The Fly-By:

Highlights from this week’s news in 60 seconds or less (hopefully)

The 2024 FlightSimExpo lost its home for the show scheduled in June after the Tropicana hotel and convention center announced it would be closing in April. The Flight Sim Association has already started the search for a new venue and the team is currently committed to keeping the event on schedule and in Last Vegas.
Heatblur’s CEO dropped by the Air Combat Sim Podcast for about an hour and discussed their lineup of modules covering the F-4E detail along with updates about the F-14 and the A-6.
PolyChop released an FAQ for their upcoming OH-58 Kiowa with highlights including the module will not see an early access release or a pre-purchase period and it will debut at $70 USD.
OJ from the We Run Liberation community created a fantastic set ofDCS: Retribution Tutorials on his YouTube page. More about those and the We Run Liberation community later.

Developer News

Heatblur Makes a Podcast appearance

Heatblur CEO Nicholas Dackard made a guest appearance on Air Combat Sim podcast episode 43 for roughly an hour
- Go check them out!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vsrgIuJDXQw&t=19s

Major points of interest (for me)
- F-14 News
  - They’re working on the TARPS pod gameplay layer for the F-14 before they introduce it
    - The CEO teases some interesting recon-ish elements that are intriguing
  - F-14D may have been confirmed? Oops.
- F-4E News
  - Jester 2.0 will be mouse-clickable in the cockpit!
    - Fantastic Jester 2.0 discussion (not going to spoil here)
  - They’re creating a new Electronic Warfare/RWR system to couple with the AGM-45 Shrike
    - Introducing some new gameplay elements for this warfare domain
    - Taking into account frequencies of the system, rotations of the radar, unique sounds of the individual radar systems, etc..
  - Naval Phantom will come for sure but as a several module
    - Short answer: enough changes that it’s not economically viable to do as a sub-module
    - Very different aircraft from F-4E
      - Everything in the cockpit is different from a visual perspective except for the cockpit frame
      - Later version had look-down, shoot-down radar, no gun
      - Enough changes that require the time to do it justice
  - Training missions will be available on launch
    - Single Missions + Campaign to follow
  - Simulated Crew Chief, Weapon systems discussion, pilot/wso task work load, and more
- A-6 Module
  - Full-fidelity module: It’s at the end of the roadmap for now (after F-4E and Eurofighter)
    - Hoping to leverage all they learn from Jester 2.0 to apply to this aircraft
    - Exact version still up in the air a bit
  - AI module should be coming soon

Slow week for DCS Weekly Update

Miltech-5 updates on the DCS: Bo-105! Read the details below.

Several new screenshots dropped for Miltech-5’s upcoming Bo-105 helicopter