Dear Fighter Pilots, Partners and Friends,
The Back to School Sale 2026 is here, with 50% off all Eagle Dynamics modules and savings of up to 50% on many of our valued 3rd Party partners. Now is the perfect time to pick up that aircraft or terrain you have had your eye on.
We also take a closer look at our new ‘Start Here’ guided tutorial missions for the DCS: F/A-18C, DCS: AH-64D, and DCS: P-51D Mustang. These training sessions are highly detailed and offer an excellent syllabus for all newcomers to the modules, with more airframes to follow in the future.
Rounding out this issue, we're highlighting the DCS Core changelog from this week's update, covering AI behavior, ground units, weapons, and a first-time Data Transfer Cartridge feature for the DCS: AH-64D. Check out the details below, and the full changelog here.
Thank you for your passion and support.
Yours sincerely,
Eagle Dynamics
Class is back in session, and we are offering huge savings to help ease you back into the groove. The Back to School Sale 2026 puts 50% off all Eagle Dynamics modules and up to 50% off many of our valued partners' products, live now across both the DCS E-Shop and Steam.
The E-Shop sale runs 26 August – 09 September 2026 and closes at 15:00 GMT. On Steam, the sale runs 26 August – 07 September 2026 and also closes at 15:00 GMT.
If you're new to DCS or DCS: F/A-18C, DCS: AH-64D, or DCS: P-51D Mustang, this is the week to get up and flying fast. Three new Start Here series launched alongside this week's update. These concise tutorial missions are built to get you in the air and familiar with basic concepts, controls and combat as soon as possible.
The DCS: F/A-18C is a modern, carrier-based multirole fighter and an ideal introduction to fast jets, combining precision, power, and versatility across both air-to-air and air-to-ground roles. The DCS: AH-64D is the premier modern attack helicopter, built around sophisticated radar and targeting systems that deliver devastating firepower and situational awareness for day, night, and all-weather operations. Finally, the DCS: P-51D Mustang is the WWII icon known for its agility, speed, and smooth handling — your chance to get hands-on with the fundamentals of flying and fighting in the cockpit of "a living legend."
Whether you're finally picking up the module you've had your eye on or handing a stick to someone new, there's never been a better time to enroll.
Getting into DCS or a new module for the first time can be daunting — a full cockpit, a complex flight model, and no idea where to begin. This week's update adds three new Start Here series: short, focused tutorial missions that teach essential handling, systems, weaponry, and HUD concepts hands-on, with spoken and on-screen guidance throughout.
Each series is best flown in order — every mission introduces a new concept and scales in difficulty to prepare you for the next one — and every mission can be replayed anytime from the Training area, where more advanced tutorials also live.
DCS: F/A-18C launches with the full five-mission series: Controls, IR Missiles, BVR Combat, 20mm Cannon, and Carrier Ops, all ready to fly now.
DCS: AH-64D launches with three of its four planned missions ready to fly: CP/G Flight, Hellfires, and 30mm Gun. A fourth, FCR Hellfires, is still on the way.
DCS: P-51D Mustang launches with two of its four planned missions ready to fly: Fixed Sight and Gyro Sight. Rockets and Bombs are still on the way.
Need a hand, or just want to compare notes with other new pilots? The DCS Discord is there for support, tips, and connecting with fellow pilots, along with content creators, videos, guides, and other training resources.
If you've been putting off your first flight, there's no easier way in.
This week's update covers a lot of ground—stability fixes, smarter AI, weapons tuning, new hardware profiles, and a first-time feature for the DCS: AH-64D. Here's what stands out in the Core changelog.
DCS Core
Several stability issues have been resolved, including crashes tied to missions with disembark set from the start, certain radio settings, and radio propagation when an aircraft or vehicle is killed mid-mission, along with a takeoff-and-landing stutter reported by the community. The algorithm for building AI aircraft taxiway paths has also been reworked using real aircraft dimensions, producing more realistic movement, fewer collisions and less congestion at busy airfields, and more parking space for larger aircraft. Dynamic Spawn has been improved too, cutting down on players spawning into an already-occupied parking spot and smoothing out spawning at FARPs.
AI Aircraft
A new lowest AI skill level, Cadet, has been added — a gentler AI opponent, handy for anyone easing into combat. AI fighters also fly a smarter intercept: with a radar-guided missile selected, the AI flies an attack curve toward the missile's intercept point, while an IR-seeking missile sends it straight down a pursuit curve at the target. The tactical turn ("crank") maneuver has been refined, now triggering only in a head-on engagement against a dangerous enemy at an angle of +/- 60 degrees from the enemy's axis, when the fighter is at risk from enemy missiles — otherwise it presses the attack. Wingmen no longer bunch up and stall out the formation for minutes at a time when ordered into trail, and AI flight leads no longer crash while waiting on a wingman after a carrier takeoff. AI helicopters also got better at judging clear landing zones near tall buildings, a handful of DCS: B-1B issues were fixed (landing gear wobble, armament doors, and GBU-38 loadout counts), and the DCS: F-100D has been added to the Quick Action Generator.
Graphics & Controls
MOZA default control profiles have been added for the DCS: F/A-18C, DCS: F-16C, DCS: AH-64D, and F-15C Flaming Cliffs. On the graphics side, HUD symbology artifacts on AMD GPUs have been fixed, missing vapor particle shadows have been restored, and fog now affects laser weapons and designators more accurately.
AI Ground Units
New trailers — the ATZ-60 (for the MAZ-7410 tractor) and the TZ-22 and S-75 (for the KrAZ-258B1 and ZIL-131) — can now be attached and detached via the Mission Editor, and RSBN cars and GCI units now show up on the F10 map. The eight new Currenthill ground units are officially live in this update: the M1296 IFV, SLT-50 Tractor and Trailer, HX77 Truck, HX81 Tractor, BMP-3 IFV (replacing the previous model), BMP-3 ERA IFV, and ZA-SpN Titan MRAP. The Pantsir-S1 and IRIS-T SLM no longer fail to engage targets below the horizon, and the IRIS-T SLM STR now properly uses its multi-channel radar. Worth noting for DCS: Combined Arms players: player control of the CA missile systems on the Pantsir-S1, the Tor M2, and the Tor M2KM aboard Project 22160 has been removed.
Weapons
The ARM AGM-45 got a full flight model rework from the ground up — ballistic performance is slightly down, steering losses are substantially reduced, and the gap in performance between the A and B variants has widened. The AIM-9L/M/X fuze range has been nudged out from 7m to 8m, and the AIM-7M/MH now reliably arms its fuze in an ECM environment. The 9M33 Osa (SA-8) has moved to a new flight model built on CFD research, with updated motor data and CLOS guidance now enabled, while the SA-2 and SA-3 both gained a missing guidance method for engaging low-level targets. And on the fixes side, the crash-to-desktop that could occur when launching the AGM-88C has been resolved.
Data Transfer Cartridge
The DCS: AH-64D gets Data Transfer Cartridge support for the first time — Mission 1/2 partitions, waypoints, control measures, target/threat points, battlefield lines, engagement areas, fire zones, ADF presets, routes, radios, COM presets, weapons and sights settings, and ASE/RWR data, all loadable straight from the cartridge. It's a natural companion to this week's new DCS: AH-64D Start Here series. The DCS: F-16C also picks up a new ROE tab and COLR partition, and several existing DTC issues have been fixed across the DCS: F/A-18C and DCS: F-16C, including a replay bug where DTC data wasn't being captured at all.
This covers the DCS Core highlights — for the full list of individual module changes, check out the complete changelog here.
Thank you again for your passion and support.
Yours sincerely,
Eagle Dynamics
THIS WEEK’S PRIORITY TASKING
Check out some highlights of the latest update with HIP News as they break down 2.9.28.27278 for you. Watch it here.