Legendary Sukhoi Su-25 Soviet strike jet aircraft comes to War Thunder in two versions that will be available in the upcoming Drone Age update!


Features:

• Huge payload
  
• Good selections of armament
  
• Highly durable
  
• Ballistic calculator

In the next War Thunder update Drone Age, we are going to introduce to the game two versions of probably the best Soviet/Russian attack aircraft - the Sukhoi Su-25 (NATO reporting name “Frogfoot”), a researchable Su-25, as well as an export Su-25K variant as a rank VI premium aircraft. Both attack aircraft are excellent for destroying ground targets and can hold their own in dogfights as well.






The basic weapon of the Su-25 is a 30mm GSH-2-30 rapid-fire cannon, with 250 rounds of ammunition, including armor-piercing belts. The cannon is well suited for destroying lightly armored vehicles and helicopters, and being loaded with the AP rounds, is capable of destroying main battle tanks.

The list of the suspended weapons is a real feast for all gun geeks. Su-25 organically combines a large number of guided and unguided weapons. The ballistic calculator makes it fun and easy to drop unguided weapons from low and medium heights. Incendiary bombs; HE bombs in calibers of 100, 250 and 500 kg; small rockets S-5K, S-8KO and S-13OF; large rockets of the S-24 family and the jumbo rockets S-25 in three modifications. There are also guided missiles S-25L, Kh-25, Kh-25ML and a huge Kh-29L to engage ground targets. All this variety of weapons, coupled with gun pods and R-60 and R-60M air-to-air missiles, the pilot will be able to combine on his own, or use ready setups available in the secondary armaments menu!





Since the aircraft was designed for strikes from low altitudes, the speed of the Su-25 is relatively low, just up to 1,000 km/h at the ground level, but the aircraft is well controlled at low speeds even with a significant weight of suspended weapons. The pilot is in an armored capsule made of steel and titanium armor, the front of the canopy is armored as well. The aircraft is a real die-hard, able to survive not only bursts of the .50 bullets, but in some cases direct hits of the aircraft or AA cannons.





With the release of the major update Drone Age, two versions of the attack aircraft will appear in the game: the researchable Su-25 and the export version of the Su-25K. In general, this is a reliable, lethal and pleasant to operate attack aircraft, which must be in the top-tier setup for mixed battles of every enthusiast of the USSR battle machines!

On August 10th, 1945, the day following the Nagasaki bombing, Japan accepted the Allies’ conditions for surrender. On August 15th Emperor Hirohito addressed his nation in an unprecedented broadcast, and on September 2nd an official surrender ceremony took place. This date is considered to mark the final end of World War II.





“Times Square Kiss” decal

Complete the task in random battles, except for Enduring Confrontation missions and [Assault] mode.

Track your progress in the hangar by clicking Nickname → Achievements → Holidays → Victory in Asia Day.

You can find the decal in the “Holidays” tab in the Customisation menu.

The upcoming War Thunder major update Drone Age brings new cool visuals to the game! Check out new explosions for ground and naval vehicles, improved hit camera, and more!


We continue to improve the visual effects of damaged and destroyed vehicles. Explosions now look better - you will not only see detached external equipment, like canisters, tools, or spare tracks, but also torn off sprockets and wheels. Detached track wheels feature their own physics, and other players will be able to interact with them for some time before detached parts disappear. Sometimes, blown off parts leave trails of smoke and fire behind them. You will also see similar effects in naval battles as well.



An explosion of a ground vehicle as a result of the detonation of an ammo rack now consists of a set of several explosions that are chosen randomly - now such explosions will not be similar to each other. By the way, the same mechanics of explosions will be implemented for ships and boats as well.





In the hit camera, kill camera, as well as in the protection analysis menu, we have added high-quality models of shells and missiles - the same as in battles. We also modeled the detailed penetration process (for kill cam and the protection analysis) that is based on a procedural simulation of armor penetration.





Both ground and naval battles will now have impact effects from the shell hitting armor. Depending on the shell’s type and caliber, you’ll be able to see smoke in the impact point, followed by the flame whirling out of the hole if the armor was penetrated at that point.





We improved the fire effects from fuel tanks and introduced a new scenario in the aircraft damage model - fuel tank explosion. New effects have been added for the fuel tank explosion both in the air and on the ground. Also, the fire area is now dependent on the volume of the fuel tanks.

Are you ready for the Drone Age?

Andrea Doria is one of the two dreadnought battleships constructed for the Regia Marina in the early 1910s and represents an improved version of the preceding Conte di Cavour class. Seasoned Italian captains in War Thunder may look forward to commanding the powerful Andrea Doria as it docks in player ports with the arrival of the next major update!

Briefly: A WWI-era Italian dreadnought battleship, sporting superb firepower and protection.


Features:

• 13 12-inch guns
  
• Strong armor
  
• Multiple auxiliary guns
  
• Mediocre mobility

In War Thunder, Andrea Doria will be a new battleship arriving to the top ranks of the Italian naval tree following the release of the next major update Drone Age. Being the second battleship to join the ranks of the Regia Marina in the game, Andrea Doria will, among other improvements, most notably bring with it a substantial upgrade in firepower over the preceding Dante Alighieri - an upgrade that many captains will surely appreciate.

Similar to the familiar Dante Alighieri, Andrea Doria is primarily armed with 305 mm (12’’) guns. However, not only does the latter possess one additional primary battery gun, but their layout is vastly different than that found on Dante Alighieri. Namely, the guns on the Andrea Doria are split between three triple and two twin turrets, giving the ship a rather unique gun layout when it comes to naval vessels in War Thunder. However, the differences don’t stop there. Andrea Doria also features a vastly improved secondary battery. Unlike Dante Alighieri, its successor packs up to 16 152 mm (6’’) cannons, situated in casemates above the ship’s main belt armor on either side.





Additionally, Andrea Doria’s secondary weapons are complemented by 13 76 mm (3’’) cannons as well as two submerged 450 mm torpedo launchers. Crucially however, Andrea Doria’s anti-aircraft arsenal also saw an improvement over Dante Alighieri. Namely, the ship is fitted with an additional six 76 mm AA guns as well as a pair of automatic 40 mm anti-aircraft cannons. While this will by no means enable Andrea Doria to take down entire waves of attacking enemy aircraft single-handedly, it does improve its self-defense capabilities drastically.





In terms of armor protection, Andrea Doria features some similarities to the preceding Dante Alighieri in this regard. In fact, the warship is fitted with a 250 mm belt armor - identical to its predecessor. However, the plating on the turret fronts, for instance, is increased up to 280 mm. This slightly improved armor scheme coupled with a greatly increased complement of 1,260 sailors and officers makes the Andrea Doria a quite tough opponent to take down, regardless of the circumstances.

However, as is the case with many battleships of this type, Andrea Doria can’t boast about its mobility. With its propulsion system generating around 34,000 horsepower, the vessel can reach a top speed of just 21 kts (40 km/h). As a result, captains will need to be mindful of their maneuvering and keep in mind that evasive actions aren’t as easily performed by this ironclad as it may be the case with a cruiser.



The highly anticipated Andrea Doria is soon docking in players’ ports with the release of the Drone Age update coming soon to War Thunder. In the meantime, be sure to keep scanning the horizon for more news as we continue sharing the latest on what the upcoming update has in store for you. Until then, calm seas and happy hunting captains!

The T-80UK Main battle tank comes as a new squadron vehicle available with the release of the next major War Thunder update.


Features:

• Shtora-1 Active Protection System
  
• Automatic loader
  
• Remote fuze HE shells
  
• Well protected

The T-80UK main battle tank will be added as a new squadron vehicle along with the release of the next major War Thunder update. One of the best Soviet tanks in the game gets even better! The first thing that catches the eye are the IR emitters of the Shtora-1 active protection system, which will be recognizable to weathered tankers familiar with the T-90A tank. Shtora interferes with the guidance beam of anti-tank guided missiles, as a result an incoming missile will veer off course when guided towards the tank. In addition, the Shtora's sensors will warn the commander if the tank has been pinged by the laser acquisition system of missiles with a semi-active seeker, in order to give the crew enough time to find cover or hide in a smoke screen.





The second noticeable feature of the T-80UK are the 3OF26 EDKV high-explosive fragmentation shells with a programmable fuse. Measure the distance to the target with a laser rangefinder and send fragmentation shells towards an enemy vehicle behind low cover. The shells will explode above the target, hitting the enemy in the poorly protected turret roof or engine compartment. With some skill, you can also try to shoot down helicopters hovering at a great distance. In addition, the projectile itself has a significant amount of explosive inside and can be successfully used to blow up enemy tanks when landed accurately.





In terms of all other characteristics, the commander variant of the tank is identical to the T-80U, one of the most popular tanks for top-tier battles. Integrated ERA protection combined with composite armor, excellent mobility, ATGMs and decent armor-piercing rounds, a modern fire control system with a thermal imager and a two-plane stabilizer - in short, a collection of the most advanced and useful War Thunder tank technologies.



Like all other squadron vehicles, the T-80UK will be available to players both for squadron activity points and for Golden Eagles. We also remind you that squadron activity points now invest automatically into the research progress of the squadron vehicle of your choice, no need to distribute them manually. Play War Thunder, join squadrons or recruit fighters for your own squadron, and get great squadron vehicles for free!

Please feel free to leave your feedback for this update here.

• ZTZ88A — the number of smoke grenades in a salvo has been reduced from 4 to 2.
  
• M60, M60A1 (AOS), M60A1 RISE(P), M60A1 “D.C.Ariete”, M60A2, M60A3 TTS, XM-803 - a bug has been fixed with incomplete first belt of the machine gun in battle.
  
• External fuel tanks have been removed from the vital modules list in the protection analysis.
  
• A bug has been fixed where the thermal imager remained in the third-person view in the replays.

• A bug has been fixed which prevented the disabling of the automatic countermeasures launch while the player's aircraft survived till the end of a battle.
  
• P-61A-1, P-61C-1 - ammo capacity of the turret M2 Browning machine guns has been corrected from 2,120 to 2,240 rounds.
  
• Sea Hawk FGA.6, Sea Hawk Mk.100 - the number of ammo has been fixed from 150 to 200 rounds per gun (from 600 to 800 in total). (report)
  
• SNEB type 23 - explosives weight has been increased from 0,22 to 0,34 kg.
  
• A bug has been fixed where in some cases, aircraft were unable to drop a torpedo.

• Issue with camera toggle while deploying recon aircraft has been fixed.

The current provided update notes reflect the major changes within the game as part of this Update. Some updates and fixes may be not listed in the provided notes. War Thunder is constantly improving all the time and certain fixes may be implemented without the client being updated.

The use of remotely controlled unmanned aerial vehicles for reconnaissance and even strikes against enemy targets was thoroughly studied in the second half of the 20th century. The heyday of drones came in the early 2000s, and today they are a must-have tactical unit in any modern army in the world.

The next major game update will bring combat drones to War Thunder - scout and attack UAVs will be hovering over the battlefields of high-rank tank battles. Scout drones will become available for all rank VI-VII "light tank" class vehicles as a researchable modification. The commander will be able to launch the scout drone into the sky during the battle, and switching to it to view the battlefield and scout enemy vehicles. A small scout UAV has a battery large enough to patrol over the battlefield until the end of the battle, or until it is shot down, or the vehicle from which the drone is controlled is destroyed. You can “reload” a drone destroyed in battle at captured points.



The strike combat drones at the time of adding to the game will only be available in the Realistic Battles mode. It can be taken into battle for a certain number of Respawn Points, which the player receives for active actions in battle. Three attack drone models are introduced into the game: Orion for the USSR/Russia, Wing Loong 1 for China, and MQ-1 for the USA and other game nations. The strike UAV carries anti-tank guided missiles that come in handy against entrenched or camping opponents.



UAVs will have full physic parameters, damage models and flight models. They can be shot down with both guns and missiles. SPAAG will be able to lock on drones with their radars. UAVs fly and maneuver according to real-life models, incoming damage affects the flight model as well. Both scout and strike drones have an targeting camera, which will allow you to view the area of ​​interest from a long distance. The targeting station is activated by the camera view toggle button (default “V”). Some drones available for rank VII vehicles are also equipped with thermal imaging equipment, which will allow you to identify hard-to-see targets by thermal signatures.



The drone age is coming! Wait for the next major War Thunder update to test the drones in battles!

We received an anonymous email with drone footage attached.

A new location for combined battles that was inspired by the landscapes of the foothills that surround the Himalayas.

Here, on the border between India and Pakistan, begins the first stage of the majestic and ancient Himalayas. The plains turn into wooded hills, with mountains rising behind. This textured terrain inspired the War Thunder artists to create this new location named “Pradesh”, an arena for combined battles, which will be available with the upcoming major update.



“Pradesh” in Hindi means “region”, “area”. Here you will find typical landscape features commonplace for the northwestern regions of India and the northeastern part of Pakistan. Grassy hills and forested rocks adjoin meadows and shrubland plains.

This new location is one of the largest in the game. The size of the detailed zone is approximately 3 by 3 km. The full size of the location for airplanes and helicopters is even more immense at 128 by 128 km.



This dynamic and varied location will be added to War Thunder with the release of the next major game update. In the meantime, we will continue to introduce you to interesting new features and the most interesting vehicles of the new update! Stay tuned!