v0.3.1 — Latest Release

Tactical Companion
for Falcon BMS 4.38

Real-time map, steerpoints, checklists, briefings and aircraft contacts — all on your tablet while you fly.

Download View on GitHub
Free & Open Source Falcon BMS 4.38 Windows & Tablet
Features

Everything you need as a wingman, on a second screen or tablet.

🗺

Real-Time Map

Your aircraft position, heading, altitude and speed updated in real-time automatically. Dark, satellite and terrain map layers.

📍

Steerpoints & Flight Plan

Auto-loaded from BMS or your DTC .ini files. Displayed on the map with altitude, index and flight plan lines.

🔴

Threat Rings (PPT)

Preplanned threats with range circles, names and threat type. Ground units vs airborne distinguished by AGL altitude.

📡

Radio Presets & COMMS

UHF/VHF presets and TACAN auto-loaded from your pilot profile. Departure airport detected automatically.

🎯

Bullseye

Bullseye position with range rings (20/40/60/80/100 NM), 8 radials and bearing labels. Loaded automatically from BMS.

✈

ACMI Contacts

Live aircraft from the Tacview stream. Color-coded blips: green (ally), red (enemy), amber (unknown). Callsign, altitude, heading and speed labels.

🌫

Fog of War (Solo)

v0.3.1 In single-player, only friendlies are shown — no more god-mode. PPT threats, datalink markpoints and HSD lines stay visible. Multiplayer keeps using whatever BMS itself filters.

✅

F-16 Checklists

246-item checklist from T.O. BMS1F-16CJ-1CL-1. Color-coded by flight phase: ground, taxi, takeoff, combat, landing, shutdown.

📄

Briefing Viewer

PDF, images, DOCX and HTML files. Pinch-to-zoom on tablets. Upload via the app or drop files directly in the personal/ folder. BMS briefings loaded automatically.

🌐

Multi-Theater

Korea KTO, Balkans, Israel, Hellas — all four BMS 4.38 theaters supported. Detection is fully automatic, with TMERC projection parameters extracted from each theater's Theater.txt.

Quick Setup

Up and running in 2 minutes.

Download

Download Falcon-PAD.exe from GitHub Releases and place it anywhere — e.g. the BMS Tools folder. Single executable, no installer.

Enables TacView realtime TCP server

To see aircraft on the map, add this line to User/Config/Falcon BMS User.cfg:

set g_bTacviewRealTime 1

Open Port 8000 in Windows Firewall

Open a Command Prompt as Administrator and run:

netsh advfirewall firewall add rule name="Falcon-Pad" dir=in action=allow protocol=TCP localport=8000

This allows your tablet to reach Falcon-Pad on your local network.

Launch

Run Falcon-PAD.exe. The tray window shows your local and network URLs. First launch may prompt the Windows firewall — click Allow.

Remote Access

On your tablet or phone browser, go to the Network URL shown (e.g. http://192.168.0.69:8000). Both devices must be on the same network.

Fly!

Launch Falcon BMS. Falcon-Pad auto-detects BMS, loads your theater, steerpoints and starts streaming your position.

FAQ

Frequently asked questions.

Does Falcon-Pad modify any BMS files?
No. Falcon-Pad is read-only. It reads BMS SharedMemory and DTC .ini files but never writes to them. Your BMS installation is untouched.
Does it work in multiplayer?
Yes — and starting in v0.3.1, the behaviour is now realistic in both modes. In multiplayer, BMS itself filters the Tacview stream (TvT-aware), so you see what your team would see. In single-player, Falcon-Pad hides enemies and unknowns automatically — no more god-mode SA. PPT threats, datalink markpoints and HSD lines stay visible because they're pilot-side intel.
Windows shows "Windows protected your PC" — is it safe?
Yes. Falcon-PAD.exe is unsigned (no expensive code-signing certificate), so Windows SmartScreen warns the first time. Click More info → Run anyway. The source code is fully open on GitHub — you can inspect every line or build it yourself.
Which tablets/browsers are supported?
Any device with a modern browser: iPad, Android tablets, phones, or a second PC monitor. Chrome, Safari, Firefox and Edge are all supported. PDF viewing uses PDF.js for full tablet compatibility.
My tablet can't connect — what should I check?
Make sure both your PC and tablet are on the same network. Open an Administrator Command Prompt and run:

netsh advfirewall firewall add rule name="Falcon-Pad" dir=in action=allow protocol=TCP localport=8000

If you changed the port in Settings, replace 8000 with your port. Also try disabling VPN if active.
Steerpoints don't show up automatically
Falcon-Pad reads steerpoints from BMS SharedMemory when you're in 3D. If BMS is not running, it falls back to scanning your DTC .ini files from the BMS User/Config directory. You can also manually upload a .ini file via the upload button.
How do I enable aircraft contacts (TRTT)?
Add this line to your BMS User/Config/Falcon BMS User.cfg:

set g_bTacviewRealTime 1

Falcon-Pad connects automatically to port 42674 on startup.
Does it work on Linux?
A native Linux build is provided in releases. Since BMS itself only runs on Windows, you'd typically run BMS (and Falcon-PAD.exe) together under WINE/Proton — same SharedMemory APIs, same behaviour as Windows.
Can I change the port?
Yes. Click the Settings gear icon in the web interface and change the Listen Port. A restart of Falcon-Pad is required for the new port to take effect.
Is it free?
Yes, Falcon-Pad is free and open source under the GNU GPL v3 license. Contributions are welcome on GitHub.