diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index 9c816b0c183..71077c8ed96 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -4,15 +4,15 @@ ARG USER_ID
 ARG GROUP_ID
 ENV DEBIAN_FRONTEND noninteractive
 
-RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y git cmake make ruby gcc python3 python3-pip gcc-arm-none-eabi
+RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y git cmake make ruby gcc python3 python3-pip gcc-arm-none-eabi ninja-build gdb
 
 RUN pip install pyyaml
 
 # if either of these are already set the same as the user's machine, leave them be and ignore the error
-RUN addgroup --gid $GROUP_ID inav; exit 0;
-RUN adduser --disabled-password --gecos '' --uid $USER_ID --gid $GROUP_ID inav; exit 0;
+RUN if [ -n "$USER_ID" ]; then RUN addgroup --gid $GROUP_ID inav; exit 0; fi
+RUN if [ -n "$USER_ID" ]; then  RUN adduser --disabled-password --gecos '' --uid $USER_ID --gid $GROUP_ID inav; exit 0; fi
 
-USER inav
+RUN if [ -n "$USER_ID" ]; then USER inav; fi
 RUN git config --global --add safe.directory /src
 
 VOLUME /src
diff --git a/cmake/docker.sh b/cmake/docker.sh
index 3c10ebc8e1d..843e03a48a2 100755
--- a/cmake/docker.sh
+++ b/cmake/docker.sh
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ CURR_REV="$(git rev-parse HEAD)"
 
 initialize_cmake() {
     echo -e "*** CMake was not initialized yet, doing it now.\n"
-    cmake ..
+    cmake -GNinja ..
     echo "$CURR_REV" > "$LAST_CMAKE_AT_REV_FILE"
 }
 
@@ -26,4 +26,4 @@ else
 fi
 
 # Let Make handle the arguments coming from the build script
-make "$@"
+ninja "$@"
diff --git a/cmake/docker_build_sitl.sh b/cmake/docker_build_sitl.sh
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..a79742ae0ff
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cmake/docker_build_sitl.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+rm -r build_SITL
+mkdir -p build_SITL
+#cmake -DSITL=ON -DWARNINGS_AS_ERRORS=ON -GNinja -B build_SITL ..
+cmake -DSITL=ON -DDEBUG=ON -DWARNINGS_AS_ERRORS=ON -GNinja -B build_SITL ..
+cd build_SITL
+ninja
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/cmake/docker_run_sitl.sh b/cmake/docker_run_sitl.sh
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..b2089137ccb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cmake/docker_run_sitl.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+cd build_SITL
+
+#Lauch SITL - configurator only mode
+./inav_7.0.0_SITL
+
+#Launch SITL - connect to X-Plane. IP address should be host IP address, not 127.0.0.1. Can be found in X-Plane "Network" tab.
+#./inav_7.0.0_SITL --sim=xp --simip=192.168.2.105 --simport=49000
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/cmake/sitl.cmake b/cmake/sitl.cmake
index 24a4ae9b27e..78697f98a9d 100644
--- a/cmake/sitl.cmake
+++ b/cmake/sitl.cmake
@@ -53,6 +53,11 @@ set(SITL_COMPILE_OPTIONS
     -funsigned-char
 )
 
+if(DEBUG)
+    message(STATUS "Debug mode enabled. Adding -g to SITL_COMPILE_OPTIONS.")
+    list(APPEND SITL_COMPILE_OPTIONS -g)
+endif()
+
 if(NOT MACOSX)
     set(SITL_COMPILE_OPTIONS ${SITL_COMPILE_OPTIONS}
         -Wno-return-local-addr
diff --git a/docs/development/Building in Docker.md b/docs/development/Building in Docker.md
index 80d661ecf37..39cd887003a 100755
--- a/docs/development/Building in Docker.md	
+++ b/docs/development/Building in Docker.md	
@@ -37,8 +37,19 @@ You'll have to manually execute the same steps that the build script does:
    + This step is only needed the first time.
 2. `docker run --rm -it -u root -v <PATH_TO_REPO>:/src inav-build <TARGET>`
    + Where `<PATH_TO_REPO>` must be replaced with the absolute path of where you cloned this repo (see above), and `<TARGET>` with the name of the target that you want to build.
-   + Note that on Windows/WSL 2 mounted /src folder is writeable for root user only. You have to run build under root user. You can achieve this by using `-u root` option in the command line above, or by removing "USER inav" line from the .\DockerFile before building image.   
+   + Note that on Windows/WSL 2 mounted /src folder is writeable for root user only. You have to run build under root user. You can achieve this by using `-u root` option in the command line above.   
 
-3. If you need to update `Settings.md`, run `docker run --entrypoint /src/cmake/docker_docs.sh --rm -it -u root -v <PATH_TO_REPO>:/src inav-build`
+3. If you need to update `Settings.md`, run:
+
+`docker run --entrypoint /src/cmake/docker_docs.sh --rm -it -u root -v <PATH_TO_REPO>:/src inav-build`
+
+4. Building SITL: 
+
+`docker run --rm --entrypoint /src/cmake/docker_build_sitl.sh -it -u root -v <PATH_TO_REPO>:/src inav-build`
+
+5. Running SITL: 
+
+`docker run -p 5760:5760 -p 5761:5761 -p 5762:5762 -p 5763:5763 -p 5764:5764 -p 5765:5765 -p 5766:5766 -p 5767:5767 --entrypoint /src/cmake/docker_run_sitl.sh --rm -it -u root -v <PATH_TO_REPO>:/src inav-build`.
+   + SITL command line parameters can be adjusted in `cmake/docker_run_sitl.sh`.
 
 Refer to the [Linux](#Linux) instructions or the [build script](/build.sh) for more details.