Eagle Dynamics in this DCS World Weekend News update spent the whole update talking about the DCS: F-15E Strike Eagle. In it we learned some new information about a digital book that will be available to owners of the module as well as reminders about the currently available tutorials. They also said something that gives us a guess at what the intended release date will be. I’ll engage in a little speculation at the end but first… the news!
Validation, testing, digital book
This week we’ve learned directly from Eagle Dynamics that the DCS: F-15E Strike Eagle has entered into Eagle Dynamics’ validating and testing phase. With past experience, we know that this process can last weeks and months and while the pre-order begins on February 15th there will still be a bit of a wait.
The DCS: F-15E Strike Eagle by RAZBAM has entered our final validation and testing phase. The pre-order, which comes with a 30% discount, is currently planned for the 15th of February, 2023. Once the pre-order begins, we anticipate the F-15E to be released into Early Access a few months later and perhaps sooner.
DCS World Weekend News
A few months definitely lets us know that this isn’t due out just a couple of weeks after the pre-order but it still does give us a window into its release. I’ll speculate at the end.
Digital book
Steve Davies, aerospace defense writer, and host of the 10 Percent True podcast will be bundling his book with the release of the DCS: F-15E Strike Eagle by RAZBAM. This 100,000 word book utilizes research from Boeing’s historical archives, interviews with the people responsible for making the aircraft a reality and with flight crews who flew the F-15E on missions and in combat.
The bundled book is called ‘Be Afraid of the Dark (Part 1)’ and it covers the history of the jet up to 2002 (and the Suite 3E standard). Part two will then be sold through his website.
Update: In an earlier version of this post the author was listed as Steve Davis instead of Steve Davies. It has been corrected!
Instructional videos
Eagle Dynamics is also highlighting the various tutorials that have been coming out about the F-15E over the last several months. I’ve reported on nearly all of them as they have come out but I’m still surprised that there’s already 11 of them and likely more to come.
Release date speculation
Everything you read after this point is now no longer the news but my speculation based on the latest statements and past experience. Going into this year I had initially assumed that the F-15E might make an appearance as early as February or March, however, its now very clear that I was a bit optimistic. It happens! Even the developers are never quite sure on just how long some things will take until the project is on the home stretch.
With word that the F-15E is officially in validation testing and that the project is months out I’m going to make a couple of guesses, look at some calendars, and make a best guess with available information.
Assuming things go smoothly with the testing and assuming that this process still takes a couple of months to achieve, I’m going to make a guess of this aircraft appearing sometime between Wednesday April 19 and Wednesday May 24th. DCS Open Beta patches tend to come on Wednesdays and they tend to come in the middle or back-half of the month although there are exceptions to this rule all over the place.
Will my crystal ball be accurate? It rarely is so always take this as pure speculation but we do know that this process can take a few months to achieve. RAZBAM, as an experience developer with DCS World, may have some advantages that will help them along but at the same time they are also bringing together one of DCS World’s more complicated modules.
Stay tuned!
Stormbirds 
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