Duca degli Abruzzi is the lead ship of the final Italian ‘Condottieri’ type cruiser class built for the Regia Marina in the years leading up to the outbreak of WWII. Arriving as part of the next major War Thunder update - “Apex Predators”, Duca degli Abruzzi will soon reinforce the Italian naval tree with its most advanced light cruiser design of the era!

Features:

• Superb firepower
  
• Decent protection
  
• Torpedoes

In War Thunder, Duca degli Abruzzi will be a new light cruiser joining the ranks of the Italian naval tree as part of the next major update Apex Predators coming really soon. Sporting the most substantial weapons arsenal of any Italian light cruiser that came before it as well as an improved armor scheme, Duca degli Abruzzi will show its aspiring captains the full capability of the definitive Italian light cruiser design!



Despite being the final design to make up the broad class of the ‘Condottieri’ class of cruisers, Italian shipbuilders went a bit further with Duca degli Abruzzi in an effort to enhance its capabilities over previous vessels of the series. For starters, Duca degli Abruzzi comes outfitted with 10 6’’ guns - that’s two guns more than any of its predecessors, already familiar to veteran Italian captains. Additionally, the secondary weapons also receive an upgrade through the installation of an additional twin 100 mm turret, bringing their number up to four in total. At the same time, the anti-air and torpedo armament remains neigh identical to the preceding Eugenio di Savoia, resulting in a versatile arsenal ensuring the Duca degli Abruzzi can stand its ground in engagements against both surface as well as airborne targets.



Following the trend set with firepower, Italian naval designers also decided to noticeably improve the protection of Duca degli Abruzzi by increasing armor thickness across the board. Unlike previous ships, Duca degli Abruzzi features a 100 mm thick belt armor supplemented with a 30mm external armor, 135 mm thick turret fronts as well as 140 mm of armor encasing its conning tower. As a result of this and a larger complement, Duca degli Abruzzi is far better equipped to effectively absorb incoming enemy fire, particularly coming from other light cruisers and destroyers. However, despite these notable improvements to its protection, captains should still bear in mind the fact, that Duca degli Abruzzi is a light cruiser at the end of the day and that intensive firefights with larger and more heavily armed warships may not be the best tactic to win battles and spare the ship from an untimely demise.




Due to the increased firepower and protection however, captains will have to make due with a natural tradeoff which comes as a result of this design choice. Namely, unlike previous ships of the ‘Condottieri’ series, Duca degli Abruzzi only manages to get up to a top speed of around 32 kts (59 km/h) due to the ship’s notably increased displacement. As a result, Duca degli Abruzzi, while still being quite mobile for a cruiser design, is far slower and less agile than its predecessors. Nevertheless, aspiring captains of this powerful warship won’t have to worry about lagging behind the rest of the fleet as Duca degli Abruzzi is more than capable of keeping up with most other warships.



Duca degli Abruzzi is soon docking in players’ ports with the release of the “Apex Predators” major 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!

Introducing two new locations for mixed battles that will be added to the game in the upcoming major update. Meet the industrial area of the mine complex in the location "Gold Quarry" and the winter version of your favorite "Poland"!


A large area in a gold mining quarry comes to the game as the new battleground for Mixed Battles. The gold ore refinery plant in the Tien Shan Mountains provides storage, processing and shipping facilities, as well as ensuring operation of quarry vehicles.




The teams will face off trying to control the capture points among the ore heaps, under the concrete walls of the plant's workshops and giant haulage trucks. The location turns out to be very diverse in terms of tactical approaches and offers several options for attacking each capture zone.





An early winter has fallen on a Polish town. Snow has covered the leaves of groves and shrubs that have not yet fallen, the lake near the old castle is covered with ice ... but the war is raging on! Welcome to the winter version of the popular location “Poland”.




You know every street and every bush here, but winter has its own laws! So, for example, snowdrifts will change the familiar shoot-throughs, and the frozen lake has become a new direction for breaking through to capture zones.




In the winter version we tried our best to smooth and fix rare issues of the traditional location, and we need your feedback if we succeeded. Let's take a fresh look at Poland in the Apex Predators winter update!

From December 16th (11:00 GMT) until December 19th (08:00 GMT) join the “Pandora’s Box” special event!

The 10,000 and 20,000 victory points in the event will grant you a special title

“Defender of Pandora” and “Conqueror of Pandora” (consequently).

A special trophy “Pandora’s Box” is granted for each 6,000 victory points earned in battles. Each “Pandora’s Box” trophy contains one of the following prizes:

• 50,000 - 100,000 Silver Lions
  
• 20% - 50% booster for Research Points or Silver Lions
  
• 3-5 universal back-ups for vehicles

You can receive a maximum of 5 “Pandora’s Box” trophies in total.
Join the weekend “Pandora’s Box” special event and get unique titles and trophies with boosters, universal back-ups or Silver Lions!

Pandora is a special planet. The Trade corporation sees it as the only source of the “leaven”, a unique material available only there. The Pandorians see their planet as a living creature with the great Sacred Tree as its heart. The battle fleet from the Corporation begins a fire mission in the Floating Isles region to locate and destroy the Sacred tree. This is how they plan to break down the feisty Pandorians. But the locals have obtained the Corporation’s war machines and are ready to ambush the invaders. Pandora's Box is fraught with trouble. Who will reap the danger? It is for you to decide!

Align with the mighty Corporation, or fight to defend the Sacred Tree, controlling unique flying war machines - the Dragonfly strike ornithopters! Join the Pandora’s Box special event in War Thunder!

The Khalid is a modified variant of the well-known British Chieftain main battle tank, developed for service with Jordanian forces in the late 1970s. Coming to War Thunder as part of the next major update, the Khalid will offer tankers an interesting twist on the design of a popular British high tier classic!

Briefly: A special Jordanian modification of the Chieftain MBT, outfitted with a substantially more powerful engine.

Features:

• Uprated engine
  
• Improved mobility
  
• Laser rangefinder

In War Thunder, the Khalid will soon join the top ranks of the British ground forces tree as a new rank VI premium vehicle awaiting seasoned tank commanders in the next major update Apex Predators. As a unique modification of the renown Chieftain, the Khalid addresses one of the design’s traditional drawbacks by introducing a vastly more powerful engine to the chassis.

In fact, the Khalid is equipped with the 1,200 horsepower Rolls Royce CV12 diesel engine which nearly doubles the power available to tankers over standard Chieftain variants. If the engine appears familiar to some seasoned British tank commanders, then this is certainly no coincidence as the CV12 is the exact same engine powering the formidable Challenger 1 - the Chieftain’s successor. As a result of this upgrade, the Khalid can not only reach a higher top speed of 56 km/h compared to the original Chieftain, but it can also accelerate far quicker and conquer more difficult terrain types with greater ease. Effectively addressing one the Chieftain’s largest drawbacks, the Khalid elevates the vehicle’s combat capability to a new level, providing its aspiring commanders with a well-balanced performance profile.



However, while the engine upgrade is certainly the most noticeable change tankers will take note of during matches, the Khalid also comes fitted with another, not as striking but no less handy system that can have a significant impact on the outcome of a gunnery duel. Namely, the Khalid features a laser rangefinding system which, unlike the Chieftain’s traditional stereoscopic rangefinder, allows for much faster and more accurate range determination. Therefore, gunners can make the most of the Khalid’s deadly 120mm L11 cannon by being able to quickly acquire and engage targets even at longer distances!

Something prospective commanders of the Khalid ought to bear in mind however, is that the vehicle retains the Chieftain’s general layout as well as protection levels without any major change. As a result, the Khalid inherits the Chieftain’s strong turret armor, enabling it to particularly excel in defensive hull-down positions. At the same time though, this also means that the Khalid possesses the same weaknesses in the form of a thinly protected and rather exposed lower glacis as well as hull sides.



Lastly, it’s also worth mentioning that being a premium vehicle, the Khalid allows tankers to earn more rewards for each action performed in combat - a particularly useful perk for players aspiring to climb the top ranks of the British ground forces tree. In the meantime however, be sure to stay tuned to the news as we continue unveiling more of what the next major War Thunder update has in store for you. Until then, happy hunting tankers!

• A bug has been fixed where uninstalled modifications were visible in xray mode in the hangar.
  
• TOW-2B - trajectory clearance over the guidance line has been increased from 1 to 2.25 metres (report)
  
• BR-240SP - the description of the round in the info card has been supplemented with the ballistic cap info (rеport)

• A bug has been fixed that caused the sight to shift forward to target when switching from optical sight to turret control.
  
• A bug has been fixed that prevents weapon jettison via the multifunctional menu.
  
• F-4 Phantom (all versions) — an issue with a twitching animation of the opening chute bay in online battles has been solved.
  
• AU-1 - the colour of the pylons has been corrected on the "Miss Penny" camo.
  
• A-4H - a bug has been fixed that prevented 14х250 /50 G.P bomb setup in the weapon editor.
  
• La-5FN, La-7 — a bug has been fixed that prevented armour values on the front cockpit glass and the pilot’s back seat from changing after installing the corresponding modifications.

• The effect of the bow splash has been fixed. The splash may have shown too high, especially at low FPS (report).
  
• T22, 1944 — a bug has been fixed that prevented ammo belt switching on the auxiliary autocannons.

• A bug has been fixed that prevented a picture from the reward window after completing the “Take-off and landing” tutorial mission.
  
• A bug has been fixed where a right click on the vehicle’s icon might display the grouped vehicles while the tech tree window is open
  
• A bug has been fixed that prevented a nation’s icons in the game mode select menu after disabling the Cross-Network Play option on the consoles.

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.

Another three outstanding Premium jet fighters that will boost research for any aircraft in their nation, including the freshly announced rank VIII top-tiers!


A special version of the legendary American Phantom II fighter, designed to reinforce the air defense forces of the British home islands. This Phantom received the designation F-4J (UK) and became one of the most technologically advanced versions of the famous jet fighter. The first 8 interceptors supplied to the Royal Air Force had tail codes T, I, G, E, R, S, Q, N - after the name of the 74th Tiger Squadron. One of the best aircraft of the West in the RAF livery is now a Premium!



Quick to break the sonic barrier, very high roll rate, excellent maneuverability with little energy loss, and decent air-to-air missiles make this member of the J-7 family one of China's best aerial dogfighters. However, the J-7D can also work effectively against ground vehicles! A ballistic computer helps to precisely target every single bomb or anti-tank rocket, while the radar warning system keeps a pilot aware of possible AA therats.



An improved version of the formidable MiG-23M Flogger-B, a high-speed multirole jet fighter with a variable sweep wing and a more powerful engine. High altitudes are where the MiG-23ML is at its element, combining speed over Mach 2 with a wide range of air-to-air missiles, including the advanced R-24 series and the all-aspect agile R-60M. When hunting the ground targets, be sure to try the massive S-24B unguided rockets and the heavy-load Kh-23M missiles with manual guidance.

The M728 is a combat engineering vehicle, developed on the basis of the American M60A1 tank by the Chrysler company during the early 1960s. Fans of peculiar American ground vehicles and oversized weapon calibers alike may look forward to the M728 soon making its way to War Thunder as part of the next major update!

Briefly: A heavily modified M60A1 capable of simultaneously reshaping both the landscape as well as hulls of enemy tanks thanks to its high-caliber demolition gun!

Features:

• 165mm demolition cannon
  
• Dozer blade
  
• Premium bonuses
  
• Good protection
  
• Large profile

In War Thunder, the M728 will be a very special new vehicle making its way to the higher ranks of the American ground forces tree as part of the next major update Apex Predators. Namely, the M728 will be the first American ground vehicle to feature a 165 mm cannon, thus giving seasoned tankers access to one of the largest caliber weapons available to ground forces along with all the destructive power that comes with it. However, that’s just the tip of the iceberg on what the M728 has to offer. Keen to find out more? Then let’s take a closer look at this steel beast!




One of the first things that will strike tankers looking at the M728 for the first time is undoubtedly its gun. Although appearing somewhat modest in comparison to the vehicle’s overall size, the 165 mm M135 cannon certainly doesn’t underdeliver in terms of its destructive potential. Although a novel weapon for American tankers, the M135 cannon is actually a friendly face in disguise. Namely, the cannon represents a modified version of the British L9A1 cannon, found on the Centurion AVRE, already familiar to experienced British tankers. As a result, both weapons share near identical properties and, more importantly, destructive power once tankers become confident with the cannon’s tricky ballistics.




Apart from the substantial upgrade in firepower, the M728 has a lot in common with the standard M60A1 that tankers recognize as being one of the earliest American ground units found at Rank VI. As a result, players familiar with the M60 family of vehicles will know what to expect from the M728: it inherits the family’s good balance between mobility and protection, meaning that the M728 can stand its own in a firefight and also keep up advancing allies without fearing of being left behind. Thanks to its role as an engineering vehicle however, the M728 brings with it a handy gadget: a dozer blade. With it, tankers can quickly fortify their position by digging and thus shielding particularly vulnerable parts of the hull against incoming enemy fire.



Lastly, the M728 is also a premium vehicle meaning that tankers will earn more rewards for each action performed in combat - a particularly useful perk for players aspiring to climb to the top ranks of the American ground forces tree!

The Panavia Tornado is arriving soon as the new rank VIII strike aircraft in three gaming nations with the next major War Thunder update!

Features:

• Variable sweep wing
  
• Large payload
  
• Advanced weapons
  
• Supersonic

In War Thunder, the Tornado IDS (or GR.1 in service with the RAF) will be the new top strike aircraft awaiting veteran pilots at rank VIII of the British, German and Italian aviation trees following the release of the next major update, Apex Predators. Featuring variable geometry wings and supersonic capabilities, the Tornado might be a strike aircraft by designation but thanks to its incredible versatility, it can certainly get a lot more done than that! Let’s get to know the famous ‘Tonka’ a bit better, shall we?




The Tornado IDS joins the club of aircraft in War Thunder outfitted with variable geometry wings, also called ‘swing winged’ aircraft. Like other aircraft outfitted with this feature, the Tornado can boast its optimal aerodynamics both during subsonic and supersonic flight, thus ensuring excellent handling characteristics at all speeds. Furthermore, the Tornado can easily achieve supersonic flight thanks to its two purpose-built Turbo-Union turbofan engines. As a result, the aircraft can achieve a top speed of around 1,400 km/h at ground level while at higher altitudes the Tornado can accelerate even over 2,300 km/h (Mach 2.2). Thanks to such impressive flight characteristics, the Tornado can quickly get in and out of trouble and also escape pursuing aircraft.

Speaking of combat scenarios, we mentioned earlier that the Tornado is an extremely versatile aircraft, but how exactly? Apart from its excellent flight characteristics that bring it on par with some interceptors and fighters, it's also due to its lethal weapons arsenal. Upon obtaining the aircraft, pilots will have access to a pair of 27mm cannons with 180 rounds of ammunition available per gun. Now while these guns are certainly useful for strafing ground targets and blasting enemy pilots out of the sky during intense dogfights, they alone don’t define the Tornado’s arsenal.




What does however, make the Tornado’s armament stand out is its selection of suspended ordnance options. These range from later models of the AIM-9L Sidewinder air-to-air missile over laser-guided bombs to more conventional freefall bombs of various calibres. Such a diverse arsenal allows the Tornado to not only inflict great damage to hostile ground troops but it can almost immediately switch to combat air patrol duties and provide air cover for its allies once the strike weapons have been expended.



The various modifications of the Tornado IDS will be making their way to the top rank of the British, German and Italian aviation trees with the arrival of the next major War Thunder update, Apex Predators. In the meantime, make sure to keep scanning the horizon for more news as we continue unveiling what else the upcoming update has in store for our players. Until then, clear skies and happy hunting pilots!

The holidays are coming, it's time to put on your festive camouflage! Check out our latest fashion suggestions for the 2023 winter season!

Our merchandise is delivered to most countries around the world. Check it out:

To the merch store

Your screenshots submitted last week were explosive! Many of your screenshots looked like they came from the movies! The three most popular and three selected by us will get 300 GE. See the winners down below!


Create a stunning screenshot and submit it on the War Thunder Steam Community Hub with the tag #WTscreen45. You have time until 16.12.2022 to submit your screenshot.

After that date, 6 winners will be selected (3 of which will be the highest rated by the community and 3 selected by our judges), each of which receive a reward of 300GE.

Important addition: Screenshot theme - Sands of Time!

• Through recorded history, many battles have been fought on the beaches and in the deserts around the globe. War Thunder has many beaches and deserts, too! Do you have artistic screenshots from them you’d like to share? We would love to see them!
  
• You must add the #WTscreen45 tag (without other text).

[/b]

Screenshots need to be compliant with the War Thunder rules.

You need to be the author of the screenshot.

Screenshot needs to be new. You cannot use those which have previously been published or used in other competitions.

We will only accept raw screenshots from the game. You cannot use any editing software nor any other visual enhancements (like Nvidia Ansel filters).

You can use filters and settings built into War Thunder.

You can use the replay functionality built into War Thunder.

Rewards will be delivered to the author's account within 14 working days.

[/list]



https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2897151058
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2897212220
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2896778429

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2898776489
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2897233769
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2897373309

Each winner will get 300GE! Congratulations and see you next week!