I feel pretty much the same way. Although it is painful to admit, cause I loved Raven One and The Enemy Within from BD, Operation Pontus is just a worse version of DCS Liberation. Don't get me wrong, it has some pretty good ideas, and at some areas (like the whole AWACS Identification) it is really immersive. It's also easier to setup and has better performance (for the most part). But you don't really get that feeling of progression. Voice acting is good and there's even some randomization on some lines, but yeah, overall, DCS Liberation offers a far more dynamic environment for free.
Maybe I'll try to play this again if the campaign gets some kind of overhaul.