Air Defence RADAR Simulator Game

[Asid]

Command the sky in a tense real-time strategy simulation where you manage a nation's air defenses. Analyze radar contacts, scramble interceptor jets, and make split-second decisions to protect your airspace from hostile threats.


Official Site: Here
Steam: Here


Manual: HERE
Theatre: real-world terrain maps UK
Turns: Real Time
AI: Yes
Single-player: Yes
Multiplayer: No


Trailer

About This Game

TAKE COMMAND OF THE NATION'S AIR DEFENSE

Step into the RAF ops room — take the chair as an Identification Officer or Weapons Controller. Build the picture, scramble QRA, and own the intercept.

The sky is your battlefield. A hostile contact appears on radar. Is it a civilian airliner off course, or the prelude to a full-scale attack? Your job is to find out.

Air Defender is a high-stakes, real-time strategy simulation that puts you in the command chair of a national Air Defence network. From a top-down strategic view, you are the unseen hand responsible for detecting, identifying, and intercepting airborne threats. This is not a dogfighting game; you are not a pilot. You are the commander with access to the capabilities of multiple roles in the bunker, and the fate of the nation rests on your split-second decisions.

Analyse radar returns, scramble your Quick Reaction Alert (QRA) fighters, and manage your assets to protect your airspace. Every choice matters, and the consequences of failure are devastating.


Key Features

• High-Fidelity Command & Control: Take on the role of an Air Defense Commander. Manage a detailed radar network, interpret IFF (Identification Friend or Foe) data, and issue commands to your forces.
• Scramble QRA Interceptors: Launch your fighter aircraft to investigate, shadow, or engage hostile contacts. Manage their fuel, weapons, and mission objectives in real-time.
• Deep Information Warfare: Utilise authentic-inspired systems to build a complete picture of the battlespace. Monitor flight plans, analyse electronic warfare (EW) intelligence, and stay one step ahead of the enemy.
• Intelligent Enemy AI: Face a dynamic adversary that will probe your defenses, launch coordinated attacks, and adapt to your strategy, creating a challenging and replayable experience.
• Play Endless or complete Training Missions to become Combat Ready. In Endless, you will be challenged to spot the bad guys, ensure they don't sneak through, if you do, it could lead to all out war.

Welcome to the command center. The watch is yours.

[Asid]

[Asid]

Roadmap

We're on the way to Early Access on Steam for PC.

• AWACS/Datalinks functionality
• QRA launch
• Intercept behaviour
• Aircraft redeployment across UK airfields
• Voice-overs for commands
• Internal Comms
• ASMA comms
• Training Scenarios

[Asid]

Bug Fixes & Additions
Wed, 15 April 2026



April Update

Air Defender Changelog - Version 0.6.8.49 - April 2026


This is a major update bringing enemy variety, a comprehensive intelligence reporting system, an expanded Guide panel, intercept status updates, shift handover, supply coaching, and dozens of fixes across interceptors, radar, voice, and training.


New: Enemy Variety System

Enemy aircraft now employ a wider range of deception tactics. What you see on your radar may not be what it appears. Intelligence reports from various sources across the UK will help you identify threats -- pay attention to the clues. Difficulty setting affects how challenging these encounters are to detect.

New: Intel Reports

The ASMA console now posts intelligent, data-driven reports from across the UK.

- Real Aircraft Data: Every observer report -- RAF veterans, air cadets, coastguard, police, North Sea oil rig crews, ATC squadrons, GCHQ -- references the contact's actual altitude, speed, heading, and approach direction. Reports never contradict your radar picture.

- Expertise-Aware Language: RAF veterans use proper military terminology. Civilians describe what they see. Air cadets check their Jane's guides. The source shapes how it's written.

- Contact Positions: Every report includes where the contact is (e.g., "30nm north of Edinburgh"), so you can correlate sightings with tracks.

- ATC Call Intelligence: CALL ATC now includes a RELATED INTELLIGENCE section -- observer sightings, SIGINT assessments, registry checks, and ATC anomalies for the queried track.

- Your Squadron: 849 real RAF Air Cadet squadron numbers and locations across 34 Wings are included. When an enemy aircraft overflies your town, your squadron may be the one to spot it.

- Radar-Gated IDO: The Identification Officer only reports contacts visible on the radar scope. Aircraft beyond coverage are reported by maritime and ground observers, not the IDO.

New: Guide Panel

The Guide panel has expanded from 9 to 12 tabs with comprehensive coverage of game mechanics.

- Overview: Game setting, your role as an Air Defender, the core control loop, and what difficulty affects.

- Scoring: Score meter rules and key scoring mechanics.

- QRA Operations: Scramble procedure, the 4-minute delay, fuel states, how to task a tanker, and RTB.

- ROE: Mission-based weapon authorisation rules, tension state rules of engagement (Peacetime, Heightened, Critical) with the current state highlighted, aspect gating, kill probabilities, ROE violations, and the full escalation sequence -- written in plain operational English.

- Procedures: Reorganised into 7 named scenario types for clearer reference.

- Opens on Overview by Default.


New: Shift Handover

At the start of a new session, some IFR civilian contacts are pre-classified as Assumed Friendly by the previous watch, reducing initial identification workload.


New: Intercept Status Updates

Right-click an interceptor and select STATUS to get a mission update: current phase, bearing and range to target, and fuel state -- posted to the ASMA console with voice comms.


New: Supply System Discoverability

- Low Ordnance Coaching: When weapons run low at a base, the ASMA console now coaches you to dispatch a supply mission. The NO ORDNANCE warning also includes this hint.

- Redeploy Missile Count: When redeploying combat aircraft, destination bases now show their current missile count with colour coding (green = can arm a pair, yellow = can arm one, red = insufficient).


Improvements

- Track Classifications Persist: Your identification work -- Hostile, Suspect, Unknown, Assumed Friendly, X-ray, Zombie -- now survives saving and loading. Previously all classifications were lost on reload.

- Weapon Indicators: Interceptor tracks now show G for guns, R for radar-guided missiles, and H for heat-seeking missiles (e.g. G180/R4/H2). Clearer at a glance.

- Panel Resize from Top: All panels can now be resized by dragging their top border. Side and bottom drag margins are also slightly wider for easier selection.

- Spoofer Cover Integrity: Spoofers now keep their civilian cover presentation much more consistently until visual identification, making deception play out more convincingly on the scope and in Flight Info.

- Military Filter Gating: Enemy-looking contacts no longer leak into the Military filter before you have genuine identification grounds to treat them as military.

- Readable Radar Symbology: Compact labels, leaders, hook boxes, origin circles, and radar/L11 history dots have all been tightened up for a clearer and more stable radar picture across zoom levels.

- Civilian Traffic Recovery: Atlantic and Scottish north-west civilian IFR routes now stay visibly populated, keeping the wider air picture healthier during longer sessions.

- Local Observer Coverage: Local intelligence reports now surface more reliably when unidentified enemy aircraft overfly the UK, with stronger regional coverage and better source variety.

- Show Of Force Presentation: Show of force now reads as a much clearer visible manoeuvre instead of feeling like an invisible state change in the intercept flow.

- Tanker Recovery Flexibility: Tankers returning home can now still be redirected into tanker-to-tanker refuelling before landing starts, then continue their recovery afterwards.

- Interceptor Track Continuity: Friendly interceptor tracks now stay visible more reliably during airborne refuel and RTB transition periods instead of briefly dropping off the scope.

- FIR Escalation Procedure: The complete escalation sequence (escort, show of presence, show of force, turn-away warning) now works correctly for all enemy types approaching the UK. Pilot reports "aircraft not compliant" at the correct time during the procedure.

- Easter Egg Aircraft: Hidden aircraft unlocked through Operation Silent Bunny now carry correct weapons loadouts and can be used as fully combat-capable interceptors.

- QRA Launch Cancellation: Pending QRA launches can now be cancelled during the scramble countdown.


Bug Fixes -- Interceptors

- Escalation Completion: QRA interceptors no longer get stuck after completing the full escalation sequence against Suspect targets. Interceptors now correctly resume shadow or escort formation.

- Visual Identification: QRA interceptors assigned to intercept Suspect contacts now properly complete visual identification before engaging in Critical tension.

- RTB Speed: QRA interceptors on return to base now respect Buster, Cruise, and Eco speed settings from the right-click menu.

- Engage Orders: QRA engage orders no longer refuse when retasking to the same target.

- Refuel from CAP: QRA interceptors ordered to refuel while on CAP now correctly leave the patrol pattern and proceed to the tanker.

- Identify Completion: QRA interceptors on Identify missions no longer immediately return to base after identification. They now continue shadowing the target, allowing the normal intercept and escalation procedure to proceed.

- Redeployed Interceptors: Redeployed interceptors no longer return to base immediately on launch.

- Subsonic Speed Limits: Subsonic interceptors no longer exceed their maximum speed when tasked to engage fast targets.

- 4-Ship Radio Calls: In 4-ship launch groups, duplicate radio calls and voice gaps during the escalation sequence are now resolved.


Bug Fixes -- Radar and Tracks

- Track Designation Persistence: Track designations (Suspect, Hostile, Unknown, etc.) now persist when tracks drop off and reappear on radar.

- Civilian Aircraft Names: Civilian aircraft now display their actual aircraft type name (e.g. Boeing 737, BAe Jetstream 41) instead of a generic classification.

- Missile Track Cleanup: Missile tracks disappear immediately from the radar display after a confirmed kill.

- Bomber Track Freeze: Enemy bomber tracks no longer freeze on the radar display when a radar station is toggled off and on.

- Multiple SEAD Tracks: Multiple SEAD aircraft now appear as separate tracks instead of one flickering track.

- Hidden Aircraft Tracks: Hidden aircraft tracks now behave like normal radar tracks and carry the correct weapons loadout.


Bug Fixes -- ASMA Console

- Scroll Stability: The ASMA console no longer snaps scroll to top when new messages arrive.

- Visual ID Spam: VISUAL ID messages no longer repeat excessively during civilian identification.

- Sortie Tabs: Sortie tabs now correctly disappear when flights land and recover at base.

- Premature Identity: Aircraft identity is no longer revealed prematurely in ASMA messages before visual identification has been completed.

- INTEL Filter Tab: GCHQ assessments and SIGINT reports no longer appear in the Aircraft filter tab.


Bug Fixes -- Voice and Radio

- Emergency Squawk Codes: Emergency squawk codes (7700, 7500, 7600) now persist for the full duration of the emergency instead of being replaced after a few seconds.

- Weapons Controller RTB Response: The Weapons Controller "copied RTB, base is BRA" response now only plays when the pilot initiates RTB, not when the Weapons Controller ordered it.

- FIR Escalation Voice: FIR escalation voice calls now work correctly for all approach directions.


Bug Fixes -- Training

- Training Audio: Training intro voice now stops immediately when clicking Back from the selection screen.

- Training Progress Recovery: Training progress now automatically recovers when switching between Proton or Wine compatibility layers on Linux.


Linux and Proton Fixes

- Window Resizing and Panning: Window resizing and mouse panning now work correctly on Linux (Wayland).

- Regional Clock: The regional clock now appears reliably on every game start via Linux/Proton.

- Keyboard Hotkeys: All keyboard hotkeys (F-keys, time controls, numpad, Tab cycling) now work reliably on Linux and Wayland systems.