As with last week’s newsletter, this is a partial list of the items we will be developing in 2026. Please note that not all are expected to be released in 2026; some will come afterward.
DCS F-35A and F-15C. Although the F-15C design is complete and the F-35A design is maturing, development has been a bit delayed pending additional art and engineering resource availability.
Existing Module Support. 2026 will see continued development across most aircraft, terrains, and technical modules. Work will continue on improving the Mosquito FB VI, F-16C, F/A-18C, AH-64D, CH-47F, Mi-24P, MiG-29A and other aircraft, while both the Afghan and Iraq maps will have final regions added. Supercarrier will see the introduction of the Ready Room, improved landing aid guidance, and a dynamic deck crew.
Hellcat, Zero, and WWII PTO Assets. The Pacific Theater of Operations (PTO) has been a big focus for us over the past year and will continue well into 2026. This includes finalising the release of the Hellcat, the development of the iconic A6M5 “Zero”, which is currently seeing great progress. To create a great simulation of the PTO air war in 1944, many of our artists have been creating a large collection of US Navy and Imperial Japan AI aircraft, ships, and ground forces. Some of these naval vessels are to an exceptionally high level of detail and quality.
Afghanistan and Iraq Map Completion. Last year saw the addition of the eastern region to the Afghan map, and a great improvement to the entire map with more realistic terrain, trees, urban areas, and detail. We are now far along in creating the final region: Northern Afghanistan. The Iraq map also saw continued work on the northern region, and most of the Iraq map work is now focused on the southern region to include the remainder of Iraq, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, and parts of Saudi Arabia.
Spherical Earth. This effort is currently on hold as we focus our resources on the Vulkan API, improved clouds and weather, better visual effects, and further virtual reality performance improvements. This remains an important feature for the future of DCS, but we’ve had to prioritise resources on these pressing tasks. We look forward to returning to this later.
New, free Su-25. The new, free Flaming Cliffs level Su-25 is nearing completion. The level of detail and photorealism is truly excellent. We want our ‘free to play’ first experience to be fabulous.
Following this free, Flaming Cliffs level Frogfoot, we will explore the development of a paid-for full fidelity Su-25 with a new external model and complete systems, sensors, weapons, radios, etc. modeling, similar to the DCS: MiG-29A Fulcrum.
Combined Arms 2.0. The new and greatly updated version of Combined Arms is still on the cards and awaiting development resources being made available. Some of the important items planned are VR support and a more modern and intuitive Real Time Strategy (RTS) interface/command system.
New Infantry Units. Work is steadily progressing on several types of units including US, Russian, Insurgent, and World War II units. There will be a huge improvement in the existing units regarding detail, animations, and accuracy. New infantry units have AI routines to work as a group, move between cover and traverse obstacles. The new infantry will also utilize the new navmesh technology to their advantage. Additionally, we are considering the addition of ATGM teams.
1st Person Walk Around Mode. In a recent MiG-29A video, we included a test simulation of what this might look like in DCS, and the ability to walk around and inside all assets and cargo aircraft similar to the C-130J.
AI Improvements. In almost all DCS Update changelogs, you will find a list of AI fixes and improvements. This will continue in 2026 and beyond with much of the focus being related to supporting the dynamic campaign. Aside from dynamic campaign support, other AI work will be dedicated toward dynamic Supercarrier deck crew, the new radio communication system with an emphasis on ATC and AWACS AI, air defense unit barrage fire logic when attacking aircraft, additional ground vehicles malfunctions caused by damage, tuning of dogfight and beyond visual range aerial combat, and more. We strongly suggest that you keep a close eye on the change logs.
DTC. 2025 saw the introduction of the Data Transfer Cartridge to the F-16C, F/A-18C, and MiG-29A. 2026 will continue this with a focus on navigation and line/point data, sensor and weapon data, and system configurations. We will also expand the DTC to other aircraft including the AH-64D and A-10C II.
