We’ve got another round-up of DCS World news coming at us. Some comes from Eagle Dynamics and their DCS World weekend news update with worth of AH-64D flight model improvements and a status report on OnReTech’s DCS: Balkans map. We’ve also got an interesting new insight into what Deka Ironworks has been up to with the DCS: J-8 and there’s a new campaign coming for the Huey that is interconnected with Sentry Pacific 2025 and ’26 campaigns. Let’s have a look.
A new flight model for the AH-64
Lets start with a long awaited update for DCS: AH-64D. The Apache is getting a new flight model soon that seeks to address common community concerns about its accuracy and usability.
Eagle Dynamics now say that the helicopter matches the PERF page predictions within 3% margin of error, SCAS rate damping has been improved, new vibration and audio effects have been added to aid in the perception of the helicopter’s state, drag profile has been corrected, and the exaggerated left yaw offset (the thing I’ve seen most mentioned) has been reduced. All good!
They’ve also started to model in damage to components if torque limitations are exceeded for a sufficiently long duration. BradMicks, a YouTuber and former US Army instructor pilot with 3,500 hours on the AH-64D and E weighs in with this pre-release test.
Deka Ironworks J-8 update noticed
We don’t hear much from Deka Ironworks but earlier this week a member of r/Hoggit posted several images including the above that comes from Deka’s Bilibili account (a Chinese equivalent to YouTube). They show what appear to be Russian(J-8IIM), US(J-8PP) and Chinese(J-8DF) HUD configurations.
We already know that Deka have changed plans slightly and are planning a DCS: J-8DF but a third model may be in the works as well. They may be offered together as one product or this may be the developer exploring their best option to offer a J-8 variant for DCS World.
More from this Reddit thread:
Balkans map coming in Q1 2027
OnReTech is reporting that progress is going well on their Balkans Map for DCS World. The third party developer is promising a map that will over 1,200 x 1,000 kilometers in size that covers parts of countries like Italy, Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as parts of Austria, Hungary and Romania. They also report that the map now has 43 primary airbases modeled.
In October, OnReTech also showed off the map’s work in progress night lighting for civilian areas including some quite well lit cityscapes.
Sentry Pacific campaign adds a third experience: Island Tours!
The same author of the DCS: F-16C Sentry Pacific 2025 and DCS: A-10C II Sentry Pacific ’26 is back again with a third campaign and its quite different. This one has you flying as a pilot for Island Tours – a Guam based helicopter charter.
Across 11 hand-crafted sorties and more than 4.5 hours of professionally recorded voice-over, you’ll see the Sentry Pacific story from a completely different angle. Missions weave alongside the F-16C and A-10C II campaigns, expand familiar storylines, reveal what was happening behind the scenes, and tie all three campaigns into a single shared timeline. You might give aerial tours of Guam, sling-load cargo through tropical rain showers, or fly admirals with unrealistic expectations. Either way, every sortie plays like another episode of your favourite TV series.
The campaign is reportedly going top be priced at $14.99 USD and is expected in the next update.
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