DCS: F-100D Development Report

Dear Fighter Pilots, Partners and Friends, 

Grinnelli Designs opens this issue with a full post-release development report on the DCS: F-100D Super Sabre, covering community-requested improvements, ongoing improvements across the flight model, weapons, and external model, plus a limited-edition vinyl soundtrack and your last chance at the F-100D "Catfish" Collector's Edition.

Currenthill is also adding eight new ground units to DCS at no cost, from the M1296 Dragoon IFV to tank-transporter tractors and trailers that AI units and Combined Arms players alike will be able to hook and unhook.

And rounding out this issue, we're spotlighting Digital Kneeboard Simulator, a free community-built tool that plans your mission, builds your kneeboards, and handles your debrief without ever leaving the browser.

Thank you for your passion and support.

Yours sincerely,  Eagle Dynamics

DCS: F-100D Super Sabre Post-Release Dev Report

By Grinnelli

From the Grinnelli Designs Development Team: Since the release of the DCS: F-100D Super Sabre, the Grinnelli Designs team has been hard at work reviewing community feedback, resolving reported issues, improving existing systems, and continuing the development necessary to move the F-100D out of Early Access.

Our primary focus moving forward is bug fixing, refinement, and optimization. At the same time, community feedback has already resulted in several new options and quality-of-life improvements being added to the module.

Community-Requested Improvements Several additions have been made directly in response to feedback from F-100 pilots:

• Added a Special Option for cockpit lighting brightness, allowing users to adjust cockpit illumination to better suit their display and flying environment.

• Added a Clean Canopy Glass option for pilots who prefer reduced canopy wear and reflections.

• Added the AGM-45B Shrike to the F-100D's available weapons.

• Adjusted the wheel brake temperature model, reducing the rate at which the brakes overheat during normal ground operations.

• Added keyboard throttle rate controls, providing improved throttle control for users flying without a dedicated throttle axis.

These changes are being developed alongside a growing list of fixes and improvements throughout the aircraft.

Ongoing F-100D Development Recent work includes improvements across the flight model, weapons, external model, cockpit systems, keybinds, and overall module performance.

Among the updates currently being worked on or completed are:

General

• Refined afterburner fuel consumption to more closely match available performance data.

• Improved thrust calculations at power settings below 100%, reducing excessive aircraft drag during idle and windmilling conditions.

• Corrected the altimeter mode default position.

• Continued improvements to infrared coefficient behavior.

• Additional export-display fixes and optimization.

Weapons

• Added Zuni rockets, including configurations historically carried by French Air Force F-100s.

• Added LAU-3 rocket launchers to the inner pylons.

• Corrected an issue preventing the Strike Camera selection from being retained when configured through the Ground Crew menu.

External Model and Performance A continued optimization pass is underway on the external model, including improved Levels of Detail and reduced texture memory usage.

Additional corrections include:

• Improved external-model LODs and overall performance.

• Corrected cockpit glass textures on the external model.

• Corrected beacon light textures.

• Corrected external floodlight direction.

• Optimized multiple pylon textures.

• Updated external fuel-tank textures for several liveries.

• Improved texture compression throughout the aircraft.

• Corrected several normal maps.

• Added a missing tail-skid collision model.

Controls and Keybinds A number of additional control bindings have also been added based on community requests, including:

• Rocket depression axis.

• Range sweep iterate control.

• Station selector toggles.

• Corrected air-start control values.

• DC Boost Pump control.

• Weapon Panel selector controls.

• Hydraulic Selector Knob controls.

These changes represent only part of the ongoing work. We will continue reviewing bug reports and community feedback while working through the remaining Early Access development roadmap.

Our objective is to continue improving the F-100D until it reaches the level of completeness, accuracy, stability, and performance required to leave Early Access.

Limited Edition F-100 Soundtrack Vinyl The DCS: F-100D Super Sabre Original Soundtrack has arrived on vinyl.

This exclusive 2-record collector’s set features all 10 tracks from the official F-100D soundtrack, presented with limited-edition cover artwork created specifically for this release. Only 100 copies are being produced, making this a true limited-run piece for Super Sabre fans, collectors, and supporters of the project. When they’re gone, they’re gone.

F-100D Collector's Edition – 100/100 The limited-edition F-100D “Catfish” Collector’s Edition has officially sold out. 99 Collector’s Edition bundles have been claimed, but we saved the final catfish for the community. The 100/100 Catfish Collector’s Edition will be awarded as the Grand Prize in our upcoming F-100D Screenshot Contest. Community members will be invited to submit their best screenshots featuring the DCS: F-100D Super Sabre through the Grinnelli Designs Discord.

In addition to the Grand Prize, two runner-up winners will each receive a copy of the official F-100D soundtrack on limited-edition vinyl.

That means three winners in total, with the final 100/100 Catfish Collector’s Edition reserved for the best overall submission. This is your last chance to get your hands on an F-100D “Catfish” Collector’s Edition!

Additional contest rules and submission information available at www.grinnellidesigns.com/contest.

Final Message The release of the F-100D was a major milestone for our team, but it was never the end of development.

We greatly appreciate the bug reports, feedback, screenshots, videos, and support the community has provided since release. That feedback is already helping shape the aircraft as we continue working toward the completion of Early Access.

There is plenty more ahead for the Hun.

Eight New Ground Units

By Currenthill

Your battlefield is about to get a lot more crowded. Currenthill is bringing eight new ground units into DCS at no cost, covering everything from a modern American IFV to the trucks and tank transporters that keep an armored column moving.

New combat vehicles:

• M1296 Dragoon IFV — A Stryker-family infantry carrier upgraded with a 30mm XM813 Bushmaster II autocannon in a MCT-30 remote turret, able to engage out to 3,000 meters, plus a coaxial 7.62mm M240C. It entered U.S. Army service in 2017 with the 2nd Cavalry Regiment in Europe.

• BMP-3 IFV — A replacement for the existing in-sim model. The real BMP-3 has been in service since 1987 and is one of the most heavily armed IFVs anywhere, pairing a low-velocity 100mm 2A70 gun with a 30mm 2A72 autocannon and 9M117 Bastion anti-tank missiles out to 5-6 km.

• BMP-3 ERA IFV — The up-armored variant, fitted with Kaktus explosive reactive armor, which entered serial production in November 2022.

• ZA-SpN Titan MRAP — A 4x4 mine-resistant vehicle built to STANAG 4569 Level III ballistic and 2a/2b mine protection standards, carrying a crew of five with an optional remote weapon station for a 30mm cannon and anti-tank missiles.

New logistics muscle:

• SLT-50 Tractor and SLT-50 Trailer — Modelled on the SLT 50 Elefant, the heavy tank transporter that hauled Leopard 1 and Leopard 2 tanks for the German and Polish armies, with a 52-tonne payload trailer behind a 734hp tractor.

• HX77 Truck — An 8x8 tactical truck used across NATO logistics fleets, built for general-purpose cargo and load-handling duty.

• HX81 Tractor — Based on the real HX81 heavy equipment transporter (the German Army's SLT-2 Mammut), rated for towing loads up to 73 tons and a gross combined weight of 130 tons.

Here's the part logistics fans will want to know: the SLT-50 Tractor, SLT-50 Trailer, and HX81 Tractor aren't just new models, both AI units and Combined Arms players will be able to hook and unhook trailers with them. That means proper tank-transporter operations are coming to your missions, not just static hauling.

Eight new units, zero cost to you. Keep an eye on the changelog, we expect these to deliver in the next update.

Community Tools - Digital Kneeboard Simulator

Plan, Fly, and Debrief in One Place

Built by DCS community member theonetruejason, Digital Kneeboard Simulator is a free, browser-based mission planning and debriefing suite that takes a flight from planning room to debrief screen without leaving the tab.

Mission Planning and Kneeboard Generation Digital Kneeboard Simulator carries a complete mission plan — route, loadout, communications, threats, and targets — through a set of tabbed forms and renders it as a finished kneeboard set for roughly two dozen aircraft. Every pilot in the flight receives their own package with their own loadout, callsign, and lineup card, and the result loads directly into your kneeboards and OpenKneeboard.

Data Transfer Cartridge Export That same plan can be written out as a data cartridge for most of the aircraft the planner supports, carrying steerpoints, threat rings, communications presets, laser codes, and weapon delivery settings into the cockpit. Three formats are produced—the native in-game DCS cartridge loaded from Saved Games, files for the community DCS-DTC application, and configuration files for JAFDTC—so a squadron can use whichever method its pilots already fly with.

Web-Based Debriefing A Tacview recording uploaded through the browser replays in three dimensions with nothing to install, bringing a dogfight camera, energy trails, turn circle posts, orbit and padlock tracking, first-person and warhead views, pinned measuring yardsticks, and all the other telemetry you are already used to seeing. SRS radio recordings attach alongside the replay, align themselves to the timeline automatically, and are transcribed into a searchable record of what the flight actually said. At the same time, the finished debrief may be shared by link or presented live with every viewer following the presenter's camera and pointer.

Coalition Operations Squadrons that fly together can plan together, working side by side in a single package where each unit brings its own flights and every pilot sits on one roster with the partners they will actually be flying with. Each squadron keeps its own standards and cockpit conventions throughout, so a large joint operation comes together as one mission rather than several separate plans stitched together at the last minute.

Mission Briefings Every package carries a step-based briefing whose slides pair a live tactical map with your own text, freehand annotation anchored to real coordinates, and the flight's own kneeboard pages. Scrubbing the package timeline slides every flight across that map to where it will be at that moment, and presenting full-screen adds a whiteboard and an interactive sandtable with draggable unit pieces for walking the flight through the plan before anyone straps in.

A Donation Version There's also a charitable way in: pilots who upload a receipt showing a donation to a no-kill animal shelter get access to the keyhole feature.

If your squadron plans, flies, and debriefs together, this is worth adding to your toolkit.

Try it at digitalkneeboardsimulator.com, and join the community on Discord: discord.com/invite/fHdgqsNRUD.

Thank you again for your passion and support.

Yours sincerely,  Eagle Dynamics