Bug Fixes & Additions

Air Defender Changelog - Version 0.5.5.4 - March 2026

This is a major update introducing an entirely new Aircraft Register with real historical data, authentic airline callsigns across all traffic, a fully reworked intercept system, a moveable panel system for every panel in the game, and unified visual styling from top to bottom. Alongside these new features are significant save/load reliability improvements and dozens of bug fixes.

New: Moveable Panel System

Every panel in the game can now be freely arranged to suit your workflow.

• Moveable Panels: All panels can be dragged, resized, minimised, and pinned in all screen modes.

• Layout Persistence: Your panel layout saves automatically per player profile, so your arrangement is waiting for you every session.

• Edge Resizing: Drag any panel edge or corner to resize it. Resize cursors appear on hover so you always know where to grab.

• Panel Borders: All panels display a light grey border so boundaries are always clearly visible.

• Front Focus: Opening or restoring a panel automatically brings it to the front.

• Aircraft Info Panel: The aircraft information panel (shown when clicking a track) can now be dragged, minimised, pinned, and resized. Opening other panels no longer closes it.

• Airfield Panel: The Airfield panel supports dragging, minimising, pinning, and closing, matching all other panels.

• Airspace Control Panel: The Airspace Control panel (Open/Close Airspace) is now a moveable panel with a title bar. Drag, resize, or minimise it as needed. It automatically appears during Critical tension.

• Training Objectives: The Training Objectives panel is an independent moveable window. It cannot be closed during training missions to ensure objectives remain accessible.

• Cursor Feedback: Hovering a title bar shows a move cursor. Resize grab areas on edges and corners are larger and easier to grab.

• Minimised Bars: Minimised panel bars have uniform width, visible borders, and properly aligned buttons for a clean stacked appearance.

New: Aircraft Register

A brand new panel giving you access to a database of 640 UK civil aircraft with authentic 1998-era data.

• AddedAircraft Register PanelA permanently available docked panel that lets you browse and search 640 UK civil aircraft with authentic 1998-era data. Search by registration, Mode S hex code, type, operator name, country, or any other field. Click any row to see full specifications: serial number, year built, passenger capacity, weight class, cruise speed, ceiling, and range.

• Authentic 1998 Data: UK civilian turbine aircraft in the game carry genuine 1998-era identities — real registrations, Mode S hex codes, ICAO type designators, actual operators, and published performance figures.

• Real Mode S Hex Codes: Aircraft in the register display their correct real-world Mode S transponder hex codes. These appear in the Flight Info panel, Track List, and ASMA responses.

• Track List Mode S Column: The Track List now includes a Mode S column showing each aircraft's transponder hex code alongside the IFF column. Tracks are ordered by Track Number (newest first).

• AddedExpanded Fleet22 new aircraft types added, including Boeing 737-300/400/500/800 variants, the Avro RJ family, BAe Jetstream series, ATR family, and Dassault Falcon business jets.
• AddedCALL MODESCHECKNew ASMA command to look up any Mode S hex code on demand.

• Auto-Search: The Aircraft Register automatically pre-fills the search field when you have a contact selected on radar.

• FIR Corridors: International traffic now arrives via 5 realistic FIR entry corridors.

New: Realistic Callsigns

All traffic on your radar now displays the correct, historically accurate callsigns it would have used in 1998.

• Airline Callsigns: Commercial aircraft display their correct ICAO callsigns (e.g. "BAW436" for British Airways, "LOG241" for Loganair). Each airline uses its proper ICAO prefix with historically accurate flight number ranges.

• Spoken Callsigns: The ASMA controller briefing shows the spoken radio callsign (e.g. "Speedbird 436") as a real controller would read it.

• Service Helicopters: Police helicopters only appear on the correct aircraft types (Bo 105, AS355 Twin Squirrel). Air ambulance uses the real UK callsign "HELIMED". Coastguard helicopters are restricted to the Sikorsky S-61N.

• Offshore Operators: Offshore helicopter operator codes use their correct 1998 ICAO designators (Bristow, Bond, British International, KLM Helicopters).

• VFR Traffic: VFR aircraft continue to show their G-registration as before.

New: Intercept System Overhaul

The intercept system has been fundamentally reworked. You now have much better visibility into what your interceptors are doing, and the escalation flow is more reliable and realistic.

• Intercept Stage Tracking: ASMA now shows each stage of an intercept in real time — TALLY, JUDY, POSID, MERGE, escort, show of presence, show of force, and turn away warning — so you can follow exactly what your interceptors are doing at every moment.

• Decision Popup: The intercept decision popup's middle option has been renamed from SHADOW to CONTINUE. Choosing it keeps your interceptors in an active escalation flow rather than switching to a passive shadow mission.

• 4-Ship Coordination: Orders (CAP, ENGAGE, IDENT, ESCORT) now cascade to all aircraft in a launch group. A 4-ship scramble acts as a single unit.

• Post-Kill Target Chaining: After destroying a target, interceptors automatically continue pursuing remaining hostiles in the raid rather than returning to base.

• Wave-Level Compliance: Enemy raids turn away together as one formation after the final warning. All aircraft in the same wave respond in unison.

• Full Civilian Intercept Procedure: Interceptors now follow the correct civilian intercept procedure — questioning intentions, waiting for compliance, classifying as friendly, and RTBing. Oil rig helicopters are correctly recognised as civilian.

• Unique Mode 3 Squawk Codes: Each interceptor sortie is assigned a unique Mode 3 squawk code. Both aircraft in a pair share the same code, matching real-world Weapons Controller practice.

• Engagement Priority: Interceptors no longer break off to visit a tanker during an active engagement.

Intercept Bug Fixes

• Fixed interceptors not continuing the intercept after pressing Continue at POSID — they would follow the enemy indefinitely instead of resuming the escalation sequence.

• Fixed only 2 of 4 aircraft in a 4-ship sortie returning to base when the enemy complied — the second pair now correctly RTBs with the first.

• Fixed spoofer targets not reliably complying after the final warning.

• Fixed voice communications continuing to play after a target was destroyed.

• Fixed paired interceptors RTBing prematurely after completing a show-of-force.

Save/Load Reliability

• Fixed 4-ship launch groups splitting into separate sorties after loading a save.

• Fixed CAP missions losing their patrol markers, countdown timers, and callsigns after save/load.

• Fixed background audio (console hum, radio ambience, aircon) not resuming after loading a saved game.

• Fixed destroyed radar station state leaking between different saves.

• Fixed parked and landed tankers becoming airborne again after loading. Tanker aircraft type (e.g. "VC10") now shows correctly instead of generic "Tanker".

• Fixed AWACS not appearing at their new base after being redeployed and landed.

Traffic and Airspace

• Fixed domestic civilian aircraft appearing mid-flight at cruise altitude. They now depart realistically from airfields.

• Fixed general aviation traffic disappearing during longer sessions. Light aircraft and helicopters now replenish continuously.

• Fixed VFR traffic not reappearing when airspace reopened after a closure.

• Fixed airspace not reopening automatically when all threats were cleared in smaller encounters.

• Fixed launching QRA at one group of a split raid blocking QRA at the other groups. Each contact can now be independently intercepted.

• Fixed false peacetime airspace closures triggering across repeated play sessions.

Voice and Audio

• Fixed volume settings (especially music) resetting on startup. Setting music to zero now persists correctly between sessions.

• Fixed Master Controller and launch sequence voice lines being significantly louder than other voices. All voice categories now play at consistent volume levels.

• Fixed audio bleeding across radio channels when switching. Channel switching is now instant with no overlap.

• Fixed duplicate callouts in the compliance RTB voice chain (aircraft complying, copied, debrief, RTB).

• Fixed ASMA notifications for fuel-triggered RTBs being silently skipped in certain scenarios.

Visual Consistency and Scaling

• Unified Button Style: All buttons across the entire game share a consistent style: light grey borders, dark grey backgrounds, and 1px border thickness.

• Hover Highlights: Every button highlights on hover, including menus, panels, the identification bar, time controls, flight info panel, and the pause menu.

• HUD Scaling: HUD elements (status bars, track counts, speed controls) scale proportionally with screen resolution. Elements are noticeably smaller for a cleaner, less intrusive display.

• FixedSubtitle ScalingTraining and voice transcript subtitles scale with screen resolution instead of staying at a fixed size.

• Fixed non-standard blue and green tints from the Aircraft Register and Flight Info panels.

• Fixed "PAUSED" text wrapping to a second line or getting cut off at certain screen resolutions.

Tanker Improvements

• Fuel Exhaustion: Tankers now crash when they run out of fuel — Mode 3 switches to emergency 7700, the track flashes red on radar, and the tanker is destroyed after 10 seconds.

• Emergency Lockout: A fuel-exhausted tanker declaring MAYDAY can no longer be retasked.

• Fixed tankers flying hundreds of miles past their landing airfield on the downwind leg.

• Fixed old tanker track lines persisting when loading a different save.

QRA Launch

• Launch Options Popup: Launching QRA from the Assets or Airfield panels now opens the Launch Options popup, letting you choose your base and force size before committing.

• Realistic 4-Minute Scramble: All QRA launches now use the realistic 4-minute scramble delay.

• Fixed the Launch Options popup not honouring your base and force size selection.

• Fixed singleton QRA launches registering a duplicate callsign in COMMS.

• Fixed interceptor over-deployment during overlapping launch timing windows.

Training Missions

• Fixed the completion voice line being cut off mid-sentence on the Selecting Identities mission. The results panel now waits for audio to finish before appearing.

• Fixed instruction dialogue not playing when retrying a training mission.

• Fixed training objectives overlapping with the COMMS and ASMA panels.

• Training selection screens now show a note directing players to the Discord server for the latest Early Access guidance.

Gameplay and Simulation Fixes

• Fixed the escape menu not pausing the game. Radars, aircraft, and timers now all stop when the escape menu is open and resume at the previous speed when it is closed.

• Fixed all aircraft (Nimrod, AWACS, tankers) disconnecting from the tanker at 95% fuel instead of 100%, meaning aircraft already above 95% would appear to take on no fuel at all.

• Fixed Nimrod R1 refuelling — it now correctly joins the tanker, maintains formation during transfer, and manages altitude throughout.

• Fixed the CANCEL TASK button in the Assets panel accidentally tasking the asset to the map position behind the button.

• Fixed the Redeploy and Supply chooser panels not responding to mouse wheel scrolling.

Other Improvements

• AC Control Callsign: The Aircraft Control tab now shows the selected aircraft's callsign at the top so you can confirm at a glance which aircraft you are commanding.

• Fixed enemy tracks in Hard mode not gaining aircraft type information after interceptor visual identification.

• Fixed the victory screen appearing repeatedly in Endless Mode after choosing Continue Playing.

• Fixed MAP submenu F-key back navigation cascading multiple levels instead of one.

• Fixed intercept decision popups appearing during pause, with the menu open, or when alt-tabbed.