graveyard4DCS

Yes but using F10 map in flight is definitely cheating

MGRS Coverage for Afghanistan and Overview Map Forenote: do you understand the differences between the various Military Coordinate Reference Systems (MGRS, CGRS, GARS, and more...)? If not, jump here :) For those interested, here are the Grid Zones for MGRS coordinates on the Afghan theater. Those who'd like to navigate more in details the MGRS grid for Afghanistan can visit https://mappingsupport.com. You can also download a high resolution 1:1.000.000 map here. Eventually, I also published 1:500.000 maps (more areas to come soon). Now you can enjoy hassle-free re-taskings anytime and anywhere!

We definitely need Afghan trucks...

Tactical landings often imply high angle of descent procedures (video here), and are fairly difficult to execute properly and are prone to accidents for several reasons: air density in Kandahar is reduced compared to standard conditions, resulting in lower aerodynamic performances: the average temperatures in Afghanistan are higher than in most Western countries; Kandahar's altitude is around 3000 ft: it's more than twice the altitude of the highest airport in UK for example; aircraft are often heavier than usual, due to unexpanded ordnance and additional fuel kept for diversion; engine RPM is usually low due to high angle of descent (and on purpose in order to reduce infrared signature), resulting into a longer response time in case there's a need to add extra power; the lack of training on unusual angle of descent makes it more difficult for pilots to detect abnormal conditions, and make them react later than they would on a normal landing; the pilot is aiming at the very beginning of the runway in order to benefit from the longest possible landing distance, in order to ensure that it will be possible to stop a heavy aircraft before runway end. For all these reasons, there have been a number of incidents involving fast jets landing in Kandahar, the most famous of which was undoubtedly the crash of the RAF Harrier on May 14, 2009. Fortunately, despite the total loss of the aircraft, the pilot, Martin Pert, was uninjured and went on to become the leader of the Red Arrows. The account of his ejection is particularly interesting, not least because it describes the tactical landing procedure that has been discussed here. It is also noteworthy that the pilot does not minimize the errors that led to this accident, contrary to what often happens in such circumstances...

Hello, On your very first post here, you say: But if we look at the current state of the airports, we understand that the map in its current state is more representing the 2015-2021 era. Biggest clue: the state of Kandahar airport, with all the aprons on the northern part of the runway. This is the airport picture as of 2008-2010: During this period, taxiway "Gulf" was not even a thing, and you could only taxi to runway 05 via taxiway "Foxtrot" (the south taxiway). We have to wait until 2011 to see all the new aprons on the north of the runway: Another hint: the building of Nimroz Airport (OANZ) started in late 2011. In the 2008-2010 period, Zaranj Airport (OAZJ) in the center of the city was the only existing runway in the vicinity. We have to wait until 2013 to see the works on the runway. Before that, it was just an empty stretch of sand... So my question is: do you still intend to represent the 2008-2010 period? And if so, will such anachronisms be corrected in the future? Thank you,

Tactical or standard procedures? As you might have noticed already, the civilian departure and landing charts don't give a lot of information regarding military procedures, especially in the very particular context of counterinsurgency. Indeed, counter-insurgency (or COIN) operations such as those in Afghanistan present very special characteristics for fighter aircraft: the departure and/or recovery airfield is located in a hostile environment. While this may be the norm for helicopters and tactical transport pilots, it is very rarely the case for fighters and strategic transport aircraft, which generally have sufficient range and autonomy to operate from a relatively safe location. But operating either from Middle East or from former Soviet Republics was very costly in terms of resources: many hours were spent in transit, therefore consuming costly hours of flight without operational value. For the case of Kandahar, if the airfield was used by the US forces since the very first weeks of the war in 2001, we have to wait until 2004 to see the first British Tornado, 2006 to see the first Dutch F-16, and 2008 to see the first French Mirage 2000D or Belgian F-16. Deciding which type of operations to carry out (tactical or standard) requires a balanced decision in terms of risk management: what's more likely to happen? am I more likely to be shot down by an insurgent preparing an ambush near the airport? or am I more likely to collide with another aircraft on arrival or departure? If the first risk predominates, tactical operations should be chosen. If this is not the case, standard procedures should be followed, which have long been tried and tested and are known to all parties. Estimated risk balance between SAM threat and traffic hazard for Kandahar airport. I'll propose a dedicated study of the SAM threat around Kandahar in a dedicated topic, but we can say that with the increased number of troops deployed along time in and around Kandahar airfield, as well as the deployment of dedicated security and surveillance tools (like CCTVs or C-RAM radars), the SAM threat has steadily decreased to reach a minimum during the "surge" in 2011-2012, and has started to increase when NATO countries started to disengage after 2014-2015. In the mean time, if we have a look at the airport's activity, it has steadily increased until 2015, with Kandahar becoming the main hub or "APOD" (Aerial Port of Debarkation) for all operations in Southern Afghanistan. In September 2009, an article said that "with the increase in forces in southern Afghanistan, Kandahar Airfield has become the busiest single-runway airport in the world. Peaking in late May at an estimated 5,500 flights per week, the airfield has maintained more than 5,000 flights per week through June and July, said Col. Bill Buckey, the airfield’s operations officer, a Marine augmented to NATO’s International Security Assistance Force. Previously, the busiest single-runway airport in the world was the London Gatwick Airport, averaging around 5,000 flights per week." But the difficulty was that not only that the airport was busy in terms of movements, but it was also the wide differences in performance between the different users: the single runway was used for helicopters, tactical transport aircraft, strategic transport aircraft, UAVs and fighter jets, not to mention the civil airlines that also operated there... All in all, we can consider than during the 2009-2017 era, very standard procedures were the most appropriate: for example overhead break arrivals for fighter jets, and 3° slope straight in approaches for other aircraft. On the contrary, before 2008 and after 2018, tactical procedures would be more appropriate, like high angle final descent. For example, you have here a tactical take-off and tactical landing for a mighty C-17. For those who are interested, I have detailed on my personal page tactical take-off and landing procedures in Kandahar for fighter aircraft.

Application to the Case of the F/A-18C in DCS World 5.1 - FMU-139: Description The FMU-139 (series) electronic bomb fuze is an electronic impact or impact-delay fuze. It is used in Mk 80 series general-purpose bombs, including laser-guided bombs. The arming times can be in-flight selectable, and the functioning delay must be set during weapon assembly. Theoretical use The U.S. Navy’s F/A-18 fuzing system can be divided into two major subsystems, which are the aircraft and the weapon. The FA-18 aircraft subsystems that affect weapon release and reliability include: aircraft software, AWW-4 Fuze Function Control Set (FFCS), aircraft wiring, connections, decoders, and bomb racks. The weapon subsystems include: a MK-122 safety arming switch with M70 bomb cable assembly or a FZU-48 bomb fuze initiator with a coil power cable, a FMU-139 electro-mechanical fuze, a bomb tail section, and MK-3 arming wire. The fuzing system is identical when used in “dumb” free-fall bombs and “smart” LGBs or JDAMs because they are all based on legacy MK-80 series bomb bodies. The FMU-139 does not contain its own internal source of electrical power but relies on an externally produced supply of direct current (DC) provided by either the aircraft at release or a ram-air turbine generator mounted in the warhead’s charging well. The fuze will function differently depending on the electrical power provided. The current U.S. Navy FMU-139 electro-mechanical bomb fuze within the bomb fuzing system receives power from either the aircraft Fuze Function and Control Set (FFCS) by a pulse through the MK-122 arming switch and M70 cable assembly or continuously from a FZU-48 air turbine. The fuze does not receive power until the bomb is separated from the aircraft for both bomb fuzing configurations. Only Navy aircraft have an FFCS and so this mode is sometimes referred to as “Navy mode.” The Air Force were first to utilize the air turbine to power their fuzes and not until 2001 have Navy aircraft used the air turbine mode so this mode is sometimes referred to as “Air Force mode.” When looking more closely at the FMU-139’s faceplate, we can notice on the upper part the “LOW DRAG ARM TIME” settings. In order to use the “Navy mod”, the screw has to be placed on the X setting. When using the “Air Force mode”, the low drag arming delay has to be set to the desired value. In this configuration, the setup is selected on the ground, and cannot be modified in flight. The “Navy mode” brings an extra flexibility, because the arming delay can be selected in-flight, while it’s locked on a single value in “Air Force mode”. In “Navy mode”, the crew must select two different settings: the arming time (ARM: either 5.5S or 10S) and the explosion delay (EFUZ: OFF, INST or DLY1). Once this is done, the plane’s FFCS will send a specific electrical current to the bomb that will understand the required configuration. In “Air Force mode”, the EFUZ setting is replaced by an MFUZ setting, that will only let the pilot decide whether the bomb will be armed (TAIL) or not (OFF). Selecting the ARM setting to either 6”, 7”, 10”, 14” or 20” has no effect on the actual arming delay, since it has been set up on the ground, but it will enable correct DUD cues on the HUD (when trying to drop the bombs too low for example). Regarding the explosion delay, it is set up on the ground by the screw on the lower part of the faceplate. Four values are selectable: INST, 10 ms, 25 ms or 60 ms. As described above, these settings cannot be modified anymore in flight, unless in “Navy mode” where it’s possible to force an INST setting even if a longer delay has been selected on the faceplate. As indicated on the FMU-139’s faceplate, the same fuze can be used for high drag bombs. The fuze has a built-in accelerometer, and if after bomb release a strong deceleration is sensed, the HIGH DRAG settings will be automatically applied. If this event is not detected, the LOW DRAG settings apply. We can notice that in HIGH DRAG configuration, four arming delays are selectable: 2.0”, 2.6”, 4” and 5”. The 2.0” option is marked in red and requires a manual push on the “interlock” button to confirm that the selection is intentional. But it has to be understood that this delay is very short and poses great risks for the shooter, and its use is actually forbidden. You’ll find below a flow chart summarizing all the possible configurations for the FMU-139. Current situation in DCS World: Current DCS fuzing options do not offer the possibility to use the X setting on the FMU-139. It means that the FMU-139 is always used in “Air Force mode”, and that only the MFUZ option should appear in the STORE pages, both with dumb bombs, LGBs and JDAMs. In reality, the current model does is not following this logic, and the options on the STORE page are always the same, whatever the actual fuze choice: Mk-8X - Low Drag & High Drag MFUZ/OFF-NOSE-TAIL-N/T or MFUZ/OFF-NOSE or MFUZ/OFF-TAIL or EFUZ / OFF-INST-DLY1-DLY2 or a combination of both EFUZ and MFUZ when selecting a mechanical fuze and an electronic fuze on the same body (a situation that never happens). GBU-1x / 2x - General purpose: EFUZ / OFF-INST-DLY1-DLY2 JDAM - General purpose: EFUZ / OFF-(VT1)-INST Note: for cluster bombs, the settings are: MFUZ/OFF-PRI-OPT (Mk 339 - PRI = PRIMARY = first time setting, OPT = OPTION = second time setting.) or MFUZ/OFF-VT1-VT2 (FMU-140). Therefore, as of 2024, it is clear that the parameters in the STORE pages in DCS World are not correct. They tend to mix several concepts, and do not take into account the programmable side of some fuzes. For example, the correct stores format options for JDAM are described in the table below. This is what the developers should try to reproduce to go to the end of their development process. Read the original article for more details about FMU-143, FMU-152, DSU-33, M904, M905, Mk 339 Mod 1 and FMU-140. A kneeboard page summarizing recommended fuze settings for the F/A-18C in DCS World is also available.

For those who'd like to find departure and landing charts for other airfields in SW Afghanistan, I published an article explaining how to find them for various eras: How to Find Airport Charts for Afghanistan? null Timeline of websites publishing AIPs for Afghanistan. I'll release other sets of charts for SW Afghanistan in the coming weeks.

1:500.000 Tactical Pilotage Charts for CombatFlite The logical follow-up to the previous ONC 1:1.000.000 was, of course, the publication of a set of smaller-scale aeronautical charts. In general, 1:1.000.000 scale charts are used for long-distance, high-altitude flights, to give an overview of the route and to easily find diversion airfields. But they are not detailed enough to plan and execute visual navigation. For this purpose, 1:500.000 scale maps are generally used: at this scale, it is possible to see details such as villages, bridges, forests and antennas - the kind of visual features that are useful for low-level flying. The only 1:500.000 maps available for Afghanistan in the early 2000s were the old US TPC maps, the very same that have been chosen here. As for the ONC maps, I decided to include large areas around Afghanistan, up to Kyrgyzstan to the North. More maps for even lower scales will be released in the future.

I've put together a set of charts for Kandahar airport, along with some useful additional information. These charts are the official instrument procedures issued by the US DOD FLIP, but published on the internet for use by all crews landing at Kandahar. They can be downloaded by all members from my personal page. As you will soon discover, all the information dates from 2008-2010, and the northern aprons do not correspond to the airfield as represented in the game. Therefore, I'll soon be publishing another version for the 2017-2019 era. I will also take the time to guide you on how and where to find this type of data. List of charts. Example of departure chart. Example of landing chart.

I eventually started writing a guide on this topic. You'll find the first part here. All other parts are on my personal page, don't hesitate to check it. Bombs fuzes - Introduction In 2024, the release of the fuzes options in the rearming panel in DCS World brought a new level of realism and complexity to this very unique flight simulator. Understanding what’s the role of a fuze, how it works and what the different settings are, is necessary in order to use this feature correctly, i.e. to maximize damages to the target and avoid duds or self-damages. This article is a short introduction to the essentials terms that have to be known and to what an " aerial bomb" is comprised of. 1.1 - References Articles: Understanding the FMU-139 and Its Employment Options; Documents: NAVAIR 11-1F-2 - Description and Characteristics - Airborne Bomb and Rocket Fuze Manual; Safe arming times for Mk-81, Mk-82, Mk-83, Mk-84 and M117 Low Drag Bombs; Increasing the Reliability of General Purpose Bomb Fuzing in Precision Strike Warfare; Explosive Weapons Effects by GICHD; USAF JDAM Tactical Manual on Wikileaks; 1.2 - 1.3Definitions Fuse: cord or tube for the transmission of flame or explosion usually consisting of cord or rope with gunpowder or high explosive spun into it. Fuze: a physical system designed to respond to one or more prescribed conditions, such as elapsed time, pressure, or command, and initiate a train of fire or detonation in a munition. Safety and arming are primary roles performed by a fuze to preclude ignition of the munition before the desired position or time. The spelling FUZE is used to denote a sophisticated ignition device incorporating mechanical and/or electronic components for example a proximity fuze for an artillery shell, magnetic/acoustic fuze on a sea mine, spring-loaded grenade fuze, pencil detonator or anti-handling device as opposed to a simple “burning fuse”. Main charge: the explosive charge which is provided to accomplish the end result in the munition; e.g., bursting a casing to produce blast and fragmentation. These explosives, because of their relative insensitivity, ordinarily require initiation by a booster explosive. Armed: a fuze is considered armed when any firing stimulus can produce fuze function. Function: a fuze “functions” when it produces an output capable of initiating a train of fire or detonation in an associated munition. Arming delay or arm time: the time elapsed from launch to arming. Dud: a munition which has failed to function, although functioning was intended. Early burst: a weapon detonating after completion of the arming delay but before hitting the intended target. Premature function: a fuze function before completion of the arming delay. Safe separation distance: the minimum distance between the delivery system (or launcher) and the launched munition beyond which the hazards to the delivery system and its personnel resulting from the functioning of the munition are acceptable. Safety and arming device: a device that prevents fuze arming until an acceptable set of conditions has been achieved and subsequently effects arming and allows functioning. Explosive train: the detonation or deflagration train (i.e., transfer mechanism), beginning with the first explosive element (e.g., primer, detonator) and terminating in the main charge (e.g., munition functional mechanism, high explosive, pyrotechnic compound). 1.3 - Bomb description Bomb bodies are made up of multiple parts. We can distinguish in particular: the nose plug (1): it has a role in terms of mid-course ballistics and target penetration. In particular, the MXU-735 is a round shaped solid nose plug that is designed to provide better penetration of hard targets, without the likelihood of nose plug shearing during oblique impact. the arming wire(s) (13): they are a physical link between the aircraft’s pylon and the bomb. When the bomb falls away from the aircraft, the wires that have been selected in the cockpit (nose, tail or both) are pulled away from the parts to which they have been linked to on the bomb (e.g. the nose fuze, or the battery for a PWY-II), thus authorizing the functioning of the mechanism. If the arming wire has not been selected, the bomb is dropped with its wire still attached and the associated mechanism won’t function. For example, during a jettison, the bombs are dropped with their wire and are therefore inert. Physically speaking, the wires can in some cases be “crossed” on the bomb’s body, meaning that selecting the “nose” option in the cockpit will actually enable the “tail” fuze on the bomb. In any case, the crew has to know the effects of the cockpit settings, rather than the actual wiring diagrams on the bombs. the inner tubes (23): they are used to link the fuzes with the aircraft in FFCS (or “Navy”) mode (detailed later). the coating: navy bombs have a gray thermal protective coating that makes them IM or “Insensitive Munitions”, for safety on board of ships (in case of fire for example). Training munitions are painted blue. Munitions containing live explosive have a yellow stripe. fuzes (11 + 26): they will be detailed below. As you can already see, the fuzes are just a one element among many others of an aerial bomb. They will be detailed in the following articles.

Updated: Airport and NAVAIDS database for CombatFlite As discussed earlier regarding that particular database, I wasn't quite happy with the initial data choice. I decided to dig a little into DCS theater files to see what's available there... First of all, Afghan theater files are located in the DCSWorld(OpenBeta)\Mods\terrains\Afghanistan folder. If most files are ciphered, some .lua files are readable and give us almost all the desired information. Let's start with the beacon.lua file: it describes all the active beacons on the theater. We can see that each airfield has a number that corresponds to the DCSID field in the CombatFlite database. We can also note that frequencies are indicated in Hz, since 2 letters beacons are generally NDBs that work in the kHz frequency range. The location is given directly in DD.DD, that is to say the correct format for our CombatFlite database. We can therefore say that this file contains all the information needed to reproduce actual DCS NAVAIDs in CombatFlite! The various beacon types for this theater are: HOMER (or NDB), TACAN and VOR-DME. But if we look into other theaters, we can find VORTAC, ILS LOCALIZER and ILS GLIDESLOPE, but also RSBN, a Russian short-range navigation system. At this stage, the beacons list for the Afghan theater is clearly short. Let's hope it will get more comprehensive in future updates. Then we can have a closer look a the radio.lua file: it lists all the default AI frequencies on various airfields. It gives us both a list of airfields, and the list of radio frequencies, so most of the information needed to finalize our database. Once again, frequencies are given in Hz. Airfields are identified through their ICAO code most of the time, like OABT for Bost airport in the previous example. Some airfields, like Camp Bastion (OAZI) have two set of data: one set for helicopters and the other set for aircraft, which certainly means that we can have segregated helicopters and aircraft traffic on that airfield. One airfield is designated by a call-sign, "YARDBIRD", which is in fact the call-sign of Dwyer Airport (OADY). One airport is designated by "CTAF", which stands for Common Traffic Advisory Frequency. It designates a frequency used on non-controlled airfields, for advisory calls. It's not clear if an airfield is supposed to be linked to this particular entry. Last interesting information: Nimroz airport (OANZ) is included in the frequency list, even if it has not been announced among the airfields on the SW Afghanistan theater. It has been built to replace Zaranj airport (OAZJ) and in order for the theater to be coherent, either one or the other airport only should be listed. In the 2007-2011 time-frame announced by DCS, only Zaranj should be available. Eventually, we can note that the DCSWorld(OpenBeta)\Mods\terrains\Afghanistan\Map folder contains a towns.lua file that lists the name and location of all the towns and villages on the theater. It is supposed to be used by the Ka-50's ABRIS navigation system. It can be used to complete CombatFlite's town database, but since it's apparently not used in the software at this stage, I won't dig in it for the moment. All these info let us build a database that's much closer to the game's state. It is available here , and should replace your persiangulf.xlm file in your CombatFlite\Data folder. However, even if this method brings us quality data, it will also force us to check for changes after each theater's update...

Thanks for the feedback, it was indeed a typo in the link, the final dot had to be removed. The link has been corrected and should be working now.

Since the bomb fuzes are now available in DCS World, do you think it's necessary to invest time in researching information and creating a guide to their operation and use?

1:1.000.000 Operational Navigation Charts for CombatFlite Creating a new map for CombatFlite can definitlely a time-consuming task... Step 1: define the geographical limits of the theater. It would be possible to stop at the current size of the Afghan theater in DCS World. However, I didn't opt for this solution: while I kept Afghanistan's longitude limits (from around 59 to 76 degrees East), I decided to extend the coverage in latitude, from the Indian Ocean in the South (as a good proportion of flights were departing from the Arabian Peninsula, via a transit over Pakistan), to Kyrgyzstan in the North (as a number of missions in the early stages of Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) departed from Manas international airport, some 25 km north of Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan). Who knows, we might one day see the "World" in "DCS World" become a reality... Step 2: find good maps with sufficient resolution. In our case, I turned to the Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection because it offers non-copyrighted aeronautical charts for most countries in the world. The good news is that these maps were actually used during the early phases of Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF). For example, here in January 2002, you can see the crew of a military transport aircraft flying a mission to Mazar-e-Sharif on this 1:500.000 scale TPC map of Afghanistan Step 3: cut out and refine all the maps necessary to cover the geographic area selected in step 1. In our case, I used ONC maps F-5, F-6, G-5, G-6, G-7, H-7 and H-8. Step 4: carefully georeference each map, with particular attention to the junction areas, in order to limit alignment defects between two different paper maps. If you want to make sure that every area of the map show correct latitude and longitude, it involves positioning up to a hundred reference points for each map (seven times...)! Step 5: double check that coordinates are correct, and make final adjustments to each map to make it fit with its neighbours (luminosity, etc...). Step 6: export the map in .mbtiles format. Make several tries to make sure that you have a correct ratio between final resolution and file size. Step 7: copy this .mbtile file in the corresponding CombatFlite folder. I made the choice to expand the "Persian Gulf" theatre to Afghanistan, therefore I place my new map files in the ...\CombatFlite\Data\DCS Persian Gulf folder. You can rename the file as you see fit, knowing that CombatFlite will propose you the maps on alphabetical order by default. If you want to see the Afghan map first when you select the "Persian Gulf" theatre in CombatFlite, it should be first in alphabetical order in your folder. Step 8: open CombatFlite and enjoy your new map! A low resolution map is available for those who'd like to try it. The high resolution map is for suscribers only at this stage. Please do not hesitate to contact me directly if you have any questions / requests / suggestions regarding this map, or my project in general!

Airport and NAVAIDS database for CombatFlite One of the nice features of CombatFlite is the ability to quickly identify and use airfields. When "Airfields" are selected in the Map Layers window, thay appear as an additional layer above the current map. These airfields can then be selected in order to view additional information, like ICAO name, elevation, runways, navigation aids and radio frequencies. But more importantly, they are the only points that can be selected as "take-off" and "alternate" waypoint types on a given flight plan. That's why they have an important role! On the same vein, CombatFlite can also display navigation aids when selecting "Beacons" on the Map Layers window. Very handy when it comes to IMC navigation, especially on older aircraft that have no INS systems, like the Mirage F1 CE. Hopefully, the airfield and NAVAIDS database is stored as a .xml file in the ...\CombatFlite\Data folder. For Persian Gulf theatre, the database is the persiangulf.xml file. When you open this file, you'll quickly notice that it has a basic structure, with 4 main categories: Navpoints (empty on all theatre, but we can assume that we can create some with their name and coordinates, to be confirmed); Beacons (with their type, like NDB, TACAN, VOR DME, ILS, etc...); Airfields (with all the data that were shown previousely); Towns (but it seems that they cannot be displayed at this point). Therfore, adding up details to this database is fairly straightforward. We just have to add the desired items in the correct category. While the question of the location/orientation of the various runways is not difficult, the choice of the NAVAIDs and airfield frequencies might be questioned. At this stage, I decided to use the data available in the official aeronautical documentation, like the latest AIP Part III (AD) for Afghanistan. I'm not totally convinced it's the right way to do, since for example, Nimroz airport (OANZ) did not exist back in the timeframe that's supposed to be represented by the Afghan theatre in DCS World (late 2000s, early 2010s). On the contrary, the Zaranj airstrip (OAZJ) has been announced in the SW Afghanistan airfield list. Another example: the former KAF TACAN (75X) has been replaced by the KDR VOR-DME (107X), and the ILS RWY 23 ceased to exist... My way ahead is to take the information directly from the game for the current state of the map, and include the data from former AIP, the difficulty being that in the late 2000s, AIP for Afghanistan was barely a thing (and it's indeed still very far from other countries' quality to this date). Still, I'm releasing here a first version of an updated persiangulf.xml file. To use it, create a backup file of the original persiangulf.xml file located in the ...\CombatFlite\Data folder (by renaming it persiangulf.xml.bak for example), place the attached .xml file and rename it as persiangulf.xml. Your updated Airport and NAVAIDS database for CombatFlite is now available, and you can start using it for planning! As you can see, I put in between brackets the airfields that have not been announced in the current release of the Afghan theatre. It's a good way to avoid planning a flight towards an airfield that's not available at this point. A few beacons have also been created, and this part of the database still needs some rework. As you have understood it, it's still work in progress, and I'll share better versions when available.

Terrain Elevation Map for CombatFlite This topic is the logical follow up of my previous post about Digital Elevation Model for CombatFlite. Now that we have the DEM (Digital Elevation Model) or DSM (Digital Surface Model) installed, it would be nice to be able to "view" the terrain more directly - and way more quickly - than by using the "terrain" or "slope" tools in CombatFlite. One of the solution has been to create theatre elevation maps for CombatFlite, like the ones already available for download in DCS user's files. So starting from our previous step, when we were able to retrieve the necessary SRTM tiles, the way ahead is fairly easy: Step 1: load the tiles in your favorite GIS software. You'll notice that the overal image is kind of pixelated. That's because the software automatically applied a color scale for each tile, with Black as the lowest altitude of the tile, and White as the highest altitude of the tile. The issue here is that each tile has a different minimum and maximum altitude; Step 2: in order to solve the previous problem, we have to set a single color rule for all tiles. This is fairly straightforward. Here is a quick first result. Step 3: once we've got this promising result, we notice that's is hardly possible to orient ourselves on that map. In particular, it's nearly impossible to determine the shore line for Pakistan. In Afghanistan itslef, it's going to be difficult to find out precise locations without switching regularly to other classic maps. In order to make orientation easier, it's possible to add additional overlays, like borders. Some of these data are freely accessible on websites like GADM or Natural Earth. We can also change the color scale, to make it more traditional, with blue color for oceans (altitude at 0 m) and green/brown colors for land. Step 4: generate the .mbtiles map with your favorite GIS software. Step 5: place the resulting .mbtile file in your ...\CombatFlite\Data\DCS Persian Gulf folder. Don't forget that CombatFlite will show you the maps in alphabetical order, so rename the file as you prefer to let it appear in the order you prefer! You'll be able to download the .mbtiles via my personal page. Enjoy!

Digital Elevation Model for CombatFlite One of the important features of CombatFlite is the ability to read ground altitude at any point of the map. But as you might have remarked already, the current elevation data is only available for a limited area around the Persian Gulf. If you try to go on the southern part of the DCS PG map, you'll even notice that there's no data by default. But hopefully, this is something that can be easily corrected! First of all, you have to know that the terrain elevation data are stored in .hgt files that cover 1°x1° each. These data have originally been retrieved during NASA's STS-99 shuttle mission in February 2000. They are also now known as SRTM, for "Shuttle Radar Topography Mission". There are three main categories of SRTM data: SRTM 1, with the highest resolution (1 arc second); SRTM 3, with an average resolution (3 arc seconds); SRTM 30, with the lowest resolution (20 arc seconds). Nowadays, these data are freely available. Normal access is trough the United States Geological Survey (USGS) web site. But if this web site is perfect in order to find a lot of interesting data, it's fairly uneasy to use if we want to download large areas of SRTM files. The easy way is to proceed through another website: https://dwtkns.com/srtm30m. But before using it, you'll ned to create a free user account on NASA's EarthData website (it takes 2 minutes). Once this is done, you just have to click and download the tile that interests you! Note: for those who want skip the difficulty to register, choose and download appropriate tiles, you will find on my personal page the links for direct download of the selected data for the Afghan AO (area of operations). You will notice that on the previous website the data is not available for the whole surface of the Earth: this is a physical limitation due to the space shuttle's orbit resulting from launch parameters. People interested in finding elevation data further north (like for the new Kola Map by Orbx) will have to look for other data sources. For example, both the Japanese Space Agency (JAXA) and the European Space Agency (ESA) offer free acess to these data. The website viewfinderpanoramas.org is also a good reference. Once you have taken the time to download all the data that are interesting you, you just have to unzip the files and place them in your ...\CombatFlite\SrtmDataFiles folder. You can check the type and validity of your data by checking the file sizes: SRTM 1 .hgt files must be 25327 KB large, while SRTM 3 .hgt files must be 2818 KB large. You can now see the altitude of any place on the map by placing your mouse cursor over it. You can also use all the tools that need elevation data to work: visualize terrain along your route or in a limited area; show vertical terrain profile along your route; and most importantly, use the intervisibility tool, that will let you choose the best attack axis against any ground threat! As you'll see later, there's no excuse not to use CombatFlite as a flight planning tool on the Afghan theatre!

In military aeronautics, a good flight planning accounts for almost 90% of mission success... And for that, we are fortunate to have a dedicated software for DCS World: that's CombatFlite. It has proved to be an essential tool for flight planning and mission creation, from the simplest to the most complex ones. Unfortunately, it seems that updates to this software have now been discontinued, and it is unlikely that a dedicated theater will be created any time soon. The only option we have is to modify an existing theater and manually integrate the data we need. This is the path I've taken, and I've decided to modify the “Persian Gulf” theater to include mapping of the Afghan theater, as well as the data required to use all the software's functionalities. In the coming weeks, I'll explain you how to do that, and I'll direct you to the necessary files to let you use CombatFlite on the Afghan theatre!