F/A-18C & F-16C DTC Progress | Cold War Development Report | F-4E Red Flag 82-1 Campaign by Reflected

[Graphics]

  

11 April 2025 Dear Fighter Pilots, Partners and Friends,

Our next DCS update will introduce the initial version of the Data Transfer Cartridge (DTC). This powerful tool, initially released for the F-16C and F/A-18C, enables players to set up radio communication and countermeasures replicating the functionality in real-world squadrons. Future enhancements to this long-awaited Core improvement to DCS will include additional setup functionality and aircraft. See below.

We are delighted to share more insights into the progress on the truly outstanding Cold War Germany Map. As the launch date approaches, the Ugra-Media team is working hard to polish historically accurate airfields and the bustling cityscapes of this tension-laden region in 1980s. Stay tuned for more on the upcoming release, and thanks for joining us on this journey back to a defining moment in world history! Check out the teasers on the Ugra Media official YouTube channel. 

A new Red Flag 81-2 Campaign by Reflected will transport you to Nellis Air Force Base for the ultimate peacetime war game, originally designed to give aircrews their first missions in a mock-combat environment. Inspired by the earliest Red Flag exercises, you’ll join the 336th squadron flying the legendary F-4E Phantom, striving to conquer realistic missions that replicate the high-stakes challenges of modern aerial warfare. Stay tuned for the next update! 

Thank you for your passion and support.

Yours sincerely, 

Eagle Dynamics

 

Data Transfer Cartridge

Development Progress

In the next DCS update, the initial version of the Data Transfer Cartridge (DTC) will be available for both the DCS: F-16C Viper and DCS: F/A-18C. This initial version will offer new interfaces allowing players to create and load DTC settings for radio communications and countermeasures from within the Mission Editor. This long-awaited functionality is available for both single-player and multiplayer missions.  

After initial release and product tuning, we will add additional DTC items such as navigation routes and points, targets/pre-briefed points, datalink, weapons, stores management, radar, Non-Cooperative Target Recognition (NCTR) library, and more. We will also expand the tool to other aircraft such as the DCS: A-10C II Tank Killer and DCS: AH-64D.

The DTC will use a common interface between aircraft types, but offer unique options based on their real-world counterparts. It will be an exceptionally powerful system that allows both detailed programming options, but also the ability to create multiple DTCs per aircraft, to export them, load them, and share them with friends.

 

Cold War Germany

Development Progress

What's been done?
Our partners Ugra-Media have been working hard on the DCS Cold War Germany map lately. Based on community feedback, the map border has been slightly tweaked, and new locations added. This includes new cities and border checkpoints, key Cold War locations, detailed road and rail networks, historically accurate airfields and improved environments. During internal playtests, the Ugra team checked the navaids and airfields, ensuring that each airbase was ready to receive historically accurate aircraft. Extensive rendering optimizations have been made to ensure consistent performance in large missions. 

What's working now and next steps?
Ugra is currently focused on testing and preparing the map for release. This includes checking airfields, roads and terrain, and translating names into different languages. In the meantime, the colour palettes are being fine-tuned for time of day and all weather conditions. Additionally, Following initial Community feedback, Ugra has significantly improved the map, adding more air defense sites, new locations, original objects, and POIs such as quarries in Leipzig. Looking beyond this early access release, further testing and performance optimisation for high object density areas will be the focus to ensure stable frame rates in both single-player and multiplayer scenarios. 

Significant milestones and moments to share 
One of the milestones worth highlighting to recreate the diversity of Cold War-era missions is the near completion of historical airfields with accurate taxiways and ground structures. Ugra-Media has used historical sources, and where information was lacking, they have also relied on the memories of the people who served at those air bases to add authenticity and detail. Due to the exceptionally high degree of object detail, quantity and diversity, Ugra has been very careful about memory limitations, requiring constant vigilance to stay within the limits of DCS. Overall, these developments bring them closer to presenting an exceptional map that depicts Germany in the 1980s. 

“We appreciate your patience and look forward to sharing more milestones. Stay tuned for the release, coming this April!”

Ugra-Media

 

F-4E 81-2 Red Flag

Campaign by Reflected

Get ready for the great new F-4E Red Flag 82-1 Campaign by Reflected Simulations! Taking place across thirteen meticulously crafted missions, you’ll experience historically accurate procedures, custom voice-overs, and missions randomized for replayability. Complete with detailed briefings, authentic kneeboard images, and dozens of faithful skins, this campaign will showcase the best of DCS from advanced dogfights to carefully choreographed ground attacks. Stay tuned for this exciting new campaign coming very soon in the next update!

Thank you again for your passion and support, 

Yours sincerely,

 

[Beirut]

No Germany. So sad. 

[Gunfreak]

TDC, Cold war Germany, improvements to Kola and a campaign from reflected in the same patch. Now that's some epic excrements right there.

 

Do we have a definitive answer on the Germany map coming with assets (like the Russian hover boats?

2 minutes ago, Beirut said:

No Germany. So sad. 

It says it will relase this month 

[Raisuli]

I land in Frankfurt in less than a month, whether it's there or not. 

 

[Beirut]

9 minutes ago, Gunfreak said:

It says it will relase this month 

 

Beauty! 

[BIGNEWY]

Just to clarify as some people seem confused, the DTC is for MP and SP. It can be created in the mission editor by the mission creator, or prior to entering the aircraft by the user. 

Thank you 

[Raven (Elysian Angel)]

Hopefully this DTC will come to 3rd party modules too!

[DF110071]

Can the DTC of the F18 and F16 be loaded into the aircraft with a mouse click like the JF17?

[Mike Force Team]

Will the DTC be available for rotary, European and Russian fixed wing air?

[schurem]

We'll see when it's done. Gonna be one sweet patch though!

[Mike Force Team]

When the Eurofighter, the jet will be right home flying over Germany.

[Raisuli]

22 minutes ago, BIGNEWY said:

Just to clarify as some people seem confused, the DTC is for MP and SP. It can be created in the mission editor by the mission creator, or prior to entering the aircraft by the user. 

 

Thank you 

So, dumb question of the day, are we able to generate a library of DTCs and insert as needed?  I ask because that would give me the option to decide on launch which role to play in a mission.  Different 8-track for barcap, CAS, ground attack, search and destroy, etc.  Makes the grand canonical mission doable without having to customize every possible aircraft.

 

[Gunfreak]

Will we be able to set up MFDs? So I don't have to set up the MFD at the beginning of the mission to avoid getting semi-usesless screen on the MFDs when I activate modes?

[Northstar98]

1 hour ago, Raisuli said:

So, dumb question of the day, are we able to generate a library of DTCs and insert as needed?  I ask because that would give me the option to decide on launch which role to play in a mission.  Different 8-track for barcap, CAS, ground attack, search and destroy, etc.  Makes the grand canonical mission doable without having to customize every possible aircraft.

Yeah, have to second this question - some modules have their DTCs stored in plain text files that are easy to manipulate, you can make a number of these and then select which one you want from the cockpit, allowing you to rapidly pick from a selection of cartridges without having to make a new one each time. Their just wasn't a built in solution for generating them.

I really hope this system does the same.

EDIT: Looks like it does - I see "FILE" and "LOAD" options. I just hope we can pick one from in-cockpit.

Edited April 11 by Northstar98

[Kosta]

3 hours ago, Graphics said:

“We appreciate your patience and look forward to sharing more milestones. Stay tuned for the release, coming this April!”

Awesome news!!!

[schurem]

Two more weeks ladies!

 

[SOLIDKREATE]

3 hours ago, schurem said:

Two more weeks ladies!

 

 

 

[Captain Orso]

7 hours ago, Raisuli said:

I land in Frankfurt in less than a month, whether it's there or not. 

 

Schrödinger was German, just so you know 

[schurem]

But he also wasn't. Right up to the point where you asked him his papers.

[Hotdognz]

Where was the news about a Kola update in the next patch, I must have missed it ??

Sent from my CPH2333 using Tapatalk

[Nealius]

I'm hoping with the DTC we can load pre-made CMDS and MFD setups instead of having to manually set them through the DTC UI each and every time we hop into a mission and server. 

Edited April 12 by Nealius

[Raisuli]

2 hours ago, Captain Orso said:

Schrödinger was German, just so you know 

So was Heisenberg, which could mean there's no conclusive way to know if Frankfurt is there until we actually land, and there's no way to know whether the cat is alive or dead (I'm a cat person, so I'll be sad if it's dead even if my allergies will approve) until we open the box.

Worst case Germany is released about the time I leave.  I've been waiting for this, and Ugra is a bonus, since...forever.  Just need to get some area creep.

 

Can you imagine the reaction if they did a 1944-45 version, akin to the Marianas/WWII Marianas ED is working on?   It's a logical progression, but talk about WWII candy...particularly with Normandy v2

Given the WWII aircraft really lean toward late war it's even pretty easy to predict a time frame.

All in all great news.

[Qcumber]

5 hours ago, Raisuli said:

Can you imagine the reaction if they did a 1944-45 version, akin to the Marianas/WWII Marianas ED is working on?   It's a logical progression, but talk about WWII candy...particularly with Normandy v2

I really hope they do. With a possible extension across the Netherlands to the east of England. That would make long range missions to Berlin possible. 

[Lace]

7 hours ago, Nealius said:

I'm hoping with the DTC we can load pre-made CMDS and MFD setups instead of having to manually set them through the DTC UI each and every time we hop into a mission and server. 

I hope so. I mean, that's kind of the point, isn't it?  Have pre-defined DTC files rather than setting everything up pre flight, whether in the cockpit or in the DTC UI.

[Roy35150]

Great news about the map,

She looks super.