Flight sim aircraft maker IndiaFoxtEcho released an update earlier today on their Facebook page showing off their latest work on the F-35 project that they are working towards completing for Microsoft Flight Simulator. Special emphasis has been put on the F-35’s control systems and how some of the features work. Let’s have a look!
5th gen comes to Flight Simulator
The big emphasis on this update from IndiaFoxtEcho is the Primary Control Display (PCD) which is the main control interface for the jet. The interface features four “portals” with different information laid out within each portal.
The update from IFE explains what the team has programmed and not programmed as part of their MSFS release. Unlike a fully operational combat jet, this version is aimed at the Flight Simulator market and thus will not have the kind of sensors and weapon systems that a real F-35 would have but they are irrelevant to the sim so their ‘inop’ status shouldn’t come as much of a shock or surprise.
Here’s what they had to say:
Many of the portals “pages” are assigned to mission-systems (sensors and weapons functionality) and therefore will be INOP in MSFS – although in many cases wer [sic] retained their real world appearance.
IndiaFoxtEcho on Facebook
Also included in the post is an extensive list of features that are going to be operational.
- AP -> AUTOPILOT (pop up): fully functional, data input via virtual keypad
- CHKLST -> CHECKLIST mode: real world checklists are classified, we adapted this page to fit to the MSFS rendition
- CNI -> COMMUNICATION, NAVIGATION & IDENTIFICATION -> COM A, COM B, VOR, VORTAC, IFF and audio control functionality implemented. Data can be entered via a virtual keypad.
- DTM -> DATA MANAGEMENT page: basic functionality will allow the pilot to review GPS data and waypoints. In reality this page is also used to store, send and receive images, videos, mission data etc.
- EFI -> ELECTRONIC FLIGHT INSTRUMENTATION: fully functional
- ENG -> ENGINE PAGE: fully functional
- FCS -> FLIGHT CONTROL SYSTEM: fully functional – for accessibility /gameplay reasons some STOVL functions are controlled in this page even if IRL they are assigned to HOTAS control.
- FUEL -> fully functional
- HUD -> partial implementation, not all the symbology is implemented
- ICAWS -> INTEGRATED CAUTION And WARNING SYSTEM page: partial implementation, the system supports only a subset of the real world caution and warning messages
- PHM -> PROGNOSTICS and HEALTH MANAGEMENT page: basic implementation: will only report systems availability and functionality
- SMS -> STORE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM – minimal functionality: it will only be possible to control the weapon doors
- TSD -> TACTICAL SITUATION DISPLAY – partial implementation: page will only show the current waypoint, VOR and VORTAC estimated positions. Also, to save memory, at the moment only one TSD screen is available (in reality there are 3 separate pages).
That is the vast majority of the F-35’s flight systems covered. Meanwhile, these features will not be functional and will be ‘inop.’
- ASR – Air to Surface Radar
- DAS – Distributed Aperture System
- SRCH – Search mode
- TFLIR – Targeting Forward Looking Infra Red
- WPN-A – Air-to-air weapons
- WPN-S – Air-to-surface weapons
For people looking at a high performance jet, IndiaFoxtEcho’s upcoming F-35 for Microsoft Flight Simulator might just be the aircraft that they are looking for. A release date is not yet known but I would imagine that it will be coming before the end of the year.
For now, check them out on Facebook.
Stormbirds 
Have the modeled the laundry-list of faults, delays and crippling costs? :p
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Haha probably not? ☺️
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Cutting edge aircraft release to market in beta state. The next decade is spent fixing problems and upgrading systems to current tech. Then a new generation is launched within 15 years, give or take 5 years. At that point the last gen(F35) is then put into a period of upgrades for performance and PROFIT. The aerospace and contractors benefit from the fact that many customers can’t afford to pay for latest-gen aircraft and instead will want to upgrade the last-gen to compete. This is the most profitable point in an aircraft’s lifecycle. This entire cycle has been embedded in the military/economic structure of major nations since 1945. The industry has a vested interest in keeping that going.
As for faults, buy a new top of the line Porsche Taycan or Polestar. Cutting edge tech brings reliability issues. It’s why Porsche and Audi have more electronic issues than Volkswagen. Volkswagen uses last gen tech because it’s cheaper and has less maintenance issues. Think F16.
F35 is far and away the leader in multirole aircraft globally at the moment. Within 5 years it will be surpassed by Russian or Chinese aircraft, minimally. But soon after that we will see the next gen from US aerospace that should be another leap.
The great advantage in the US is that there are always at least three world class companies building out a new generation aircraft with up to 75% of their resources. The rest of their company is developing updates to older craft. This means the US can almost always leap ahead of it’s competitors. Russia used to have this but economic hardships have forced them to pull back and now they essentially only have one major aerospace developer for fixed wing craft and they are not fully funded even. They can’t maintain their fleet of aircraft adequately and China/India have leeched many of their export sales. China can overtake the US in aerospace within 10-30 years unless the US starts prioritizing education and immigration again. In the last 5 years we lost far too many brilliant engineers due to xenophobia and our natural born engineers can’t do it on their own. Not political, just fact.
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Hi Jack. Thanks for the comment. It’s clear that the F-35 and many high performance jets preceding it have struggled during their development.
To be clear to the readers, I suspect that IndiaFoxTecho are aiming to provide for us a good experience with the F-35 in Microsoft Flight Simulator and the aircraft probably won’t be modeled with some of its better known faults. Which is just fine. This should be a “fun” aircraft to fly around in the sim.
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Could be a good addon if they’ve fixed the flight model issues it has in P3D.
While I understand a highly computerized aircraft like this will somewhat feel “on rails” even In Real Life, it’s excessive in P3D. Hopefully the simulator’s enhanced atmospheric and flight dynamics will be taken advantage of to get us a good feeling of flight.
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Yeah I share your call for that. DCS World has shown that fly-by-wire aircraft still have character and feel… much as that feel may be muted by a FBW system. I’m genuinely curious to see what IFT can do with the MSFS F-35.
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For the real aircraft they add artificial stick-shake to provide better feedback.
However, just because there is a computer involved does not mean that they aircraft does not have a feel to it – you can depart controlled flight in the sense of stalling and you can certainly screw-up. BFM is still down to pilot skill.
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