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Q: What is Peace Pearl Program? A: In brief, during the 1980s China was unable to develop advanced air-to-air radar or semi-active radar missiles at that time, thus turned to UK, France, Israel and the United States to upgrade the J-8II in terms of fire control and weapons, and eventually selected the U.S. AN/APG-66(V) radar for the modification. In the agreement between the U.S. and China, the U.S. should provide 55 sets of production modifications (50 kits and 5 backup) and 4 prototype sets. The total estimated cost of the contract was $501,754,733, and the contract was finally signed with the U.S. on October 30, 1986. China called it "Project 82", while the U.S. called it the "Peace Pearl Program". Q: How many J-8PP has been produced? A: In 1987, the Chinese technical support team arrived in the America. The following year, the design work was completed in cooperation with Grumman. On January 20, 1989, China shipped two J-8II, a static test nose and supporting equipment and technical documentation to America. In 1990, the modification of the two J-8II was completed and China provided a revised English flight manual as requested by the U.S. test pilot, and the aircraft was in complete condition. The avionics test and EMC test were completed, and the start-up and test-run was done at Grumman Bethpage Airport. In the same year, the contract was terminated by China. The next year, the U.S. handed over two prototypes and modification packages to China. The two aircraft now reside in Beijing and Shenyang, but the full-size nose now in Kansas, USA. null One of the two in Beijing. Note the extra cooling inlets on fuselage for upgraded avionic devices The other one in Shenyang Q: What kind of info is shown on HUD/HDD? How many HDDs? A: HUD and HDD should be familiar to everyone. The HUD of J-8PP adopts the F-16A/B style, and a combined glass is added to increase the instantaneous field of view. The HDD is the F-16C/D style, which is located on the right side of the front panel. The HDD is used to monitor system functions, select weapons and modes. HUD Display HDD Menu Q: Is RWR domestic or American? Is it easy to use? A: It's domestic, and similar to SPO-10. It can only be used to distinguish the signal type (search/lock), rough direction, whether the irradiation is approaching or not. Relatively primitive. Q: The J-8II is so similar to the SU-15, is there any connection between the two? A: The J-8, the predecessor of J-8II, was actually designed by China after imitating MiG-21. The Soviet Union did not provide China with any technical information on SU-15. Part of the technology of J-8II came from MiG-23 and F-4, and its appearance may be similar to the convergent evolution caused by the relatively close ecological niche. Q: Are there any flight characteristics or defects of the J-8II, and are there any changes in the flight characteristics of the J-8PP? A: The most characteristic feature of J-8II is that it can easily reach the maximum IAS speed and maximum Mach number in level flight (unlike some third-generation aircraft that need to dive). The delta wing also brings a very good stall characteristic, the minimum speed for maneuvering is lower than 200km/h, and the angle of attack can be greater than 30°. The J-8II has speed stability in most situations, but when it decelerates with g-load in supersonic, the aircraft has a slight nose-up characteristic. Compared with J-8II, J-8PP only has changes in the center of gravity and weight, and some cooling inlets on fuselage have been added. It will not lead to much change to the flight characteristics. Q: Can you introduce more about the flight control system? A: The flight control of J-8PP has three-axis automatic stability augmentation system; pitch, roll and course holding; automatic leveling; low altitude automatic pull-up; pitch/bank automatic trimming functions. Q: Is the cockpit in Chinese? A: Except those upgraded avionic devices and corresponding panels, most are in Chinese. J-8PP uses metric unit. We will provide EN and CN localization for hint of clickable switches. Q: Will it provide visual/performance cockpit for selection like DCS: JF-17? A: Yes. Q: Can players perform flights beyond the safety margin specified in the manual, such as reproducing the overspeed phenomenon during the J-8II test? A: Although the manual stipulates the maximum Mach number 2.2, due to the better thrust characteristics of the turbojet engine at a large Mach number, it is easy to overspeed. The right envelope of the aircraft is mainly limited by aerodynamic stability and aerodynamic heating. You will experience uncontrollable side-slip phenomenon after exceeding M2.35. Q: What weapons can J-8PP carry? A: Air-to-air weapons include PL-5, PL-8, Aspide/PL-11; Air-to-ground weapons include 250Kg GP bomb, 57mm/90mm rockets. Check below figure for details Q: DCS: J-8II module price? A: Not as expensive as DCS: JF-17. Q: How's the documentation? Especially for such an aircraft with only two produced (modified). A: We cannot make anything out of nothing. Q: Does J-8PP have HOTAS? A: The weapon control system of J-8PP is simplified AN/AWG-27. Therefore, the throttle was also modified to F-15 style. Q: What's the difference between APG-66(V)-PRC-F8 and APG-66(V)? A: The main detection performance remains the same. Since it's to upgrade J-8II air-to-air capability, most AG modes (SEA1, SEA2, BCN) were removed (Money was definitely one of many reasons). Q: What about datalink? A: There's one similar to Lazur-M GCI system. But we will not model it in game. The IFF and countermeasure systems of J-8PP will be simplified in game. =================================== If you have any question that was not covered by Q&A, please leave a comment and I will try my best to answer. Our whole team thank you for your support!

Good evening We are very pleased to announce that the Normandy 2 map will support the new night lighting. The interest of DCS users in this issue is high and today we are publishing images that illustrate the progress of work in this direction, and we hope that this will add a lot of joyful emotions to all users of the Normandy map. UK France Airfield Port

Airmans don't worry We were very careful with the lighting setup, we tried to make the lighting not very intense, not as bright as it is in peacetime. And in the default settings of 1944 the lighting is off, the lighting will appear only if you select 1945. Everyone can choose the lighting mode that he needs.

Hi. Still in process. I want to share with you screenshots of several unique places and models of destruction of objects. All models will be destructible, except for objects of historical value, monuments and religious objects.

Normandy 2.0 update

F15E first confirmed kill.

I bought all aircrafts, maps and most of the campaigns... and I mean all of them (you can check my account), and I did it on Steam because I could, i.e. someone decided earlier to make the game available on Steam. I'm not going to move now, it's too late. And I won't let anyone to treat me as a 2nd class citizen. I understand RAZBAM may have reasons, but I have mine. I was checking Steam on 15th, now on 17th and then I got the news, disappointed but I will manage, I won't forget though.

So to sum up, no miles able to be used - no definitive release date - no steam pre order release - bungled and repeatedly changed pre-order date. Own goal. I'll see what early access brings.

As Razbam stated very clearly, the delays are related to the promotion material, not the product development. They also said clearly that the release plan is not affected, by this. So we will have a shorter(!) time between pre-order and Early Access release. From my point of view, they could delay the pre-order sales another two weeks, or months, as long as it releases on time.

Valve takes a large margin, it wouldn't make sense to sell a module at 30% off on a store that takes 30%; a little math shows a return of 49% of the full price. My advice is to move to standalone, because you can bring any steam purchased modules over to the standalone client, which gives you 2 stores to buy from.

Then people on steam wouldn't flood this forum, reddit, discord and Facebook asking why they can't pre-order... Are ED seriously saying lack of proper information doesn't matter? The F15 Pre order was pushed back twice with this month with corresponding info from RAZBAM and ED. Adding info that it would not be able pre-order on steam would be an appropriate piece of information to be released during one of these two postponements.

You accidentally bought the Christen Eagle?

You will always find the latest version of all my assets here: http://www.currenthill.com Hey guys! Since the numbers of assets I've created is starting to grow considerably, I've decided to reorganize everything for your sake and mine. This will be the thread where I post information about releases of new and current assets. And I'd be happy to get your feedback on them as we've done so far. I appreciate you mentioning any issues you have, or ideas or new assets to create. To avoid confusion I will be decommissioning all my other threads. All the assets are available in one place with information about version, download link, size, stats and changelog with just a click.

Would that be possible to, at least, provide a Steam key to those who preorder through ED store? I suppose I could do that, but I'm not going to move off Steam just because of one module. Otherwise, I'll be waiting for it to be 30% off on a sale. No skin off my nose, it'll probably take a while for singleplayer content to be made, anyway. This Steam user does not appreciate the middle finger, thank you very much.

DCS: J-8II Q&A

Oh come on. I've been in business for 25 years and I know one or two things. Keeping the customer informed as to plans is part of good relations. You know full well that Steam customers were eagerly anticipating making their pre-orders today. But between RB and ED not one person thought to mention to that base of customers that they would not be able to pre-orders? Poor performance on someone's part.

I forgot to attach a screenshot with examples of destruction models that I wrote about above, sorry I don't know, I think that our module will not differ from the rest when you buy it

They don't like my money? Well then, I'm not going to force them.

Why is this not on Steam yet???? No Steam, no f-15 for me and many many others.

So you're cool with it taking them more than ten years to get close to early access but a two week delay on a milestone that isn't directly development related makes you think the module isn't going to be good? Please do explain the logic there.

Well, yes and no. It is hilarious that RB wants to sit at the grown ups table and seemingly try to refuse to play by their rules. Let’s be clear-eyed about this: Steam would not have blinked if a couple of hundred k people wanted to buy, yet ED buckled under that strain. There’s a cost attached to being big league, and Steam calls that price. That’s all fine, and RB can decide to not play at that level. What is to their detriment ist (IMHO) that they failed to tell us up front. Another snafu on top of all the unfortunate brouhahas we experienced before. All understandable, yet inexplicable in a professional context - Steam’s terms & conditions aren’t new, RB has been selling through steams for years. It does make me wonder who is running the show there, as this major FU is not to be laid at ED’s feet, this is entirely RB. What an unfortunate mess. Best of luck to RB, as I still want them to succeed. And I hope that they find someone with more big-league experience to catch silly things like this before they start a sale. It would have cost them nothing to tell everyone that pre-orders were only on the e-shop. Everyone would have understood. Now they simply look bad, with bad excuses that could have worked well just a few weeks ago. Silly, dumb, inexcusable mistakes by someone whom we know can and should know better. Man, I ‘d feel sorry for them if I wasn’t so disappointed. RB is a long-time partner to broth Steam and ED and they are *not* a neophyte in this business. Please, please please take a look at what you are doing and plan ahead to make you customers less disheartened with your antics. This was completely avoidable.

No. You looking at 2+ months at least

As a Steam User iam not a Fan of this decision. Steam brought me to DCS 2 years ago! Its a shame.

Could there be a mission editor option to set the map in war-time vs peace-time conditions (blackout vs night illumination)?

Have you tried the Mirage-2000C? It has a working GCI system.

"Hurt ED"? Somehow I'm sure the two-dozen+ modules I have bought on Steam has not caused them any pain at all. I think they're just fine.

I have to admit I don't get it, even though it can be 'pre-ordered' you aren't getting anything. And may not for a number of months. I get the early access thing and actually think it's a good thing, but this is weird to me. There's nothing tangible you can use, just a 'pre-order' with no definitive release date. But, that's just me. I mean don't get me wrong, I love the Eagle and will be getting it for sure during early access. But this...... is weird to me.

Hello again. Thanks for your tracks @Falconeer, really helped rule out TGP influence. I am going forward with an internal report on this. There could be the case that it needs tweaking. We will compare with our data and if there's a discrepancy we will correct. Thank you all for your patience.

How much more do we have to pay, to get the Lazur like GCI system?

@uboats Will we get more pictures of the J-8 PP specifically at some point? The amount of images of the real thing is not very high, and I get the impression you took some pictures of it yourselves. Would love to see some pictures both of the cockpit and the outside of the J-8PP if possible! Edit: Seems my prayers were almost immediately answered in this QnA thread

Вот если, наконец, открыть "инструкцию летчику" (он же "мануал" в англоязычных терминах) и посмотреть на то, как же, все-таки, полагалось взлетать на этом Мустанге - то тогда станет понятно, что возможных способов взлета у него два. Один - типа "normal", т. е. "обычный", "стандартный" - без закрылок, с подъемом хвоста после достижения скорости, достаточной для удерживания направления разбега рулем направления. Этот способ соответствует значениям, указанным в таблице, которую я показал выше. И второй - "minimum run take-off" - т. е взлет с минимальным разбегом. В этом случае выпускаются закрылки на 15-20 град. и разбег по полосе выполняется в трехточечном положении пока самолет сам не взлетит. Этот вариант соответствует примечанию справа в нижней части таблицы и для него все значения в таблице уменьшаются до 80% от указанных. Соответственно, и тестировать нужно либо так, либо эдак, но не мешать в который раз все в кучу!

All i want for christmas is repaired bugfree and reliable module of this plane.

Stab pattern done. Noticed some small errors ill fix in the coming days. Also changed the 9. Staffel textures a bit and added leading edge touch ups.

From Baltic Dragon FB "Making good progress & having fun while working. Off course everything on the pictures is subject to change and WiP. Have a great day, everyone!"

There is literally no difference to starting a DCS module on Steam than it is to start it stand alone. You click on an Icon and, Poof like magic, it starts no matter what platform it is installed on. Support ED buy direct from them or their partners.

I'm personally extremely excited for this project, and for all those feeling disappointed about American avionics and it's not Chinese enough and yadda yadda, consider that Deka has said in the past they wanted to make J-11 and were testing stuff internally with MKK etc. I'm sure a group who started a Dev team based on Chinese aviation is more excited than any of us about bringing fully Chinese aircraft to DCS (probably why they started Deka company in the first place) and more disappointed than we are when they can't bring something fully Chinese to DCS. They've done great work in the past and I'm positive this project will be interesting as well as looking forward to what they get their hands on in the future! So, let's not be too hard on them I'm sure they've done their best to find an aircraft like the J-8 which is quite unique and also Chinese. Better J-8PP then in jail and no more Deka modules ever, right? plus time may reveal new opportunities Cheers Deka, we believe in you!

Absolutely. People have the freedom to choose. And I've no doubt it's been a success for the developer. I personally think they've handled it badly. It does not mean I will cut off my nose to spite my face, so to speak. I'll still of course get it, it's just now I will wait, whereas say a few weeks ago, I would've pre-ordered without hesitation.

Is that because steam requires a date when you have pre-order?

It's just people sharing their general enthusiasm over this module, nothing more. Everyone here knows we're not actually "getting" something today. People are just having fun here mate Oh and having it on pre-order is one step closer to actually flying it (even though that is all just in our heads)

Silver speaks at least two languages, English is not native. Silver also donates a TON of time informing the community of DCS development cycles and history. Me, I just take the time to figure out the context and syntax Silver is trying to convey. I consider this community fortunate to have Silver's contributions (for years), and since I only speak one language vs. at least two or more like Silver, I figure it is on me to work through the meaning. The least I can do for someone taking the time to update us (tirelessly for years), and trying to convey information to an audience that is not their native tongue. IMHO, YMMV.

DCS may have recently added more visual 3D model aspects to the Mosquito, including some cool views of the gun bays. What's ironic with this however is that it visually shows the armor plate just behind the .303 magazines. And yet in the damage model, it is missing.

Hi all FCR symbology is currently being improved in its logics according to available data. Please stay tuned for future updates.

I hope razbam wants to give us a release date after these repeated postponements in the preorder..since they said that the release date doesn't change, it means that they have decided it...let us know, then postpone that too but at least you look good

Really looking forward to F-15E, but after experienceing two delay on pre-order-selling I really doubt about the quality of this mod.

"Not in this hat."

'War Penguin'

My conversations today went something like: This morning Me: I'm going to put something on the online card today, I'm not sure how much but I'm pretty sure it'll be less than a hundred bucks Wife: Sure, what are you getting? Me: Nothing, but someday I might get a new DCS plane Wife: When are you going to get it? Me: I dunno, but, someday, I think, maybe This evening Wife: I don't see any charges today, did you buy that thing? Me: Nah, it wasn't ready yet Wife: I though you knew that already? Me: Oh yeah, I did, but the thing that's not ready is not ready for me to buy before it's ready ... uh ... yet Wife: But ... Me: Oh but here's the thing ... the thing that's not ready will still not be ready in two days, but they might be ready for me to buy it, you know, when it is ready ... Maybe. I mean, it's still possible that they still may not be ready to not have it ready to, wait, be ready when it's, uh, ready ... you know the cat's looking really fat, what have you been feeding him? Wife: Temptations! The cat is a fiend for those things! I read online and people are calling it "kitty crack". By the way, can you put some more wood on the fire, it's getting cold. Me: No can do, the last time I even talked about firewood, BigNewy changed my thready title, so I got rid of it all. You know how I am about making people uncomfortable. Wife: Who's BigNewy? Me: Oh he's ... you know what, forget I said anything, tell me more about these Temptations things ...