2025 - Back to the Future?

Happy new year, everyone!

Looking Back - A Year of Unfinished Business

2024 is a year that is difficult to describe. It's been a year of incredible highs and absolute lows. Among other things, I managed to finish the biggest guide project ever after more than 10 months of hard work: RAZBAM's F-15E Strike Eagle. As most of you probably already know with the public Razbamgate (tm) dispute, this was a risky proposition. I still consider it as a significant achievement I can look back upon with pride.

During the summer, I believe I reached a point where I needed to take a break and work on some unfinished passion projects and much needed updates before getting back to the next mammoth sized project: the F-4E Phantom II. Great progress was done in the recent months, but we are most certainly not out of the woods yet.

I feel like the landscape of the flight simulation world has shifted during this last year. Partnerships between developers and publishers have crumbled left and right. Even with new maps like Kola, Afghanistan, and Iraq, an unprecedented sense of apathy has taken root in the community. It is clear in my mind that there is a definite need for industry leaders to course correct. I have many questions myself about the future of this hobby, for which I have no answers. I guess only time will tell.

As a recap, here is a brief list of what I worked on throughout the year:

• F-15E Strike Eagle Guide (January 2024 to July 2024)

• F-4E Phantom II Quick Guide (May 2024)

• MB-339 Quick Guide (July 2024)

• F-16C Viper Guide Update (August 2024)

• F/A-18C Hornet Guide Update (August 2024)

• Mirage F1 Guide Update (August 2024)

• Mirage 2000C Guide Update (August 2024)

• F-5E Tiger II Guide Update (August 2024)

• JF-17 Thunder Guide Update (August 2024)

• AH-64D Apache Guide Update (August 2024 to September 2024)

• OH-58D Kiowa Warrior Quick Guide (September 2024)

• CH-47F Chinook Guide Start-Up Draft (October 2024)

• F-4E Phantom II Guide Creation (October 2024 - Present)

Looking Forward - A Year of Crossroads

So... what's next?

Once more, the yearly DCS 2025 and Beyond video has shown us a sneak peek into the what the great minds of the flight simulation are planning for us aviation enthusiasts. We've seen some great footage alluding to the long-awaited Dynamic Campaign, but we've also gone through the line-up of new aircraft pipeline. My overall feelings about this? We're at a bit of a crossroads where I will have to choose very carefully what I spend my time and efforts on.

The announcement of the F-35A module for DCS was quite an unexpected move. While that's a really interesting project on paper, I do not plan to work on any guide for it. The information available for it is very limited and I would never want to touch it even with a ten foot pole. I have no idea how Eagle Dynamics will develop this module... but their FAQ has left me puzzled more than anything.

A full fidelity F-15C module was also revealed. While the new bells and whistles that come with datalink and the helmet cueing system offer interesting capabilities that the F-15E module did not have the chance to explore before its development was untimely cut short, I have little interest to work on yet another F-15 guide as you can imagine, especially since I have so many other things I want to work on in the more immediate future.

The MiG-29 remains on the top of my bucket list. High fidelity russian modules are almost non-existent within the DCS environment, and I have been waiting for a long time to get the chance to learn about a cool short-range jet like the Fulcrum.

The C-130J is also another module that I have been dreaming about for a while. There's just something about logistics that really appeals to me, especially when it comes to turboprops. It's a kind of mission that I find more relaxing than spending hours squinting at radar screens trying to put the thing on the thing.

One last thing I want to mention is the superb shots of the F-100 Super Sabre. This kind of jet is what I want to write about. I have been following the developers' blog posts about the way they gather data and the progress of system simulation and I have to say... I have a strong feeling this one is going to be a real banger.

So... that's pretty much it for now. Stay tuned!

Chuck