Lock On: Modern Air Combat


 * ''This article is about a computer game; for the computer security module, see LOMAC. For the missile guidance system state the game is named after, see Missile lock-on.

Lock On: Modern Air Combat or LOMAC, known in Russia as Lock On, is a modern combat flight simulation developed by Eagle Dynamics and published by Ubisoft in Europe and 1C Company in Russia; widely regarded as one of the most realistic simulators in its class, it is considered as a survey simulator by its creators. It contains 8 flyable aircraft and over 40 non-playable/AI-controlled planes. The game mainly revolves around air-to-air combat and air-to-ground combat with some optional, unique roles such as pinpoint/anti-radiation strikes, anti-ship strikes or aerobatics. The game realistically models all aspects of take-off and landing, AWACS (also known as AEW&C), carrier-based landings (for the Su-33), and Aerial refueling.

Over 180,000 buildings, 50 million trees, 21 cities, 1,700 towns, 500 bridges, 18 airfields, and 8 naval bases are present in a virtual world modelled after Black Sea region. The 8 flyable aircraft are the MiG-29A, MiG-29C, Su-27, Su-33, Su-25, MiG-29G (a German MiG-29 variant with a native board-computer), F-15C, and the A-10A; only the Su-25 and A-10 are dedicated close air support aircraft, the rest are air superiority or multi-role fighters with limited or no air-to-ground capabilities. Due to the small number of aircraft the player can only fly as a pilot from either the United States, Ukraine, the Russian Federation, Georgia, Israel or Germany.

A flexible mission editor is included to allow users to make a wide variety of missions or even full-length campaigns, equal to the quality of those presented with the game. Many fan created mission packs and campaigns have also been released.

Upgrades
Aside from the v1.02 patch for the retail game the developer, Eagle Dynamics, has released an unofficial add-on named Lock On: Flaming Cliffs, designed in part to correct numerous flaws within the original game. Also included is another flyable aircraft, the Su-25T and several new missions. Some changes and tweaks to the games missile modeling are also included, as is an Advanced Flight Model (AFM) for the Su-25T. A patch to Flaming Cliffs was released, correcting minor coding errors and bringing the game to its final, current version: 1.12b.

Flaming Cliffs 2.0
LockOn: Flaming Cliffs 2 is a further evolution of LockOn: Flaming Cliffs. All of the player-controlled aircraft have been transferred to the virtual environment created for the Digital Combat Simulator series.

Improvements include:


 * Forward compatibility as well as online compatibility with the new Eagle Dynamics title DCS: Black Shark. Players may fly Flaming Cliffs-specific aircraft in missions/campaigns created for DCS:Black Shark (and vice versa) and in multi-player games with players running DCS:Black Shark online.
 * General improvements and bug fixes to the multi-player component of Flaming Cliffs.
 * Features the same virtual world environment as DCS:Black Shark (the Crimean portion of the previous Flaming Cliffs map has been removed while additional areas of Georgia have been introduced, modelled at higher resolutions than in DCS: Black Shark).
 * Automatic detection of player-modified configuration files when connecting to a multi-player server.
 * Updated graphics engines (referred to as The Fighter Collection Simulation Engine (TFCSE)) running natively under DirectX 9.0c with numerous improvements to texture, weather and resolution quality.
 * Improved and more realistic aircraft, weaponry, sensory and audio modelling.
 * Brand-new Mission Editor with scriptable triggers, new mission roles and improved AI/flight modelling for NPC aircraft.
 * Additional range ground units such as infantry.

In November 2009 Eagle Dynamics announced that a pay-for upgrade ($14.99 USD) called Flaming Cliffs 2.0 was planned for release in early 2010. Flaming Cliffs 2.0 (Russian version) was released on 25 March 2010 ($29.99). The English version was released shortly after.

Influences on culture
Lock On: Modern Air Combat is the source of the video of the awards-winning machinima The Adventures of Bill & John.