T-Bone

Hey guys, We've begun revamping the website and you can take a look at the preview here: http://www3.sympatico.ca/wynhou/15/Story/ch1pt1.htm http://15.wyn.vze.com This webpage will be moved to Biohazcentral soon. T-Bone

Glad to hear she's doing fine. She'll make her daddy proud :) Congrats. T-Bone

In the hospital? what happened? Best wishes to her by the way. T-Bone

Either way, I have spoken to many in the Marines who dislike the current administration's policy on Iraq. The fact of the matter is, no matter how much you dislike the policy or policy-maker, you are not there to make it. You are there to follow orders and have respect for your leader. That is the burden you have the carry in the armed forces when you are faced with the moral paradox of carrying out your order and "doing the right thing." I am not going to argue over which adminstration had better policies as I personally believe neither of them were as great or as horrendous as many lay out to claim. However, I feel it is our responsibility to maintain what has become an almost extinct viewpoint in American dialog: that of a centrist. Be neither a liberal nor a conservative, but someone who is interested in ensuring continued national economic vitality and freedom by accurately recognizing and correctly responding to the economic, political and environmental problems that surround us without letting party affiliation blind you from forming your own thoughts and opinions. T-Bone

Interesting, the USN folk seem to have major issues with Clinton while most of those I've spoken to in the USAF hold nothing against him. T-Bone

LOL, that is the funniest thing I've heard in a long time. T-Bone

Well either way, you will change a lot because the new environment and new experiences will make you mature more. The way you act, dress, even think will probably change. For the better in many cases. Work hard! You're the envy of millions who don't have a college education :) T-Bone

As a leader, I believe he commanded respect among our men and women in the armed services. His charisma and persona commanded authority and it is something many of us will not forget. The man had a mistique about him that gave him an image of power. T-Bone

I just saw it. Great movie IMO. They did minimize the romance and they did a great job with the battle scenes. Characters are well rounded and there are a few one on one battles between characters which are very well done. Watch out for Hector, the most impressive character in the entire movie, and his battle with Achilles. They did alter the story from the Illiad but Oddyseus is still in. The Greek gods are left out for sake of realism... overall I think it was worth watching and it carries subliminal messages that modern day members of the military such as myself can atest to. T-Bone

The Black Sea Operations is an epic three part F-15C campaign saga that is being created by members of the BiohazCentral staff along with retired USAF personnel and third party flight simulation enthusiasts. The backstory to the conflict has been written by four people and aims to bring a totally new experience to the Lock On: Modern Air Combat theater of operations. The campaign set will span two years of conflict set in a hypothetical scenario in the near future through 200 missions. Operation Southern Cross is the first chapter in the saga comprising the first 40 missions set in Georgia focusing on the 493rd "Grim Reapers" F-15C squadron. Its interesting to note that we originally planned on creating this one as a single hypothetical cold war parody/satirical campaign, Operation: Crimean Thunder, with 20 "fake" missions set in 1985. However, we felt that the story we were developing had enough substance behind and was well fleshed out to make it become a true epic geopolitical drama in itself. So instead of a hypothetical Operation Flashpoint type war, we decided to edit the story to be a huge war ripped from tomorrow's headlines set in the year 2008. This is the year that the JSF is supposed to enter service. It comes right before a huge transition in the USAF inventory and it is plausible that the JSF and F/A-22 would not enter service yet due to delays so it will be the last time many of the fighters we see here will be in service before slowly being phased out. Thus what was originally planned as a 20 mission regular campaign based on the default LOMAC campaign evolved into a 3 part saga spanning 2 years of conflict and 200 missions called the Black Sea Operations. Southern Cross was the name entitled to the first campaign, a prequel set against the Russian army's southward crossing through the Caucasus mountains through the Kordi Gorge into Georgia. We decided that the flat terrain of the Crimean Peninsula would not fully utilize the map presented in Lock On. The Caucasus range presents exciting terrain masking / valley flying tactics that many of you interceptor jocks have not dealt with before (besides in Janes F-15 in the Iranian Zagros). Crimean Thunder is the main conflict of the series and Georgian Fire is the sequel/epilogue to the epic war fought between NATO and Russia in the Black Sea in which NATO liberates Georgia. So why 200 missions? We decided this would be enough for at least 100 hours of game play to provide enough experience with the F-15C for the player to become proficient at using the aircraft against all opponents offline and online. This would be the perfect F-15C training tool. It also turned out to be the perfect movie making basis... and soon we'll be publishing small war stories based on missions in the campaigns on the F-15 training website. The creation of squadron characters to fly as aids as a novelization tool. Rick "Armadillo" Sanders has taken it upon himself to do a superb job with the help of retired USAF officers to write a novelization expanding upon the storyline of our campaign. Here is a preview of his work. Personally I think it is superb! The storyline was very well researched by the USAF guys and provides an excellent explanation for the LOMAC NATO vs Russia scenario by building upon on real world conflicts today into something scarily plausible. On the Wings of Eagles The F-15C experience in the Black Sea Operations 2008-2009 Prologue: Shifting Sands The Republic of Iraq February 5, 2006 Lieutenant Peter “Shooter” Hart dropped down the ladder of his F-15C exhausted from the long transatlantic flight from Eglin Air Force Base to Iraq. The 58th Fighter Squadron had just been deployed to “H3,” a former Iraqi air force base used during the Sadaam era situated close to Jordan, in response to a new crisis that had recently been brewing in Iraq. In the years following Operation Iraqi Freedom, the failure of several attempts to quell fundamentalist Shiite insurgents had led to a massive Shiite uprising in the fall of 2005. Shiite separatist forces gained power in southern Iraq in the area surrounding Basra. Shortly after, the radical cleric Ayatollah Mohammed Hadim finally returning from his 26 year exile from Iraq incited his Shiite followers to support the secession of the unstable Shiite controlled southern region which he referred to as the Islamic Republic of Basra. The Iranian Ayatollah Khameni pledged full support to these actions. Hardliner fundamentalists had once again taken control of the Iranian government at this time and on January 26, Shiite separatist forces drafted a formal declaration of their independence expressing their dissatisfaction with the new Iraqi government by launching a wave of suicide attacks in downtown Baghdad in a coordinated attempt at assassinating members of the new Iraqi parliament. Fortunately their plans were thwarted by the newly formed Iraqi security forces. Over the past few weeks, CIA satellite intelligence had indicated a massive influx of Iranian military forces into southern Iraq perhaps in preparation for any reprisal from coalition forces. To the post-Sadaam Republic of Iraq, the city of Basra was crucial. Being the closest port near the small strip of the shat al Arab waterway, Iraq’s only outlet into the Persian Gulf, the new Iraqi Republic could not afford to have the southern territories annexed into the Islamic Republic of Iran. War was appeared imminent as occupational ground forces were approaching the borders of the southern Iraq. The 58th Fighter Squadron, better known as the “Gorillas” were no strangers to the theater of operations. Over a decade ago, F-15Cs from the unit were responsible for the majority of the air to air kills during the opening days of Operation Desert Storm. The US Air Force had done such a great job at convincing the Saddam’s forces that they stood no chance against US Airpower that the Iraqi air force never sent a single aircraft up in the second Gulf War. All this raced through the young Lieutenant’s mind as he walked into his squadron’s temporary living quarters. The provisional quarters were rudimentary but functional. It was hard to believe that over a decade ago, these dusty barracks had been the home of the enemy Mirage F-1 pilots that the Gorillas had shot down on the opening night of the Desert Storm conflict. Shooter had heard about his predecessors’ triumphs in the desert years ago. But that was then and this was finally his generation’s time to prove themselves. It did seem to feel that this was only a new chapter in the years of conflict in Iraq that had begun with the Iraq-Iran war in the 1980’s, extended into Desert Storm and had been left unfinished following Iraqi Freedom. The region remained unstable and the conflict seemed never-ending. How much longer would America and its allies remain in a region that remained hostile even against the best of intentions? He wasn’t the only one asking the question. The White House and Congress were taking a serious look at alternative sources for petroleum exports. The war on terrorism had taken a heavy toll on the United States economy and was leaving Arab world increasingly displeased with the American presence in the region. Recently elected Israeli hardliners in the region only served to make matters worse by reinforcing Israeli settlements on the West Bank. Although many in Congress viewed drilling in Alaska as a viable option, environmentalist groups had caused enough publicized opposition to the plan that it became a cause for concern in the general public. Talks were beginning to emerge between the United States and Ukraine and Georgia for possible exports out of the Black Sea. Shooter had flown over the Atlantic as the number four wingman in his four ship of Eagles. Some of his luckier squadron mates managed to ride in the belly of some C-130s but many like him faced the grueling 18 hour transatlantic flight. Several stateside A-10 and F-16C squadrons also flew in that night. They faced vertigo and disorientating midair refueling. This was to be largest military buildup in the region since the second Gulf War. Even with Dexedrine pills, the long flights were taxing on these young pilots. A graduate of the University of Illinois, Shooter had majored in Mechanical Engineering and enrolled in Air Force ROTC. He joined the squadron only fourteen months prior to this first deployment. He was the nugget in the squadron, but his exceptional performance at flight training had prepared him well for his F-15 assignment at Eglin. Just weeks prior to all of this, he had proposed to his college sweetheart Jenna. He had no idea what was in store for him. He preferred the F-15C over all other fighter aircraft that had been offered to him in the USAF because it was the plane his father had flown in the 1980s out of Kadena Airbase in Japan. Although he was proud to be flying the Eagle, the thought of fighting another war based on the nation’s oil interests troubled him. Hart was by no means a warmonger. In fact, his most memorable experience had nothing to do with combat training in the F-15C. He had flow through the Rocky Mountains out in Colorado while training in the T-38 a few years back and considered it his “epiphany.” Either way, it was not up to him where he would go. The young Lieutenant was somewhat anxious about the whole situation. If trouble came, his squadron would serve as the first and last line of defense against any Iranian air attacks against coalition positions. His element leader, Captain Robert “Dusty” Franks would be his roommate in their barracks. Shooter walked into the dusty room carrying his two duffel bags and suitcase from his F-15’s luggage pod while Dusty sat on a sofa flipping through a month old issue of Time magazine. “Three weeks ago I was told that we were going to get assigned to Incirlik Turkey. Not this ****hole,” Dusty said. “Apparently the Turks are tight-lipping us because we’ve been giving too much aid to the Greeks.” Dusty was referring to the new export version of the F-16C that Lockheed Martin was shipping over to the Hellenic air force. The upgraded avionics suite and conformal fuel tanks on the new block 60 F-16Cs made them look startlingly different than the regular F-16CJs they were used to seeing. Recent disputes over Cyprus had soured relations within NATO. “But I have to admit,” Dusty continued, “This is better than that Al Saa… something in the United Arab Emirates we got stationed at last year.” Shooter chuckled. “This is the first time I’ve been deployed overseas. I called Jenna before we left. She’s still at nurse school in Tallahassee. She’s graduating in a few months. Never had a chance to say goodbye to her in person and I don’t think I’ll be there for the ceremony either. This deployment was so damn sudden. Hopefully things will clear up within a few days. I mean combat isn’t something you’d wish for but if it comes down to that I’ll do my job.” “Yeah, it certainly looks like our friends at the Pentagon know something is going on. It looks like the Iranians are trying to start some kind of revolutionary movement. The radical Shiites down south hate the hell out of this new secular government they’ve set up in Baghdad.” “Its funny three years ago we saved their asses from Saddam’s thugs. This is how they repay us,” Shooter replied. “Personally I think we’ve been here long enough.” Captain Mark "Weasel" Warner walked into the room. Weasel was a seasoned pilot and a veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom although he didn’t see any actual aerial combat in that conflict. He was born in Michigan in 1976 and was the quarterback of his high school football team before going to the University of Michigan where he studied of all things, international affairs. He joined ROTC in his sophomore year and decided to become a fighter pilot after an incentive flight in a Cessna. Weasel was originally assigned the T-38 as an instructor pilot but later transferred into the F-15C. He was also the squadron clown. Underneath his joking exterior, however, stood the makings of a great leader. This was because Weasel understood a lot more about the current situation than Shooter and Dusty. Many pilots in the United States Air Force at this time had come out of ROTC on express scholarships for majors such as Electrical or Mechanical Engineering. The USAF maintained that engineering majors provided a terrific background in math and science to build upon in pilot training. A background in international affairs, however, gave Weasel the advantage when it came to assessing the nature of the conflicts that the squadron would be involved in. He loved taking part in these discussions. Weasel butted into the two pilots’ conversation. “Guys, you can see the reason I supported Iraqi Freedom is even more valid now than it was then. The western world needs at least one substantial, proven and stable source of oil outside of its own borders. The stakes are not small, we need this to survive. Now I’m not to saying that the oil isn't here. Very simply, Iraq’s political situation and let alone the planet’s current reserves, are deteriorating much faster than alternative resources can be developed.” “Oil? Saddam’s weapons of mass destruction did pose a potential threat to us.” Shooter replied. “I disagree. By invading Iraq, we pretty much implicitly acknowledged the coming oil crisis that we are currently in with needed action. WMD was not really our primary objective. I am not saying that is wrong. The administration was smart enough to have the foresight to see into establishing a stable base for oil exports in the region. But we failed to act in a way that would lead to a stable Iraq. From the first day we crossed the border, I knew that the war was lost. And indeed, events have proven my worst fears to be right,” said Weasel. Dusty looked confused. “How did we lose the war? We caught Saddam Hussein and set up a new Iraqi government.” Weasel adjusted his flight suit. “Look at things right now three years after the war. We went in with the pitifully naïve notion that we would be welcomed by an oppressed and freedom hungry people. The White House became a fantasyland, ignoring what little good intelligence was available in favor of listening to dangerous advisers like Ahmad Chalaby… you know that guy’s contention that US troops would be greeted with elation by the Shi’ite majority was believed and acted upon by the Rumsfeld despite the CIA’s warnings that the Shia distrusted us.” “We liberated the Shia people from Saddam’s Baath party. What reason would they have to distrust us?” said Shooter. “The Shia were extremely suspicious of the United States from the beginning. Think about it. Personally I think they had good reason to be. We cynically encouraged them to rebel against Saddam back in Desert Storm. Then we cruelly pulled out of their part of Iraq and gave up the chase to Baghdad, just weeks after promising them that we would stay. We alienated them for the sake of keeping the coalition intact. When Saddam returned, three hundred thousand Shia were brutally murdered. That has got to be pretty much the single worst thing that has ever happened to the Shia in Iraq. I still can’t believe our friends at the Defense Department planned the second war and the recovery of Iraq on the assumption that the Shia would be cooperative. We should have ended this back in 1991. It was the right thing to do. And it would have saved us all this trouble right now.” “****, you are actually making some sense Weasel,” replied Dusty Weasel continued on. “So in less than a week a few photographs made a mockery of all the sacrifice of our entire American effort in Iraq, and caused our contention that we represent the goodness of the human spirit seem like the rank lie that our enemies claim that it is. You guys see it now… a stable oil supply from Iraq is not on the horizon. While oil from our stable Kurdish allies in the north might well come our way, the situation in the south is essentially hopeless. We pretty much ****ed it up big time. With the depth of damage to the social fabric and the hostility we have gained, we are not likely to see a stable supply from the south for a very long time. But what is worse is that the oil crisis that probably inspired our move into Iraq in the first place is growing worse. Did you hear about the new study done by the University of Arizona? World oil reserves are far less than oil exporting countries are claiming. Inflated claims on the part of many countries were due to a need to support their vast indebtedness with oil reserves that are, in fact, nonexistant.” Shooter nodded. “I think our most valuable supporter here is Saudi Arabia the one country whose destruction would bring about the ruin of the world’s oil markets as we know it now. The Saudi Royal Fam-” Weasel cut him off “Saudi Arabia is not really ruled by the royal family. Don’t you see? It’s just an illusion. Day to day rule in the country belongs to the Religious Police, and they report to the religious leadership, which, although nominally under the power of the king, are, in fact, independent entities. If the Saudi Royal Family falls, then we will at once need to invade and gain detailed control of the country in order to insure the continued flow of oil. But Saudi Arabia is a ****load more complicated and sophisticated oil pumping machine than Iraq. It is vulnerable in thousands of different places and maintaining its functionality against even small groups of fanatical saboteurs would, quite simply, be impossible. Without the royal family, we lose our free access to Saudi oil, and it is not likely that the royal family will survive in power even a few more years. I doubt we have seen the end of our problems in the Middle East. Far from it. We have hardly yet seen the beginning. It is time for us to go somewhere else.” Shooter set his luggage under his bed and laid down as Dusty and Weasel continued discussing the crisis. The mattress was as hard as a rock but he didn’t care. It was a little past 1600 local time. He closed his eyes. He had not slept for over 48 hours. It was amazing what the human body could do on adrenaline, but Shooter had reached the point where he could not keep his eyes open anymore. It all seemed so surreal. He was finally in a situation where he might see actual combat and the thought both excited and horrified him. Weasel was not far from the truth. The world’s oil markets were indeed in a state of turmoil. Shell and Texaco had downgraded its reserves by four billion barrels earlier that year because of overstated reserves in Oman and Venezuela. As fate would have it, a monumental European oil deal was being brought back from the dead on that very day. At Brussels, European Union and Ukrainian representatives had just signed a preliminary agreement to begin a project to extend Ukraine’s Odessa-Brody oil pipeline north. From Poland, oil would be able to be pumped along existing lines to Gdansk and on to Western markets. Ukraine had agreed with the Chevron Texaco oil giant to ship 9 million tons of oil westward to Brody annually, and then to transport it to Chevron-owned refineries in Poland, Germany, and the Czech Republic. From Brody, the German- and Czech-bound oil would flow along an existing pipeline through Slovakia. Polish refineries will be supplied by rail. Both the Ukraine and the West would benefit from this alternative petroleum export source. At same time, Kiev had no idea their new Brody-Plock pipeline project had just sealed their fate in an upcoming conflict against an old adversary. THE SKIES over the Tigris River February 7, 2006 “Pennzoil 12, Chalice, multiple bandits bearing 178 for 118.” AWACS had just informed Shooter that enemy aircraft had crossed over from Iranian airspace into southern Iraq. Shooter and Dusty were flying a two ship CAP. They had clearance to escort the enemies out of Iraqi airspace. They turned south and jettisoned their external fuel tanks and dropped down to 10,000 feet. On their radar screens, they picked up three contacts. They were identified as Iranian Su-25 Frogfoots. A convoy of Iraqi army forces was retreating from insurgent forces and the Iranians were in hot pursuit in the late afternoon sky. Dusty and Shooter dropped to the deck and went supersonic, closing towards the enemy formation at 800 knots. The earsplitting crack of their sonic booms echoed on the banks of the Tigris as the two modern F-15Cs sped over the timelessly lush landscape of what was once Mesopotamia. A farmer’s flock of goats scattered as the jets thundered overhead. They were within fifteen miles of the Su-25s. “Dusty I’ve got a lock on the second guy trailing behind the lead. Slammer is locked” radioed Shooter. “I’ve got my sidewinders selected… our ROE says we need to escort these guys out of here.” replied Dusty. “Roger that.” Three specs appeared on the horizon. They seemed to circle around a trail of dust kicking up along a lone stretch in the southern desert like a flock of vultures. Shooter and Dusty were less than five miles away now closing at an extremely high speed. The Su-25s dispersed and dispensed flares. Dusty decided to make a high speed pass at the lead to shake him up. Closing at transonic speed, he locked up the lead Frogfoot and rolled up and around, taking advantage of the Eagle’s superior speed and maneuverability. He extended out towards the Persian Gulf out on the horizon. Shooter meanwhile was engaged with the two other Frogfoots. He slowed to their speed and snuggled up between the two. They were less than half a mile apart traveling less than a thousand feet above the desert floor at close to 300 knots. They were flying in a straight line, apparently looking for their leader. “****,” he thought to himself, “what the hell are they doing?” Shooter was nervous. This was the first time he had been in contact with an enemy aircraft. Yet at the same time he felt his confidence well up within him. His training was coming back to him. He formed up next to one Su-25 so close that Shooter thought he could make out the pilot’s face. He examined the Su-25’s wing pylons. They were armed with rockets and two R-60M Russian missiles. It was now clear. The Iranians were expecting a war. The Iranian pilot suddenly realized his third wingman was not a sand camouflaged Su-25 Frogfoot like his own craft. He took a long hard look over his shoulder and saw a large grey F-15C Eagle. The pilot inside was staring straight at him. The oxygen mask and dark visors made the American pilot look frightening. Shocked and confused, the pilot peeled away to the right almost colliding with his wingman. The three Su-25s rejoined over the Persian Gulf headed east back towards their base in Iran. Shooter breathed a sigh of relief. No shots had been fired today although the Iranians would have some explaining to do. Several violations of Iraqi airspace had taken place within the past few weeks and the USAF feared that these skirmishes might eventually escalate into a live fire situation. It was now close to 1900 and the two Eagles were low on fuel. The sun was setting in the desert sky and bright orange hues appeared on the western horizon. Dusty and Shooter rendezvoused over a preset waypoint a bit south of the city of Basra. Their altitude was still low. Shooter rolled to the side to peek down at a tiny village in the middle of the rocky desert. He could make out a group of trucks in the fading light. Just then he also made out the faint corkscrew trail of a shoulder launched SA-7 coming from the rooftop of a building. Dusty and Shooter were at an altitude of 4000 feet. Shooter increased his thrust to full military power and shot out a stream of flares. “Dusty I have manpad launch 2 o’ clock!” screamed Shooter over the radio. His voice was two octaves higher than normal. The missile was guided not towards Shooter. It was headed towards the infrared signature generated by Dusty’s F-15C’s PW-220 engines. Dusty rolled to the left and pulled hard only to see the missile homing directly towards his exhaust. A bright flash lit the sky up. Shooter glanced over and saw the SAM shoot up into Dusty’s tailpipe. Dusty’s F-15 was badly damaged. His right engine was gone and he was trailing fuel. “JESUS CHRIST!” screamed Dusty. “I have to divert to Baghdad international immediately!” The first shots fired in anger had come from the Shiites in what would be a long and brutal civil war. H3 Airfield February 9th 2006 Members of the 58th Fighter Squadron huddled around a television set inside a hanger. CNN announced that due to the events of the previous night’s engagement, the President had set an ultimatum. The deadline for separatist Shiite forces and the Iranian military to abandon southern Iraq was February 17th. Shooter and Dusty walked into the hanger. “Hey Weasel, where were you last night?” said Dusty. Weasel nearly choked on his drink laughing. “Damn Dusty. Aren’t you just a bit shaken up? The *******s did get a good shot at you,” Weasel remarked. “The crew chief says the plane will take a while to repair. That missile shredded my right engine and the shrapnel gave me a fuel leak.” Shooter glanced over at the television set. There was breaking news, not from Iraq but half a world away. “We have just received reports that Vladimir Putin’s plane bound for Vladivostok has crashed… it is unclear whether or not there are any survivors…. We are receiving conflicting reports…. sources say that the plane may have suffered a mechanical malfunction…” Poor economic growth coupled with growing crime in Russia had led the country into economic turmoil. The straw that broke their back, however, had come months ago with the collapse of the Russian banking system. However, Russia was the last thing on the young pilots’ minds at this moment. Most of them had grown up in the post Cold War era where the world no longer faced the threat of the old Soviet Empire. MOSCOW, Russia February 11th 2006 Dmitri Kovalev smiled as he watched the confused news reports flood in. Russian President Vladimir Putin’s plane had gone down somewhere over the Siberian tundra. The former Soviet General had succeeded. A plan that had taken months to devise had worked and his rise to power seemed imminent. Kovalev was an ultranationalist leader and key military figure in the Soviet Union in the 1980’s. He was an ardent supporter of returning the Russian republic to its Soviet glory. A short balding man, he was reminiscent of a modern day Nikita Khrushchev. Kovalev looked over at General Pyruskin, sitting on an armchair to his right. Pyruskin had ordered the shootdown of Putin’s plane. A lone Su-27 Flanker had quietly slipped behind Putin’s transport and taken a single missile shot sending the Russian president plummeting towards the barren Siberian tundra. Backed by Communist members of the Duma and key Russian military figures, Kovalev would soon have the green light to become the new vice President of the Russian Republic. He would go to the ultranationalist hard liners with the proposal to become vice President under the provisional President Boris Zhirinovsky. The plan would be to coup Zhirinovsky and allow Kovalev Presidency and to restore communist power to the Kremlin. The chance would arise when Zhirinovsky became ill. The man was famous for heart problems. Kovalev had made a promise to the Prime Minister if he brought to vote a new position for vice President, he would retain him. As soon as the vice presidential position was created it was only a matter of time for Zhirinovsky to die. His heart disease medication would mysteriously “disappear one night.” Kovalev had already begun to solidify his powerbase. There was enough dissent in the Politboro over the waning economy and growing crime and enough connections made with military leaders that Dmitri Kovalev’s rise to power was almost secured. One obstacle remained. The United States of America and NATO would never accept the formation of a resurgent Russian Empire. Kovalev, however, had contacts with several Iranian operatives. He would have his operatives smuggle in a radioactive “dirty-bomb” and hit a Western target. In effect, the United States and its European allies would become embroiled in a long war against and the Islamic Republic of Iran in southern Iraq that would leave Russia alone to pursue its own communist agenda. H3 AIRFIELD Feburary 16th 2006 “CNN has received reports that a radioactive dirty-bomb was packed off in a Cypriot freighter, and set to New York harbor, but was intercepted by the Coast Guard moments before it was armed. An Iranian Shiite faction has claimed full responsibility. This comes just one day before the president’s ultimatum to the forces of Iran to leave southern Iraq…” The reports came flooding in. War with Iran was now inevitable. What had begun as a small uprising in southern Iraq had now escalated into a showdown against a country twice as large and three times as mountainous as Iraq. The Iranian military had spared no expense in the past years improving its military. Exports from China and Russia had given this “axis of evil” nation a considerable military backbone. It was rumored that North Korean advisors had begun training Iranian pilots a year in advance in the event that such a conflict would arise. Shooter could not believe what was unfolding before his eyes. T-Bone

Addon will need to be purchased of course as with all things these days. Apparently UBI will not be distributing due to some bad feelings between ED and UBI. UBIsoft obviously pressured Eagle into releasing LOMAC before it was ready, but at least it wasn't nearly as bad as Falcon 4.0 when it was released. This new addon sounds REALLY exciting... you guys need to keep your eyes peeled because it will add a new dimension to LOMAC... literally Ok thats too much info... have fun! T-Bone

Carl said UBI forced ED to release LOMAC too soon. Then again I think if we had to wait til now to get the finished product we'd all be going insane :P And watch out for the new addon, Carl spoke to me about his plans and they sound very exciting! T-Bone

Slickwilli, contact me on ICQ and we can discuss this... ;) I'll give you a clue, he has some VERY exciting plans :) T-Bone

Release what? The multiplayer mission pack or the actual campaigns? T-Bone

Its interesting to note that we originally planned on creating this one as a single hypothetical cold war parody/satirical campaign, Operation: Crimean Thunder, with 20 "fake" missions set in 1985. However, we felt that the story we were developing had enough substance behind and was well fleshed out to make it become a true epic geopolitical drama in itself. So instead of a hypothetical Operation Flashpoint type war, we decided to edit the story to be a huge war ripped from tommorow's headlines set in the year 2008. This is the year that the JSF is supposed to enter service. It comes right before a huge transition in the USAF inventory and it is plausible that the JSF and F/A-22 would not enter service yet due to delays so it will be the last time many of the fighters we see here will be in service before slowly being phased out. Thus what was originally planned as a 20 mission regular campaign based on the default LOMAC campaign evolved into a 3 part saga spanning 2 years of conflict and 200 missions called the Black Sea Operations. Southern Cross was the name entitled to the first campaign, a prequel set against the Russian army's southward crossing through the Caucasus mountains through the Kordi Gorge into Georgia. We decided that the flat terrain of the Crimean Peninsula would not fully utilize the map presented in Lock On. The Caucasus range presents exciting terrain masking / valley flying tactics that many of you interceptor jocks have not dealt with before (besides in Janes F-15 in the Iranian Zagros). Crimean Thunder is the main conflict of the series and Georgian Fire is the sequel/epilogue to the epic war fought between NATO and Russia in the Black Sea in which NATO liberates Georgia. So why 200 missions? We decided this would be enough for at least 100 hours of gameplay to provide enough experience with the F-15C for the player to become proficient at using the aircraft against all opponents offline and online. This would be the perfect F-15C training tool. It also turned out to be the perfect movie making basis... and soon we'll be publishing small war stories based on missions in the campaigns on the F-15 training website. The creation of squadron characters to fly as aids as a novelization tool. Tonight we tested out one of these missions online publically. Personally, I think this campaign experience far exceeds my original expectations. Believe it or not I had more fun in this mission than I have in many missions I've flown in Falcon 4.0's dynamic campaigns online. A word of caution. A lot of these missions are HARD. Harder than the majority of USAFMTL's campaigns due to the large number of enemy fighters and air defenses. Since the shared experience of the campaign is extraordinarily fun, I am now considering making EVERY single mission in the Black Sea Opeartions have a multiplayer version so you'll have the ability to play every mission in the campaign with your squadronmates/friends online to share the experience. T-Bone

Haha well Stormin did contact us about some interesting future plans ;) T-Bone

There will be an A-10 campaign as well. T-Bone

How do these new graphics look to you guys? T-Bone