Gain 3 victories while playing U.S. aircraft and earn a personal discount for one of the premium U.S. aircraft!
A Battle Activity of at least 60% is necessary.​

The USAF was formed as a separate branch of the military on 18th of September, 1947 under the National Security Act of 1947. One must surely then think - “Why does a force so important as this only receive recognition after the Second World War, where it proved it’s worth?”. The answer is fairly simple.

The United States Air Force was brought into life with the signing of the National Security act in 1947. Before that, air power was prevalent in the American military. The first air corps was created on the 1st of August 1907, with the creation of the Aeronautical Division in the Office of the Chief Signal Officer of the Army. In the First World War, American pilots took part in the conflict as part of the American Expeditionary Force. After the "Great War", the US Army Air Corps was established and started to pioneer new advancements in the field of aviation, such as mid-air refueling or the adoption of full-metal monoplanes instead of biplanes seen in the arsenal of other Air Forces around the world.



In 1941, the Air Corps was transformed into the United States Army Air Force. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, the consequence of which was the United States of America actively joining the second world war, the USAAF began combat operations. The US pilots fought in Western Europe, Africa and Asia, along with other allied air forces. Even so, they were controlled by the Army and were not autonomous.

Regardless of this, the war effort of the pilots and ground crews of the USAAF cannot be downplayed - it was the Air Force that suffered 12% of the overall Army casualties in the war. Also, 36 members of the USAAF received the highest American decoration - the Medal of Honor - for their bravery in face of combat.

After the Second World War, the American Congress, with President Truman decided, that the Air Force should be separated into a standalone branch of the US Military. After some initial planning, President Truman ordered the creation of the Department of the Air Force in 1947, separate from the Army. Since that day, the United States Air Force has taken part in several conflicts around the globe, such as the Korean War, the Vietnam war and Operation Desert Storm. Currently, it’s strength lies with over 5000 aircraft, 450 ICBM’s and nearly 700 thousand personnel, ready to defend their homeland.

We salute all who serve and who had served in the US Air Forces throughout the years!

The War Thunder Team

Gain 3 victories while playing U.S. aircraft and earn a personal discount for one of the premium U.S. aircraft!
A Battle Activity of at least 60% is necessary.​

The USAF was formed as a separate branch of the military on 18th of September, 1947 under the National Security Act of 1947. One must surely then think - “Why does a force so important as this only receive recognition after the Second World War, where it proved it’s worth?”. The answer is fairly simple.

The United States Air Force was brought into life with the signing of the National Security act in 1947. Before that, air power was prevalent in the American military. The first air corps was created on the 1st of August 1907, with the creation of the Aeronautical Division in the Office of the Chief Signal Officer of the Army. In the First World War, American pilots took part in the conflict as part of the American Expeditionary Force. After the "Great War", the US Army Air Corps was established and started to pioneer new advancements in the field of aviation, such as mid-air refueling or the adoption of full-metal monoplanes instead of biplanes seen in the arsenal of other Air Forces around the world.



In 1941, the Air Corps was transformed into the United States Army Air Force. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, the consequence of which was the United States of America actively joining the second world war, the USAAF began combat operations. The US pilots fought in Western Europe, Africa and Asia, along with other allied air forces. Even so, they were controlled by the Army and were not autonomous.

Regardless of this, the war effort of the pilots and ground crews of the USAAF cannot be downplayed - it was the Air Force that suffered 12% of the overall Army casualties in the war. Also, 36 members of the USAAF received the highest American decoration - the Medal of Honor - for their bravery in face of combat.

After the Second World War, the American Congress, with President Truman decided, that the Air Force should be separated into a standalone branch of the US Military. After some initial planning, President Truman ordered the creation of the Department of the Air Force in 1947, separate from the Army. Since that day, the United States Air Force has taken part in several conflicts around the globe, such as the Korean War, the Vietnam war and Operation Desert Storm. Currently, it’s strength lies with over 5000 aircraft, 450 ICBM’s and nearly 700 thousand personnel, ready to defend their homeland.

We salute all who serve and who had served in the US Air Forces throughout the years!

The War Thunder Team

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We would like to invite you to join the fourth test of the new "Enduring Confrontation" game mode in Realistic and Simulator Battles. Today you can test it on Sicily with German, British and American aircraft available. As with previous testing sessions, your feedback is greatly appreciated and has already helped to shape the game mode extensively!

"Enduring Confrontation" (RB/SB) is available!
You can find it in the "Events and Tournaments" tab in the game's menu.
Please leave your feedback here: Realistic | Simulator

• New location “Sicily” has been adjusted for the mode.
  
• Boosters have been adjusted to work correctly in EC mode.

• Four events with different Battle Ratings are available:
  • 1.0 - 2.7
    
  • 2.3 - 4.3
    
  • 4.0 - 6.3
    
  • 6.0 - 9.3
• For your first aircraft to fly out in a session, you may only choose aircraft with the lowest BR for the given game session or those 0.3 or 0.7 points above the minimum (e.g if the Battle Rating for the session is 2.3 - 4.3, you may only choose an aircraft with a BR of 2.3, 2.7 or 3.0 for the first flyout).
  
• If all of the vehicles in your lineup come with higher BR than minimally acceptable for the session, you will be given a vehicle with minimal available BR, but without any upgraded modules or crew.
  
• All reported issues from player feedback during the last tests have been fixed. Thank you!

Required bomb tonnage for base destruction:

• BR 1.0 - 2.0: 5 x 500 kg bombs;
  
• BR 2.3 - 3.3: 6 x 500 kg bombs;
  
• BR 3.7 - 4.7: 6 x 500 kg bombs;
  
• BR 5.0 - 6.3: 8 x 500 kg bombs;
  
• BR 6.7 and higher: 8 x 500 kg bombs.

Required bomb tonnage for airfield destruction:

• BR 1.0 - 2.0: 8 x 500 kg bombs;
  
• BR 2.3 - 3.3: 10 x 500 kg bombs;
  
• BR 3.7 - 4.7: 15 x 500 kg bombs;
  
• BR 5.0 - 6.3: 25 x 500kg bombs;
  
• BR 6.7 and higher: 30 x 500 kg bombs.

“Enduring Confrontation” (EC) is a game mode featuring air battles lasting several hours in which victory depends on the completion of various dynamically changing tasks and missions unique to each class of aircraft. Players can join an ongoing EC match at any point except for the last five minutes of battle. If a player leaves a running EC match, it’s also possible for him to join back at a later point in time - if there is an available slot in the team.

Any aircraft repairs in this mode are completely free, but every flyout is paid for with Silver Lions. Having just joined the session, the player has to start with weaker aircraft, gaining access to more powerful and dangerous machines only after some time in battle, which can be reduced by destroying enemy ground targets such as bases and airfields as well as shooting down enemy player aircraft.

Main objectives include the reconnaissance of enemy airfields, search and destroy missions, the interception of enemy aircraft and many others, which will be added as the development of the game mode progresses. Whenever a mission or task in an ongoing EC match has been completed, the game generates another procedural mission.

Through active participation in battle, players earn ‘Air Domination Points’ (ADP) for their team which, combined, represent the team’s total ADP score. At the end of the session, the team with the greater ADP score wins the match.

When flying out an aircraft, the aircraft’s class (e.g. Attacker) at that Battle Rating will not be immediately available again to the player. Thus, for the next flyout, the player has to either change the class or BR of the aircraft he wants to fly.

• Rewards earned in battle are awarded to the player immediately after leaving an EC session, regardless of the outcome of battle. After the EC session is finished, participants receive a certain bonus to these rewards.
  
• After a player has chosen a certain aircraft, it will be locked for some time starting from the moment the aircraft has been destroyed. E.g. if the vehicle is available once per 30 minutes, a player can chose it 30 minutes after his vehicle was destroyed, not after he started to fly it.
  
• The above also implies that a player who managed to land on an allied airfield will be able to swap out his vehicle for another choice, without restarting the timer.
  
• Vehicles of the same BR and class share a common timer. Currently, two groups with common timers exist: Fighters (including light, heavy and naval) and Bombers (including all bombers and attackers).It will be useful to keep aircraft of all types in your preset so you won’t be left without an aircraft to fly in the midst of battle.
  
• Timer duration depends on Battle Ratings. The higher the BR, the longer the timer duration will be.
  
• Vehicles of the lower BR spectrum for a specific session do not come with a timer and are always available.

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We would like to invite you to join the fourth test of the new "Enduring Confrontation" game mode in Realistic and Simulator Battles. Today you can test it on Sicily with German, British and American aircraft available. As with previous testing sessions, your feedback is greatly appreciated and has already helped to shape the game mode extensively!

"Enduring Confrontation" (RB/SB) is available!
You can find it in the "Events and Tournaments" tab in the game's menu.
Please leave your feedback here: Realistic | Simulator

• New location “Sicily” has been adjusted for the mode.
  
• Boosters have been adjusted to work correctly in EC mode.

• Four events with different Battle Ratings are available:
  • 1.0 - 2.7
    
  • 2.3 - 4.3
    
  • 4.0 - 6.3
    
  • 6.0 - 9.3
• For your first aircraft to fly out in a session, you may only choose aircraft with the lowest BR for the given game session or those 0.3 or 0.7 points above the minimum (e.g if the Battle Rating for the session is 2.3 - 4.3, you may only choose an aircraft with a BR of 2.3, 2.7 or 3.0 for the first flyout).
  
• If all of the vehicles in your lineup come with higher BR than minimally acceptable for the session, you will be given a vehicle with minimal available BR, but without any upgraded modules or crew.
  
• All reported issues from player feedback during the last tests have been fixed. Thank you!

Required bomb tonnage for base destruction:

• BR 1.0 - 2.0: 5 x 500 kg bombs;
  
• BR 2.3 - 3.3: 6 x 500 kg bombs;
  
• BR 3.7 - 4.7: 6 x 500 kg bombs;
  
• BR 5.0 - 6.3: 8 x 500 kg bombs;
  
• BR 6.7 and higher: 8 x 500 kg bombs.

Required bomb tonnage for airfield destruction:

• BR 1.0 - 2.0: 8 x 500 kg bombs;
  
• BR 2.3 - 3.3: 10 x 500 kg bombs;
  
• BR 3.7 - 4.7: 15 x 500 kg bombs;
  
• BR 5.0 - 6.3: 25 x 500kg bombs;
  
• BR 6.7 and higher: 30 x 500 kg bombs.

“Enduring Confrontation” (EC) is a game mode featuring air battles lasting several hours in which victory depends on the completion of various dynamically changing tasks and missions unique to each class of aircraft. Players can join an ongoing EC match at any point except for the last five minutes of battle. If a player leaves a running EC match, it’s also possible for him to join back at a later point in time - if there is an available slot in the team.

Any aircraft repairs in this mode are completely free, but every flyout is paid for with Silver Lions. Having just joined the session, the player has to start with weaker aircraft, gaining access to more powerful and dangerous machines only after some time in battle, which can be reduced by destroying enemy ground targets such as bases and airfields as well as shooting down enemy player aircraft.

Main objectives include the reconnaissance of enemy airfields, search and destroy missions, the interception of enemy aircraft and many others, which will be added as the development of the game mode progresses. Whenever a mission or task in an ongoing EC match has been completed, the game generates another procedural mission.

Through active participation in battle, players earn ‘Air Domination Points’ (ADP) for their team which, combined, represent the team’s total ADP score. At the end of the session, the team with the greater ADP score wins the match.

When flying out an aircraft, the aircraft’s class (e.g. Attacker) at that Battle Rating will not be immediately available again to the player. Thus, for the next flyout, the player has to either change the class or BR of the aircraft he wants to fly.

• Rewards earned in battle are awarded to the player immediately after leaving an EC session, regardless of the outcome of battle. After the EC session is finished, participants receive a certain bonus to these rewards.
  
• After a player has chosen a certain aircraft, it will be locked for some time starting from the moment the aircraft has been destroyed. E.g. if the vehicle is available once per 30 minutes, a player can chose it 30 minutes after his vehicle was destroyed, not after he started to fly it.
  
• The above also implies that a player who managed to land on an allied airfield will be able to swap out his vehicle for another choice, without restarting the timer.
  
• Vehicles of the same BR and class share a common timer. Currently, two groups with common timers exist: Fighters (including light, heavy and naval) and Bombers (including all bombers and attackers).It will be useful to keep aircraft of all types in your preset so you won’t be left without an aircraft to fly in the midst of battle.
  
• Timer duration depends on Battle Ratings. The higher the BR, the longer the timer duration will be.
  
• Vehicles of the lower BR spectrum for a specific session do not come with a timer and are always available.

Today we are introducing a legendary amphibious soviet tank - the PT-76.



The PT-76 is an amphibious tank that was put into service in the USSR in 1951. This legendary vehicle will join rank IV of the Soviet light tanks line. Though the tank is protected only by thin bullet-proof armour, its maneuverability, low profile and rapid firing gun will allow this machine to stand against the most dangerous of enemies. Basic ammo for this tank is post-war APCR round and a more powerful HEAT round will be able to penetrate up to 200mm of armour.

Anticipating most popular question - will it be amphibious? Not at the start, but it is possible in the future.





The PT-76 was designed as an amphibious tank. Because of that, angles of the upper and lower armour plates of the tank’s hull are extremely large. The armour is very thin but if you are fortunate enough the tank may ricochet enemy rounds upwards into to the sky or to the ground. But of course this light vehicle should not rely solely on its armour. This machine is a very maneuverable (though not very fast) amphibious tank.





See video of this tank in action here!

Today we are introducing a legendary amphibious soviet tank - the PT-76.



The PT-76 is an amphibious tank that was put into service in the USSR in 1951. This legendary vehicle will join rank IV of the Soviet light tanks line. Though the tank is protected only by thin bullet-proof armour, its maneuverability, low profile and rapid firing gun will allow this machine to stand against the most dangerous of enemies. Basic ammo for this tank is post-war APCR round and a more powerful HEAT round will be able to penetrate up to 200mm of armour.

Anticipating most popular question - will it be amphibious? Not at the start, but it is possible in the future.





The PT-76 was designed as an amphibious tank. Because of that, angles of the upper and lower armour plates of the tank’s hull are extremely large. The armour is very thin but if you are fortunate enough the tank may ricochet enemy rounds upwards into to the sky or to the ground. But of course this light vehicle should not rely solely on its armour. This machine is a very maneuverable (though not very fast) amphibious tank.





See video of this tank in action here!

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On the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Britain, we invite you to partake in an action packed week full of exciting events, aimed at recreating several Axis vs. Allied battles of WW2 over Britain, from 15:00 GMT 15 September, to 15:00 GMT 21 September.

[Air Domination] Britain (AB)
[Event] British Convoy (RB / SB)​


Torpedo Bomber Interception - Destroy German bombers while flying Hawker Hurricane
fighters and receive a “Battle Trophy”.

Convoy Attack - Destroy 30 enemy ships while flying German bombers
and receive a “Battle Trophy”.

• Events and tasks will be changed at 15:00 GMT every day.
  
• Complete the tasks to receive a "Battle Trophy".
  
• You can follow your progress in "Nickname >>> Achievements >>> 75 years Battle of Britain".

September 15th is known as “Battle of Britain Day”. On this day, 75 years ago in 1940, the Luftwaffe would launch mass raids on London in the hopes of finally delivering a knockout blow to both the Royal Air Force and British morale. The German bombing raids over the skies of Great Britain had shifted targets from RAF bases, military ports and Radar Stations to focusing on London and her surroundings. The concept of exhausting the RAF and breaking the will of the British public was the intended outcome to avoid a much more costly invasion, which could only take place should the Luftwaffe achieve full aerial supremacy.

All squadrons within No.11 fighter group, responsible for the defence of London, as well as components from 10 and 12 groups were involved in combat on this day. The skies over London were full of aircraft with many below carefully watching the battle unfold. The Luftwaffe had expected little resistance and perceived the RAF to be on its knees, however contrary to this belief the change of targets from military to London had given the RAF invaluable breathing space and time to regroup, repair and prepare for the battles ahead. London's defences and available aircraft were re-enforced and many airbases made once again operational.

The result was a crippling blow to the Luftwaffe who had vastly miscalculated the situation. The appearance of Spitfires and Hurricanes en mass came to a shock to the German pilots who believed the RAF to be broken. German high command felt it was only a matter of time before the British would no longer be able to sustain their defence, however the 15th September would greatly change not just the outcome of the Battle of Britain, but the direction of the war.

1280x1024 | 1920x1080 | 2560x1440

On the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Britain, we invite you to partake in an action packed week full of exciting events, aimed at recreating several Axis vs. Allied battles of WW2 over Britain, from 15:00 GMT 15 September, to 15:00 GMT 21 September.

[Air Domination] Britain (AB)
[Event] British Convoy (RB / SB)​


Torpedo Bomber Interception - Destroy German bombers while flying Hawker Hurricane
fighters and receive a “Battle Trophy”.

Convoy Attack - Destroy 30 enemy ships while flying German bombers
and receive a “Battle Trophy”.

• Events and tasks will be changed at 15:00 GMT every day.
  
• Complete the tasks to receive a "Battle Trophy".
  
• You can follow your progress in "Nickname >>> Achievements >>> 75 years Battle of Britain".

September 15th is known as “Battle of Britain Day”. On this day, 75 years ago in 1940, the Luftwaffe would launch mass raids on London in the hopes of finally delivering a knockout blow to both the Royal Air Force and British morale. The German bombing raids over the skies of Great Britain had shifted targets from RAF bases, military ports and Radar Stations to focusing on London and her surroundings. The concept of exhausting the RAF and breaking the will of the British public was the intended outcome to avoid a much more costly invasion, which could only take place should the Luftwaffe achieve full aerial supremacy.

All squadrons within No.11 fighter group, responsible for the defence of London, as well as components from 10 and 12 groups were involved in combat on this day. The skies over London were full of aircraft with many below carefully watching the battle unfold. The Luftwaffe had expected little resistance and perceived the RAF to be on its knees, however contrary to this belief the change of targets from military to London had given the RAF invaluable breathing space and time to regroup, repair and prepare for the battles ahead. London's defences and available aircraft were re-enforced and many airbases made once again operational.

The result was a crippling blow to the Luftwaffe who had vastly miscalculated the situation. The appearance of Spitfires and Hurricanes en mass came to a shock to the German pilots who believed the RAF to be broken. German high command felt it was only a matter of time before the British would no longer be able to sustain their defence, however the 15th September would greatly change not just the outcome of the Battle of Britain, but the direction of the war.

Today, fans of German aviation will get to know two other models of the classic Luftwaffe twin-engined bomber Dornier 17, the improved Do 17 Z-2 and night fighter version Do 17 Z-7.



The aircraft's bomb bays can now carry up to 1,000 kg of bombs. Apart from that, its defensive armament has been significantly increased through the addition of two MG 15 machine guns.





See video of this aircraft in action here!

A fighter modification of the aircraft. The night fighter received a battery of three 7.92 mm MG-17 frontal machine guns, it was also equipped with an MG FF frontal cannon. The aircraft is also able to carry a bomb load of up to 500 kg using its internal bomb rack.





See video of this aircraft in action here!

Today, fans of German aviation will get to know two other models of the classic Luftwaffe twin-engined bomber Dornier 17, the improved Do 17 Z-2 and night fighter version Do 17 Z-7.



The aircraft's bomb bays can now carry up to 1,000 kg of bombs. Apart from that, its defensive armament has been significantly increased through the addition of two MG 15 machine guns.





See video of this aircraft in action here!

A fighter modification of the aircraft. The night fighter received a battery of three 7.92 mm MG-17 frontal machine guns, it was also equipped with an MG FF frontal cannon. The aircraft is also able to carry a bomb load of up to 500 kg using its internal bomb rack.





See video of this aircraft in action here!