A small collection of news items have popped up for DCS World fans over the last several days and I thought I’d collate them all into a single article to help keep you up to date. We have new screenshots of the La-7 from Octopus G, some F-86 bug fix news that will surely get some attention, a tiny tidbit on the F-4, talk about the F-16’s targeting pod conundrum, and more!

OctopusG releases new La-7 screenshots

Two new screenshots and some overview information on the La-7 have been posted by Octopus G on their Facebook page. The La-7 is the ultimate WWII variant of the Lavochkin line that got started with the problematic LaGG-1 and LaGG-3 before gaining a second lease on life with the La-5 series. The La-7, with its numerous aerodynamic refinements, propelled it to a high level of performance and made it a close contender in late war battles.

Here’s what Octopus G wrote about their La-7’s projected competitiveness in DCS World.

In the world of DCS, the Lavochkin’s closest competitors are the Spitfire, Mustang, Focke-Wulf, and Messerschmitt. While the Mustang and Focke-Wulf can be easily outmaneuvered in turns, the Spitfire should be defeated in vertical maneuvers, utilizing high energy capabilities. The Messerschmitt is the closest competitor in terms of its characteristics. Fighting it is almost on equal terms and largely depends on the skill of the pilot.

And here are the screenshots too!

F-86 gun radar getting a fix

This is one of those old bugs that’s been annoying people for a while and is getting a solution. A thread on the DCS World F-86 bug reporting sub-forum has collected a good number of posts from people showing off the apparent issue with the radar based, lead computing gunsight. When all things are configured correctly, the guns appear to fall just beneath the target rather than be lead into them.

Good news, however, as a fix is now apparently being worked into the schedule. Here’s the comment from ED Community manager BIGNEWY.

Hi all, 

I can only apologies for the delay, the teams are very busy constantly. I have raised the issue with the team responsible and they will be making some time for the gun radar issue soon. 

thank you for your patience. 

BIGNEWY on the DCS Forums

F-16 switches from Litening to LANTIRN

This is a bit of an interesting one. According to the DCS: F-16C Roadmap which has been edited a few times in recent days, one of the changes coming to the F-16 will be the switch out of the Litening pod over to the LANTIRN pod.

That would immediately raise some eyebrows and, as I understand it, what we have right now is part and part with some symbology based on the LANTIRN and others using Litening. I turn to NineLine for the explanation on why the change is being made.

This is only about the Viper, the reasoning was the information we have and the references we used, some of which ended up being about the LANTIRN. The reason why we won’t keep the LITENING is now that our data was for the LANTIRN we do not have enough info to say the LITENING is modelled correctly. 

This will not affect other modules as those would have the needed information for those Aircraft/systems. 

The Sniper is still planned as well. 

NineLine on the DCS forums

From the sounds of things, overall functionality wont change but the accuracy of the simulation will be more in keeping with the LANTIRN pod. The Sniper XR pod is also still on the roadmap which should offer some added capabilities over what we have right now with the Litening/LANTIRN mashup.

F-4 tidbits

I know the community is desperate for some updated news surrounding the DCS: F-4 Phantom. Heatblur are staying relatively tight lipped at the moment while the team continues to work towards a release. We know that the project was initially slated for a 2022 release but delayed due to a number of factors (such as their art team in Ukraine facing power outages under bombardment).

A January 2023 update gave us a small indication of where the project was at and reiterated that their marketing campaign would ramp up when the time was coming near. We’re not there yet but we did get a tiny bit of insight into what they are planning after early access release.

That includes a Japanese pilot option to help simulate an F-4EJ. Cool!

Personally I find the F-4EJ to be one of the coolest aspects of DCS: F-4E!

We’ll be introducing a Japanese pilot option post-EA release as well

Cobra847 on the DCS World forums

With dozens and dozens of countries having operated the F-4E, Heatblur picking this model does open the door to quite a few different regional liveries and potentially some regional specific tweaks such as displaying a different pilot model. I don’t think we’ll see a full on F-4EJ modification itself but its still good to have these little additions.

The Gamblers briefing info

Baltic Dragon posted on the r/Hoggit group a few days ago to show off what the briefing cards would look like for the upcoming DCS: F-16C campaign.

F-16C: The Gamblers
by u/baltic_dragon in hoggit