SayethWhaaaa

Saw this the other night, not bad. The interviewees are all very respectable too... (Flying Blind, on the top left of the screen) http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/special_eds...ets/default.htm Hugh White and Koop know their sh*t. I'm surprised it's taken this long for them to get noticed... but then again I guess it's election time here and every three years, nothing happens until now...

That very possibly won't happen anytime soon. An interesting thing happened when Indonesia bought their first six Sukhois (4x Su-27SKs and a pair of Su-30MK2s). They got them shipped over, had them assembled, flew them around, were generally impressed until someone wanted to see what kind of payload they could carry when, oops... no one had allocated funds to buy weapons for them!! Ah... When I first heard that I laughed so hard that I reckon I peed a little!

Sorry guys, didn't mean to put you off, but it does involve investing a bit of time into it. That's why it's sweet when new aircraft finally get released, they're worth the wait!

Hehe, not this time. Anders is the dude who made a model to the JA-37 that the A-team adapted for the SFP/WoE/WoV series. You can get it from here: http://www.colacola.se/expo_mirage.htm But like I said, it's just the 3dsm model, you'll have to buy it if you want a copy and then you'd have to adapt it for SFP via the apropriate plugins for 3dsm. After that you'll need to create or modify the apropriate .ini files (XXXXdata.ini, loadout.ini, etc). You'll also need a cockpit for it too since I'm pretty sure there won't be one in the package, but substituting an existing pit isn't hard at all. It just won't be authentic. There'll be plenty of people to ask or (I'm pretty sure) documents in the Knowledge Base that should help anyone looking to make models for this series (hence the mods/skinning section). My weak link is that I don't know what I'm doing and that a tasks that would take people like A-team, Marcfighter, et al a few weeks to complete are taking me a few months (lack of free time is the other killer!). All the ingredients for a Mirage 2000 are out there, it's just a matter of people finding the time and effort (and in my case, knowledge) to create it. There are a pair in production right now, but with a potential patch looming and christmas not far off (not to mention Kwanza, Hanukkah, Eid-ul-Fitr and Bodhi Day for that matter), some projects may be delayed. Always check the updated W.I.P.s sticky for any information of existing aircraft projects. And just a tip: Don't bug the modders with "When is this going to be released" or "What kind of progress are you making" since it's not very polite and they're doing it for their own enjoyment and for the community also. Plus, it' easy to be put off when someone's (or several people) bugging you to show results.

Hi DB11, try this guy: Anders Lejczak (www.colacola.se) He's a 3d modeller, has a few 3dms models available from his site, I bought a Mirage 2000 from there a while ago. You'll have to pay for it though, if you get it from there. I tried to get this translated into Serbian for you, but there aren't too mant sites that actually work, it seems.

S'okay tonight boys, even though you guys do argue like you're married! Just make sure in future that it's a good clean fight, no eye gouging, hair pulling or crying in order to sucker punch. Horsebites and Chinese burns are acceptable, but only in the singular, not repeated applications. Name calling will be allowed, however keep it clean. "Poohead" and "bumface", yay, "[expletive deleted]" and/or "[expletive deleted]" are unacceptable. When the ref tells you to break it up, if not done so immediately, there will be several warning shots fired above the kneecaps. This may also determine the winner after extra time should the need exist. Make it a good one gents

Your Pommie carriers?? Our press knew at one point the F-111 had a designation once but now they can only remember "The Pig". We try not to give our journos too much info, lest they pull that confused face like a dog has when chewing toffee or caramel.

K, just for the record, the following is not directed at you Eraser. You're fighting an uphill battle here as it is! :yes: ...But. My family has a history of Kidney disease thanks, in large to my Grandma's poor judgement (think of the racist old lady from Wedding Crashers, except catholic and VERY morally judgemental.). I have an uncle who's on dialysis (approx 9 hours per day) for roughly 8 years. My dad's kidneys failed roughly 6 weeks ago and he was quite close to death. Sometime in the next 3 months he'll need it for 4 hours a day, however he's able to take various medications that can limit his dependence (hopefully!) on dialysis. He's got a pill box divied up into his daily doseages with something like 16 pills per day! I'm not kidding. I could eat a large pack of M&Ms that has less pilly sized thingos! What's my point? I'm getting to that. If Bin Laden's still kicking (and it's debatable) depending on the severity of his condition, he doesn't necessarily need a dialysis machine and even if he did/does, tranporting and powering one in the field wouldn't be hard for an organisation that is able to run weapons, ammunition, explosives, food etc to it's various AOs. It's proven he has considerable personal resources, wealth, etc. He'd have considerable support from like minded organisations in the region and around the world, particulaly in Pakistan. And it's not like he's particularly fundamental to the running of Al-Qaeda, there are already too many stooges willing to volunteer. What I don't understand is how this information came to be known? How do we know this isn't disinformation from Al-Q to make him seem feeble and therefore underestimate him? Then again, maybe he is dead and the lack of info about him could mean the US is creating a 1984 style "Emmanuel Goldstein, The brotherhood" perpetual enemy situation without realisnig it (or maybe intentionally). Maybe Lindsay Lohan really is trying to rehabilitate. I mean there's just not enough info it seems to make a decision either way. Except about Lindsay... that's about as nutjob as "9/11 In Plane Sight" or "Loose Change".

Jules, you going for a bombay in that thing? Even if you don't, you've got plenty of space to work with and I'd hate to be on the receiving end of that mofo. Looking badass thus far, for sure!

I dig that F-2 skin...

"...but it's okay, we don't need carriers. We've got airbases to the North we could occupy as we need. I mean it's not like the enemy could use them against us if they got ashore first... could they?" ^^That dude who figured you don't need carriers if you have AFBs close by should have been shot! The US and UK have shown for years now the versatility of carriers. I'd like to see how this Op would have been planned minus the carrier element. Good luck!

Damnit! I gots to wait till Friday... It gonna be a long week now

Is that the South African modded Hind? Coz that thing is badass!! I mean it takes all the goodness of the hind, pimps it out with modern gear, new engines, composites, EO and IR sights and a larger variety of weapons... How could you go wrong?? Especially since it's now supposed to be fitted with an IR surperssor! Woot! I'll take 10! I mean meh, who needs an Apache? EDIT: I have another one for you all: and there always seems to be one of these shots...

Cross checking... last resort of the untalented :fuk:

WHat I don't get is that the Yellow Sqn skin I started making and released for the Su-27 is utter shyte, and yet no one's said to me "Its pretty crappy dude" or "You know, it doesn't look like that" and it deserves it WAY more than what a lot of the modders recieve! And what's Colbert got against the Gimme Gimmes?? They're a great band! Is it because they covered one of Manilow's songs??

Hehe, no one's other than the VVS is buying Su-34s at the mo, which kinda sucks. It's a good plane. As for the parts, MoD here is buying them at cost or occassionally with a 10% mark up Depending on the part. Now someone at Tenix told me that at cost is actually maintenance cost, not production cost. If this is indeed true, then parts are gonna be cheaper for our pigs than for my buddy's new Skyline GTR! (maybe not, but you get the picture - CHEAP!)

Q: Whadaya call a Nun with a washingmachine on her head? A: Systematic

You could always move to Aus... I mean, our dollar is cheaper, we don't take your first born if you can't pay your health expenses and Aussie women got nuts for Yank accents. Plus you get to pick on New Zealanders! I mean it's win win!

Okay, I'm not 100%, but I think it goes something like this(Call me out if I've made any mistakes or missed something): It didn't fail per se, but the developmental process for an existing "off the shelf design" being modified for the specific requirements for the JASDF mirrored the approximate length of designing a new aircraft from scratch. Initially, the JASDF just wanted an F-16 optimised for the strike/interdiction/anti ship role with secondary air defence duties and all was set. But politics tripped everything up. At the time of dev, there was a massive trade imbalance with the US that was in Japan's favour and Japan wanted to license build and assemble it entirely themselves. In order to redress this massive imbalance, US industry was green lighted by Congress to slap export limitations on certain vital elements to the design, FBW was a big issue (Japan developing an indigenous variant with considerable difficulty) and I think some construction processes involving carbon fibres and other then new materials (Though I'm not 100% on that). These export limitations prolonged the development cycle until a deal was reached whereby Japan was able to buy licenses (at pretty steep prices compared to market standard) for the existing tech required. This resulted in a new variant that was something like 4x the cost of the Block 50/52 models with a relatively similar capability. In 1999 when wing cracks were discovered, the remedy again proved expensive and delayed the initial in service entry until 2000 (compared with the initial planned time of 1995, then 1997) It is a very capable plane, and with tear any aggressor a new ass if they tangle with it, but at one point it was dying from death by a thousand paper cuts. Plus given the price they're paying for it, they could have bought much newer and more advanced platforms in the meantime. Also, the retirement of the F-4EJ was pushed back so as to offset a possible capability gap from the reduced number of F-2s ordered.

Chocco...? Yeah... I do melt, so long as no one calls me F.I.N.C.L.E, I should survive

Not sure yet. Waiting to see what my chances of getting into Aviation are going to be like. Only problem is that if I'm successful, I won't be going back to Uni next year because it's full time... at the moment, I'm looking at reserves (possibly the ready reserves if I'm given the option) as it'll fit in with Uni nicely.

I don't think it's cowardly per se, but it's definitely naive. I'm in the process of joining the ADF as we speak, and I have to say, I joined for similar reasons. The ADF are getting desperate for personnel (they'd have to be if I'm joining ) . They're keen to provide training and skills, things that'll be recognised in the private sector if or when I choose to leave. And they're quite flexible and it just seems like a really good opportunity so I don't want to pass it up. Don't get me wrong, I'm not using this as a springboard into the private sector. It just seems like a great opportunity to gain some invaluable experience. I mean, I do love my country, but I'm not patriotic at all. It's a chance at a new career. I'm not the kinda person who's keen to jump off into the next combat zone and get shot at, but the fact is that it's part of the job. As is deploying, training and other things that may take me away from my home town... something that my gf is very much not cool with. But it's something I think I'd volunteer for in time, but not right away since my lack of training would probably mean I'll just be underfoot. But yeah... to join the military but not want to go is not uncommon, but to join and expect to not go anywhere is just kinda stupid...

There are well over 300 airframes in AMARC in Arizona (I think) that are in great condition that the RAAF buys and canibalises for parts. However, there's been a fear campaign from the current administration suggesting that the condition of the F-111s is quite poor and that parts are rare and maintenance costs are skyrocketing. This is partly to support funding for the JSF since early retirement of the F-111 would help pave the way for a JSF introduction in 2014 (as opposed to 2018/2019), assuming LM can keep their end of the deal and deliver them on time.

I can't remember the exact number but it's 4-5 Airbus tankers and 4 (plus 2 options) Wedgetail AWACS. The real question is, how close are they going to have to be to the AO? As for specific Pig replacements, probably only 3 aircraft on the market can fit that role, those being the F-15E family, the Su-34 and the Su-24. Now Australia won't buy Russian for several reasons but mostly because we're (historically) a purchaser of European/American systems and the political doctrine of having the highest ability to integrate with US forces (thus meaning to have compatible weapons systems). Many in the AF were surprised the Strike Eagle wasn't considered as it seemed to many as the logical choice and there was a pretty favourable lend-lease arrangement deal on the table as of 2001 which, from my experience, was reasonably popular with the RAAF but less so politically. The Eurofighter wouldn't have been chosen simply because current thinking is "if we're going to spend AUD $100 Mil + (which we can't afford anyhow) on a new platform, it better be Gen 5 state of the art." Rafael may have been considered, the RAAF has no issues with Dassault or the French per se, but politically, the relationship has been a little bumpy yet, still better than the one with Boeing! AFAIK, the F-16 was last offered in the early 80s as a mirage replacement (along with the F-15) and it wasn't offered this time because LM was garnering support for the JSF. And Dept of Defence will rarely buy new toys off the shelf (the PC-9s, Hawk 127s and SuperBugs are the obvious exceptions). The biggest concern overall by the ADF (over the past few years at least) is that there has been less consultation with military officials and an increasing participation of lobby groups. Several decisions have been made without the participation of the ADF, particularly with the decision to be involved with the F-35 and the replacement options for the Pig, but also with the introduction of stand off weapons. The RAAF knows that employing JASSM (and our longer range variant) and potentially JASSOW will significantly enhance strike options, however they're a bit annoyed that the platform to be used seemed to be arbitrarily decided. The current plan is to have Bug/SuperBug wings and AP-3C Orions take over the long range strike roles until the F-35 is delivered. This is very much a "last option" stop gap. Neither have what you could call "dash speed". And it doesn't help that there's a general ignorance of the Su-30MK series coupled with the thinking that stealth is a panacea... Also one other thing. A couple of years ago when this pig: landed wheels up due to a landing gear malfunction, the entire fleet was grounded until the fault was found. If we're replacing all Pigs, Hornets and eventually Super Hornets with the JSF, and there's a JSF accident. What do we do when the whole fleet gets grounded...?

Can someone tell me how the hell I can recall my account details for BF2?? It used to be that under the manage accounts button, I'd type in my email address and it would send me out an email with my details, password, etc. My now, all I get is this Gamespy sh*t which asks me to update my details but has ABSOLUTELY NOTHING related to BF2 apparantly... I know EA have been absolutely stellar in their support of BF2, but tell me they haven't outsourced their account keeping too?? Any pointers in the right direction would be great as I'm only babysteps from my next promo.