lazboy

Well my heads always in the clouds and I like nothing better than a dogfight but the AI really does as you say seem to have gone up a notch or two as easy kills are few and far between and far more is now taking place in the vertical. Well I shall have to rewatch "Dogfights" on the Discovery Channel for some advanced pointers.

With all the interest this week in WOI I almost missed the release of this little beaty, which would have been a damn shame. Fantastic job credit to all those involved and another great addition to the skies of WOE. Lazboy

I am sure there already is one wasn't it made a sticky?

Purchased downloaded and enjoying and with the current dollar exchange rate exceptionally cheap in the UK. Only one comment is it possible to change the intro music as that is going to continue to drive me crazy? lazboy

Now you are scaring me Craig how big is a Huge FPS loss as my main machine is a similar spec to yours? PS.Have you finished decorating your bathroom yet? Lazboy

It has been implied elsewhere that the Migs that the Algerians received were actually refurbished aircraft rather than brand new build aircraft that the Algerians had been expecting for their money and that the quality of the refurbishment was not particularly high. Lazboy

As ever pushing the envelope in weapons development are you likely to upload the mod at some point?

Great as always, you'll make a lot of people happy when you release this bird as it will fill a long standing gap in our ranks. Lazboy

This link may be of interest to those preparing the Formosa Straits terrain and campaign as it show the current location and disposition of Chinese SAM sites covering the Straits amoungst other items. http://geimint.blogspot.com/

I am really just looking forward to the skies above WOE being filled with even more exotic creatures and the J-10 will go so well with the Formosa Straits terrain which is currently a work in progress.

I think we will have to agree to disagree on this one Erwin, give it a few more months and then we will really know what the J-10 is capable of and don't be surprised if all those photos on the net arn't faked.

No Problem Erwin, the J-10 is already proving to be a far more capable aircraft than was originally believed and when fully operational will be able to deploy the full range of dumb and guided air to ground munitions as well as the latest air to air missiles available to the Chinese. There is already available footage of the J-10 carrying air to ground munitions and using them in training and exercises and even of the laser designator fitted.

The Buccanneer does bring back fond memories of when we actually had a navy and a Fleet Air Arm and due to my advanced years I was lucky enough to see a few fly in the past, a classy old lady right to the end even doing sterling service in the Gulf War in 1991 alongside aircraft less than half her age.

My research has thrown up the following additional information about the weapon load of the J-10 which is apparently referred to as the "Vigorous Dragon". The J-10 has 11 external hardpoints: five hardpoints on the fuselage with one on the centreline and a pair of hardpoints on each side of the fuselage, and three hardpoints on each wing. The outer wing stations carry air-to-air missiles such as the Chinese built Python 3 PL-8, P-11 or PL-12 or the Russian Vympel R-73 (AA-11 'Archer') or R-77 (AA-12 'Adder). The PL-8 infrared homing short-range air-to-air missile is manufactured in China under a licensed production agreement by the China Academy (formerly the Luoyang Electro-optics Technology Development Centre) and is a variant of the Israeli Python 3 missile. The PL-11 is a licensed-manufactured variant of the MBDA Italy Aspide medium-range air-to-air missile. The PL-12 missile is apparently manufactured in China under a collaborative agreement with Russia. It uses the Russian AA-12 Adder missile technology configured with a Chinese-developed rocket motor to give a range of 50 miles and speed of Mach 4. The aircraft can also be armed with laser-guided bombs, the anti-ship YJ-8K or C-801K solid rocket powered missiles, the C-802 land attack and anti-ship turbojet-powered missiles manufactured by CHETA, and the YJ-9 anti-radiation missile. A 23mm cannon is installed internally on the port side of the forward section of the fuselage above the nosewheel. Additional fuel can also be carried in auxiliary tanks on the centreline under the fuselage and on the innermost pair of the three sets of wing hardpoints. Typical air-Superiority and interception weapon configuration are mean't to be: 4X PL-11 / PL-12 MRAAM + 2X PL-8 SRAAM + 1X 800ltr drop tank 2X PL-11 / PL-12 MRAAM + 2X PL-8 SRAAM + 2X 1,600ltr drop tanks + 1X 800ltr drop tank For surface attack and interdiction missions, the J-10 could carry up to six 250kg low-drag general-purpose (LDGP) bombs and 57mm/90mm/130mm unguided rocket pods. Although the PLAAF has already developed the pylon integrated dispenser system (PIDS) that can carry up to six 250kg LDGP bombs for the J-8B fighter and JH-7 fighter-bomber, the similar system has not been seen being equipped by the J-10. Typical surface attack and interdiction weapon configuration: 2X PL-8 SRAAM + 6X 250kg LDGP bomb + 2X 1,600ltr drop tanks + 1X 800ltr drop tank 2X PL-8 SRAAM + 2X 500kg LGB + 2X 1,600ltr drop tanks + 1X 800ltr drop tank + laser targeting pod Hopefully the above information particularly with regards weapons and hardpoints will be of use to Wrench and the others working on this project.

Whilst searching the net for information on the Chinese J-10 i came across this site which deals with the interpretation and analysis of Google Earth images to identify militarty sites and installations. The site has a detailed analysis of current Chinese Sam sites as well as airbases and a guide to locating such sites for yourself throughot the world including within Russia and the US. http://geimint.blogspot.com/ Chines SAM sites http://geimint.blogspot.com/2007/10/chinas...y-analysis.html J-10 Airbase locations

Sorry Craig must admit that we did wander off topic but in the words of a one time Oscar winner " Show us the Money" Lazboy

It certainly would be good to see the old Buccaneer in the WOE skies and would go along way to filling the remaining Fleet Air Arm gaps, for a decent Buccaneer I can definetly wait 2 weeks. Lazboy

Were the shots of the Buccanneer RussoUK is preparing posted on Ace Combat as I don't recall seeing them? Lazboy

Well who other than Sri Lanka and Columbia are likely to buy Kfirs in this day and age even if they are refurbished, wouldn't they be better off buying secondhand F-16's?

According to a number of articles I have read recently regarding the J-10 it is considered to have performance comparable and probably slightly better manoeuvrability than the current F-16's although nowhere have I seen anyone suggest that is surpasses the Eurofighter, Rafale or Gripen although who knows we may be complacent and surprised as the Chinese aviation industry may have lept several generations in a single bound!

Well I currently run 2 base units and a laptop and there is a notable difference in the performance of WOE between all 3. One base unit has only 512mb of memory whilst the other with a comparable spec has 2gb and on the higher memory unit there is a very appreciable difference in performance. The laptop with a dual core intel processor also flies even though it has only 1gb of memory and allows me to still fly whilst away from home. I would definetely upgrade your memory to at least 1gb if not 2gb if you get stretch to it it can revitalise an older or lower spec machine and is cheaper generally than upgrading graphics cards or changing processors. As Nicky said here in the UK at the moment memory and storage are dirt cheap although I am aware that this is not the case all over the world. If you upgrade your memory you will not regret it. Lazboy

By the looks of it unfortunately Fast cargo has his hands full at the moment with other projects maybe one for the back burner. At some point I would like to be able to fly from a carrier all of the Fleet Air Arm aircraft from the 50's onwards such as the Skyraider and of course the Buccanneer which has yet to appear as even a WIP. lazboy

UK-based Air Force Monthly magazine published in its January 2007 issue some estimated data of the J-10: Length: 15.50m; Wingspan: 9.7m; Wing area: 39m2; Empty weight: 8,300kg; Maximum take-off weight: 18,000kg; Air-to-air combat weight: 13,200kg; Maximum speed: Mach 2.2 (high-level) or Mach 1.2 (sea-level); Internal fuel: 4,500kg. The Jane’s All the World’s Aircraft made some similar estimates: Length: 16.50m; Wingspan: 9.36m; wing area: 34.6m2; Empty weight: 8,300kg; Maximum range: 2,300km (internal fuel only) or 2,900km (with drop tanks); Service ceiling: 19,000m. Based on the above estimates, it was concluded that the J-10 is about the same size as a Lockheed Martin F-16. With its canard configuration and slightly larger wing, the J-10 probably has slightly better manoeuvrability than the F-16. The aircraft also features some major characteristics of Western third-generation fighters such as the F-16 and the Boeing F/A-18, including the computerised “fly-by-wire” (FBW) flight control; the use of high-thrust afterburning turbofan jet engine that ensures a near 1:1 thrust-to-weight ratio for high performance 8~9g combat manoeuvring; and the ability to employ advanced radar and weapons. The J-10 has made some significant improvements in avionics, which is traditionally a major weakness for all Chinese-made fighters. CAC revealed that the indigenous radar equipped by the J-10 is a pulse-Doppler (PD) design with a mechanically slewed planar array antenna, capable of tracking 10 targets and engaging 2 (using semi-active radar-homing AAM) or 4 (using active radar-homing AAM) of them simultaneously. Possibly based on Russian or Israeli technologies, the radar is believed to be comparable to the early 1990s era Western fighter radar designs. Alternatively the J-10 could be fitted with a range of fire-control radar introduced by Russian, Israeli, and European manufacturers on its export variant. For air-superiority mission, the fighter carries 2~4 PL-11 (semi-active radar-homing) or PL-12 (active radar-homing) medium-range air-to-air missiles (MRAAM), and two PL-8 or PL-9 all-aspect IR-homing short-range air-to-air missiles (SRAAM). The J-10 was the first Chinese-made fighter to have surface attack capability in mind right from the design stage. The fighter is fully capable of all-weather offensive strikes, and could be fitted with a forward looking infrared and laser target designator pod. The AVIC I has displayed a model of the J-10 carrying what were believed to be targeting and navigation pods, which would provide the capability of the J-10 to deploy laser and satellite navigation guided weapons. In a typical surface attack mission, the fighter carries up to eight 250kg bombs, along with two drop tanks and two PL-8/9 SRAAMs Below are some Links to details of Chinese Air to Air Weapons which might assist with the creation of the weapon models. http://www.sinodefence.com/airforce/weapon/pl8.asp PL8 http://www.sinodefence.com/airforce/weapon/pl9.asp PL9 http://www.sinodefence.com/airforce/weapon/pl12.asp PL12 http://www.sinodefence.com/airforce/weapon/pl11.asp PL11

I guess there are only just so many aircraft configurations possible to acheive the required levels of performance etc. which is why we are starting to see so many similar;y shaped EF-2000 does have 2 engines though. Lazboy

F-4 Mirage F-15 I would suggest choosing aircraft that were used by a number of nations and which actually have proven air combat records. Lazboy