The B1 Centauro is an Italian wheeled tank destroyer, built as a joint venture of several well-known Italian companies in the mid 1980s. Today, we’ll cover one of the B1 Centauro modifications that will be available to players at the top ranks of the Italian ground forces tree coming to War Thunder with update 1.85!

In War Thunder, the B1 Centauro will be one of the vehicles awaiting War Thunder tank commanders at the very top of the Italian ground forces tree, coming to the game with the release of the upcoming update 1.85. What really makes the B1 Centauro stand out and blend into War Thunder top tier battles at the same time is its mobility. Simply put - it’s unmatched among its peers!





The B1 Centauro will charge into battle with the release of the upcoming update 1.85 and will be available to all tankers as part of the top rank of the Italian ground forces tree coming to War Thunder very soon. Stay tuned to the news for more information on the next major update coming to War Thunder! Until then, tankers!

For more information, read the full Dev Blog article on the Official War Thunder website!

The M3 Bradley is a member of the Bradley family of American fighting vehicles which entered service with the U.S. Army in the early 1980s. Tankers may look forward to the addition of this iconic and much-anticipated vehicle to War Thunder with the upcoming update 1.85!

In War Thunder, the Bradley will be the first infantry fighting vehicle coming to the top rank of the American ground forces tree with the release of update 1.85. Extremely mobile and well armed, despite not seeming like it at first, the Bradley is able to strike fear into tankers commanding even the most heavily armored top tier MBTs!





The long-awaited M3 Bradley is finally coming to War Thunder with the upcoming update 1.85 and will be available to all tankers at the top rank of the American ground forces research tree. In the meantime, stay tuned to the news for more information regarding the next major update. Until then, tankers!

For more information, read the full Dev Blog article on the Official War Thunder website!

The Challenger Mk.3 is an upgraded modification of the well-known British Challenger MBT, introducing, most notably, additional reactive armour elements to bolster the vehicle’s protection against HEAT rounds. Meet the new and improved Challenger MBT coming to War Thunder as part of the upcoming update 1.85!

Several updates ago, we introduced the mighty Challenger Mk 2 MBT to the top rank of the British ground forces tree, giving British tankers their own modern high performance MBT, as a counter to other nation’s vehicles with similar performance. In the upcoming update 1.85, we are pleased to present a new modification of the revered Challenger 2, sporting additional ERA and composite armour packs that increase the vehicle’s protection.

The overall performance of the new Challenger Mk.3 doesn’t change compared to the existing Mk.2 already available in War Thunder. The vehicle still uses the same engine, suspension, gun, ammunition and armour layout. However, what does separate the Mk.3 from the Mk.2 is the addition of add-on ERA and composite armour elements to the front and sides of the vehicle’s hull.



Be sure to try out the new Challenger Mk.3 main battle tank, coming to the top rank of the British ground forces tree with the upcoming War Thunder update 1.85. In the meantime, stay tuned to the news to see what else update 1.85 has in store for you. Until then, happy hunting tankers!

Check out the full Dev Blog article on the Official War Thunder website!

The Sho’t represents the Israeli version of the British Centurion tank, which entered service with the IDF in the late 1950s. Soon, fans of British armour will have the chance to command an exotic modification of the Israeli Centurion, fitted with a more powerful engine and additional armour protection. Meet the new king of the desert in War Thunder update 1.85!

In the late 1950s, Israel struck a deal with Great Britain to purchase a number of Centurion Mk.5 tanks as a response to Egypt’s own rearmement efforts at the time. Deliveries continued well into the 1960s, with Israel fielding more than 300 Centurion tanks prior to the Six-Day War in 1967.

Although the Centurion, or Sho’t as it was called by the Israelis, was the most modern tank in service with the IDF at the time, it wasn’t very liked among Israeli tank crews due to its low reliability in desert conditions. Therefore, the decision was made to modernize the vehicles in May 1967 by replacing the petrol engine with a more powerful and reliable Continental diesel engine. Further upgrades included the fitting of a new transmission, larger fuel tanks and other minor improvements.



The vastly improved performance of the Sho’t Kal Dalet and its rather unique visual appearance make the vehicle very interesting in itself. However, it’s also worth mentioning that the Sho’t with all of its premium benefits nets higher rewards for every performed action in battle, thus substantially speeding up your progress through the higher ranks of the British ground forces tree.

For more information, read the full Dev Blog article on the Official War Thunder Forums!

The M14/41 is a further development of the Italian M13/40 medium tank, intended to replace its mechanically flawed predecessor. Soon, tankers will get the chance to support their allies with the M14/41, coming to War Thunder as part of the Italian ground forces tree with update 1.85!

In War Thunder, the M14/41 will await tankers at rank II of the Italian ground forces tree, coming to the game with update 1.85. Being very comparable to other tanks at its rank, the M14/41 will perfectly suit both new and experienced tankers, climbing up the ranks of the Italian ground forces tree.

Fun Fact: A limited number of captured M14/41s were also briefly in service with British and Australian troops.





The M14/41 will become available as part of the second rank of the Italian ground forces tree, coming to War Thunder with the upcoming update 1.85. In the meantime, stay tuned to the news to find out what else is coming in the next major update to the game. Until then, tankers!

Check out the full article on the Official War Thunder website!

The Breda 501 is a late-war Italian wheeled tank destroyer prototype, built upon the experiences gained during the North African campaign. Tankers in War Thunder will soon have the chance to use the Breda 501 to deadly effect with the release of the upcoming update 1.85!

Briefly: A nimble truck chassis modified into a lightly armored, but effective tank hunter equipped with a powerful 90mm AT gun.

During the North African campaign, the Italian military quickly realized the effectiveness of their 90mm heavy AA cannon, commonly mounted on utility trucks. The cannon turned out to be just as good at dealing with enemy tanks as it was combating aircraft, being able to pierce the armor of virtually any allied tank it faced in the deserts of North Africa. However, whilst the mounting on truck chassis allowed the guns to be moved around with relative ease, the large silhouette and lack of armor protection heavily exposed these vehicles and their crews to even rifle-caliber fire, yet alone to shrapnel from nearby explosions. In 1942, the military top brass came up with a set of requirements for a new vehicle which would build up on the proven gun truck concept used in North Africa by increasing protection and mobility. The new vehicle would be designed as a dedicated SPG, intended solely to provide support to armored regiments in combating enemy tanks. Shortly after, the Breda company began work on a vehicle around those specifications. Breda based their new design on a chassis of an existing utility truck and added armor plating to the vehicle’s front and sides. The 90mm cannon would be installed in an open fighting compartment in the vehicle’s rear. In 1943, the prototype was finished and began undergoing testing as the Breda 501. Although the Breda 501 had successfully proven itself during testing, further development and potential mass production was hindered by Italy’s capitulation in late 1943. The project was ultimately cancelled with the signing of the armistice in late 1943 with only a couple prototypes of the Breda 501 being built of which none saw any combat use.



The Breda 501 will join War Thunder ground battles as part of the highly-anticipated Italian ground forces tree coming to the game with update 1.85. Make sure to give Italy’s very own Pakwagen a go as you progress through the ranks of the Italian ground forces tree coming to the game very soon. Until then, tankers!

For more information, read the full Dev Blog article on the Official War Thunder Forums!

The Semovente 105/25 M43 is one of the more advanced tank destroyers, built by Italy in the later stages of the war.

Soon, War Thunder tankers will have the chance to command the Semovente 105/25 M43 as they climb up the ranks of the highly anticipated Italian ground forces tree, coming to the game with update 1.85!

Armed with a large caliber 105mm cannon, the Semovente 105/25 represents a serious threat to its enemies at the third rank. However, as any low-velocity cannon, the 105mm on the Semovente will perform best at short-range engagements, offered by urban environments for example.





The Semovente 105/25 M43 will be available to all testers at the third rank of the Italian ground forces tree, coming to War Thunder with the upcoming 1.85 update. We highly recommend giving it a try as there’s rarely something as satisfying as netting a single shot kill from a high caliber gun and the Semovente 105/25 will most certainly provide that to fans of Italian armor! Until then, happy hunting commanders!

For more information, read the full Dev Blog article on the Official War Thunder website!

We would like to share with you a major announcement! Now, all nations in War Thunder will have their own ground forces branch. In update 1.85, we will introduce the Italian ground vehicles research tree, and so you will soon be able to experience the distinguished originality of Italian tanks and armoured vehicles!

Early and mid-rank ground vehicles are of familiar design - such as the P40, already well-known to players. However, you will also find some unusual ones, such as the Breda 501 SPG, which has a considerably powerful gun, but with a limited horizontal drive; the vehicle is built to be based on the three-axis truck chassis.

Higher ranks introduce armoured cars with recoilless guns, extremely powerful SPAA’s, and tanks, which are not inferior in their combat effectiveness to the tanks of the other nations in-game.

Thus, Italian armoured vehicles are sure to bring more diversity ro ground battles in War Thunder - Are you itching to try the Italian ground force vehicles out?

For more information, read the full article on the Official War Thunder Forums!

Insidious traps, equally dangerous for fast boats and for huge cruisers - naval mines! Today War Thunder commanders have a chance to learn more about a potential enemy weapon.

This is the first appearance of Naval Mines in War Thunder! In using the VS-8 "Schell I" you will help us test the mechanics of mines in real battles.


Win 7 times with a battle activity of 50% or higher in naval battles whilst controlling a ship and get a 24 hour rental for the minelayer hydrofoil VS-8 "Schell I".

• Vessels of all ranks are able to participate in the event.
  
• You can follow progress by clicking on your nickname → Achievements → Achievements → Special.
  
• You can only receive the VS-8 for rental once.
  
• The rental begins from the moment the task is completed and the boat is received.
  
• To participate in battle with the VS-8, the boat must be allocated to a crew slot. After the rental is finished, crew skills will not be reset and can be used in the future for any battles with the VS-8.
  
• Any RP and SL earned during the use of the VS-8 will not be reset after the rental is finished.
  
• In case of problems being found during testing, both the action itself and the possibility of using VS-8 "Schell I" may be suspended.

Please share your suggestions on this type of weaponry in War Thunder in our dedicated forum topic!

The War Thunder Team

Today, we want discuss possible changes to the damage and unit restoration mechanics in Ground Vehicle Realistic Battles. As you know, currently, repairs of several units and aggregates without the parts modification can be done just by being located at a point you control. If a damaged tank does not get help from friends, it will remain immobile or weaponless until the end of the battle. However, a tank with the researched parts modification can repair damage in 10-30 seconds (depending on the severity of the damage, any crew losses and crew skill level). This is a game feature.

After recent discussions regarding modifications and all the changes made in relation to them, we decided to rework this feature in order to take the following considerations into account:

• Reduce differences in capabilities for restoring combat readiness between upgraded and non-upgraded vehicles.
  
• Preserve the current gameplay in Ground Realistic Battles in terms of the importance of damage dealt.
  
• Make the game more interesting for non-upgraded vehicles.

Accordingly, we plan to change the critical damage mechanics by adding quick field repair, available at all times for all vehicles.
It will work in the following way:

1. A disabled engine entirely blocks a vehicle’s movement for 20 seconds, after which 40% of its original function is restored.
   
2. A disabled transmission entirely blocks the vehicle’s movement for 20 seconds, after which the gear shift range is reduced by half.
   
3. A disabled traverse gear blocks turrets or guns from rotating(traversing) for 15 seconds, after which their rotation speed is limited to 3 degrees/sec.
   
4. A disabled elevation gear limits the gun elevation range to ±1.5 degrees from the position the gun was in when it was damaged.
   
5. A destroyed barrel inflicts significant penalties when fired: a 20-fold increase in shot dispersion and shells have 2 times less armour piercing and muzzle velocity.

If a ground vehicle is equipped with the parts modification, a player can use it to begin repairs at any time and restore a unit to full combat readiness. But without this modification, it will have to reach a secured point and perform a full repair there. Meanwhile, the option of getting repair assistance from party members or allies for light equipment has been entirely preserved. The processes of automatic partial unit recovery and manually activated repairs occur in parallel and do not influence each other in any way.

We think these changes will produce a positive effect on gameplay for stock ground vehicles and will simplify their function without changing the general mechanics of fighting in Realistic Battles. We invite all players to take part in a constructive dialogue about this and look forward to your discussion comments.

We would like to add a small explanation and emphasize, once again that the purpose of the changes is to make the game in vehicles with unresearched modifications more enjoyable.

We do not plan to change the basics of the gameplay in RB with these changes nor how any damage caused affects the game situation. Now, if you have caused functional damage to an enemy, you have some time to destroy him fully but if you did not succeed in doing this the enemy will be able to repair after some time and become dangerous to you again. You still cannot count on the absence of the modification "parts" from the enemy when you fight them. This will remain in the new mechanics, only that those who have not researched the modification will have an improved chance, for example, to get to a capture point and fix it there or approach an ally who can help with the repair and sometimes cover you in a hopeless situation.

We are ready to consider various options for these mechanics based on the results of discussions, for example, to do something with damaged gun barrels for a period of time (comparable to the repair kit/parts) in complete disabling of firing, or not to change the mechanics of damaged weapons at all and return only mobility. In our experience the designated critical damage to a gun is serious enough so we decided that it was possible to implement it for RB in this way. But a significant amount of criticism in the mechanics associated with weapons makes us think about other options. Therefore, we expect practical constructive proposals and dialogue from you.

The War Thunder Team