JF-17 Thunder training

BeachAV8R · December 7, 2025, 8:21pm

I’ve decided I mostly spend time learning DCS modules and don’t really spend much time putting that knowledge to good use. It is what it is. I enjoy the process.

I’ve only lightly flown the JF-17 way back when it came out. I doubt I have more than a few hours flying it…and wanted to revisit it…so here we are. I’ll go through the training missions and some other missions to get familiar with the systems - it should be a fun journey.

First up is the Cold Start mission where we get familiar with the flow. The cockpit is pretty nice in VR…much of the instrument panel is pretty large font…though there are some smaller buttons. Largely I thought it looks good in VR. Make sure you pull the engine covers and ladder before start…

The JF-17 is a good looking airplane…no doubt about it. The cockpit feels very much F-16-ish with the Up Front Controller and three digital displays. It is very cozy and comfortable in VR.

The cold & dark tutorial goes quickly. I’m pretty sure you could develop a flow check that knocks everything out in perhaps a more logical but not necessarily procedurally correct order. The data cartridge and INS loading are neat aspects that I’ll have to learn a bit more about (for instance…changing loadouts on subsequent sorties and making sure to have the DTC updated and loaded).

I will practice more cold starts until I have a good handle on the process.

BeachAV8R · December 7, 2025, 10:27pm

An almost required mod in my opinion. The default JF-17 Bitchin’ Betty sounds sound like they might have been recordings of the devs daughter or something… Nice thought and all…but they don’t sound great.

This mod fixes that:

BeachAV8R · December 8, 2025, 3:53am

This combo training session we do the taxi/takeoff and some light navigation.

The plane starts as a hot start on the ramp. Probably not the greatest for continuity of training as far as learning the process of the hot-start…but I’ve been practicing those on my own. The taxi check goes though some additional checklist items such as testing the speedbrakes and checking the hydraulic pressures and control responses…

Then we play follow-the-truck to the active runway for takeoff…

The nosewheel steering on the JF-17 is very responsive…

Once on the runway…a couple more checks and we are blasting off. A couple things I did not know but found out reading through the Chuck’s Guide…there is an afterburner activation (arming) switch that allows use of the afterburner…also a switch I didn’t know about the CMBT/C&T/TRAINING engine control switch that derates the engine or something for non-critical missions…saving some wear and tear on the engine apparently. I did find it interesting on one of my cold starts I forgot to quickly get the ECS (bleed/air conditioning) on and a few minutes later I suffered an avionics overheat or something and my displays started blanking/cycling on and off. Pretty cool failure model…

The JF-17 doesn’t use flaps for takeoff unless at very heavy weights apparently…

The takeoff lesson just gets you airborne…you never land…(well…I did) and then we are back in for the navigation lesson. Once again on the ramp with a hot start. Here we are loading the navigation and stores data using the DTC cartridge. I’m not totally up to speed on the DTC cartridge…I’m assuming it stores weapons parameters and map waypoints and perhaps pre-briefed threats on the map (?)…

Taxiing back out for another departure…

The JF-17 HUD presentation is very good…very F-16-ish. The HSD has an option for overlaying maps under the waypoints…a nice feature. All of the HUD symbology feels very familiar…

After doing some navigating to the mission waypoints we are instructed on how to switch to TACAN navigation with manual inputs of frequency and course…they depict on the HSD as well with a corresponding CDI on the HUD that is fairly intuitive to use…

Turning to intercept the 031° inbound course to the TACAN…

Coming in for a landing. The JF-17 feels very nice…wallows around a bit…feels like a really authentic feeling flight model. Reminds me a little bit of the MiG-21 in how it feels very dynamic. I love it.

Down safely…on to the next training mission!

BeachAV8R · December 16, 2025, 9:46pm

On to the next phase of our JF-17 training…rounding out the navigation portion of the syllabus (with a LOT left to learn still..these are only the basics!) we head to the instrument approach procedure.

The JF-17 is..in my opinion..a bit of a handful. I am assuming also that it has pretty short legs with it’s fuel capacity and burn rate…but I’ll look into that a bit in subsequent missions. High fuel burn = more stress in a cockpit in my professional opinion. Maybe we should fly gliders in instrument conditions right @smokinhole ?

Anyway..since I’m in my infancy with learning the JF-17..I’m finding myself struggling to stay “ahead of the airplane”. Mostly because of the military way of doing things by pre-assigning frequencies to “buttons”. In my head, I understand the need to do this as a pre-briefed mission has pre-set phases. So yes, it makes sense in my head…takeoff..button 1, departure button 2, flight common frequency button 3..etc… But I’m used to just dialing in frequencies so I struggle with the pre-briefed stuff.

That said, most of what you are doing is done via the Up Front Controller (UFC) right in front of your face..so it isn’t too bad..but when you are flying at the same time it gets kind of busy.

Entering in the ILS information…

During the setup..you pick some things like distances to line up on final and direction of the “procedure turn”.

Finished with the procedure turn/holding pattern and established inbound on the ILS…

Symbology is displayed on the HUD, the ADI, and the HSD…

On short final..the runway comes into view..all good..

Still struggling a bit with the workflow and the avionics logic…I’ll need a lot of practice before it becomes a bit more familiar…

piper · December 17, 2025, 2:35am

The JF-17 is one of my favorite jets to fly in DCS. There are a lot of good tutorials on YouTube by a fellow named deephack that really helped me learn the jet.

BeachAV8R · December 17, 2025, 10:23am

Good to hear. I’m going to need that help because the included tutorials are pretty bare bones…

BeachAV8R · December 27, 2025, 3:02pm

After a short hiatus in JF-17 training we resume. As we move away from the basics of startup and navigation, we head out to the NTTR to start looking at some weapons and sensors learning. These missions will be flown using some user created NTTR templates since the included training missions with the JF-17 are frustratingly poorly done. Which..as an editorial..I just can’t understand. You pour your heart and soul into building an amazing (amazing!) sim add-on…hire somebody like @Baltic_Dragon or someone to build an awesome training campaign for it. My opinion. Opinion #2 - NTTR should be free and be included in stock DCS World and all modules should have training on that map instead of the Caucasus.

We take a purposely heavy loadout to demonstrate the draginess of the JF-17. When this thing is loaded down with ordnance, that single engine is struggling mightily to push the airframe through the air.

In many missions, tankers are set to altitudes in the mid FL250 area with tanker speed set to 300 knots..which works out to around 460 knots / M.75 or so…which for some airframes that are loaded down require quite a bit of power. And therein is always the issue..you need to catch the tanker to get fuel..and you sometimes need to use a LOT of power and burn a lot of fuel to catch the tanker. Fun times. If the mission offers it, a slower flying KC-130 is preferable to me than chasing down the KC-135 up high.

Plugging in the tanker TACAN to show it on the moving map…

Dealing with the aforementioned issue of having to track down the tanker while it is flying away from you. I burned a LOT of gas and was starting to get nervous on approach. With a full internal tank the JF-17 can carry about 5,130 lbs. of fuel. As of yet, I haven’t found a fuel flow reading anywhere..perhaps it is buried in one of the data pages. External fuel tanks (up to 3 of them) can double your fuel available to around 10,300 lbs.

Of course..with fuel dropping below the BINGO level of 1100 lbs. and well into the red, as I approach the tanker it enters the turn. Always. The. Turn. I will say that I’ve tried refueling in 2D and VR and by far VR is much easier.

The JF-17 probe is off the right side of the fuselage (it does not retract, but can be removed by ground crew if you don’t anticipate using it)..so it feels more natural to use the left drogue station on refueling aircraft to allow you to plug in and then just fly formation off the refueler reference points.

The JF-17 accepts fuel at an astonishingly fast rate. I don’t know if this is accurate or not, but I was able to go from around 700 lbs. to 5100 lbs. in maybe just over 90 seconds. I feel this is probably too fast..but I’m grateful for it.

I’ll do some more digging into things like most fuel efficient throttle settings and such. I think the JF-17 is just a very short legged fighter that requires an efficiently flown mission profile. I doubt there will be a whole lot of loitering going on unless the plane is carrying external fuel tanks.

BeachAV8R · January 1, 2026, 4:54pm

It’s finally time to blow stuff up! Woo-hoo! Pretty straight-forward trip out onto the NTTR range to drop some bombs on some SCUD launchers. This was my first attempt to loading the DTC cartridge from map created waypoints. I think it still created a little bit of a mess because when you update the DTC I think it also updates according to the mission designer’s pre-made waypoints. Regardless, I managed to get the proper waypoint loaded via the map and the DTC cartridge as confirmed by a map measurement and HUD data.

I think it is pretty cool that you must raise the canopy in order to swap the DTC cartridge. I also changed out the default weapons load for Mk-82/83/84.

Off we go toward the target range. HUD data indicates I did indeed get the proper waypoints loaded into the DTC via the F10 map.

While enroute it is time to set the A2G configuration for the first pass..which will be a simple CCIP delivery. It is important to visit this page prior to reaching the target area because at a minimum you will want to make sure the fuse setting is set to nose or tail from the default SAFE mode.

Here we go.

In very nice and easy old-school fashion..put the thing on the thing and press and hold the button to allow the program to kick off two bombs with a 300’ interval.

Coming back around for the second pass..a bit short but it does seem that DCS has improved splash damage in recent years…

Now setting up for an AUTO bomb delivery. This would be analogous to a CCRP where you set a target designation through a sensor and then fly the bomb fall line until the bombs release. Modes for targeting I guess include the ground radar, the HUD diamond designator (which I used), and obviously a targeting pod designation. I suppose there is also the possibility of a FAC or Predator designated target.

Mk-84 make big boom.

Then finally coming back around for a CCIP of my final two Mk-83 bombs…

Can’t get much closer…but nothing is shooting back at me..!

Pulling up the kneeboard I input Waypoint 50 for Nellis and head back to base.

Still a lot going on in the cockpit. I’m getting there though.

BeachAV8R · January 25, 2026, 8:45pm

Been away from the JF-17 for a few weeks while I attended training in Houston. I flew this mission just before I left..and after going through the screenshots I think I’ve forgotten everything I learned already. In this mission we head to the NTTR target range to practice using some laser guided bombs. For this mission we’ve mounted some GBUs and the WMD-7 targeting pod, an advanced Chinese sensor featuring IR and TV sensors and a laser designator.

Arming page showing GBU-12, AUTO delivery, fuzing, and the laser code 1688.

The pod requires a short warm up time…

The pod has WIDE and NARROW view selections and for each of those you can further zoom using a HOTAS axis. The sensor is remarkably crisp when in focus..and there is a neat “refocusing” effect where the image may be blurry until you hit the REFOCUS line select key.

Here I have a target selected in what I think was a Point-Track mode…

Satisfying…

There are ways to designate targets through the TGP, the HUD, and the map..I’m still learning the ins-and-outs…

The TV imagery is obviously sharper and clearer (in daylight) than the IR imagery…

Still learning a bit about the MARK points and how to get the sensor pointed where I want it to go…it will be process until I have it figured it out totally. Or..never totally..

BeachAV8R · January 27, 2026, 1:04am

Wrapping up our JF-17 training today..we spent some time at NTTR again trying out some of the other JF-17 weapons. Multiple sorties with multiple refueling and rearmings.

First up are the awesome BRM laser guided rocket pods. Similar I guess to the western APKWS rockets, the BRM features a 90mm rocket with around a 4nm range. It is fairly easy to fire of a few of these in a single pass if the targets are near one another using the targeting pod.

Fun stuff with the rockets. We return to base and load up our next weapon - the LD-10 anti-radiation missile. There aren’t any tutorials on this missile..so it was a bit of poking around YouTube and reading some forums. From what I gather..it is a variant of the SD-10 missile..which is sort of like an AMRAAM, but with anti-radiation emitter capabilities.

Powering it up takes about two and a half minutes…

I used a dynamic range mission at NTTR to activate an SA-6 site.

The Horizontal Situation Display (or TSD?..no idea..) overlays the map, waypoints, sensor location, and also threat symbols. It is worth noting that the threat symbols aren’t collocated with the actual threat on the map..think of it as a RWR display with inner, middle, and outer threat rings.

From what I read..it is best to be at high speed and high altitude and loft the SD-10 into the vicinity of the threat when using the passive mode. Of course, with the JF-17, getting high and fast when equipped with draggy munitions is a bit of a challenge. Yes, you can do it, but then you are going to be looking for a tanker. That is what makes the JF-17 so much fun..it is a plane you have to keep a close eye on the fuel readout.

LD-10 arcing up to around 60,000’ on this launch…taken from about 35nm…

What goes up…

I’ve read on some forums that the LD-10 doesn’t do so well if the emitter goes cold. I don’t know..I haven’t tested it enough. But the SA-6 site stayed hot and the LD-10 had no issues hitting it..

Today I also learned that each SA-6 launching vehicle has its own radar…so you have to be a bit careful even after you take out the central radar vehicle. I have a question though..are the launchers only able to track targets in their frontal hemisphere? They are arranged to the four corners of the site..so I made the assumption that taking out any corner would make it relatively safe to engage from that direction (?)…

Coming in for a Rockeye pass…

This was when I found out that the SA-6 missile vehicles can still shoot…

So I evaded and pulled back and lobbed some additional LD-10s toward the site…

And did some gun runs..

Back to base a final time and loaded up on the Type 200A…a knockoff I guess of the Durandal runway cratering bomb…

Took a short hop over to Echo Bay to test out the bombs…

With a runway about 3,400’ long, I set my Type 200A bombs to come off at about a 500’ interval x 6 bombs. For some reason the last bomb didn’t come off (probably didn’t hold the pickle button down long enough…)..

And..to test the effectiveness..I bought the JF-17 around for a landing and was pleasantly surprised to see the craters destroy the landing gear..

That concludes this training series on the JF-17. Yes, there are other weapons, ECM pod, programmable missiles..but I’m ready to hop on a server and see if I can actually blow anything up outside of the training environment.

“See you around campus..” as they say I guess..

BeachAV8R · January 27, 2026, 1:28am

EDIT…double post..

Sryan · January 27, 2026, 1:41am

SA-6 should not have this. However, what I am seeing in your screenshots would actually be a..

SA-11 TELAR, or transporter, erector, launcher and radar. These do have a fire control radar in each launcher in the nose thingy up front. They do indeed only see front and are terrible to use for search but don’t leave the site completely hopeless if a radar is downed as earlier generations. If they know where they have to look, they are practically as dangerous as a site with a search radar, maybe even a bit more because you don’t have the Snow Drift search pattern to warn you via RWR something’s out there.

Absolutely lovely write-up! I hope to hear from your successes on the battlefield

BeachAV8R · January 27, 2026, 2:09am

Maybe I did activate that. Actually, yes I definitely did. I destroyed the SA-6 central radar. I didn’t bother to go after those launchers. Then I activated the SA-11. Killed the central radar and was surprised to still be getting lit up by it.

Clutch · January 28, 2026, 1:29am

Last time I went up against SA-11s, once I eliminated the Snow Drift their on-board systems limited their range to something like 13-14nm. Good pickings for Mavericks while terrain masking.