We haven’t heard much from Deka Ironworks over the summer, however, they have made a couple of small updates with some images of the Chinese Liaoning aircraft carrier as well as answering a couple of basic JF-17 status questions. Let’s have a look!

Liaoning first images

Built as a Kuznetsov-class, the Liaoning was famously sold to China through the Ukraine and after a long and tumultuous transit, was transferred to the Chinese Navy. In 2016 it was declared combat ready.

Deka also showed off a new ground vehicle in the form of the PHL-03 MLRS. The vehicle is currently using temporary textures only and will be retextured before release.

These future additions to DCS World will continue to build up the arsenal of Chinese aircraft, ships, and systems.

Though these objects are important, its also important to note that the only aircraft to operate from the Liaoning are the J-15 fighter, and the Z-18 and Z-9 transport helicopters.

The J-15 is built heavily on the Su-33 although its systems share more in common with the J-11B than the J-11A and Su-27/Su-33 combination. This makes it questionable if we’ll be able to operate the J-15 any time soon as its Chinese made systems may not be available in an unclassified state such that it could be modeled accurately.

That said… nothing is stopping anyone from using a Chinese skin on a Su-33 and flying from the deck of this future aircraft carrier.

JF-17 talk

It’s been a while since we heard about the JF-17 and its nice to hear even a small update about this module. According to Deka Ironworks, the aircraft is still in a state where coding and art work is being developed.

JF-17 is still under heavy coding, and our modeler is re-texturing the whole cockpit.
We would like to share what will be included in early access and estimated time of EA by the end of this year

Hopefully in a few months time we’ll have a better indication of where this aircraft is at in development and when early access might be stated.

The JF-17 remains an interesting aircraft subject as it offers a potential REDFOR multiplayer answer to aircraft like the F/A-18 Hornet with advanced 4th gen features and capabilities. Although the JF-17 has some of the same limitations of the F-16 and F/A-18, it is expected to be a full DCS World module with multi-role capabilities.

Deka Ironworks taking the visual appeal of the module seriously is certainly important and so I’m curious to see what they can do with their first full DCS World module. While developers like RAZBAM and Heatblur have developed reputations, Deka Ironworks so far has made a mark developing extra content and revising the Su-27 into the J-11A. Their efforts were thorough and so I’m excited to see what they can do.