13 hours ago, Zatoichi said:

So to my mind it boils down to this: Is LM looking to expand market share or are they done with selling to the flightsim market?

I think they're certainly hoping to expand their market share but let's be reasonable; that market is not and never really has been the leisure flightsim market. 

It's always been about military/commercial applications.

This isn't new news, but confirmation of what we know already. I found it amusing that they felt the need to post this 😉

 

On 12/5/2025 at 2:41 AM, DD_Arthur said:

I think they're certainly hoping to expand their market share but let's be reasonable; that market is not and never really has been the leisure flightsim market. 

It's always been about military/commercial applications.

Yup. Seems logical and reasonable. I agree.

Let's do the math.  Lockheed produces the F-35 fighter jet. One F-35 jet costs about $100 Million each.  Let's assume they make a $10 Million net from each plane.   

$10 Million divided by the $60 cost of each P3D is 166,666. This means they'll have to sell 166,666 copies of P3D v7 to equal the profit from one plane and provide support and bug fixes for V7 for the next couple of years. 

Lockheed Martin still has thousands of the F-35 planned for delivery. So why would they support over a 100,000 P3d v7 one-time purchased units when they can just support a handful of deep pocketed government customers for the same amount of profit and still charge huge maintenance fees and costly spare parts for the life of the aircraft for at least the next 10+ years?

Inquiring minds want to know.

I did register an interest on their website at launch, and got this email yesterday (2025-12-09) -

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thank you for reaching out and for your interest in Prepar3D Fuse. We truly appreciate your enthusiasm for Lockheed Martin's newest image generator and synthetic environment platform.

At this time, Fuse is offered exclusively as part of Lockheed Martin’s integrated simulators, modeling applications, and simulation solutions. Consequently, we do not provide an off‑the‑shelf licensing option for individual home users.

While Fuse is not commercially available for home use today, this does not preclude the possibility of a future change. We continuously evaluate our product offerings, and should a consumer‑focused licensing program become available, we will announce it through our official channels.

Thank you again for your interest, and we hope to have the opportunity to support your simulation needs in the future.

Cheers,
The Fuse Team

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

So who knows, we may get a surprise at some point or we may not.

1 hour ago, andy1252 said:

Thank you for reaching out…

Whatever happened to the word “contact”? Americans ruining the English language… again! 🙄

1 hour ago, Ray Proudfoot said:

Whatever happened to the word “contact”? Americans ruining the English language… again! 🙄

Yes, we do love to mangle and corrupt the true English language.

But let's not forget sayings like "taking the mick" or "taking the p***", whereas we Americans say "to make fun of" - which of course makes more sense.😏

There's a saying: "Great Britain and the USA are two nations divided by a common language".😄

Dave

3 minutes ago, dave2013 said:

There's a saying: "Great Britain and the USA are two nations divided by a common language"

There have been variations for decades. Sidewalk vs pavement, hood versus bonnet. That’s okay. But to change something so clear which Americans have used for decades just grates. I read it over here too in emails from British companies. Drives me mad.

Sorry for the deviation off topic. I’ll leave it there.

Actually in this case reaching out is correct. Contact states that actual contact has been accomplished whereas reaching out expresses an attempt to establish contact. 

5 minutes ago, Patco Lch said:

Actually in this case reaching out is correct. Contact states that actual contact has been accomplished whereas reaching out expresses an attempt to establish contact. 

I disagree. In this case "contact" was obviously made, as he received a reply. If he had just "reached out", they may well have ignored him.

1 hour ago, IanHarrison said:

I disagree. In this case "contact" was obviously made, as he received a reply. If he had just "reached out", they may well have ignored him.

Well then, he reached out and made contact, therefore all is well.

Thanks for reaching out to me on this pressing matter IanHarris. 😁

3 hours ago, Ray Proudfoot said:

That’s okay. But to change something so clear which Americans have used for decades just grates

I don’t know Ray, this sounds political 😉 … the immigrants that eventually and illegally formed a new country called “America” (or USA) were mostly British, German, and Dutch circa 1620 to 1776 … perhaps a look into the mirror of language corruption? hehe

10 minutes ago, SayAgain said:

I don’t know Ray, this sounds political

Political? No politicians, governments or policies have been mentioned. Cultural I would say.

3 hours ago, Patco Lch said:

Actually in this case reaching out is correct. Contact states that actual contact has been accomplished whereas reaching out expresses an attempt to establish contact. 

What do Air traffic Controllers say? “Contact New York on one three zero point eight”.

Inagine “Reach out on one three zero point eight”. Those without English as their first language wouldn’t understand the instruction.

27 minutes ago, Ray Proudfoot said:

What do Air traffic Controllers say? “Contact New York on one three zero point eight”.

Inagine “Reach out on one three zero point eight”. Those without English as their first language wouldn’t understand the instruction.

We get that in Canada all the time. “Try calling 134.55, and if you can’t hear anything come back to me here.”

And then ATC in Quebec is mostly in French!  

12 minutes ago, ATRguy said:

And then ATC in Quebec is mostly in French!

Tut tut! 🤨 only internal flights I trust.