Last week I attended a closed door presentation by 1C Game Studios with a showcase of what the team is planning for the next several months and beyond. We were joined by Daneil Tuseev and other members of the IL-2 Sturmovik team who gave a presentation and answered some questions put forward by creators. Now that the embargo has lifted, we can share with the public what we’ve learned about their plans together with some provided images as well as a new roadmap of what is ahead. There are some really interesting things coming to the series in the next 12-months and there are some interesting possibilities that we might see beyond that. So, buckle up, and let’s get into this.

Mapping out the future of the series

IL-2 Sturmovik as a flight sim series has a long and storied history dating back to 2001 when the original was released. The 25th anniversary of the series launch is coming up this autumn and 1C Game Studios are planning to do some “interesting things” to mark the occasion according to the briefing we recieved. We’ll know more by the end of September of what they are planning to do but they have said that the celebrations will be reportedly interesting for both newcomers and for people who have been playing for the whole two and a half decades.

We learned early in the presentation about the delays to the initial roadmap for the Great Battles Bomber DLC and various other projects. The simple answer is that 1CGS had to make use of additional resources and development time get Korea IL-2 Series launched first before moving back to their original goals. I don’t think anyone is surprised by this but its always nice to know what was driving the delay specifically. The DLC pack is delayed but is otherwise on track and they indicated that the roadmap ahead would likely be much more accurate now that Korea has launched.

They’ve released the following roadmap with updated guidance on what will be coming and when. I’m going to go through each of these items throughout the article but feel free to refer back to this to get a sense of what will happen when.

Great Battles content in 2026 and 2027

Things have certainly been pushed back a fair bit. Completion of the Odessa & Leningrad Career mode is now expected in Q4 of 2026. They reconfirmed that they intend to give the map five seasons and add more landmarks to the map. The campaign will be extended beyond its current state and early aircraft will be added to other careers as well so you’ll see the early Yak-1 Series 23 or I-153 in Battle of Moscow for example.

The Bomber DLC will kick off with the P-47M Thunderbolt in Q2 of 2027 now rather than before the end of 2026.

We don’t have confirmation on which bomber is coming first, however, we do have some great screenshots showing off the work going on with those aircraft.

We’ve also got some more details on the aircraft themselves. They confirm for example that the B-25 will be later model version of the B-25C/D with an optional retractable turret that can be added/removed as a modification. The aircraft will carry British, American, and Soviet bombs though it will have only an American or Soviet bombsights. Underwing special options for bombs will also be available with four 250lb or four FAB-100 bombs.

The B-26B-55 will reportedly have the Norden bombsight and four .50cal machine guns on the chin. Plenty of modifications are planned to remove/add equipment including the side guns depending on the mission/modification you want to fly.

The A-20G-25 gets a similarly impressive set of modification options. 6 .50cal forward firing guns in the nose, electrified .50cal turret, and .30cal in the ventral or modification to replace with .50cal. American and Soviet bombs are an option as is the glass nose A-20J modification with Norden bombsight. Torpedo loadout is still planned. The 20mm Hispano cannon version (an earlier block of production) is not planned.

And, in an attempt not to repeat too much, the same is true for the FW189 with quite a few modifications planned. It will have observer and light bomber capabilities and will have a MG-81Z machine gun in the rear rotating mount plus two forward firing 7.92 mm MG-17 machine guns.

The various aircraft of this release will fit into the pilot careers for American, Britain, Soviet and German careers as historically appropriate.

IL-2 Series content still coming in 2026

We also learned some IL-2 Series related information! Korea IL-2 Series will soon see a new mode called Training. They explained that while Exams is focused players getting to know a specific aircraft, Training is focused on more basic experiences. Basics like how to setup the controls, how to takeoff, fly and land an airplane. Basic combat training comes after that. I already thought Exams was not too bad at introducing people to the sim but this makes sense as an extra step. So you can progress from Training to Exams to flying combat missions in a logical progression. Sounds good but we’ll have to see how it goes in practice.

There’s a new Leaderboards feature which will bring together both single and multiplayer game modes. The new feature will be split into multiplayer and single player (PvP and PvE) divisions with each division having several leaders depending on difficulty mode. It is optional so you don’t have to show up on the leaderboard if you don’t want to. But it will be global so it isn’t tracking your performance on a single multiplayer server but rather covering your entire multiplayer career.

The feature is based on an original concept that dates back to Rise of Flight but which wasn’t fully pulled over into Great Battles in the years that followed. So in some senses this is a return to form.

A significant update is planned to arrive by the end of September for Korea IL-2 Series that will include some much requested changes to the artificial intelligence. Better logic for maneuvers and target selection. They are looking to gather even more feedback after this and continue development over the coming years. I think the goal of keeping AI development ongoing for years will be key as this is not something you can just “solve” but something that needs innovation and constant development to keep up with evolving content needs.

Get ready for Deck Ops and more in 2027!

Now that we’ve talked about all of that, there is new content coming in 2027 that was also talked about. That seems like a long way away, however, its really not as September is already here and the end of the year is now just 4 months away.

Korea IL-2 Series Deck Ops is the name for the first Korea IL-2 Series focused DLC pack. This is the pack that is already part of the Founders/Deluxe Edition and is planned for release in Q1 2027.

The DLC pack will primarily feature carrier operations from a late model Essex class carrier. This will be modeled as the Essex class were configured during the Korean war (the post WWII SCB-27A configuration they say) and prior to the change to angled decks. It has two bow mounted catapults Detailed deck and hangar are planned and some of the deck crew will be modeled though they indicated that it won’t be all. It does sound like you’ll be able to start in the hangar and then move up to the deck, be directed to your take off position, and then launch the mission.

The aircraft list has been confirmed as the following:

• F9F-2 Panther – Will have optional gunsight radar, capacity for 2,800lb of bombs, and standard four 20mm M3 cannon armament.
• F2H-2 Banshee – A later model variant of the -2 model. This fighter has two engines, jettisonable fuel pods, and has eight hardpoints with up to 2,000lbs of bombs or rockets.
• AD-4 Skyraider – A two or four cannon version of the AD-4. Up to 9,000lbs of bombs or option to take it up to 10,500 lbs of bombs. Options for armor plating additions.
• F4U-4 Corsair – Late model of the Corsair with options for six .50cal or four 20mm cannon. This model has bullet proof glass late model modification. HVAR rockets or racks for 250lb bombs can be carried on the wings.
• Sea Fury FB.11 – A development of the Tempest Mark II. Provisions for two 1000lb bombs and six or twelve rockets on the wings.
• HO3S-1 (AI only) – IL-2 Series gets its first helicopter. The US Navy version of the Sikorsky H-6 will be coming to the series (I hope it becomes flyable!).

We also have some terrific renders of the aircraft as has been the usual way of things over the last couple of years of developer diaries. Let’s start with the F9F-2 Panther.

And the F4U-4 Corsair!

The next few aircraft are a little further behind in the development pipeline. You can see the detailed exterior model but no textures for the next few.

Like the AD-4 Skyraider!

Here’s the Sea Fury!

And checkout the Banshee!

The Essex class exterior and interior hangar which is nicely textured.

New pilot models also in the works.

US Navy configured HO3S-1 (or Sikorsky H-5) renders.

No British carrier is planned initially, however, they said that if the DLC does well that they’d like to revisit that. Let’s hope that we see some more Commonwealth aircraft options in the mix though its certainly nice to see the Sea Fury leading the way. For now, the Sea Fury will reportedly operate from Essex class ships.

Dynamic campaign also came up in the discussions. They have a fairly broad plan for this mode and seem to be fully embracing the idea that this mode will allow for the war to go in a different way than historically depicted depending on you and your team’s actions. They made a few references to Falcon BMS saying that it will share some similarities but also some differences. No indication on when it might be ready.

More interesting was the notion that the dynamic campaign system on the whole may open things up for more aircraft options. Content creators asked about additional “Red team” aircraft and several were brought up which the development team responded by saying that there are new “what if” possibilities with a dynamic campaign. It sounds like a more sandbox approach may be considered in the future for this mode in particular while the Career mode retains the historically focused approach.

Other items that came up plus a few repeats just to keep things in the same place:

• Radar might be possible for aircraft following the release of the DLC pack.
• Essex class only for release but a British carrier class is possible following release.
• An AI controlled helicopter, the Sikorsky HO3S-1/H-5, is already in development contrary to previous statements. The team are considering making it a flyable offering in the future (to which I say “Hell yes!”).
• No fleet command/carrier bridge controls are planned though some folks did ask about that.
• There was mention of an earlier MiG-15 model. Its not planned but it does seem that the development team is at least considering.
• An IL-28, F8F Bearcat, and various other “what if” types could be included in a Dynamic Campaign (but not in career mode). This was more of a hypothetical chat rather than a product confirmation so the devs encouraged people to keep their pitchforks down for now.
• Other features like controllable tanks are not out of consideration from the sounds of things but also not immediately planned.

Of all of that, I am particularly interested to see the team make that AI controlled H-5 into a flyable module. IL-2 series has typically had very good flight modeling so a good helicopter module would likely be very fun and fluid to fly while also offering for some interesting gameplay experiences that we don’t necessarily see in helicopters in other sims. I can see some H-5 search and rescue flying offering up some different gameplay experiences!

Final thoughts

Despite some delays, I’m pretty excited to see how things develop for both Great Battles and IL-2 Series and this presentation made me feel like they had a pretty good idea of how they wanted to develop their content and technology going into the future. There’s certainly been turbulence over the last several years (and I will cross my fingers for positive outcomes to come) but there is a lot of good content for us flight simmers to potentially enjoy here.

I’m very excited about Deck Ops. DCS World is the only combat carrier experience in modern simming and now we’ve got another experience arriving which I’m just beyond excited about. The same can be said about the Bomber DLC. I’m a little sad that it comes now, nearer the end of Great Battles development, but I hope it does well because I’m very much looking forward to flying these aircraft.

At the same time, I’m excited to see that AI is going to be on the development list for quite some time ahead. The AI issue is going to make to break the series over the long run and I think the approach that they will keep on developing is a much better strategy than with Great Battles where little changed. We’ll see how that comes together over time.

I will continue to report on all of this as it develops!