v0.3 — 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

All aircraft in the mission: friendly, enemy and unknown. Color-coded blips: green (ally), red (enemy), amber (unknown). Callsign, altitude, heading and speed labels.

✅

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

KTO, Israel, Balkans, HTO. Theater detected automatically at runtime.

Quick Setup

Up and running in 2 minutes.

Download & Extract

Download FalconPad.exe from GitHub Releases and place it in the BMS Tools folder.

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 FalconPad.exe. The tray window shows your local and network URLs.

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. Falcon-Pad works in both single-player and multiplayer. Aircraft contacts show all aircraft visible in the TRTT stream — friendly, enemy and unknown.
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?
BMS runs under WINE/Proton on Linux. FalconPad.exe can also run under WINE alongside BMS since it uses the same Windows SharedMemory APIs.
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.