FL Briefing Board

User Guide — FL Briefing Board

Everything the board can do, step by step. To start from the project overview, read the README. The French guide is GUIDE.md.

Palette — 28 Shapes

Group	Shapes
Aircraft	fighter, bomber, tanker, civilian aircraft, helicopter, AWACS, drone
Weapons / Effects	missile, bomb, explosion, splash, ejection, flares
Ground / Sea	tank, radar, surface-to-air threat with engagement circle, airfield, ship, carrier, FARP
Tactical	friendly, hostile, unknown, auto-numbered waypoint, objective, holding orbit, IP, bullseye

The four fixed-wing aircraft are intentionally readable at small size: wingspan, sweep, engine count and default size differ. The tanker carries a boom, the civilian aircraft has a T-tail, and the bomber has four engines.

Nothing is a bitmap. Every shape is parametric, so it can be rotated, resized and recolored without quality loss. To add a shape, see docs/MODELE.md §8.

Radar Kit — F/A-18C and F-16C

Two palette groups, Radar F/A-18C and Radar F-16C, explain each aircraft’s air-to-air radar page. Everything is drawn from the module’s ED manual, and every element cites its page: RADAR.md. The two symbologies do not mix: a mark only goes on a track of its own aircraft.

F/A-18C — RDR ATTK page

• RWS, TWS and STT displays: the cockpit display, its 20 pushbuttons and their labels, the B-scope. A display goes under other objects and stays pass-through: choose a track, touch the display, and the track lands on it. Dragging while placing enlarges it; pin it (📌) so it no longer moves. When selected, ↑ ↓ change the range scale (5 to 160 NM) and ← → the azimuth scan, like its pushbuttons.
• Tracks: brick (raw hit), friendly, unknown or hostile HAFU, placed in their identification color. The placing gesture orients the heading stem without resizing; the handle rotates and resizes.
• L&S and DT2 mark a track: choose one, then touch a HAFU — or close to it, the tip of its stem is enough —, the star or the diamond is inscribed in it. Touched anywhere else, the mark designates a return, as in the cockpit: a brick becomes the HAFU track that carries it, the display background gets a new marked unknown track. One L&S and one DT2 per board, on two different tracks, as in the aircraft: placing one on the other’s track swaps them, and the DT2 never replaces the only L&S. Placing a mark again on its own track removes it. Never on an F-16C display or track.
• TDC cursor: two vertical lines, placed over the designated track or brick.
• Threat rank, speed or altitude of a track go into its label (double-click).

F-16C — FCR page

• FCR RWS and TWS displays: pushbutton labels, range between its arrows, azimuth scan width (← →: A6, A3, A1, whose limits are drawn), antenna elevation scale, horizon line, range marks.
• Search targets, hot (line below) or cold (line above).
• TWS tracks (yellow) and system tracks (white): the whole symbol turns with the target’s ground track; the placing gesture orients it.
• Bugged target: a mark, a circle around the track, one per board. Placed on a search target or on the display background, it makes it a bugged system track — a hot target keeps its heading, toward the aircraft.
• A-A cursor, jamming chevrons and bullseye.

Prepare radar boards without a map: on a map, a display would follow the terrain as you zoom. The online demo shows two (the “Radar F/A-18C” and “Radar F-16C” boards).

Importing a DCS Mission

⇧ Mission, or drop a .miz file on the page: the mission becomes a new board.

• If there are several playable flights (groups with a “Client” or “Player” aircraft), pick yours in the list.
• The board carries its route — numbered waypoints with their name and altitude, the flight name on the first —, its coalition’s bullseye, the air defences (SAM, AAA, early-warning radars) and the ships of both sides, in their side’s color and under their group name.
• The profile opens with the linked route: the flight profile reads at once. A ground altitude (AGL in the editor) is flagged “alt. sol”.
• On theatres whose projection is measured — Caucasus, Syria, Persian Gulf, Sinai, Afghanistan, Marianas, Kola —, everything lands on the map, to the metre. Elsewhere, on a board without a map at exact scale, DCS grid north up; its headings then carry a “G” (grid).
• Ground units are recognized as air defence by their DCS type; others (tanks, trucks…) are not imported.
• AI tankers and AWACS, recognized by their group’s task in the editor (“Refueling”, “AWACS”), come along too, from both sides: their route dashed, their orbit as a racetrack symbol, and the aircraft attached to it, labelled — “Texaco 11 · FL200 · TCN 12Y TEX · 251.000”. The level is the orbit’s, which governs in flight. The racetrack is a symbol, not drawn to scale: the mission gives neither a Race-Track’s width nor a circle’s radius, the AI flies them. A Race-Track sits in the middle of its leg, from the point carrying the orbit to the next one. Other AI aircraft are not imported.

Loading the Route into the F/A-18C DTC

⇩ DTC, then pick the DCS mission (.miz) to use as a base: the board’s waypoints are written into the data cartridge (DTC) of the F/A-18Cs of one flight in that mission. The board hands back a copy, <mission> - FL Briefing.miz; the original mission is not modified. The pilot who takes the aircraft starts with the points loaded, with no third-party tool.

• Numbers do not change: waypoint 3 on the board is 3 in the jet (1 to 59). Its altitude is the profile’s, above sea level, and its label becomes the point’s note. The points form sequence 1, in number order.
• Several playable F/A-18C flights: pick the one that receives the route.
• An existing cartridge is the base: radios, countermeasures, TACAN and navigation settings are kept, only the waypoints are replaced. The new cartridge is named “old - FL Briefing”; the old one stays in the mission. Without a cartridge, the flight gets one holding only the waypoints.
• The cartridge is loaded at start-up for every F/A-18C in the flight.
• A DCS reference is needed: a board on a map, or the board of a mission imported without a map (and its phases), and a mission on the same theatre.
• Writing again onto the copy replaces the board’s cartridge without duplicating it.
• On a server, the mission in rotation is what counts: whoever prepares it puts the copy there.
• Only the F/A-18C is covered for now.

Presentation Mode

To lead the briefing over a screen share: ▶ Présenter (or F5). The board goes full screen, without toolbar or palette; a discreet tag in the top-right corner shows the current phase (“2 / 4 · Attaque”).

• →, Space or Page Down: next phase; ← or Page Up: previous; Home and End: first and last.
• Moving from one phase to the next is animated: every aircraft, arrow or area found on both boards glides from its old place to the new one — position, heading, color —, whatever appears or disappears fades, and the map and linked radar view follow. Build the next phase with + phase and move the aircraft there: that is how they are recognized from one board to the next. The animation plays between two boards in the same frame (same theatre, or both without a map).
• The mouse becomes a laser pointer: a red dot follows the cursor, and a left-button drag draws a red line that fades out by itself in a second and a half.
• The map still moves: mouse wheel to zoom, right-button drag to pan.
• Nothing can be edited: no tool, no editing shortcut; nothing the laser draws enters the board, the undo history or the exports.
• Esc leaves, and brings the toolbars back.

Linked Radar View

The bottom panel shows either the profile or an aircraft’s radar display, computed from the top-down board: what the drawn maneuver looks like on the B-scope.

1. Open the profile view (⊟), then pick RADAR F/A-18C or RADAR F-16C in the toolbar list.
2. Select an aircraft on the top-down board, then ◎ Porteur (radar carrier). One carrier per board; its scan cone is drawn dashed on the top-down board.
3. Set the range and azimuth scan in the toolbar.

Every other aircraft on the top-down board becomes a contact, placed by its bearing and range: move a target or turn the carrier (← →) and the display follows. On the F/A-18C a contact is a HAFU whose identification follows its color (red hostile, blue friendly, anything else unknown); on the F-16C, a TWS track. Its stem or nose line shows its heading relative to yours.

On the right, each contact is read out: range, bearing, aspect in F-16C format (tens of degrees, L or R side: “9D” beam, “18” nose-on), hot or cold, and radial — the share of its speed along the line of sight. Near 0 %, the target is beaming: that is where a Doppler radar may reject it when looking down. Contacts outside the scan or beyond the range scale are counted.

The view shows geometry; it does not simulate detection. It needs a map or a calibrated board: without a scale, a message, and nothing made up. The online demo shows one (the “Interception” board), and the kneeboard carries it under the plan.

Maps

The selector in the top-right corner offers the 14 DCS theatres, with topographic, satellite or road-map backgrounds. A local build can add DCS airfields by name:

python tools/build_theatres.py --aerodromes

The map is live: mouse wheel or pinch to zoom; right-click drag, middle-click drag, space + drag, or the hand tool (H) to pan. Objects stay attached to the terrain, and scale is automatic: no manual calibration is needed.

True or magnetic headings: use the True / Mag. heading button. Magnetic declination is computed on the map through NOAA’s WMM2025 model. Use the Decl. button to enter the DCS mission declination manually; that value then wins, so displayed headings match the cockpit. Each heading states its reference: 049°T, 042°M.

These are real-world maps of the regions simulated by DCS, not the DCS F10 map. An Internet connection is required to load map tiles. Without network access, you can still drag and drop your own background image.

Gestures

• Place and orient in one gesture: choose a shape, press on the board, keep the pointer down and drag toward the desired heading. Drag length controls size. A simple click places the shape at default size, heading north.
• Waypoint numbers: a new waypoint (placed or duplicated) takes the lowest free number in its view. Delete 2 from a 1-2-3-4 route: the next waypoint is 2, then 5. Delete them all and numbering restarts at 1. The others keep their number, so they stay those of the imported mission and the DTC.
• Grab again: touching an existing shape grabs it without switching tools, including by a wingtip. The selection tool (V) also grabs arrows, lines and background maps. The blue handle rotates and resizes; ← and → rotate by one degree, with Shift for finer steps.
• Back to selection: right-click without moving, or Esc. The gesture in progress is dropped (an unfinished area, a shape being placed) and the selection tool takes over. Dragged, the right button still pans the map. The app opens on the selection tool, so a first click on an empty board places nothing.
• Pin (📌 or K): the selection can no longer be moved, rotated or erased — neither by the eraser nor by Delete. You place and grab on top of it without disturbing it: SAM area, bullseye, background image. Color, line and label stay editable; a duplicate is born unpinned. To unpin: selection tool, touch the object, then 📌 or K. On a map, dragging over a pinned object pans the map.
• Attach (🔗 or J): a tanker placed on the leg of its racetrack, a track on its radar display, stay there. Select the object, 🔗, then touch the symbol that carries it — touching the object itself picks the symbol underneath. Once attached, it keeps its place on that symbol at every map zoom (a symbol keeps its size on screen, so what sits on it does too), and follows it when it is moved, rotated or resized, heading included. You can still drag or rotate it: it stays attached at its new place. 🔗 again detaches it, where it is. When selected, a dotted line joins it to the center of its host. A symbol or a text attaches to a symbol; a text can attach to the tanker attached to the orbit. A duplicate (Ctrl+D) stays attached to the same host; deleting the host leaves the object where it is.
• Label: double-click a shape, for example UZI 1-1 · FL250 · 450 kt. The label follows the shape; emptying it removes it.
• Curve an arrow: draw it straight, then drag the middle handle.
• Line styles: solid = actual, dashed = planned, dotted = threat or uncertain.
• Hatched area (Z): click vertices, close on the first point or double-click. Double-click inside to name it, for example CAP NORTH or SAM MEZ.
• Ruler (M): shows distance and heading. Measure a known distance, then use Scale to switch to NM or km.
• Measurements (📐): distance and heading displayed on lines and arrows. Curved arrows measure the path, not just the chord. The NM / km button changes units.
• Boards / phases: one tab per phase: ingress, attack, egress. + phase copies the current board; double-click a tab to rename it; Page Up / Page Down navigate.
• Profile view (⊟): split screen with the top-down board above and an altitude profile below. Altitudes are in feet, flight levels above 18,000 ft, snapped to 500 ft. The profile toolbar provides terrain, SAM threat dome, altitude block, ceiling and range controls.
• Linked route: when enabled, the profile follows top-down waypoints in numerical order, using cumulative distance. Drag a waypoint vertically in the profile to set altitude; double-click it to type the altitude. The top-down board must have a map or a calibrated scale.
• Recolor: a color swatch repaints the current selection. The same applies to line width.
• Duplicate (Ctrl+D), bring to front, double-headed arrow, delete (Delete).
• Freehand pencil, line, circle, rectangle and text remain available.
• Background image by drag-and-drop or Ctrl+V, resizable, and kept across launches. The eraser never removes the background image: select it and press Delete.
• Save the briefing (⇩ Briefing, Ctrl+S): every board, its settings and its images, in a .json file. Open it (⇧ Ouvrir, Ctrl+O, or drop the file on the page) on another computer, or hand it to the next flight lead: it replaces the board on screen, after confirmation. A file that is not a briefing is refused, and the board stays as it is.
• New briefing (✚ Nouveau): the board saves itself in the browser and comes back every time you open it. To start from a blank page, ✚ Nouveau erases every board and its images, after confirmation, and cannot be undone: save first (⇩ Briefing) what you want to keep. Unit, true or magnetic heading, background and profile view stay as set. Effacer (clear) only empties the board on screen.
• Undo / redo, timestamped PNG export, dark or light background, hideable palette.
• DCS kneeboard (⇩ Kneeboard): portrait PNG, 768 × 1157, to copy into Saved Games\DCS\Kneeboard\. These are the proportions of the in-game kneeboard, which stretches any image to its own size: a page with other proportions would come out distorted. Without a frame, the page shows the whole board.
• Frame the kneeboard (⬚ Cadre): a dotted gold frame, with the page’s proportions, is placed in the middle of the map. Move it by its edge or its title, enlarge it with its handle; inside it, you keep working on the map. The export then takes only what it contains, across the whole page. One frame per board, copied by “+ phase”; it never appears in the PNG or while presenting. A second click on ⬚ Cadre removes it. The page has not been seen in the cockpit yet.

Shortcuts: V select · A arrow · L line · P pencil · C circle · R rectangle · Z zone · M ruler · T text · E eraser · H hand · Ctrl+Z / Ctrl+Y / Ctrl+D · Page Up / Page Down boards · + / - map zoom · K pin · J attach · Esc or right-click: back to selection · Ctrl+S save the briefing · Ctrl+O open one · F5 present · drop a .miz: import the mission.

What It Does Not Do

No zoom or scrolling without a map: the whiteboard is the screen. No real-time collaboration. No offline map tiles. No multi-selection or groups. These are design choices, not omissions; see docs/ETAT.md §5.

This site is open source. Improve this page.