The tracked infantry fighting vehicle Marder A1- will appear in our game at rank V of the German ground vehicle tech tree with the release of the next major update Red Skies in War Thunder.

The vehicle with an automatic 20mm cannon and an ATGM MILAN will become an excellent addition to the setup of German armoured vehicles from the mid-20th century. Marder has a typical IFV layout - the engine compartment and the driver's area are located in the front of the hull to make room for the troops in the rear part. The location of the machine gun looks rather unusual - it is located in a separate armoured cover at the stern of the IFV, and has a firing angle of 90 degrees to both sides.





Marder A1 and dozens of other new vehicles are waiting for you in the big War Thunder update Red Skies very soon. Follow us to know everything about the more interesting new items in the upcoming update!

Check out the full Dev Blog article here!

• Battle Rating changes (see the full table).

Other changes for ground vehicles:

• VFM5 - M735 round has been changed to the C76A1 and the C76A1 has been changed to the DM33 round.
  
• PT-76B, PT-76 (China) - fire rate has been increased from 7 to 8.5 rpm (balance change).

The current provided changelog reflects the major changes within the game as part of this Update. Some updates, additions and fixes may not be listed in the provided notes. War Thunder is constantly improving and specific fixes may be implemented without the client being updated.

In the upcoming Red Skies update we are presenting a new location for War Thunder mixed battles that we are calling "Red Desert".



This is a sandstone plateau surrounded by the dunes of a great desert. A small river sources here to quickly dry up under the hot African sun. The life-giving moisture, however, is sufficient for several palm groves and majestic acacias. A small village is located In the centre of the oasis- a couple of dozen houses and a mosque.



This location was inspired from the views of North and Central Africa, and especially the Ennedi Plateau in Chad, formed from sandstone cliffs in the Sahara desert.



The “Red Desert” location will appear in the game with the release of the major update Red Skies very soon!

Take a fresh look at ground battles in War Thunder - through a functional commander sight!

In the upcoming War Thunder major update, we will introduce commander sights for ground vehicles, primarily tanks. The commander's sight is not only an optical observation device, as on tanks of the mid 20th century, but also a complex fire control system, which includes night vision devices, a laser rangefinder, and so on. In order to make ground battles in the game more authentic and atmospheric, we plan to transfer some of the functions that are now implemented in ground vehicle binoculars and in the camera control menu to a specialized device - the commander's sight.



So, the commander's sight is a separate module under the control of the vehicle commander. It has its own rotation axis - for example, the simplest commander's sight in a Soviet T-54 or an observation device on the turret of modern tanks. The commander's sight has its own reticle and magnification, which corresponds to the vehicles in reality. On modern tanks, the commander's sight has its own night vision device or thermal imaging channel, and can also be equipped with a laser rangefinder. In addition, with the view from the commander's sight on some vehicles, a player is able to control an the AA machine gun on the turret.

Using the commander's sight, you can even fire at enemies using ocular refraction, if the vehicle has an eyepiece on the gunner's sight, or is equipped with an independent commander's fire control system. In addition, in Realistic battles we’re adding an automatic input measured distance from the laser rangefinder into the scope, which has already been implemented in Simulator battles - now, with the advent of the commander's scope, this function becomes logical.



Since the commander's sight is a tool at the commander's workstation, if they are wounded, the commander's sight functionality will become unavailable to the rest of the crew. If the gunner or mechanic does not have dual control systems, the vehicle goes blind at night or in bad weather. So for maximum effect, hit the commander in an enemy tank!

What about the binoculars? We plan to leave the binoculars as a purely optical device - with its help it will no longer be possible to use the night vision and thermal imaging channels. In the next updates of the game, we will move the rangefinder functionality from binoculars to the commander sights.

Of course, the commander's sight does not affect third-person view, the view from the gunner's sight or from the binoculars - this is a new type of view to control the vehicle's fire control system. In the control settings menu, there will be new options to assign buttons to turn on/off the commander's sight and related devices and weapons - for example, an IR searchlight, a dual control mode for a cannon and a coaxial or anti-aircraft machine gun, and so on.



We hope that the new feature will please War Thunder tankers. We really like the commander sights and will definitely try to make them more diverse and functional.

The War Thunder Team

A highly versatile early Cold War British naval jet fighter boasting impressive payload capacities.

In War Thunder, the Sea Vixen FAW.2 will be a new jet fighter awaiting pilots at rank V of the British aviation tree in the next major update. The Sea Vixen will be the first aircraft of its kind in the game to feature only guided weapons as its primary means of combating hostile aircraft. However, the Sea Vixen FAW.2 has a lot more to show and some of these things we’ll cover in today’s devblog, so let’s get started!

The Sea Vixen FAW.2 is fitted with a pair of Rolls-Royce Avon Mk.208 turbojet engines which veteran British pilots may already be accustomed to from the well-known Hawker Hunter. Despite featuring no afterburner, resulting in slower acceleration than some other aircraft found at its rank, the Sea Vixen FAW.2 can still produce enough thrust to reach a respectable top speed of about 1,000 km/h at sea level while also managing to maintain a decent climb rate.





The Sea Vixen FAW.2 will be available in the Premium section of the Royal Air Forces with the release of the next major update. In the meantime, be sure to stay tuned to the news as we continue unveiling more great new features awaiting you in the upcoming update. Until then, clear skies pilots!

Check out the full Dev Blog article here!

An early 2000’s Chinese SPAA unit, featuring a combined cannon and missile anti-air arsenal coupled with a radar system.

In War Thunder, the PGZ04A will be a new SPAA vehicle awaiting tankers at the top ranks of the Chinese ground forces tree in the next major update coming soon to the game. Armed with a quadruple 25 mm turret and backed by IR missiles and a radar system, the PGZ04A will substantially bolster the Chinese SPAA lineup at the higher ranks and provide its comrades in arms with some truly effective cover from hostile aircraft!

The PGZ04A’s primary armament consists of a quadruple 25 mm turret, equipped with the PG87 cannons which some tankers may recognize from the ZSD63 SPAAG, introduced in a previous update. PG87 cannons are highly regarded for their excellent rate of fire and good ballistic properties, ammo comes in separate belts.





The PGZ04A is soon arriving to the top ranks of the Chinese ground forces tree with the release of the next major War Thunder update. In the meantime, make sure to stay tuned to the news to catch all the latest developments surrounding the upcoming update. Until then, happy hunting tankers!

Check out the full Dev Blog article here!

Introducing the next major update teaser for War Thunder - 'Red Skies'!

In this digest we would like to tell you about our work on improvements and fixes in the game. You can find information about all updates that have been released in War Thunder on the website special section.




Issues were observed by some players that were using “Old videocard support” graphic settings. IR guidance systems for target tracking on helicopters, aircraft and ground vehicles as well as missile weaponry with IR guided heads literally went blind and stopped locking onto target.

The problem required an immediate solution the result of which we are pleased to present to all of you today. Target lock should now operate correctly at all graphic settings.




Imagine the situation, our aircraft is pretty banged up from battle but we have demonstrated some skill and managed to get home! The vehicle landed but it stopped a little over the runway and no one wants to fix your aircraft! That’s sad.

We received your bug reports and worked on the solution. The airfield mechanics have been given a stern talking-to and will now come to you even at the very edge of the runway. Repair and win!




The usefulness of smoke grenades in armoured vehicles is known to every tanker - as is the fact that they always run out quickly.

We changed the logic of firing smoke grenades on over 30 vehicle models which had a total of eight grenades. Now you will be able to make not one, but two volleys each with 4 grenades.




Remember in “It’s fixed! №3” we talked about the addition of the M3A3 Bradley's ability to choose between two types of missiles in battle? Many of you reminded us immediately in the comments about a similar problem with another vehicle.

Today, the BMP-2M will get the same improvement - you will be able to switch 9M133 ATGM types right in the middle of a battle.




Airacobras from different generations are popular aircraft in all game modes and make it to the main page of this digest.

We have fixed a combined 12.7 and 7.62mm machine gun ammo counter for the P-39K-1, the P-39N and the P-400. The ammunition for machine guns in these aircraft will now be counted separately.




We have also added support for the Thrustmaster® T.Flight Hotas One for Xbox Series S/X users in this update. Separate throttle and stick devices allow pilots to take full advantage of the aircraft's capabilities! With 5 analog axes, 14 buttons, a multidirectional hat switch and a rapid-fire trigger, what more do you need to enjoy air battles?


For each release of the “It’s fixed!” digest we collect the most notable improvements to the game that are fun to read about. However in addition to these you will also find separate improvements in the changelog that will likely directly improve your own game experience.

This time we continued to work on the guidance angles for turrets and cannons as well as fixing a lot of visual bugs in vehicles.

Once again, many thanks for all your bug reports that you submitted in our bug report section on the War Thunder forums.




General

• A bug has been fixed that prevented IR systems locking on and tracking the target, as well as IR-guided missiles from locking on target at the ultra-low graphic settings. (report).
  
• A bug has been fixed that prevented AI gunners on naval vessels from firing at aerial targets on the ultra-low quality setting.
  
• A bug has been fixed that prevented aircraft from repairing/reloading on the edge of an airfield.
  
• An interface navigation bug has been fixed that caused the cursor to return to the previous tab, or prevented the cursor from moving.
  
• Silver Lion multipliers have been specified in Premium vehicle info cards.
  
• Support for the Thrustmaster® T.Flight Hotas One has been added for the Xbox Series S/X

• Ka-50, Ka-52 — a bug has been fixed that showed armoured glass incorrectly displayed as 20mm steel in the xray mode.
  
• A-129CBT — a ballistic calculator has been added. A bug has been fixed where 20mm gun pods were absent. A bug has been fixed that resulted in the removal of the flare modification when installing the IRCM.
  
• B17A, B17B, B17BS — a bug has been fixed where a turret machine gun might glitch through the hull.
  
• SK60B — a bug has been fixed with the lack of AP info on the М 49/56 rockets.
  
• P-39K-1, P-39N, P-400 — a bug has been fixed with missing the separation of the rifle-calibre machine guns from the heavy machine guns in the HUD menu.
  
• Blenheim Mk IV — turret aiming angles have been corrected.
  
• F1M2 - the defensive machine gun has been specified from Type 97 to Тype 92 .

Ground vehicles model, damage model, characteristic and weaponry changes:

• For ground vehicles with a total number of smoke grenades equal to 8, the number of grenades in a salvo has been reduced. Now, these vehicles are able to create two salvos of 4 grenades, instead of one of 8.
  
• T-54 (1947), T-54 (1949), T-54 (1951) — the controlling of the AA machine gun has been changed. Now, this MG is controlled by a gunner (report).
  
• STB-1, Olifant Mk.2 — the option of range setting in the laser rangefinder has been added for SB mode (report).
  
• BMP-2M — triggers for the weapon groups have been changed. You’re now able to toggle ATGM types in combat.
  
• AA missiles Roland, VT-1, RB70, BOLIDE, Type 91 - a bug with missing overpressure damage has been fixed.
  
• U-SH 405 - All-wheel drive has been added. Previously, only the front axle was powered.
  
• Eland Mk.7 - Turret rotation speed has been changed from 17.5 to 25 degrees per second. Now it is equal to the rotation speed on the AML-90.

• USS Brooklyn, USS Helena, USS Cleveland, USS New Orleans, Admiral Hipper — traverse angles on the main calibre guns has been corrected.

The current provided changelog reflects the major changes within the game as part of this Update. Some updates, additions and fixes may not be listed in the provided notes. War Thunder is constantly improving and specific fixes may be implemented without the client being updated.

We are work in progress on the new gaming mode for ground vehicles. This time we are introducing “Convoy” mode in addition to the fixed and improved missions from the last test session.

Testing is available in the Events and Tournaments tab in two stages:

• from May 18th (13:00 GMT) till May 20th (13:00 GMT) in Realistic Battles,
  
• from May 20th (13:00 GMT) till May 22nd (13:00 GMT) in Arcade Battles

The following missions are available:

• [Convoy] Volokolamsk (1942). Players control German Pz. III J tanks. To participate, you need at least one unit of rank II+.
  
• [Convoy] Second Battle of El Alamein (1942). Players control US M4A1 tanks.To participate, you need at least one unit of rank III+.
  
• [Assault] Poland (1941). Players control German Pz. III F tanks. To participate, you need at least one unit of rank II+.
  
• [Assault] Fire Arc (1943). Players control the Soviet T-34-57.To participate, you need at least one unit of rank IV+.

Each mission consists of three stages: escort, cleanup and cover.

1. The first stage consists of escorting a convoy of captured armoured vehicles and protecting it from enemy attacks.
   
2. In the next stage, you have to attack enemy positions blocking the road, securing the area for the advance of the convoy.
   
3. The final stage will be to cover the retreating column from an attack from superior enemy forces. When all surviving units of the escorted vehicles have reached the exit point, you win.

Losing all the AI vehicles at any stage leads to instant defeat.

• Players receive a vehicle with preinstalled modifications and crew level.
  
• The number of respawns in a mission is limited to one within the current testing session. In the future, the mode will have its own new respawn mechanics.
  
• Economy and achievements are disabled. There are no additional or any special awards in the testing stage.
  
• Testing can be closed before the specified dates for technical issues.

After the first testing session we carefully read your feedback and implemented a number of fixes and improvements:

• a bug has been fixed where AI vehicles were aiming and firing at players through other AI vehicles;
  
• a bug has been fixed where shells from enemy AI vehicles did not interact with allied AI vehicles;
  
• a bug has been fixed where in some cases an AT gun crew remained present after gun destruction;
  
• The AT gun damage model has been improved, overpressure damage mechanics have been added;
  
• repair assist has been added for all allied vehicles, including AI;
  
• marker display has been improved for AI vehicles, markers no longer disappear from the line of sight view;
  
• a bug has been fixed where the victory was not counted when all enemy vehicles were destroyed in the 3rd stage of the Assault missions in this mode.

This is not a complete list of changes, we continue to work on improvements and will carefully analyze your feedback to make the mode even more interesting and exciting.

The War Thunder Team

In the upcoming War Thunder major update we will introduce new effects of the nuclear blast in the game. Witness the hypnotizing beauty of the most devastating weapon in the world in our special video:
https://youtu.be/ZIlXOyv0_oU

Check it out on our Official Website!