover nearly all of the Afghani terrain, Sikorsky said. The X2 demonstrator has been in development at Sikorsky's West Palm Beach test facility off Beeline Highway since July 2009. In a test flight last month, the X-2 hit 250 knots, or 287 miles per hour, unofficially beating the world helicopter speed record, nearly twice the speed of conventional helicopters, like the Bell 407 it was racing on Wednesday morning. It's possible because of computerized vibration-controlling systems and a fly-by-wire digital pilot that simplifies a pilot's tasks, not to mention light but strong composite materials that make its pusher propellar and counter-spinning twin rotors. In its flight test, the X2 moved with the agility of a dragonfly on jet fuel. Even with a long head start, Bell pilot Bill Fell played tortoise to Sikorsky's X2 caffeinated hare. It wasn't a fair contest. Going full out, the Bell hit a leisurely 140 knots, about 161 miles per hour. The X-2? At about half-power, sounding like a cross between an angry bee and a freight train, it easily hit 210 knots, or 241 miles per hour, just 7 knots behind the all-time speed record for a helicopter. For the pocket-protector set -- the mechanical engineers and test pilots gathered for the show, it was a gleeful day. "If you follow the aviation industry, it doesn't get any more exciting than today," said Chris Van Buiten, director of Sikorsky Innovations, the skunkworks that developed the aircraft. "The performance is even better than we thought." Palm Beach Post

My best guess is that a router was having a problem and it's since been fixed. If you look at our connection and consider the distance the fact that we originate, carry, and destinate on just 2 carriers is pretty great. Virgin can't be too bad given that. I've seen carriers who bucket buy bandwidth and will dump connections four times to another carrier before hitting a centralized hub. It's one reason I was really happy with our DC when they decided to carry on nLayer. Our connectivity has performed very well for us and I can't say enough good things about nLayer for the way they route in and out of our DC. Glad all is resolved, thank you for updating me. Erik

Those numbers aren't bad considering you're jumping the pond. My return routing looks like this: 1 . (216.104.36.209) 1.413 ms 1.829 ms 2.066 ms 2 dr6506a.ord02.singlehop.net (65.60.6.65) 1.313 ms 1.297 ms 1.299 ms 3 xe-3-0-2-1101.ar1.ord1.us.nlayer.net (69.31.111.93) 1.502 ms 1.493 ms 1.480 ms 4 ae1-30g.cr1.ord1.us.nlayer.net (69.31.111.133) 1.207 ms 25.428 ms 25.424 ms 5 xe-3-0-0.cr2.iad1.us.nlayer.net (69.22.142.26) 18.156 ms xe-4-2-0.cr1.ewr1.us.nlayer.net (69.22.142.42) 19.640 ms xe-3-0-0.cr2.iad1.us.nlayer.net (69.22.142.26) 18.138 ms 6 eqix-ix-1.ntli.net (206.223.115.174) 113.808 ms ae2-50g.cr1.nyc2.us.nlayer.net (69.31.95.174) 20.141 ms eqix-ix-1.ntli.net (206.223.115.174) 113.128 ms 7 popl-bb-1b-as0-0.network.virginmedia.net (62.253.184.5) 114.086 ms 113.325 ms 114.062 ms 8 popl-bb-1b-ae5-0.network.virginmedia.net (213.105.159.5) 170.019 ms 170.000 ms 169.977 ms 9 popl-bb-1b-as0-0.network.virginmedia.net (62.253.184.5) 115.741 ms hari-core-1b-pc200.network.virginmedia.net (195.182.178.170) 116.225 ms 117.455 ms 10 hari-core-1a-v11.network.virginmedia.net (62.30.144.38) 116.691 ms 116.923 ms 119.129 ms 11 hari-core-1b-pc200.network.virginmedia.net (195.182.178.170) 121.379 ms camd-geam-1a-tenge71.network.virginmedia.net (62.30.250.34) 116.402 ms 114.404 ms 12 camd-cmts-13-ge130.network.virginmedia.net (81.97.255.2) 116.912 ms 117.823 ms 117.793 ms 13 * * * 14 * * * 15 * * * As you can see the return inbound to your machine reaches what looks like your ISP's headend just fine. The machine at your step 2 and my step 13 is not responding to inbound ICMP traffic which is pretty normal for security reasons. The only thing I can suggest that might help diagnose the problem is to disconnect from your home network and go straight to your modem then check downloading again. This will just take your router at home out of the equation. If your router and modem are one and the same try resetting it. Past that the only other thing I can suggest is try a different machine and check your firewall settings. Let me know how or if I can help further. Erik

Congratulations Soulfreak! If you want to give your subscription to someone you can. Because you're a modder you won't be able to use a subscription on your account. Let me know. Erik

Hi - I checked the files you mentioned and they are fine. Subscriptions don't change the actual download process. Once you're at the point where the file transfer has initiated it's a matter of connectivity between the server and your local machine. Since you mentioned that you're getting some of the file then you are getting past the point the subscription could be an issue. Can you run a tracert and ping to our domain and post the results? From a command prompt type the following: tracert combatace.com + [Enter] ping combatace.com -n 30 + [Enter] I suspect that your connection is dropping or something on your local end is shutting down the open file request like security software. Let me know. Erik

CombatACE Facebook Contest Winner Week 4 - Carlo Vecchi The Randomizer selected #10 this week and on our Facebook list that is Carlo Vecchi. Congratulations! Week 1 - Ivan Adamek Week 2 - Shaun Griffies Week 3 - Matthew Mckee Carlo post on our Facebook page what your CA username is, then send us a PM here so we know you posted. Once we have that information we'll get your free download subscription added to your account. See you again next week for our latest winner. If you haven't added us to your Facebook likes we can't draw your name.

The Australian -- By Cameron Stewart The air force is about to reverse a decade of decline with a string of new aircraft. The balance of power in Asia is changing faster than the new Gillard government would like. China is flexing its muscles, making its near neighbours nervous with its ambitious naval expansion. The US has taken note and is quietly shoring up its alliances in the region, reassuring all that it will remain the pre-eminent power in the Pacific. These big-picture trends are causing debate, but in Australia there is a more subtle military shift under way that will also help redefine the balance of power in our immediate region for years to come. The Royal Australian Air Force is about to reverse a decade of decline in its strength relative to other regional air forces. Within two months, the second batch of Super Hornets will arrive from the Boeing plant in St Louis, creating the first operational squadron of the RAAF's new jet fighter. At the end of this year, these initial 12 Super Hornets -- the first of 24 -- will take over from the grand old dame of warplanes, the F-111 strike bombers. The mothballing of the F-111 and the arrival of the Super Hornets, along with the new Wedgetail airborne early warning and control aircraft and new air-to-air refuellers, marks a long-awaited turnaround in Australia's air power capabilities. "In terms of hardware, the air force has begun a period of transition in which most of its front-line fleet will be replaced by 2020 or shortly thereafter," says Andrew Davies of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute. "The delivery of Wedgetail and the Super Hornet represents the arrest of a slow decline in the RAAF's long-held regional qualitative lead in air combat capability." Chief of Air Force Mark Binskin admits this is a pivotal moment in the history of the RAAF. "It's one of those generational changes," the air marshal tells Inquirer. "The F-111 has been around for a long time and is seen as the strategic strike weapon for Australia so I think there is a lot of emotion and it will be quite a time in December when the last F-111 flies . . . but it is time for a change. "The Super Hornets coming in and the [advance capabilities] it will bring in combination with the upgraded [classic F/A 18] Hornets really does reset the relative combat power that we have." While other countries in the region have been investing in advanced fighter jets such as Russian Sukhoi fighters, US F-15s and F-16s, Australia's fighter stocks have been in relative decline during the past decade. Until recently, the RAAF's 70 F/A-18s have struggled to reach full operating capacity because of the need for progressive upgrades to keep them flying until their planned retirement date in 2018. The 15-strong F-111 fleet has been largely ceremonial for the past decade; modern air defences have made it too risky to send the much loved "Pig" into a hot war without heavy aerial support. With their long range and their ability to fly low and blindingly fast, the F-111s were the pre-eminent strike bomber of their era, reaching their target before defence radars could spot them. But since the 1980s the development of new radars, such as the F/A-18's pulse-Doppler APG-65 radar, made the F-111 vulnerable because they could pick out fast-moving, low-flying targets. "More and more air forces were re-equipping with modern Western and Russian fighters and ground-based air defence systems built around such radars," defence expert Gregor Ferguson says. "Suddenly the F-111 wasn't invincible any more. There was nothing it could do that can't be done now by a different combination of aircraft and weapons which can also fill other roles and deliver wider operational benefits." While the F-111 will be a sentimental loss, the arrival of the Super Hornet represents a sharp lift in actual combat capability. Used by the US Navy, they are the first new RAAF front-line fighters since 1985. A recent ASPI report on RAAF capability states: "Compared to the classic Hornets, they carry more powerful radar, electronic warfare and networking capabilities and can carry greater weapons load over a longer range. They also have a degree of low observability built in. The Super Hornets will give RAAF a capability on par with the US Navy." Davies says the combination of the Super Hornets and the standard F/A-18s should ensure that Australia retains a capability edge in air power in the region ahead of the arrival of the F-35. "The number and capability of Australia's air combat aircraft will overmatch the piecemeal and less well supported fleets of nearby nations [except Singapore]. As well, in any defence of Australia scenario, the RAAF should be able to establish local air superiority and conduct sea denial operations even against a major power." Davies tells Inquirer: "What we will get with the Super Hornet is the ability to hit targets [that] have modern air defence systems. "What we lose is a bit of range. We have to work harder to get a range anything like the F-111." Twelve of the 24 Super Hornets will be configured so they can be potentially transformed into a specialised electronic warfare version of the Super Hornet known as the Growler. "This is a dedicated electronic warfare aircraft and that is a significant capability that we have never had before," says Davies. Because Super Hornets are already in use in the US Navy, they will arrive in Australia almost ready to fly. Late last month, five Super Hornets and about 100 aircrew and maintenance personnel from No 1 Squadron at RAAF Amberley, Queensland, began the first live weapons trial in Australia, testing air-to-ground weapons firing at Woomera in the South Australian desert. There are 11 Super Hornets in Australia and a new group of three planes is set to arrive in November. All 24 aircraft are expected here by the end of next year. Their arrival coincides with the planned arrival by early next year of all six Wedgetail AWACs. The Wedgetails are four years late and the program has been deeply troubled by technical hitches and cost overruns. But when introduced into service next year the planes -- in theory -- should be able to scan the airspace above Australia's maritime approaches to detect an air or sea attack and direct planes and ships to defeat that threat. "From a cruising altitude of 30,000 feet, the MESA radar mounted on the upper fuselage of the Wedgetail aircraft is designed to detect targets more than 400km away in all directions [including] hard-to-see targets such as cruise missiles," Ferguson says. The Super Hornets are a bridging fighter to fill the gap between the retirement of the F-111s and the arrival from 2014 of the new F-35 Joint Strike Fighters. Former defence minister Brendan Nelson was widely criticised in 2007 when he announced the $6 billion Super Hornet purchase, but setbacks and delays in the F-35 project have justified the decision in hindsight. Australia plans to buy 100 F-35s but the project has been bedevilled by technical problems, cost blowouts and schedule slippages. Its original delivery date to Australia of 2012 has blown out and the first squadron of F-35s is not expected to become operational until 2018. Despite this, the Australian government has never wavered from its commitment to the new warplane and still argues that it is the best and most cost-effective solution for the RAAF's future front-line fleet. The troubled project also received a rare bit of good news recently. Its flight testing program, which has been well behind schedule, has gained some momentum and the full-year goal of 394 flights is likely to be met. The Australian