A visually modified M1 Abrams MBT to represent a Soviet tank in exercises, with premium status and pre-order bonuses!




M1 KVT (Rank 6, USA)

• 2000 Golden Eagles
  
• Premium account for 15 days
  
• Pre-order bonus: "Red Scare" title
  
• Pre-order bonus: "Krasnovian Tank Division" decal

So, the Krasnovian tank is an American Abrams M1 main battle tank with visual modifiers, such as a camo net on the gun barrel, an imitation of an IR searchlight, an imitation of a dozer blade in front of the hull, two barrels welded to the rear, an imitation of the ERA blocks on the hull and turret, dismantled side skirts, as well as confusing inscription "ЛОДКА" (‘boat’ in Russian) on the tower baskets.

Under the guise of a Soviet tank is the excellent M1 Abrams MBT, one of the best tanks in its rank. Great front protection of the turret, good front protection of the hull, high mobility, a thermal imaging device in the gunner’s sight, as well as an excellent stabilized gun with all popular types of rounds, including two variants of APFSDS. The KVT version also has a Premium status, which means it can greatly boost the research of any tank and armored vehicle in the US research tree from ranks I to VII! It is worth noting also that unchecking the modification box in the menu removes visual modifiers, returning the familiar look of the menacing Abrams M1.




The tank itself will be added to the game in the next major update. However, for connoisseurs of war machines our team has prepared a special pre-order pack, containing the M1 Abrams KVT tank, Golden Eagles, Premium account days, the unique title “Red Scare” and a special decal “Krasnovian Tank Division” - a great addition to the exotic look of the Krasnovian invader. Hurry up, comrade Krasnovian, the offer is limited until the release of the next major War Thunder update!

The main tank prize of the new season is the British Centurion Mk 2 with a cast turret and gun stabiliser. Meet Her Majesty Hussar!


Features:

• Very good frontal protection
  
• Gun stabiliser
  
• Low speed

So, in War Thunder the Centurion Mk 2 is a transitional version from the first production vehicles to the Mk 3 version. From the Centurion Mk 1 we get the QF 17-pounder gun, a strong hull front with an upper glacis at a rational angle, and from the Mk 3 version we get a cast turret, gun stabiliser and improved armour of the gun mantlet.

The strong point of the Centurion Mk 2 is definitely its frontal protection. Indeed, the angled upper frontal plate of the hull, the cast turret, as well as the reinforced armour of the gun mantlet, allows the tank to survive enemy fire and be able to fire back. The chance of ricocheting is much higher when a commander turns the hull from the enemy and uses uneven terrain to increase hull angle of impact. The Centurion Mk 2 is armed with a 17-pounder familiar to British commanders, but in this version of the tank, the gun received a stabiliser that allows it to fire on the move at low speed.




For a medium tank, the Centurion has a low maximum speed - only 37 km/h (41 km/h in arcade), although the tank reaches its maximum speed quite fast even on unpaved terrains, and maintains good dynamics and manoeuvrability. Another problematic point of the tank is the thin armour on the sides of the hull that can be penetrated, in general, by any tank guns and many autocannons. Commanders are advised to study the ammo replenishing order and clear a few internal niches from shells - this really increases the chances of survival.




For the premium Centurion Mk 2, you can get a special camouflage inspired by the colour scheme of the 8th Royal Irish Hussars regiment from the period of participation in the Korean War, with American white stars on the sides so as not to get under friendly fire. In this camouflage the tank is damn good! We will tell you how to get the Centurion Mk 2 and the hussar camouflage in the upcoming announcement of the full list of rules for the new season of the War Thunder Battle Pass “Her Majesty's Hussar” - stay tuned for the news!

• The displaying of nicknames for all Gaijin users has been unified.
  
  • Added support for Unicode letters and numbers that allows the vast majority of nicknames from Steam to look unchanged in Gaijin services. If you encounter any issues, please report them on http://community.gaijin.net/.

J26 David is an interned and purchased American P-51B-7 Mustang fighter aircraft in service with the Swedish air forces. Meet the main aviation prize available for every War Thunder player!


Features:

• Good performance at low and mid altitudes
  
• High G-tolerance
  
• Mediocre forward weapons
  
• Bombs

The Swedish Premium Mustang J26 with own name “David” will be the main aviation prize of the new season of the War Thunder Battle Pass “Her Majesty's Hussar”, and all players who complete the required number of stages and progress points will be able to receive the fighter for free.

The P-51B-7 modification was one of the first to receive British Merlin engines, licensed as Packard V-1650. Thanks to the new engine, the Mustang performs great at low and medium altitudes, where it can slowly speed up to about 700 km/h. The aircraft retains energy well in level flight, and thanks to its strong fuselage, it can survive over 800 km/h in the dive. There are few aircraft on its rank which performs better in vertical or horizontal maneuvers, but still the P-51 is slightly inferior to them, while maintaining a stable high max speed at altitude and good rate of climb.




The only con side of the Swedish Mustang might be its mediocre forward armament. Four wing-mount M2 machine guns, designated according to the Swedish classification as Akan m/45, are not bad, but surely not as good as cannons. But for mixed battles, the J26 (B-7) can be equipped with bombs - a pair of 100, 250 or 500-pounders.



The J26 David fighter will be available to all players in the new Battle Pass season - stay tuned for the news to find out more about the new prizes and rules of the season!

Music from your favorite game can be enjoyed from outside it — and we're happy to give you an opportunity to do so. Following the classic War Thunder soundtrack that was dedicated to the vehicles of WWII, we released two new albums. They consist of 20 tracks that were added to the game in the Apex Predators update and are played during the battles of the Cold War era and more modern ground and air vehicles. We hope to please commanders of the navy with new music in the foreseeable future!

You can find War Thunder Original Game Soundtrack Air Forces Vol. 2 and War Thunder Original Game Soundtrack Ground Forces Vol. 2 on numerous platforms: from Apple Music and Spotify to Amazon and YouTube. Over an hour and a half of music that can inspire great deeds!

• Spotify
  
• YouTube Music
  
• Apple Music
  
• iTunes
  
• Deezer
  
• Amazon

• Spotify
  
• YouTube Music
  
• Apple Music
  
• iTunes
  
• Deezer
  
• Amazon

To commemorate the release of the soundtracks, we’d like to present new wallpapers with artwork used on the covers of the albums.

Iconic German E-boats of the 701-st series had an additional pair of torpedo tubes to shoot sternwards!


Features:

• Rear torpedo tubes
  
• Punchy guns
  
• Good mobility
  
• Lacks mines

The German S-701 torpedo boat will be one of the main naval prizes in the upcoming season of the War Thunder Battle Pass, which is called “Her Majesty's Hussar”. This is, perhaps, the most advanced version of the famous E-boats, the main difference being a pair of additional torpedo tubes with a unique game mechanic of shooting to the rear. In addition, the S-701 retains all the branded features of her family, such as excellent mobility and powerful weapons.




The E-boat is a true symbol of the mosquito fleet and one of the most efficient torpedo boat designs in history. It is a fast, low profile boat with excellent seaworthiness and powerful torpedoes, perfect for the most daring missions, including night operations and rough seas. Boats of the S-701 series are the latest modification of torpedo boats of this family. Built with the combat experience of World War II, the S-701s offer their captains the optimal set of weapons while maintaining excellent dynamics. An additional pair of torpedo tubes for 533mm torpedoes which are turned backwards was placed on a stern, while her guns are capable of destroying smaller vessels, enemy boats, as well as enemy aircraft. The main weapon caliber of the S-701 is a stern mount with a 37mm autocannon. A 30mm MK-103 aircraft gun with deadly HEI-T rounds, but relatively small magazines, is installed on the boat's bow. Behind the wheelhouse, a pair of rapid-fire 20mm guns are installed, good for shooting down low-flying aircraft.




A decent speed of over 70 km/h and excellent maneuverability for its dimensions are best suited for providing shadow strikes with a pair of sternward torpedo tubes while retreating from your enemy under the cover of a smoke screen.

The premium S-701 will be a “paid” prize for the new season of the Battle Pass, i.e., to receive it, you need to purchase the Battle Pass and complete a certain number of daily tasks. This is a good addition to an early German bluewater setup for capturing points and torpedo ambushes, and a great pick for mid-rank coastal fleet dogfights. Follow the news and learn more about the prizes and rules of the new season! See ya!

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



We dealt with several unpleasant errors regarding missiles. For example, IR seekers couldn’t get a good lock on an aircraft that was moving laterally, locking onto air instead and self-destructing upon launch.

Radar warning receiver (RWR) didn’t detect radar illumination if an enemy who launched semi-active radar homing (SARH) missiles removed lock on. We reworked the algorithm of how RWR functions to make sure it uses the widest possible beam and also accounts for enemy radar antenna radiation patterns more precisely.

We also fixed an incorrect visual effect of missile launch: it looked as if the missiles were launched behind an aircraft, and with higher ping the flashes of the missiles were drawn further back.



Several ground vehicles received fixes regarding their armour penetrability. Object 906 differed in the way it looked and the way its damage model was structured, Vickers Mk.1 had the damage model of the front of its hull pushed back into the centre of the hull. TKX’s armour is nothing to write home about, but it still shouldn’t be penetrable by fragments of low-calibre HE rounds — and yet there were points where it was possible.

A newcomer in the ranks of War Thunder vehicles, the top notch Chinese fire support vehicle QN506 that was added in the recent Repair Factory event, received a lot of attention as well. It lacked armoring of the commander’s sight, but at the same time the tank’s top was overprotected.

All these errors were fixed thanks to your vigilance. Keep the reports coming!



A new misfortune has befallen the navy upon release of our latest major update: losing an ammo elevator rendered the ships unable to reload instead of merely slowing down the process. It was especially painful for battleships and cruisers since their elevators are usually large and not well armoured, so destroying them was much easier than taking out the guns.

We discovered the problem and fixed it — large vessels now have nothing to fear.



You’ll find the full list of improvements in the separate changelog — there are many interesting things there. Editing the suspended weaponry is now easier, ground vehicle commander's TVD won’t be getting randomly enabled anymore, and nuclear blasts will no longer destroy all buildings.

Once again, many thanks for all your bug reports that you submitted using our special service.

• TKX — incorrect armour penetration values from fragments of low-calibre HE rounds has been fixed (report).
  
• Object 906 — disconformity of the turret armour plates and visual model has been fixed.
  
• Vickers Mk.1 — a bug of the damage model of the hull front has been corrected.
  
• A bug has been fixed that prevented automatic enabling of the crosshair light in night battles.
  
• A bug of the manual transmission has been fixed where a tank started pivoting by pressing the acceleration button.
  
• A bug has been fixed where a commander's TVD might spontaneously be disabled.
  
• AFT09 — a bug has been fixed where the folded missile launcher remained unfolded in the xray mode damage model.
  
• A bug has been fixed where a repair indicator activated with enabled the towing indicator made both indicators activate.
  
• PGZ-04A — available G-tolerance of the HN-6 missile has been increased from 10 to 12 G for each plane (18G in the combined plane). Source: “Operation manual of FN-6 ground-to-air missile weapon system”.
  
• PGZ-04A — dynamics and autopilot of the missile have been improved; a bug has been fixed which caused an unstable trajectory.
  
• QN506 — a missing max distance in the info card of the QN502DD missile has been restored.
  
• QN506 — a bug has been fixed which caused an overpressure damage to missiles and unmanned turret modules.

• Bf 109 F-4 — a bug has been fixed where the left gunpod was displayed in the xray mode while equipping bombs.
  
• SA.341F Gazelle, SA.342M Gazelle — third-person view camera zoom position has been corrected.
  
• MiG-23 MLA — a bug with the missing flare pod under the fuselage has been fixed.
  
• F-4S — missed air-to-air ballistic calculator in the third-person view has been added.
  
• Q-5L — a bug has been fixed where it was unable to lock on target in the rear hemisphere, or lock-on was reset, while aiming with a targeting pod.
  
• JA37 (all versions) — lead marker and gun fire funnel has been added to HUD.
  
• 9М39 missile — Engine run time has been changed from 8,4 to 8,5 seconds (report).
  
• 9М39 missile — Rocket dynamics has been reworked. Rocket autopilot has been improved.
  
• AIM-7E, AIM-7E-2 (DF), AIM-7F, Skyflash (DF), Skyflash SuperTEMP missiles — Angle of target tracking before launch has been changed from 15 to 35 degrees (report).
  
• Skyflash (DF), Skyflash SuperTEMP missiles — The maximum target tracking speed has been changed from 12 to 44 degrees per second. Source: “Tornado F.3 Tactics Manual (1987)”.
  
• Skyflash (DF), Skyflash SuperTEMP missiles — capturing of the target type “fighter” has been changed from 30 to 37 km (report).
  
• A bug that caused all buildings in the blast radius to be completely destroyed during a nuclear strike has been fixed. The destructibility now depends on the size of the buildings.

• RN Duca degli Abruzzi — The order of the main calibre turrets in the ship’s interface identification has been fixed.
  
• IJN Nenohi — A bug that caused the ship's model to disappear when zooming in the 3rd person view has been fixed.
  
• 15 cm Pzgr. L/3,7 (m. HB), 15 cm Spgr. L/4,5 Kz, 15 cm Spgr. L/4,5 Kz (m. HB), 15 cm Spgr. L/4,4 Bdz shells — Amount of the explosive has been reduced. Source: “Merkbuch über die Munition für die 15 cm SK C/25 der Schiffsartillerie”.
  
• A bug where the “shell tracking camera” function was active when the fire button was held again and with broken cannons the shell tracking mode was switched on again has been fixed.

• A bug where the tooltip about reloading was overlaid on the helicopter’s parameters in the battle has been fixed.
  
• The ability to open the list of suspended weaponry of another “cell” with a single click when editing suspended weaponry has been added. Before the change it was necessary to use two clicks: the first closed the already opened list and the second opened a new one.

• A bug that caused the shell drop point (aiming point) to rotate when tilting the head has been fixed.

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.

During the dissolution of the British Empire one of its colonies, South Rhodesia, decided to declare its independence unilaterally. This led to it being unrecognized by other countries during its entire existence. In 1979 it returned under British protectorate, and after elections on April 18th, 1980, it became independent again, this time under the name Zimbabwe.

To celebrate the Independence day of Zimbabwe, from April 18th (11:00 GMT) until April 21st (11:00 GMT), the Hunter FGA.9 of the Rhodesian Air Force will be available for purchase for Golden Eagles.

This Rank V jet fighter from the British research tree has great forward armament and is best suited for high speed boom and zoom attacks.

• The terms of purchasing a rank V bluewater ship has temporarily been removed from the “Invite a friend” program (2,500 GE). The reward will still be issued for purchasing a rank V coastal vessel, ground vehicle, or aircraft. This temporary solution is against the sharply increased number of players using game process automation to upgrade their game account.
  
• Planned session BR changes for the aircraft Simulator battles.
  
  • Yak-38 — BR has been reduced from 9.7 to 9.3 in the SB mode.
    
  • La-9 (China) — BR has been reduced from 6.3 to 6.0 in the SB mode.
    
  • Iacobi’s J8A — BR has been reduced from 1.3 to 1.0 in the SB mode.
    
  • Ki-43-II (USA) — BR has been increased from 2.3 to 2.7 in the SB mode.
    
  • Ki-61-Ib (USA) — BR has been increased from 3.0 to 3.3 in the SB mode.

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.

• Custom hangar functionality is again available.

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.