F-16XL

[McCloud]

I tried to have a quick search to see if this was every discussed but I couldn’t see anything by phone. 
 

Was this ever discussed as a potential module? Granted it never made the production line but it’s such a cool looking aircraft. 

 

Edited February 7 by McCloud

[Czar66]

It was discussed, alongside the F-20 after the F-5 was released.

16XL aside,...
it is a good practice to have a look at the pattern which aircraft are picked to be modules or desired to be modules by developers.
[Low amount of Redfor aircraft in full fidelity is due to other issues, and they are highly desired. MiG-23 and 29A will break my wallet day 1 of release for sure].

What I gather is that usually are aircraft that have seen active deployment in the world. Even the Ka-50 saw war, and that's the current DCS module that has seen less action besides the trainer jets.

Documentation is also needed to develop a worthwhile module to have a high degree of fidelity and functionalities. They are not cheap to make or buy, so they have to be worth the investment.

I find it unlikely to have DCS experimental aircraft modules in the short to medium future for their cost, appeal, capabilities, compatibility with realistic scenarios, documentation.

I may be inaccurate in the observations made, I apologize in advance if so.

[F-2]

I guess nothing about F-16XL is any worse than J-8PP. Just remember that the flight control was in a rough state at the time of completion. I think the prototype had F-16A avionics but I heard block 25 as well. I don’t think ED wants to do this project but no reason an interested group couldn’t.

[Tank50us]

13 hours ago, F-2 said:

I guess nothing about F-16XL is any worse than J-8PP. Just remember that the flight control was in a rough state at the time of completion. I think the prototype had F-16A avionics but I heard block 25 as well. I don’t think ED wants to do this project but no reason an interested group couldn’t.

Not just the J-8. The Su25T and KA-50-III are hodge-podge aircraft kinda based on multiple aircraft within the family. The real Su25T for example was an experimental model, and looked more like the Su25A we have in game. The model we have in DCS is more or less based on the Su39 (AKA Su25TM).

This all being said, I'd like to see aircraft get multiple variations for each module, even those that never entered service, or even got off the drawing board. The XL could have the cockpit avionics of the more modern F-16s, but a wide HUD like the F-15E (which it was originally conceived to compete against).

I'm personally all for the idea of alternate history, and letting the mission makers choose what goes into a mission. More options the better IMHO.

[Viper1031]

Necromancing this because I'm an XL mark, and want to see it in the sim. PLEASE devs, give us an XL!

[F-2]

[mkellytx]

On 2/7/2024 at 3:23 PM, F-2 said:

I guess nothing about F-16XL is any worse than J-8PP. Just remember that the flight control was in a rough state at the time of completion. I think the prototype had F-16A avionics but I heard block 25 as well. I don’t think ED wants to do this project but no reason an interested group couldn’t.

The two XL demonstrators were Franken planes.  The airframes were an A model and a B model, the avionics were block 25/30, the FLCS was the original analog although NASA later modified the GE powered bird with a block 40 digital FLCS but were conservative with the flight control laws.  The Amaram's were wood, the speed brakes had issues and there were some undesirable handling characteristics/oscillations which are documented in publicly available reports.  They were never fixed because the concept was never pursued.  One line of thinking was that its supersonic performance was a threat to the ATF funds, although the increased unit price compared to block 40/50 models could explain that decision as well. 

The go to resource on the XL is the excellent book/case study Elegance in Flight, by Albert C. Piccirillo, which is available as a free download on the NASA website.

Elegance in Flight