This post is now out of date.
If you’ve read through the Q&A notes on the session that happened last weekend, you probably already know that Jason and Han spent a little time going over when certain pieces of content were going to arrive and that gives us a pretty good timeline for the next year.
Roughly every month and a half a new piece of content will be added to the series. Pre-order owners will be able to access the content once its added to the game and will get to experience each new piece as the Battle of Kuban product is slowly finished.
Disclaimer: Jason and Han both emphasized that this list is early. Things could change and timelines can slip when problems are encountered.
The tentative timeline
Note: This timeline has now been updated (October 6) to reflect the current status in red unreleased and green for released.
December
Bf109G-4 – With a 1.42ATA boosted engine, the Bf109G-4 has more available engine power over the G-2 version. This Bf109 variant takes us all the way through the Kuban battle. It’s visually similar to the G-2 but with a fixed tailwheel and enlarged forward gear. Small bumps on the upside of the wing surface help make room for the larger wheels.
Status: Released December 19, 2016
January
Bf110G-2 – The Bf110G-2 comes with more powerful engines, a vast array of gun pods and bomb options, and enhanced default firepower (with the MG151/20 cannons replacing the slower firing MG-FF/M). A potent heavy fighter and attacker.
Status: Released January 31, 2017
February
He111H-16 – An updated version of the He111 bomber. This version has more powerful engines and enhanced defensive capabilities thanks to MG131 upper turrets and MG81Z twin machine gun mounts in other gunports.
Status: Released February 28, 2017
March
FW190A-5 – The A-5 variant of the FW190 arrives. A longer nose to help redress balance issues when carrying armaments, slight improvements overall, and the possibility of enhanced ground attack loadouts. The butcherbird comes into its own in the A-5 model and I’m excited to see it.
Status: Released February 28, 2017
FW190A-3 flight model update – This is when the issues with the FW190A-3 flight model should also be resolved.
Status: Released January 31, 2017
May
IL-2 Model 1943 – The 1943 model of the IL-2 comes with enhancements all around and a factory installed rear gun turret with a Berezin UBT 12.7mm machine gun making it that much more survivable against enemy attack.
Status: Released May 11, 2017
June
Spitfire Vb – A personal favourite of mine. Small numbers of the iconic British Spitfire Mark Vb models outfitted several units in the Kuban battle. Agile and packing a punch from its twin 20mm cannons, the Spitfire Vb is in many ways outclassed by other fighters of this 1943 timeperiod. However, the Spitfires excellent handling attributes should make it a fearsome opponent.
Status: Released July 6, 2017
July
The Kuban Map – The team expects to launch the Kuban map into the series sometime during July. No career mode will be available at this time so it will likely be limited to quick mission builder and custom multiplayer matches only.
Status: Released August 29, 2017
September
Hs129B-2 – Although it was under powered, the Hs129B-2 was an excellent tank killer and a well protected ground attacker. Analogous to the the IL-2 but nowhere near as successful, the Hs129 is a welcome addition to the series and to dedicated mud movers.
Status: Released August 29, 2017
October
Yak 7B – Though a familiar aircraft, there are enough differences between this Yak-7 and the other two Yak models that we have that this is basically a new fighter for the team to build. Though not the cream of the crop, the Yak-7B was a key player in 1942 and 1943 on multiple fronts and its heavy forward firepower and nearly equal handling to other Yak models makes it dangerous.
Status: Unreleased. Current ETA is November 2017.
Career Open Beta – The new career system will launch here replacing the old single player campaign system that came with IL-2: Battle of Stalingrad and Battle of Moscow. This beta might possibly launch for all three products and is a nice enhancement to the series even if you haven’t bought into Battle of Kuban.
Status: Unreleased. Current ETA is November 2017.
November
November is a busy month for the team according to the schedule.
A-20B – A fast twin-engined radial powered attack bomber used by American, Australian, British and Russian forces (to name a few). An extremely capable light bomber and attacker typically fitted with forward firing machine guns and a fairly heavy bombload made the A-20 a key bomber and important in the Kuban battle.
Status: Unreleased. Current ETA is November 2017.
P-39L-1 – Shunned by the British and American air services, the P-39 came into its own in the low altitude combat of the Eastern front where its excellent build quality, compact radio and heavy hitting 37mm M4 cannon were worth the weight in gold. Many Soviet aces scored large numbers of kills in the P-39 before flying other Russian types.
Status: Unreleased. Current ETA is November 2017.
New historical campaign for Kuban – Presumably this will be a scripted single player campaign in the spirit of Ten Days in Autumn that is being sold on the IL-2 website right now.
Status: Unreleased. Current ETA is November 2017.
December
Final release of IL-2: Battle of Kuban!
Sometime later
A recent forum post by IL-2 Producer Jason Williams indicates that the Bf109G-6 and La-5FN will be made available as future Collector Planes. Additionally, a third party contractor is working on a Po-2 and a Li-2. ETA is unknown for all of these types.
Other items
Somewhere along the line we will also see dozens of new features.
We should see the launch of the new co-op system sometime in the first half of 2017 – possibly in late spring. DX11 engine update is due before the end of the year along with the Ju52 3m. After Battle of Kuban releases we may, although its far from certain, see the release of a couple more Collector Planes before the team turns its full attention to the Battle of Midway.
Stormbirds 
Hello! ! Are they delivering the 111 with 360 degrees top turret? ? Did they change their minds? ? Last time they said there would be no turret.
LikeLike
You’re talking about the powered turret on the He111H-16/R1 with a MG131 in the turret. The last we heard from the devs was that they were not going with the R1 modification and sticking with the standard H16 which still has a MG131 but not in the powered turret.
Given Han’s info talking about a remodel of the rear area I’m curious if that means they have reversed their decision. I would be careful not to read too deeply into that right now.
The He111H-16 is coming in February if the schedule holds so we’ll know soon enough!
LikeLike
Would like to know if their will be any IL-2 torpedo missions in Battle of Kuban. Next question will their be any Devastator torpedo bomber in Battle of Midway.
LikeLike
Hi Anthony. The devs have said to us on the forums that there won’t be any air dropped torpedoes available at launch of IL-2: Battle of Kuban (final launch date when it goes out of early access is expected late December).
They are developing air dropped torpedoes for Midway so we may yet see them for Kuban at a later date.
Despite not having any torpedoes, anti-ship strikes in this sim are incredibly fun. I made a post about that about a week ago. The ships are very well detailed. I can see how great they will be for Midway too.
No aircraft set is confirmed for Midway but I would be VERY surprised if we didn’t see the Devastator. The TBD was the key US Navy torpedo bomber during the battle. I would expect to see it! I’m even excited to fly it.
LikeLike
” the team turns its full attention to the Battle of Midway.”
Except, they have no intention of working on the Battle of Midway.
LikeLike
Yep. Midway has been delayed, however, when I originally wrote that (December 7, 2016 which is a year and 1 day ago) that was the plan.
LikeLike
It says current ETA for Yak 7, P-39, and A-20 is November 2017. However it’s March 2018 now.
LikeLike
Hey Novice-Flyer,
Indeed. You’ll note I haven’t really updated this post in a while as its dramatically out of date. The original plan was for each of these to release in stages but then things got pushed back quite a lot and everything (plus two Collector Planes) got rolled into the final big release.
LikeLike