Gepard

The Su-27 is a 40 years old plane. It was made for Cold War. But today it is only useful in the air defence role. It can't survive in areas, which are covered by modern air defence systems.

In 1969, the Soviet Union delivered the first of 87 MiG-21Ms to the East German Air Force LSK/LV. This aircraft was eagerly awaited in the GDR, as it promised a greater range, a higher weapon load and an improved radar. But when the aircraft became part of everyday military life, the joy soon gave way to great disillusionment. It became apparent that the MiG-21M had lost a large part of its maneuverability compared to its predecessor models. The acceleration ability was also no longer what it was used to. The pilots were loudly critical, which was unusual, because in the GDR it was strictly frowned upon to criticize Soviet military technology. At first the head of the air force wanted to punish his pilots for their criticism, but his deputy convinced him of the opposite. If loyal elite pilots dared to criticize openly, then there must be something to it. Therefore, a series of training air battles was scheduled in which the MiG-21M had to compete against its predecessor models. In every single air battle, the MiG-21M was outmaneuvered and simulated being shot down. The aircraft was simply too fat and underpowered. The disillusionment was great. Therefore, it was decided to use the MiG-21M from now on only as a reconnaissance aircraft and fighter-bomber. In order to bridge the time until more modern MiG-21 variants arrived, the older MiG-21 versions were ordered to be modernized. The focus was on the MiG-21PF and the MiG-21F-13. The MiG-21F-13 was the most agile version of the MiG-21. It was loved by its pilots. But this aircraft had some disadvantages. These included the lack of an air target radar, a low weapon load and a less than reliable engine. These problems needed to be addressed. The project was codenamed "Moskito". At the end of 1969, the Chief of the GDR Air Force presented the "Moskito" project at a meeting of the top leadership of the Warsaw Pact states. Polish and Czech participants were interested, so an agreement was reached that the "Moskito" project should be jointly pursued by the three states of the GDR, Poland and Czechoslovakia. Poland took on the task of modernizing the weapon system. Czechoslovakia would take care of the engine and the GDR would revise the sensor system. Work in Poland progressed quickly. This was because Poland was already working on a double launch rail for air-to-air missiles. It was called Monsun and was originally intended for the MiG-21PF. It now had to be integrated into the weapon system of the MiG-21F-13. This was achieved within a few months. The Czechs' task was more difficult. Initially, the original R-11F-300 engine was to be replaced by the MiG-21PFM engine. However, there were some delays and problems installing the engine. In addition, the increase in performance was only achieved when the afterburner was used, not with normal thrust. It was only when the Soviet Union agreed to supply the R-13F-300 engine that real progress could be made. Normal thrust increased by 5%, and afterburner thrust by an incredible 25%. The test pilots were enthusiastic about the MiG-21F-13 with this engine. In the GDR, they were faced with the problem of developing an air target radar that would match the RP-21 in terms of performance. The RP-21 did not fit into the slim nose of the MiG-21F-13. Therefore, the radar rangefinder SRD-5ND Kwant was used as the starting point for radar development. By using semiconductor technology instead of vacuum tubes, it was possible to reduce the weight of the device, increase its reliability and triple the detection distance. Instead of detecting a large aerial target at 7 km, the new radar had a range of more than 20 km. Making the radar's small antenna swivelable was a major problem. But after a few failed attempts, it was possible to develop a reliable mechanism. By mid-1971, project work had progressed to the point where the components developed by the three participating countries in the "Moskito" project could be combined in a prototype. Flight testing went surprisingly smoothly, so that the conversion of the first MiG-21F-13 to the new standard could begin in early 1972. In the GDR, the work was carried out in the aircraft factory in Dresden. Modernized aircraft were given the type designation MiG-21F-13M. The Polish aircraft were given the same designation, while the Czechs called their machines S-106M. Between 50 and 60 MiG-21F-13s were converted in each of the three countries. Czechoslovakia built another 50 new machines till 1976. The MiG-21F-13M saw its first combat deployment in the Yom Kippur War in 1973. The Soviet Union demanded that its allies compensate for the aircraft losses of Egypt and Syria by supplying MiG-21s. The GDR supplied the unpopular MiG-21M, while Poland and the Czechs each sent 12 MiG-21F-13Ms to Egypt. They were first deployed in the air battle of Al-Mansura, where they were able to shoot down 11 Israeli F-4Es without losing a single aircraft of their own. The Egyptian pilots were enthusiastic about the MiG-21F-13M. The MiG-21F-13M was flown in the GDR until 1985. In Poland and Czechoslovakia they were taken out of service in 1990. The pilots of the MiG-21F-13 loved this aircraft and considered it the best MiG-21 version ever.

Somewhere over Vietnam

Somewhere over North Vietnam.

Coastal tiles are done. Still to do are river in city tiles and railways i farmland tiles. WIP screenshot shows the coastline and sea tiles. If you look to the river you see one of the old river in city tiles.

Coastal tiles are done. Still to do are river in city tiles and railways i farmland tiles. WIP screenshot shows the coastline and sea tiles. If you look to the river you see one of the old river in city tiles.

SitRep: Most of the tiles are now on the new standard. Still to do are the coastal tiles and the city river tiles. I hope i can do this tomorrow. The problem of my very first terrains are "potholes" in the landscape. To cure this will need some time. But i hope i can release a first Beta version of DRV 2.0 terrain on sunday.

Over North Vietnam.

I started a small update of the DRV terrain to bring it on SF2 standard and give it a better tileset. WIP Screenshot shows old and new tiles. The new tiles i have taken from Rio de la Plata terrain. They are basing on Green hell tileset.

Yesterday i was playing with the TFD tool to improve my USAMichigan terrain. My Anti-Virus scanner AVIRA started to a routine quick scan. Suddenly the window of the TFD tool disappeared and a restart of the tool was not possible. I was searching a while till i found the reason. Avira had the opinion, that the TFD tool would be a virus, stopped it immediately and moved it into quarantine. And what i have learned: If i'm working with the TFD tool and the Anti-Virus scanner starts, then i must close TFD as fast as possible.

What if Germany would have used the Tornado F.3.

It is the 170m Shelter. I have moded it a little bit with a hexeditor. In the original file the roof skin should be HangarA-2.bmp or Ind_Roof1.bmp.

Aurora Municipal Airport

Lewis University Airport

For the Ukraine terrain we have western tanks, like Abrams, Leo1 and 2, in the basic shape, as they are used in the western military. I the last year the ukrainians found out, that the armour protection of this tanks was not good enough to defeat russian ATGM or bigger drones, like the Lanzet. Thatswhy they fitted the tanks with Kontakt 1 ERA blocks from soviet times. Here some photos: This Abrams was captured some day ago in Sumy region. It has ERA blocks on the turret front and sides, but no side skirt. This captured Abrams has massive thick side skirts. So does the Abrams look with ERA and folded turret cage, short after delivery Here a sideview with unfolded cage. Good to see is the massive side skirt. Leopard 2 with ERA blocks on turret and side skirts. Nice to see the anti drone jammer antennas on the turret roof. Perhaps one of our talented modders could make Abrams and Leo 2 models in 2025 standard.

Small discussion over Sokotra island.

"Tower, this is Ghostrider, requesting a flyby!" "Negative, Ghostrider! .... WTF!!!!!" BTW. If you are looking for "Super" on this screenshot: The Super Etendard are on board of the argentinian carrier.

F-31 of Argentinian Air Force in early 1990th.

I catched the Tommy carrier.

Viva Argentina! ¡Las Islas Malvinas nos pertenecen!

I'm working on Aurora Municipal Airport. And i have a small problem. This airport was reconfigured in the early 2000th. Some of the old taxiways were removed and new taxiways were build some meters beside. So i made the old airport and it looks so: For the new shape of the airport i must remove the long taxiway a little bit to left, to bring it in a staight line. Thatswhy i added the entry Target[008].EndYear=2003 in the targets.ini Then i added the new taxiway with the additional entry Target[052].ActiveYear=2004 The funny, or not so funny thing is, that ActiveYear is working properly, but EndYear not. The result looks so: The new taxiway is so as it should be, but the old taxiway is still there. Has someone an idea, how to solve this problem?

Take off from Gary/Chicago International Airport. (WIP)

Here the static planes at Midway Airport in game I made a new tile with an university complex. I think it is an university with baseball field and two sports arenas. But the color does not fit with the other tiles. Perhaps i can fix it with some paintshop work.

Screenshot of the targeteditor. Part of Chicago Midway Airport with static planes Ups, one of the 727 (red stripes) is not on the correct position. I have to fix it.