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Yes and this is exactly what i'm afraid. And the main reason i propose to make two variants, not requiring any additional work - by just not adding some capabilites to the earlier variant. Which were absent in the early jet IRL. But adding them to the second.

It looks like they want to do even better - make them full fidelity. What so many guys proposed through the years. MiG-29 goes FF, F-15C goes FF, Su-25 free rework may bring a FF later on.

No one authorized most of the modules we have in DCS. Only a few are producer-licensed, many companies don't even exist anymore for decades. F-35 is just created by the most open country, produced by very open Lockheed company, export oriented, built by +1100 airframes, presented widely and publically all around the world including avionics, workflows, sensor integration, HOTAS functions, cockpit etc. Chinese/Russian somewhat modern aircraft will never meet any of that. It would be either 100% made up fiction, having nothing to do with the real one, with fictional avionics, MFD pages, fictional weapon systems and HOTAS, made up sensors - or just absent. It's a different culture. When Soviet era Su-25 will be awesome. Full fidelity even more. Just like MiG-29 9.12, Su-17M, MiG-23MLA etc.

Or, it maight be a German campaign i've played with voices. And yes, more assets, AI aircrafts, ATC/flight interaction, campaign, proper timeframe variants - this are most important things. Far more important then another module.

"New modules" are the last thing to make DCS feel like WW2 is dead. Most of older sims modeled just a few WW2 birds but none of that sims feel dead. It's the enviroment that can make WW2 or any other period feel dead or alive. You can have just 2-4 flayable modules, or even 2, with rich enviroment, and still everything will feel alive. Enviroment = proper era map, proper era variants of flayable aircrafts, reasonable amount of AI air, ground, sea assets, ATC, capmaigns etc. - this makes some period alive or not. And i have to admit DCS WW2 is doing a lot to make it happen in the last few years; improved Normandy map, campaigns, proper voice over ATC in German, British, WW2 asset pack (even if paid). What would be most welcome are better fitting summer/fall 1944 Normandy era variants of P-51, Bf-109, FW-190A8, Spitfire IX - as they are currentyly either a bit too late (Mustang, Dora, Bf-109K) or a bit too early (early FW-190A early Spitfie IX). And more refined overall ATC.

I feel like it would be an excuse not to improve the the real director lights. When it would be just an immersion breaking substitute anyway. Such solution may be required for some configurations when lights are a mile away on an aircraft carrier on final - but not on the tanker when the lights are merely 100ft (!) away from pilot's eyes... Come on, they cen do better than that, they can improve the lights visibility from such a short distance, without such artificial distraction.

Definitely yes. Though not some classified variants, or not the ones very different from the original variant, requiring basically a full work of a new module from scratch like F-15EX or MiG-29K. But at lest the ones requiring absolutely minimum work, like disabling few functions, to make a different variant, unlocking many years of aircraft service. E.g. F/A-18C or F-15C from the Cold War/Desert Strorm era, earlier Mi-8MTV from Afganistan, Vietnam era F-4E, Cold War era AJS-37 Viggen etc. Where changes required to make a new variant would be minimal.

It's so confusing, what this 3 options mean? I would like a full fidelity Su-25 module. PFM/EFM is the same, depending on developer. I would like in-depth Su-25 system modeling like e.g. Mi-24. Just a full fidelity paid module. Which may be coming considering how much work they put into the 3d model, textures and all this gorgeous looking cockpit.

That's true and Heatblur/TrueGrit have very good idea what systems were adder after initial 2005 machine and absent initially. Leaving it in original 2005 standard as additional variant, withou any additional work, would be great.

Is it possile the same gun, mounted in similar way in heavier and more stable F-14 would be so much more accurate then F-15, F-16, F/A-18? If not - a compromise should be made because unified standard throught the DCS is more important then slight discrepancy in two documents.

Viking would be great, but only after ASW implementation. Right now it would be pointless.

What was the conclusion?

On one hand people say option is always good. On the other hand it would be like with the MiG-21: everyone is flying without it as it obscures some view, even though it's completely unrealistic - IRL you would be grounded or punnished for such thing as it would imply unaithorized weapon use, a war crime, a friendly fire etc. IRL they always fly with them on, even during peacetime excercise. (Or maybe another solution: checking a box "civilian" like in Mi-8, when you can't carry a weapon and you can remove the gun cam.) For sure when flying with weapon IRL gun cam has to be there.

With all respect, but what are you even talking about? Everthing you've said is basically the other way around. Su-25(A) entered service in 1981... And produced in 1300 airframes. Su-25T was produced in just 8 (!) airframes, less then any MP server has, tested unsuccessfully during 1990s, rejected by the military as it had abysmal flight performance and its weapon system didnt work as intended and it was cancelled. It's a paper plane... A-10A was used pracrically only by the U.S., always by one side of the war - when Su-25 by some 12 countries in some dozen of wars. And in four wars from 1988 to today, Su-25 was used by both sides, Russian and Georgia, Azerbejian and Armenia, Russia and Ukraine. Original MiG-29 9.12 fits perfectly as DCS has plenty of 1980s modules from the era ready and coming along with MiG-29 9.12; like Mi-24P, Su-17M, MiG-21bis, MiG-23, Mi-8, Su-25, L-39, F-4E, A-6E, A-7E, F-14A/B, Mirage F.1C, IAI Kfir, Tornado IDS, C-101, MB-339, Bo-105, Huey, Gazelle L. Plus all AI air / ground / sea assets from the era. Plus 2 great maps Iraq for Desert Storm '91 and Fulda Gap for 1980s Cold War. That's MP with proper enviroment and both sides modeled. There will never be Blue vs Red MP past the USSR collapse timeframe as only NATO allow to their machines to be modeled. MP in DCS is WW2, Cold War and some NATO vs NATO 2000s.

F-35 is very affordable, it's cheaper to buy then Rafale due to massive econimy of scale. It would be rather 12 F-35 against 10 Rafale, money wise.

1) ED was nearly forced to abandon 1980s Soviet era MiG-29 9.12 due to Russian law. More modern variant will never be even remotely possible and Russian law is being even more restrictive and paranoid due to war. It's better to accept this, especially because 1980s offers more interesting and more realistically recreated combat enviroment in every aspect, weapon guidance, avionics, radar parameters, overall decision making etc., before computers took over everything. 2) Poland didn't modernize MiG-29 combat capabilities, they added few obvious elements to make it compatible with NATO air power, like different IFF, different radio, some GPS. Overall it didn't influence its combat capabilities, it was still 1980s weapon system. 3) Original 9.12 fits perfectly as DCS has planty of 1980s modules from the era ready and coming along with MiG-29 9.12; like Mi-24P, Su-17M, MiG-21bis, MiG-23, Su-25, L-39, A-6E, A-7E, F-14, F-4E, Mirage F.1, IAI Kfir, Tornado IDS, C-101, MB-339, Bo-105, Huey, Gazelle L. Plus all AI air / ground / sea assets from the era. Plus 2 great maps Iraq for Desert Storm '91 and Fulda Gap for 1980s Cold War. 1980s MiG-29 9.12 fits DCS perfectly and it can be recreated in a very realistic way. What is more 9.12 had the best raw flight preformance among MiG-29 family, highest T/W and lowest wing loading - far more exciting then late, overweight, underpowered MiG-29SMT. Whose avionics would have to be copletely made up fiction.

According to the announcement, the first to released will be original ~2005 A/A Luftwaffe Eurofighter with gun, AMRAAM, IRIS-T etc. And later on some newer features will be added, untill Meteor missile integration, so in case of Luftwaffe 2022-2023 P2Eb software. Please don't delete the original 2005 variant in the process. Just keep them both. This early one will be great as well, because it fits other ~2005 era DCS modules timeframe like F/A-18C, F-16C, F-15C, F-15E, AH-64D, OH-58D, CH-47F etc. and AI air/ground/sea enviroment form the era. And it will be the closest to real life, having least amount of modern classified electronics. So we would have both variant - without any additional work for the developer. Cheers!

Yes, and when it comes to Hip i would also like to have earlier variant as well, just like Su-25. Original Mi-28T, MT or mid 1980s modernized Mi-8MTV. Because right now we will have plenty of 1980s Soviet era red force aircrafts like MiG-29 9.12, Su-17M, MiG-21bis, MiG-23MLA, Mi-24P plus Fulda Gap and Afganistan maps - but too modern, 1990s Mi-8MTV2, not fitting the timeframe. Current Mi-8MTV2 we have is too late for Afganistan map, too late for the Fulda Gap map, with all the 1980s Soviet and NATO modules fitting them perfectly.

It depends what do you mean by Russian. The Soviet Union 1922-1991? Yes. Many Soviet aircrafts are in DCS already. MiG-15, MiG-19, MiG-21, Mi-8, Mi-24. And many more are coming being already developed MiG-17, MiG-23, Su-17, MiG-29. Or The Russian Federation 1991-2025? No. Russian aircrafts won't be allowed due to extremely prohibitive Russian law and during the war they became even more paranoid - ED was nearly been forced to cancel early 1980s Soviet era MiG-29 9.12. Probably they will never be any Russian 2000s fighter in DCS. Surely not modeled to have anything in common with the real aircraft. Just pure fantasy amateur-made MODs.

I've just checked, Su-25 costs $7.49 It's one kebap from a hole-in-the-wall, a guy made you in 10 minutes and you ate in 5... ED products are in reality extremely cheap value / money. Plus most of the whole games, at some point, goes free of charge, does it mean developers should then return money for all the people ever bought their product? It would be ridiculous. If someone paid kebap price Su-25, he's going to receive MORE then what he paid for. Paying for an old, dated model, when receiving refreshed one with fantastic graphics.

Exactly. Which is a great news anyway, even though i don't like or use FC3 modules. Free for all and with great graphics. My hope is, spending such a big amount of resources on very detailed cockpit and external model, will make ED use it for full fidelity Su-25 later on.

I think Su-25 is actually a great choice, a whole lot better choice then Su-25T. As Su-25 is mass produced (some 1300 airframes) real life aircraft, very relevant, veteran of dozens of conflicts all around the world. Exciting flight performance, engaging gamepleay, history, atmosphere, weapon employment, fitting other Soviet era modules like MiG-29 9.12, Su-17M, MiG-21bis, Mi-24P etc. When Su-25T practically didn't exist IRL. There were 8 airframes built, tested without success as it had abysmal flight perofrmance, range, maneuverability, fire control didn't work in practice as intended so it has been rejected by the military and cancelled. I feel like the only purpose of semi-fictional prototype Su-25T would be to spoil the fun from the real Su-25. Su-25T has been created by ED back then, when DCS was being developed, precisely because it was just an irrelevant prototype, like Ka-50, and Russian government didn't care.

Great update! BTW I would gladly pay for full fidelity Su-25A later on. It was used in so many conflicts and it is extremely enjoyable to fly and fight, like a jet IL-2 on steroids - manual flight control, skill dependant manual weapon aiming, guns, dumb bombs, unguided rockets. All from close range, seeing the targets and weapon effects. Classic analog Soviet cockpit. External model looks great, cockpit is gorgeous, it has to take a huge amont of work. It would be a sin not to use it for full fidelity Su-25A later on. Just look at that, it's Heatblur-like level of work. And scratch this late Soviet era times, all this bare metal, gugged painting and welding... Love it.

And later on he killed a MiG-29 flying an F-15C MSIP II Eagle during Derest Storm in a part 2 of the interview.

When it comes to Cold War and F-15C in developement, it's not 100% sure at the moment: