Some new details are out today from Eagle Dynamics on some of their projects in progress. We have news about release preparations for DCS: The Channel as well as some interesting F-16C update details as well. Plus a few other tidbits along the way.

The Channel preps for release

DCS: The Channel is the second DCS: WWII map available right now and the first from Eagle Dynamics. The map has been out since last year and features some impressive details. Still, it needed some finishing up and those pieces are coming into place now.

Work on airfields is being completed and several more have been added to the map. It’s unclear if they are adding more fields or just fixing small issues with the one’s already present. Among the other upgrades are cosmetic changes, unique objects and support facilities have been added, there are improvements to the road and rail network, Citadelle d’Arras has been worked on, and more details have been added around the city of Amiens.

Notably, in the update, is an image of the Amiens prison which has been given custom damage model details. Why is that so remarkable? Well, as it happens, Mosquito fighter-bombers flying in Operation Jericho on the 19th of February, 1944, used skip bomb techniques to demolish the wall around the prison. This allowed Allied personnel being held at the prison to escape. Surely a mission that the future DCS: Mosquito will be able to fly.

F-16 updates

The DCS: F-16C Viper is undergoing some serious work as the Eagle Dynamics team shifts resources back to the project. This appears to be happening in a two step process that first will see the aircraft undergo a round of bug fixes before work on new avionics, sensor improvements, and other functions are added.

The F-16 just got the AGM-154A JSOW this week in an open beta update so already the jet is starting to gather some capabilities.

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We have also learned that later this summer we’ll gain access to WCMD (Wind Corrected Munition Dispenser) which will come in the form of the CBU-103 and CBU-105. These are essentially the same as the JDAM is to the standard MK-82/83/84 series bomb where fins and a GPS/INS system turn the standard bomb into a smart weapon. Here the CBU-87 and CBU-97 receive a similar kind of upgrade with similar results.

Here’s what the DCS World Weekend News had to say:

The WCMD is cluster munition that will correct for wind effects and errors during a ballistic fall and turns a “dumb” cluster munition into an accurate “smart” weapon. With the addition of this weapon, you will be able to independently assign multiple WCMDs to targets in a single pass (using multiple steerpoints as targets). WCMD versions include the CBU-103 with 202 BLU-97B submunitions and the CBU-105 with 10 BLU-108 Sensor Fuzed Weapon (SFW) submunitions. 

DCS World Weekend News

Those sound interesting and should add even more capability to the jet.

NASAMS added to the mix

There’s a new SAM battery in DCS World. The NASAMS (National Advanced Surface to Air Missile System) is a Norwegian developed system that uses the AIM-120 AMRAAM in a ground based launcher with a capable radar. It gives us a relatively modern air defense system (introduced in the 1990’s) for NATO and partners.

According to ED, a typical battery comes with three launchers, a fire control unit and a radar unit. Each launcher houses six missiles.

All of this and more over at the DCS World Weekend News.