There’s been a lot to talk about today for DCS World and it looks like we’re not quite done yet. It appears that we have confirmation that DCS World will see a full fidelity MiG-29 coming to the sim. There’s not much information but here’s what we’re going on.

Information from Eagle Dynamics COO

Eagle Dynamics COO (Chief Operation Officer), Katia Perederko, in a chat on the Russian section of the Eagle Dynamics Discord server was answering several questions and one in particular stood out among the rest. News that Eagle Dynamics are planning a full fidelity MiG-29 9-12 (Fulcrum-A) for DCS World.

In response to a question about the MiG-29, Katia replied with the following,

9-12 после черной акулы 3

dotrugirl / Katia Peredenko

That was then translated by Google Translate to read,

9-12 after black shark 3

Ok, well, that’s something.

Not completely surprising

This isn’t the first we’ve heard that a MiG-29 would be a potential candidate for a full fidelity Russian type in the next couple of years. Eagle Dynamics CEO and Founder, Nick Grey, mentioned it in an interview he did with the Grim Reapers, and Simon, Global Business Development Director for Eagle Dynamics, hinted at a full fidelity Russian type in his chat with the FJP podcast.

What’s changed here is that we now have a sense of a timeline and commitment level. While past mentions have been somewhat hypothetical, Katia’s response to the question on the MiG-29 is much more of a confirmation of their plans than we’ve had before.

First, however, the team working on the Ka-50 Black Shark 3 needs to finish that project up. It’s a safe bet that this will happen sometime in 2021 which means that a full fidelity MiG-29 9-12 variant is somewhat further afield than that. So, don’t get too excited just yet but at least we can take heart in the news that at least one more full fidelity REDFOR type is coming to DCS World.

The 9-12

Although I’m far from an expert on MiG-29 variants, the MiG-29 9-12 or Fulcrum A was an early build of the MiG-29 series with a debut in 1983. It’s very likely that the jet that Eagle Dynamics has been cleared to represent is from that era.

The 9-12 was reserved for the Soviet Air Force while two export models were also prepared. A 9-12A was exported to Warsaw Pact countries such as East Germany while the 9-12B was exported to non-Warsaw Pact countries and had stripped down systems. Notably, the 9-12A went on to see service with the East German and then reunified Luftwaffe before being used by the Polish Air Force into the modern day. More relevant to the current scenarios in DCS World, the IRIAF is another operator of the type.

It will be interesting to see what Eagle Dynamics does with the MiG-29. Will there be just one version? Will a modernized NATO compatible variant be on offer as well? It’s far too early to know all of their plans but one way or another… it looks like a full fidelity Russian type is coming to DCS World. But we’ll have to wait a while yet.