Northstar98

I mean, they're pretty much all extent, their layouts are very clearly visible in satellite imagery. The ones that are long gone were likely WW2 left-overs that weren't around during the Cold War. As it stands for unannounced airbases in Russia/RSFSR: Afrikanda (V-PVO airbase) Koshka Yavr (staging airbase for Tu-16 and Tu-22M) Umbozero (staging airbase for Tu-16 and Tu-22M) Khariusnyy (staging airbase for Tu-16 and Tu-22M) Taliy Ruchey (Reserve airfield for maritime reconaissance aircraft) Luostari (Army Aviation) Apatity (Army Aviation) Severomorsk-2 (shipborne helicopters and SAR) Kirovsk Most of these we have aircraft for - Afrikanda based the MiG-15, -17 and -19 (though Su-27s are pictured here, AFAK they were actually stationed at Kilpyavr, where they can be seen in satellite imagery), the AI Tu-22M3 fits on the staging airbases, the Tu-142 fits on Taliy Ruchey, the Hind fits on Luostari and Apatity, the AI Ka-27PL fits on Severomorsk-2 etc.

EDIT: Looks like I was sniped by AdrianL https://orbxdirect.com/product/orbx-kola-dcs

Yeah, same. I'd take an AI one at this point - we already have its Soviet/Russian counterpart with the Su-24M as an AI aircraft. And if it's AI, with a little bit of copy and paste and some very minor tweaking, you could also get an F-111E, which at least according to this, the 55th TFS were to use Andøya on the upcoming Kola map as a wartime base.

Unfortunately not having much luck - I've been attempting to make it a mod, but can't get it to appear in the unit list. Can't find any problems in the DCS.log, not sure what I'm doing wrong, though again I've never done it before so I'm probably making stupid errors. It would be excellent if it could be made an official unit though @BIGNEWY, @NineLine

Unfortunately, somewhat. As it stands we only have a quarter of the larger Norwegian airbases - we're missing Andøya, Bardufoss and Evenes. The former is of particular relevance during the Cold War, basing 333 Skvadron RNoAF with P-3B, N and C Update III Orions (and initially, the SHU-16B Albatross). At least according to this, the USAF were to also use it as a wartime base for the 71st, 356th and 55th TFS w/ 24 F-15Cs, 18 A-10As and 24 F-111Es respectively (though no idea how they'd manage to fit all that at Andøya, presumably they'd be dispersed to other airbases). Russia/RSFSR is also quite light and the known airbases scheduled for a later update are still quite light. We're missing: Most of the arctic staging bases for Tu-16s and Tu-22M3s - we'll be getting Olenya/Olenegorsk at initial release, but we're still missing Koshka Yavr, Umbozero and Kharusniy. We're getting one of the main airbases used by the V-PVO (Monchegorsk), with another later down the line (Kilpyavr) but so far the remaining one (Afrikanda) hasn't been announced. We're getting one of the helicopter bases used by the VVS AA, but we're missing 2 others - namely Luostari (the closest airbase to the Norwegian border) and Apatity/Kirovsk South. Severomorsk-2, which was chiefly used to base shipborne helicopters when they're not embarked. Sweden is chiefly missing Luleå and Vidsel, but both are supposed to be coming in a future update (I just hope they both have their road runways present in a useable state).

We're supposed to be getting Luleå (this is supposedly the planned extent of the map and Luleå was mentioned in the newsletter announcing it), so that covers the Antnäs, Vidsel and Långträsk

Stormbirds managed to save a few screenshots: https://stormbirds.blog/2024/04/28/thirty-seconds-of-dcs-kola/ Though the now private video didn't really show us a whole lot.

Here's an unlisted (EDIT: It's now been privated ) teaser found in the DCS playlist on Orbx's YouTube channel: Unfortunately the trailer is a little light when it comes to showing us the map. Some shots though do look a little rough (though personally I'll take accuracy over texture resolution), with textures that maybe look a bit generic-looking, though this is a common issue with DCS maps - none of them really look all that photo-realistic or particularly natural-looking. The trees around the HAWK site at Bodø look like they'll interfere with the launchers somewhat: Also looks like the AN/FPS-129 HAVE STARE is the generic radome to be used across the map. As I've said before - not a fan of purely decorative radars at all, these should (well, maybe not these exact ones) be functional units.

Vidsel definitely - I'll try and dig up a bombing range used for aviation as the one around Luostari/Pechenga are more for things like tanks for the nearby garrison based in Pechenga, Luostari and Sputnik. I guess there's nothing stopping you from using it as a bombing range though.

Are you referring to this, this and this? If so, these are Kortbanor runways built as part of the Bas 90 system (airbases that completed the Flygbassystem 90 upgrade would've had 3 kortbanor road runways, in addition to the main airbase). Jokkmokk also has them to, they are here, here and here. Vidsel also has its own road runway further to the south-west, which was built as part of the Bas 60 system. And yes, I really hope we get them, there's enough resources on the internet to find them and they are clearly visible in satellite imagery.

Vidsel is probably the main one (here's one of its ranges, here's another). There's a few in Russia but they're mainly for Army & Naval Infantry (there's a few around Luostari/Pechenga)

Thank you very much for all of this! Very much appreciated! I absolutely enjoyed reading all of that

Very cool - I appreciate the links. Though this particular example is on the opposite side of the planet to Polyarnyy. There's supposed to be another underground shelter at Guba Ara but I can't seem to find it.

Mk 84

I'm afraid I don't know much when it comes to when the RNoAF received AIM-9L, though at least you can use the AGM-65D as the closest thing to a Penguin (though with a fraction of the range and half the warhead). Not sure what other A/G ordnance the RNoAF had in its inventory.

In that case: For weapons you can keep all sidewinders apart from the X and just about every unguided munition. The only AGM you should probably have available is the AGM-65D. No JHMCS, data link or targeting pod and I guess the FCR and SMS pages would be just about the only thing approaching what an A would have.

To be honest, unless you're looking at trying to represent an F-16A MLU, the F-16CM just has too many unreconcileable differences to reasonably approximate an F-16A. Apart from the instruments and some of the control panels, the F-16A cockpit was more similar to the Mirage 2000C cockpit. That should still be on the table for an A, though probably operator dependent. This image is dated 01/05/1980 and shows an AN/ALQ-119 on an F-16A Block 5 (externally though, the -119 and the -184 look fairly similar):

One thing I want to touch on from the recent newsletter (release next week! ) What submarine pens at Polyarnyy? The only thing I've seen resembling a submarine pen (an underground berth, though allegedly unfinished) is at Guba Yagelnaya/Gadzhievo, which is one of the SSBN bases, further to the north (though seems to be in a state of disrepair). Polyarnyy just has piers and docks.

Around Oslo, there were supposedly 4 batteries: A, Asker - here's where the launch site was and here's where the associated radar/control site was. B, Nes - here's where the launch site was, can't seem to pin down where the associated radar/control site was, though most sources point to here (though nothing can be seen in satellite imagery and it's a bit further from the launch site compared to the others). C, Trøgstad - here's where the launch site was and here's where the associated radar/control site was. D, Våler - here's where the launch site was and here's where the associated radar/control site was.

Much appreciated! Thank you!

This is planned, Vidsel was also explicitly mentioned in the announcement too. I can't imagine they'd miss Jokkmokk either and the Bas 90 Kortbanor runways are obvious in satellite imagery. The same is mostly true for Vidsel (only 2 of the kortbanor runways are to the west, with one immediately to the south), with a roadbase to the southwest).

Yeah, it's a gameified unit that reduces the time it takes for artillery units to start firing. IRL details about the system can be found here, it's not based on a specific vehicle like the the 1V13 and consists of man-portable components.

That's fair enough (though definitely interested in this expansion). While maybe not a popular opinion, personally I'm far more interested in colour accuracy (and accuracy overall) than I am high-resolution textures (even as someone who very much enjoys helicopter and NOE flight, where lower resolution textures are going to be most noticeable), so this sort of thing is far from a deal-breaker for me.

Just in case anyone hasn't seen the post on the unofficial roadmap thread, some new images of the Kola map. First posted on Facebook, but later a user reposted them on their Discord: One thing I'd note here is that the mountain looks quite low detailed. It's a low resolution image to start with (Facebook won't help with that either due to how it compresses files) and it looks like there's sme depth of field going on, but even so it does look quite rough. Note that this appears to show an area around Bodø Main Air Station, looking north-west from just past the eastern extremity of the airbase. Note that the museum appears to be missing, but this could possibly be intentional to better represent the map at an earlier point in time. One thing I'd draw attention to is the radome, which looks like the exact thing (AN/FPS-129 HAVE STARE, better known as GLOBUS II) stationed at Vardø Defence Station, on the eastern extremity of Vardøya. This is primarily for intelligence gathering on Russian ballistic missiles and for tracking launches out of Plesetsk). There is a radar where the radome is in the screenshot, but it's likely an ASR and is next to what looks like a control tower (though for what seems to be a vehicle garage) and is quite a bit smaller than the GLOBUS II. There is another radome present on the base itself, at what some sources refer to as an EWR station, though note that immediately to the west looks strikingly like a HAWK site, albeit configured as a platoon (3 launchers + 1 HPIR) instead of a battery (which would have 6 launchers and 2 HPIRs). Probably not something people will care too much about, but I thought I'd mention this in case anyone is interested.

These are omissions on my part - apologies. Is a post 1980s MLU variant. I'm only listing aircraft where we have a version that existed during the 1980s. Again, not a 1980s variant (RDI w/ NCTR), so it doesn't go on this list. But not our one, see above.