Lightning Command: Missile Command Weather Game

A free retro weather-defense game. The supercell is coming, and the airports are counting on you.

How to play

• Severe weather is inbound and bolts are headed for your airports and ADS-B towers. Your uplink stations fire FIS-B pulses to burst them out of the sky.
• Aim with the mouse, touch or arrow keys. Click, tap or press space to fire from the nearest station that has ammo. Z, X and C fire from the left, middle and right stations.
• Every bolt that touches a burst is neutralized, so chains count. Learn the bolt types: plain bolts, MIRV forks that split, hail and CG strikes. Every fifth wave brings a supercell boss.
• Surviving airports, towers and leftover pulses pay a bonus after each wave, and every 10,000 points commissions a new target to defend.
• The Daily Challenge gives everyone the same storm each day. P pauses and M mutes.

The weather behind the game

FIS-B is the free weather and flight information service broadcast by ADS-B ground stations on 978 MHz. With a receiver such as a Stratux you can see NEXRAD radar, METARs, TAFs and TFRs in your EFB.

Radar in the cockpit is a picture of the past. NEXRAD images can be several minutes old, so use them for strategy and stay well clear of a cell rather than threading through the gaps.

Learn more about how ADS-B and FIS-B work.

Questions pilots ask

What is FIS-B?

The Flight Information Service Broadcast sends weather and aeronautical data such as NEXRAD, METARs, TAFs and TFRs to aircraft over 978 MHz UAT in the United States, at no charge.

Is Lightning Command like Missile Command?

Yes. It borrows that classic idea of bursts that stop incoming threats, but with a weather and ADS-B theme and chain reactions.

How do I beat the supercell boss?

Concentrate bursts on the cloud itself and keep some ammo in reserve for the bolts it launches.

Is it free to play?

Yes. It runs in your browser with no install, and there is a daily challenge with a leaderboard.

More games

• Tower Hunt, ADS-B ground stations map
• SQUAWK 1200, an airplane side-scroller
• METAR Rush, a METAR decoder game
• Balloon Launch, a near-space flight
• All of Stratux Arcade