FerretFangs

Excellent discussion. I appreciate what's being done to make the game better. Nothing to add, but a "Bravo Zulu". For purposes of clarification only, I assume the '91 Apache mission being referred to was "Normandy"? OPERATION DESERT STORM - The "Normandy" Mission * * EXTRACT from "Tapes show division firing first shots of war" by Rob Dollar, KENTUCKY NEW ERA Staff Writer On January 17, 1991, four MH-53 Pave Low III helicopters from the 20th Special Operations Squadron led two flights of Apaches to make the first strike of the war. Pilots of the two flights, eight AH-64A Apache attack helicopters of 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) fired the first shots of Operation Desert Storm. Code named "Normandy", in rememberance of the 101st "Screaming Eagles" airborne operation during World War II, the dangerous mission consisted of simultaneous attacks designed to knock-out two key early-warning radar installations in western Iraq at precisely 0238 hours, January 17, 1991. Both radar sites, each hit by a team of four Apaches, were destroyed within a time span of 4 Ë minutes. Each pilot's primary target became the secondary target for adjacent Apache team members. The first combat mission of the gulf war was launched at 1300 hours January 17th from a staging airfield in western Saudi Arabia, with the two teams of Apaches flying about 90 minutes to the two radar sites about 35 miles apart. The Apache crews observed a radio blackout until 10 seconds before unleashing up to 27 Hellfire missiles that destroyed 16 to 18 targets at each site. The near perfect mission opened a 20 mile wide corridor all the way into Baghdad, Iraq. Moments later, some 100 U.S. Air Force jets streaked across the border for an undetected bombing run on Baghdad that marked the start of Operation Desert Storm's punishing air war. By the end of the day 900 coalition aircraft passed through the corridor. http://tri.army.mil/LC/CS/csa/aptoc.htm If I'm not mistaken, ( It does happen ) there were no allied losses during this particular mission. Had it not been for the Pave Low's advanced nav system, this mission would have not been possible. In 2003, Apaches certainly recieved a "good pounding". Sorry for the OT. Carry on.

Looks like two crators, formed by meteor impacts. But I think they are actually volcanic in nature.

Here's NSA HQ, at Fort Meade, MD. http://maps.google.com/maps?q=....h&hl=en

Well, it is at Langley VA.... Yep, CIA headquarters, apparently on a very slow day(?)

Yep, bingo, I was just about to add that. Of course, I can't imagine how someone could use such a low-res image of the USNO grounds as that provided by Google Maps, to plan an attack against the VP. The place is obviously a heavily-defended fortress, compared to the Whitehouse. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/2559617.stm

Yeah, they're definately concerned about maintaining the secrecy of the Secret Service installations, communications antenna, and defense systems that might be visible on the rooftops of these buildings.

Interesting. What you've happened upon is the US Naval Observatory. Here's a clear, high-res overhead image of the newly-mysterious USNO campus: http://tycho.usno.navy.mil/gif/aerial.jpg What they're concerned about is the security of the GPS constellation. Either to prevent physical attacks against it, or to maintain some secrecy regarding the communications systems used to transmit and/or recieve data to and from the satellites. There is also the mention of other "agencies of the government", and these could include the DOD, DIA, CIA, NSA, and DHS, among others. If these agencies are the reason for the pixelization, I can't imagine what they must be trying to hide.

You're welcome mate.

It's just a generic term for SPECOPS personel. In the US JSOC, there are units who operate under varying degrees of secrecy. How clandestine they are depends on the mission, and not necessarily their "elite-ness", though it does make sence that you'd send your highest skilled troops to do the most sensitve work. A USMC scout/sniper pair, for instance, while not really being the highest skilled commandos on the battle field, do commonly sanitize their uniforms ( removing name, rank, unit, and nationality insignia ) prior to a mission. On the other hand, a USN SEAL DEVGRU team making a midnight HALO drop into the Caspian sea to board and commandier a ship suspected of carrying a stolen nuclear weapon manned by terrorists, may be wearing all the above indentifying ( albeit subdued ) insignia. In the shootout that killed Sadam's sons Uday, and Quesay, members of the Task Force 20, Task Force 5, who are made up of the MOST elite units the US SOCOM fields, including operators from SFOD-D, DEVGRU, ISA/GREY FOX, CIA, and NSA, openly wore subdued US flags. http://students.engr.scu.edu/~jabrah....e1.html If you want more information, go here: http://www.specialoperations.com/default2.html And you might do a google search on the units I posted above.

I would think that would be pretty hard for a computer to chew, given the popularity of effects mods like ECP. Will I have to buy a new system?

Any hope for an Su-34? And I appologise if others have asked for this already. It's a popular plane.

Pretty freaking cool.

Are you planning on adding Ghurkas? They're rather underepresented here in this cmmunity. It's a shame considering how great their history is, and how unique they are.

If I have something to add, I'll post it here. I can GUARANTY that I won't post at your personal webpage. Indeed, have a good evening.

Woah! That's TOTALLY uncalled for! speaking of posting crap! Christ, you need to grow up dude.