Yes, I want a UH-60 in DCS. I want a good UH-60 in all sims. OK, I want all helicopters on all sims, really. But I do want the Black Hawk in a military sim such as DCS. Especially if I can play Pave Hawk and rescue some of the guys on the ground (if they decide to come on board, that is).
We have been seeing others asking for the same as the helicopter is obviously famous. Being the beforementioned workhorse and going through a series of updates, doing many types of missions, and being involved in all sorts of operations, it had to. And people fell in love with it.
Unfortunately, we do not have an official module being worked on that we know of, at least. Fortunately, just like with the A-4/T-45, the community has come to the rescue. And I have mentioned the A-4/T-45 for a reason. No, it’s not the same team. But the mod popped up on the conversation I had with 2 of the 3 guys working full time on the project.
Speaking of which, the team is looking for a 3D modeler to help them out as they are trying to push the project forth. If you think you can help, please hit me up directly and I will get you in touch with the team.
Being a non-official modification, the team obviously is going through some hard times since they lack access to the SDK and documentation. DCS is still quite a closed platform in that regard so developers do their best with what they have. And that’s what the DCS UH-60L Development Team is trying to achieve since they are trying to provide the highest fidelity modification they can, which is not easy considering the SDK limitations but also the lack of experience with the real helicopter.
The team is not alone, though and they are working with a team of about 10 pilots and crew chiefs, including some instructor pilots, which are providing the team with a lot of feedback and information about the handling qualities as well as engine/torque performance.
The goal, as I mentioned above, is to achieve a very high level of fidelity. The end result should be similar to the “A-4/T-45 level of quality for comparison”, which is actually quite good for a non-official module.
The team is planning on releasing the UH-60L in stages, as is customary these days. There will be an initial release, which will not be the complete planned helicopter and the team will then proceed on updating it as they get feedback from the community.
One example they gave was the fact that they want to “add the ESSS (external wings and fuel tanks) in a later update”. Those updates will also allow them to improve the artwork and the fidelity of systems.
Right now, the team is working on and planning towards the first release, trying to “balance the need to make a good impact with a first release vs. trying to reach impossible perfection” as they so well put it. Quality is very important for them and having an impact in the community with a good product is a priority to them.
The team says they are quite close to an initial release but there is no date set yet.
Meanwhile you can jump into their Discord Server and say hi!
