Thud_and_Blunder

Obviously designed to coincide with BAS Week(!), Flight International carries the following announcement: "The US Air Force is to unveil a low-risk development strategy for its planned new medium-lift helicopter, to enable it to field a replacement combat search-and-rescue (CSAR) capability as early as possible. To be announced on 4 March, the USAF's acquisition stratey for the new Personnel Recovery Vehicle (PRV) calls for a contractor to deliver between 3 and 5 test machines and up to 132 production aircraft to replace the Special Operations Command's ageing fleet of around 105 Sikorsky HH60G Pave Hawks. The air force plans to issue a solicitation for the requirement later this year, with the contest expected to involve aircraft such as the Sikorsky S92, Lockheed Martin/Agusta Westland US101 and NH Industries NH90..." The article goes on to say that the initial "Block 0" aircraft will have the same weapon system capabilities as the HH60Gs, with testing of up to 2 PRVs in "Block 10" configuration shortly afterwards.

One from my last tour in the military. I was on loan to the Royal Brunei Air Force (or Angkatan Tentera Udara Diraja Brunei, if you prefer the Malay version) as an instructor. The Bruneians are strong on ceremonial and not much else, so we used to spend more time than is strictly necessary practising formation in our 212s. I sacked the pilot of no. 3 for not having his main rotor aligned with the others...

Very much looking forward to this. Will it really have GPMG, as shown in your last pic? The sole reason I ask is that I only ever saw it with the Browning (M1919, I think...) .30" MG. Although TOW did exist around the time the Ferret was in service, the Mk2 carried Vigilant (as shown in the photo) while the Mk5 Big-Wheeler had Swingfire. No worries though - it's the basic scout cars I'm hoping for! Thanks in anticipation.

I'm currently downloading the v1.51 desant pack from ORCS - sadly I'll be offline for my usual 5 days away on duty after that so won't be able to post any reviews. Get yourselves over to this site to see what it's like.

Thanks Avon - that was the poiint I was hoping to make. Apologies to Edge and especially Inquisitor for being ambiguous - I really do admire the addon-makers and wish they all received due recognition for their work. Right, I'm off to patrol the (night) skies of Birmingham and the W Midlands for 5 days. Look forward to getting online in about 120 hours time to catch up on the latest. Thanks again, and sorry for not having made myself completely clear earlier.

Inquisitor, Thanks - your reply encapsulates both extremes of the OpFP "Community": - the speed and helpfulness of your response, but also - the apparent lack of consideration of some members

Hmm - I've just tried opening the .rar only to find there's some kind of password protection that I've never seen in PowerArchiver before. So it's: 1. Some cunning ORCS device that I don't know how to circumvent. 2. PowerArchiver finally deciding they want some money off me - unlikely, as everything else decodes nicely, OR 3. A corrupt download. Can anyone help?

...speaking as someone who lays the table with knife, fork spoon and stomach pump whenever I'm doing the cooking, I have to say that the Brit cooks do one of the most thankless tasks in the army very well (usually...) Yet when we operated out of Le Luc (ALAT HQ - French equiv of Army Air Corps) for a fortnight, I can remember culinary delights such as undercooked lamb's testicles, lamb's brains (the French really don't like sheep much, do they?) and more variations on the theme of offal than I've ever seen in my life. No, I sometimes think that their gastronomic reputation is just a wee bit overblown. AND they give pride of place in the dining hall to the pompiers, rather than the aircrew for whom the base was established in the first place! Vive la difference...

Bordoy: - only valid for the RAF, RN or direct entry AAC. Most British Army pilots are in fact NCOs, who must have set minimum standards of education, army experience and promotion recommendations. The starting rank for pilot in the Army Air Corps is Corporal. Although applicants from within the AAC are often successful, take it from me that the most elegible pilot applicants are those with "teeth arm" (inf, armour, arty, etc) experience. Learning to fly a helicopter is the easy part; learning how to operate it on the battlefield is where the skill comes in.

Munger, Re your From this webpage you'll see that the 2E isn't actually meant for the British Army. Â Specifically nb:

KJAM, For what its worth, I had 27 very happy years working for Her Maj; 2 in the army where I peaked at L/Cpl, and the rest as an officer in the Royal Air Force. All my time in the latter was on helicopters, as a pilot. Tours included one on loan to the Army Air Corps as Sqn QHI (Flying instructor..). The Army Air Corps DO employ Lynx door gunners - they are AAC ground tradesmen who receive extra training. However, I would be wary about joining the AAC as anything other than aircrew; all aircraft maintenance is done by REME, so the only other work available to you for the first few years is (relatively) dreary stuff like refuelling helis, towing them into the hangar, and cleaning/guarding them The Bell 212 you've seen on the MoD website are only used in Brunei and Belize, and they emphatically DO NOT have an armed role! This is because they are civilian aircraft, owned and maintained by Bristows helicopters but operated by very professional Army aircrew. RAF aircraft like the Chinook, Merlin and Puma do carry armament; the Chinook has provision for up to 3 guns of various descriptions. These are usually manned by RAF Air Loadmasters, known as crewmen when serving on helicopters. When there aren't enough crewmen to go around, as was briefly the case in 1991 when the M134 was first procured, we trained up some of our excellent RockApes (RAF Regiment) in the airgunner role. Of all the jobs alluded to here, I'd say go for pilot first - the most fun you can have with your clothes on. If that's not a possibility, then RAF Loadmaster has to be best from an all-round enjoyment/ quality of life perspective. Whichever you choose, I hope you have as much fun as I had (and still have, flying for the police... )

Good addon. Brings back memories of trying to motorise my Airfix MTB. O/T: ..er, anti-gunrunning and a handful of landings by the Alexandra (a Cross-Channel ferry) supported by Helga (a gunboat) wouldn't normally be counted as pioneering amphib warfare. Caesar, Alexander, the Athenians from 600BC - now they were pioneers!

In that case, start buying shares in Duracell, EverReady and similar companies !!

Kerel, When you think that things like this (a Rhodesian Kudu mineproof vehicle) were in service not long before the time OpFP simulates, I think you might agree that perhaps these aren't so unrealistic after all. Mind you, I'd like to see the buggy with a generator big enough to power up a GAU-series Gatling...

No, just another unexploded device to be cleared up afterward before it blows some kiddie's foot off

Thanks for that last (2123) message Angus - I was about to ask a question re the Tacheartbeat thingy, but I'll run the mod again without any other .PBOs to see if it still crops up. As always, I'm immensely impressed by the support people receive in this community.

It's obviously designed to last a lifetime - the bloke in Gollum's photo is going to have to grow into his...

Colossus, If you need to see pics, why not visit the site. Â On this page you will find at the bottom, where it says "voici 5 images..." all the pics of his downloads. Does that help?

It's a year to the day since this first appeared on the Discussion thread. Can anyone in-the-know tell us what news there is on the eagerly-awaited project? Now that Tonal is with us, some Ferrets would fit in very nicely...

Swiss Army Knife

@Cero, The best info on the BTR-D (a variant of the BMD2 with no turret and a longer, 6-road wheel hull) that I could find is here. Hope this is of some use. Thud

Now that's what I call helpful - many thanks Ebud. To be honest, I don't spend much time wandering around inside configurations; a bloke my age can easily get lost inside those... Cutting and pasting, however, is right up my street(!) Right, to work...

OK, Avon - looks like I'd better start re-reading all those OFPEC editorials I filed away under "when-Open-University-coursework-is-finished-in-2008", then! Must try real life from time to time, though... (sigh)

Ebud, For we mere mortals who lack your programming skills, any chance of showing us how we too can re-do Resistance to include all these new goodies? Please?!

Mr Burns, Lee's avatar is, or rather was, Robert Shaw - a Brit actor and writer who appeared in films like From Russia With Love, the Taking of Pelham 123, and Jaws. Top bloke, died way too young (1927 - 1978).