Hey everyone! In addition to refinements in the modeling of directional infrared countermeasures (DIRCM), improvements to the CCRP interface, and the introduction of cluster bombs, the Eagle’s Shadow update will bring several further enhancements to aircraft. Let’s take a look!

Aiming of MITL-capable munitions

The game already features munitions with man-in-the-loop (MITL) capability for aircraft, and this functionality will be extended to helicopters in the upcoming update. However, despite the advantage these munitions offer, namely the ability to guide them without a direct line of sight between the launch platform and the target, they have historically suffered from a significant drawback. This is that the guidance system would lock onto a random point on the vehicle, and this specific point would remain remembered, even if the target was re-acquired.

You can now adjust the impact point when engaging vehicles. It’s very simple: once you’ve locked onto a target, click the left mouse button, aim at the specific spot you want to hit on the enemy tank or vessel, and click again. That’s it! Your ammunition will now be directed to that exact location.

Despite the fact ground vehicles don’t have MITL capability for balance reasons, the ability to more precisely select the impact point will affect ground vehicle ATGMs as well, for example Spike missiles. Now the target acquisition frame won’t select the target as a whole but a precise point that the missile will target so you can retarget the missile before launch choosing the optimal impact point on the target.

Homing of certain infrared-guided missiles onto aircraft engines

Previously, all air-to-air and surface-to-air missiles equipped with infrared seekers would guide toward the center of an aircraft model, regardless of the specific seeker technology used. In the Eagle’s Shadow update, we’ve refined their logic. Now, these types of missiles, with the exception of those using imaging infrared (IIR) seekers, pseudo-imaging seekers, or seekers with angular gating (i.e., missiles that perceive the entire aircraft as a single target), will no longer guide toward the center of the aircraft, but rather toward its hottest components, like the engines.

That’s it for this dev blog. Be sure to stay tuned for more news on the Eagle’s Shadow major update!