On December 30th 1947, the MiG-15 jet fighter took off for the first time, later becoming one of the most popular jet fighters in history. The MiG-15 was actively used to protect Warsaw Pact countries and showed itself well especially in the Korean War.

• The MiG-15bis ISH is a modification of the MiG-15 and is distinguished by bomb holders placed on the pylons. This increases the number of available weapons for the MiG-15bis ISh, all while maintaining a high top speed and good rate of climb, meaning this aircraft is excellent for ground attacks. In addition, this aircraft is equipped with capable guns that tear apart enemy aircraft when hit!

William Arthur Shomo was an American reconnaissance pilot during the Battle of Luzon. On January 11th 1945, during one of his flights, Shomo noticed a squadron of Japanese fighters escorting a bomber. Despite being outnumbered, he went on to attack and after six minutes shot down seven enemy aircraft (with his wingman hitting three more), becoming an “Ace in a Day”. For this feat he was promoted to major and received the Medal of Honor.

You can immediately purchase this profile icon for Golden Eagles until February 3rd, 11:30 GMT without completing tasks. To find it, go to your Nickname → Achievements → Pages of History.

Completion of each individual task will bring you a trophy with one of the following rewards:

• 20-50% RP booster for 3-10 battles;
  
• 20-50% SL booster for 3-10 battles;
  
• 3-5 universal backup vehicles;
  
• 1 day of premium account;
  
• A random camouflage for ground vehicles (out of the selection of camouflages currently obtainable in game for completing tasks, or purchasing with Golden Eagles).

• Tasks are available from 11:00 GMT until 11:30 GMT on the final day of each task.
  
• Tasks can be completed in random battles, except for “Assault” mode.

You can see a detailed description of what task is for what day and your overall progress by going to your Nickname → Achievements → Pages of History.


On January 1st 1945, the Luftwaffe began its last large-scale operation with the purpose to support the Wehrmacht ground offensive in the Ardennes. The operation was conducted in such secrecy that some planes were shot down by German air defense. Many Allied planes were hit on the ground, but these losses were made up within a week — Germany lost over 200 pilots and never recovered.

The largest tank battle of the Iran-Iraq War took place from January 5th to 9th 1981 near the city of Dezful in Southwestern Iran. Iran’s superior armored forces advanced the attack hoping to push out Iraqi troops. However the numerical advantage was not high enough, and the Iranians also lacked artillery support, coordination with the air force, and even fuel and ammunition. The Iraqis lured enemy troops into a trap and subsequently defeated them.

On January 9th 1945, the battle for the Philippine island of Luzon began and lasted until the very end of the war. Japanese troops fought to the end, suffering huge losses. At the end of the battle, only a number of small scattered groups remained, leading guerrilla resistance in the jungles.

From January 13th to January 27th 1945 the Allies pushed out the last remnants of the Wehrmacht from the border of the Netherlands and Germany. The operation, named after the black grouse bird, was carried out mainly by British troops near the confluence of the Ruhr and Meuse rivers. As a result, the bulge at the front occupied by German forces was eliminated.

The blockade of Leningrad, which began in September 1941 cut off the city from receiving fuel and food supplies. The Soviet Army made many attempts to lift the blockade but until January 1943 these attempts were all unsuccessful. Finally, as part of Operation Iskra, troops of the Leningrad and Volkhov fronts managed to unite on January 19th. By the beginning of February, a road and railway were built to the city, where Leningrad began to receive supplies again.

During the Italian Campaign, Anglo-American forces landed and fortified themselves in the city of Anzio, located on the west coast of Italy behind the heavily fortified Gustav Line. The landing command did not dare to advance further, but Anzio remained under Allied control until the victory at Monte Cassino.

In 1945 Soviet troops were already advancing through German territories. At the end of January, the 4th Army of the Wehrmacht was surrounded near the city of Heiligenbeil in East Prussia. After two months of fierce fighting, it was completely destroyed with German command refusing to evacuate it.

The first major land battle of the Gulf War. On January 29th 1991, Iraqi troops, hoping to draw the international coalition forces into exhausting ground clashes, attacked Saudi Arabia taking the city of Khafji. However, lacking air cover they were driven out of the city within two days after suffering noticeably heavy losses.

• Mirage IIIE, IIIC — take-off elevation time of the nose gear leg has been reduced.
  
• Saab JAS39A, JAS39C — The dependence of the available engine thrust on speed is adjusted closer to the available thrust of the installed F404-GE-402 (F-18) engine (report). Sea level static thrust has been increased by ~1,500 lbs; at М0.9 reduced by ~3,000 lbs. Landing distance has been reduced.
  
• F-111A — sustained turn rate has been reduced by 13 deg per sec at 60,000 lbs weight, climb rate adjusted.

• The sound of the GAU-8A cannon now features an additional layer with a characteristic crackling and howling noise when heard at a distance.
  
• A bug that caused flares/chaff to sound like an ATGM while passing by the player has been fixed.

• All AB and RB missions on the “Carpathians” map now have an additional spawn point for both teams, which previously could be found only in SB mode. Undetailed zones at the borders of the ground vehicle play area are now unavailable.

• The sounds of ATGMs and unguided rockets flying past the player have been adjusted so that they sound less like jet aircraft flying over, and also sound more distinctive.
  
• Squares A1-A2 and partially B1-B2 have been excluded from the available play area on the [Domination #1]Mozdok mission to avoid spawn trap kills on the northern spawn point.
  
• The available play area in all missions on the Sinai location have been shifted to the left to exclude the hills, which allowed for control of most of the location and spawn points.
  
• All AB missions on the Sinai location now have spawn points located similar to RB/SB missions.
  
• J-9 — artifacts have been removed from the cockpit view.
  
• SMS Sachsen — camo mapping has been fixed.
  
• Target re-acquisition after short homing break down has been improved for SARH missiles.

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.

Meet the “Air Superiority” skin trophy, which includes 40 camouflages from Live.WT presented in coupon form! This trophy features camouflages for all nations in the game; this time we decided to give more attention to high rank vehicles, especially those added in the “Air Superiority” major update. Play War Thunder — and receive trophies!

• Coupons for rare vehicles.
  
• 18 camouflage coupons for ground vehicles.
  
• 20 camouflage coupons for aircraft.
  
• 1 camouflage coupons for naval vessels.
  
• 1 camouflage coupon for helicopters.
  
• Coupon for the “Air Superiority” decal.
  

Some camos in this trophy:
[expand type=details]














[/expand]



Camouflage trophies can be earned with a certain probability after any battle on vehicles rank II or higher, with activity of no less than 50% (except for [Assault] PvE mode). PlayStation and Xbox players can purchase the trophy in the Item Shop and open it with Golden Eagles. Read more on our Wiki.

PC players must purchase a key from the Market to open the trophy, with part of the cost going to the camouflage creators. You can activate a key from the trophy on your account or sell it on the Market for Gaijin Coins — just like the trophy itself.

You can become a creator of user camouflages — check out an updated guide on our wiki! It will bring you both glory and real money as a part of the War Thunder partnership program!

We’re continuing to celebrate winter holidays and we’re glad to offer you discounts in the Gaijin.Net store. More than 30 offers with vehicles with 50% discounts and 30% for selected pack from the latest updates! Boost your progress, or kick start research in any tech tree from any nation in the game!


F-4S Phantom II Pack -50%

• F-4S Phantom II (Rank 7, USA);
  
• Premium account for 20 days;
  
• 2500 Golden Eagles.

MiG-23ML Pack -50%

• MiG-23ML (Rank 7, USSR);
  
• Premium account for 20 days;
  
• 2500 Golden Eagles.

Leopard 2A4 Pack -50%

• Leopard 2 (PzBtl 123) (Rank 7, Germany);
  
• Premium account for 15 days;
  
• 2000 Golden Eagles.

K9 VIDAR Pack - 30%

• K9 VIDAR (Rank 5, Sweden)
  
• Premium account for 15 days;
  
• 2000 Golden Eagles.

And many more!

---

• Dupleix Pack -50%
  
• AVRE Pack -50%
  
• Super AMX-30 Pack -50%

Waiting for you:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1947130/War_Thunder__A10A_Thunderbolt_Early_Pack/

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2407260/War_Thunder__M1_KVT_Pack/

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2407261/War_Thunder__Su39_Pack/

• Fairmile D (697) — a bug that caused the “Blue” camouflage to not display on this boat has been fixed.
  
• A-5C, Hs 129 B-3 — a bug that caused extensively huge holes from tank rounds has been fixed.
  
• An FPS drop on certain locations while controlling UAVs or aircraft in tank battles has been fixed.

Your screenshots from last week featuring vehicles from the latest update Air Superiority looked fantastic! 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 #WTscreen99. You have time until the 29th of December 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.

• Your screenshot must include the colors red, green, or white.
  
• You must add the #WTscreen99 tag (title cannot have any other text in it).

[/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=3119531352
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3115179994
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3115691303

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3115045948
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3118873823
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3115061789

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

We’ve seen a lot of topics regarding the armor of the Abrams series of tanks, more specifically the presence of DU (depleted uranium) armor, and so we’d like to share our data on the subject.
Most sources on radiation safety clarify that the only threat to personnel is posed from armor packages in the cheeks of the turret. The M1A2 Abrams in War Thunder has uranium armor in the turret cheeks.


Source: The Medical NBC Battlebook, USACHPPM, 2011.

We’re aware that several experimental vehicles of an unspecified modification of the Abrams were equipped with reinforced DU armor in the hull. However, even though armor was reinforced on these experimental variants, we have no sources that clarify which specific versions of the Abrams these were, and as such can’t confidently state that any of the Abrams versions we have in War Thunder received this specific hull armor reinforcement.


A section from a document describing the use of DU in five machines located in army schools. Source: Nuclear regulatory commission renewal license application for DU armor.

The documents presented in the reports we currently have don’t provide clear evidence of DU armor being present on the M1A2 SEP V1 or M1A2 SEP V2 modifications. A significant increase in mass which would accompany strengthening the armor with high-density fillers is also not observed in the SEP V1 or SEP V2 versions.


Weight changes of different M1 Abrams modifications. Source: An Independent Assessment of the 2040 Battlefield and its Implications for the 5th Generation Combat Vehicle (5GCV), Department of the Army Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army, 2023

Additionally, a significant weight increase from such an armor package would lead to overloading the first pair of torsion bars, which already are under an increased load on the M1 series due to the placement of the frontal armor being positioned significantly far towards the front of the hull, as well as the large armored fuel tanks either side of the driver.

The implementation of low-density mass-efficient fillers would inevitably require an increase in size, which is not observed on the serial modifications of the M1 Abrams.


An M1 Abrams series hull armor package demonstration with an additional armor screen that greatly increases the armor’s resistance. Source: "Svenskt pansar igår, idag och imorgon" by Rickard O. Lindström.

Therefore, the lack of reliable information regarding the increase of frontal hull protection in tandem with the lack of observable evidence (such as a significant increase in weight or size), does not allow us to assume that the frontal hull armor was strengthened with DU packages on the versions of the Abrams we have in game.

We’d also like to leave a comment on the sources that players cite as evidence about the use of depleted uranium for the M1A2 SEP.

Боевые машины Уралвагонзавода. Танк Т-72 (Combat vehicles of Uralvagonzavod. Tank T-72)
This book cannot be considered a reliable source, especially for modern Western vehicles. The authors wrote this book shortly after the SEP came into service, the written information is more speculation and guesses on their part. This book also contains errors for the characteristics of Soviet tanks in comparison to other open source data available.

MATERIALS LICENSE from U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
Licenses to work with depleted uranium in the hull of the M1 Abrams series of tanks may apply to those experimental vehicles, for example 5 vehicles located at the tank school. These documents do not describe whether there was depleted uranium in a particular modification of the tank.

M1 Abrams Main Battle Tank, Owners' Workshop Manual
This publication does not directly indicate that the M1A2 SEP or M1A2 SEP V2 had depleted uranium armor added to the hull. Only general words that the changes achieved on the M1A1SA were implemented on the M1A2 SEP V2. In addition, this source is secondary; other independent secondary sources are also needed.

The Army's Future Combat Systems Program and Alternatives
Only the use of third-generation uranium armor is mentioned, but there’s no confirmation that this armor was located in the body of the M1A2 SEP, and what exactly the “third generation” consisted of.


Main changes with the M1A2 SEP modification. Source: The M1A2: Current and Future Program Plans, US Army Armor Center, 1997

If we consider other projections, possible changes to the armor of the Abrams over its various modifications may not have directly resulted in an increase in the actual protection of the armor itself. These changes could rather have been aimed at increasing the armor filler’s survivability upon impact (which is an element not currently modeled in the game). Because of this, without hard numbers and solid facts confirming a tangible increase in protection, we can’t alter the protection currently offered by the armor on the M1 series.

However, this is not the end of our attention on the Abrams, as we’ll continue to look at all declassified and publicly available information we can regarding its protection — we fully appreciate the discussion. If in the future an increase in protection can be validated and corroborated from available sources, we’ll take action on it.

Thank you to everyone in our community for your attention on this topic and for all of the discussions you’ve brought forward, we hope that this devblog has managed to provide useful information and clarify our outlook on the Abrams currently.

Hello everyone. We’ve noticed that many of you had questions regarding spall liners on tanks and armor in general. To avoid any misunderstandings, we’d like to briefly answer some of these elements below.


We’ll soon be releasing a dev blog on the hull armor for the M1 Abrams series of tanks, where we’ll explain why we believe that hull armor was not reinforced on production vehicles. However, we’re not satisfied with the current effectiveness of all M1 variants with a 120 mm gun, so we’re looking at other ways to improve them.

The first consideration is the addition of a new M829A3 shell which we’ve also seen requests and suggestions for. We’ve discussed this option, but the addition of this shell in comparison with the M829A2 will not enhance the Abrams capability against top-tier vehicles that are equipped with modern armor and built-in ERA systems. We’re still considering the possibility of adding the M829A3 shell, but as a first change, we’re going to increase the rate of fire of first-stage ammo from 6 to 5 seconds per shot on an Ace level crew, which’ll make the Abrams more effective against all opponents. This rate of fire is possible considering the size and weight of most shells for 105 mm guns are comparable to shells for a 120 mm gun. This is due to the fact that the 120 mm cartridge case is partially combustible, while the 105 mm case is metal. For example, a 105 mm shell with an M900 projectile has a length of 1003 mm and a weight of 18.5 kg, and a 120 mm M829A2 has a length of 982 mm and a weight of 20.3 kg.


We always try to bring the characteristics of vehicles presented in the game as close as possible to the documented characteristics of real vehicles. In the case of the protection of the Leopard 2A7V, we rely on information about the Leopard 2 armor package presented at the Swedish tender. We have no reliable evidence that armor enhancements compared to the prototype submitted to the Swedish tender were ever carried out, nor the level to which the armor could have been enhanced if this had been done, so at this time we don’t believe that it’s possible to further enhance the protection of this tank.

As for the difference in protection between the Swedish versions of the Leopard 2 and the German Leopard 2A7V (the Swedish versions have more, which may seem illogical). This is due to the fact that the Swedish versions of these tanks received their own, completely new, reinforced armor package of their own production, both in the hull and and on the turret (which is also confirmed by protection data obtained in tests for the tender).

At the same time, we’d like to note that the current level of protection of the Leopard 2A7V currently is that the majority of the frontal area is protected against any 120-125 mm APFSDS presented in the game. Regarding the slightly lower turret protection than the Leopard 2A6, small differences in durability within ~2~5% do not affect this tank’s protection, and are due to the difference in vehicle geometry. In the near future, we will update the DM for Leopard 2 tanks, therefore correcting any minor discrepancies.

We’d also like to separately note that some players believe that the protection of the Leopard 2A7V presented in the game is based on the “B” package. However, according to the data we have, this is not the case. As you can see from the armor resistance diagrams from the Swedish tender, the mounted package D-2 in combination with package B provides protection of only 45% of the frontal projection from APFSDS with a penetration of 600mm, but in the game a different combination of armor protection packages is presented, providing protection of more than 65% of the frontal projection from threats of this type.


Protection of Leopard 2I (improved), based on B package with an add-on kit of D-2: more than 55% vulnerable to APFSDS with a penetration of 600mm.


Armor map in the game: less than 35% of the projection is vulnerable to APFSDS with a penetration of 600mm.


We’re currently studying and adding spall liners for Ariete tanks. These tanks will receive spall liners in a future update.

As for the Merkava series of tanks, we have information that these tanks do not have spall liners. We’ve studied information from open sources and apart from armored steel, we did not find any other protection on the sides of the Merkava’s fighting compartment.

At the moment we don’t have reliable data from open sources about the precedence of spall liners on the Leclerc series of tanks.


We’re closely monitoring the data and believe that at the moment, there’s no need for an increase to the current Battle Rating threshold for aviation from 12.3 to 12.7. This is because the current efficiency of all new aircraft except the JAS39s is at the level of previously introduced Battle Rating 12.3 aircraft. As for the Gripens, their flight model has been revised, and we’ll monitor their effectiveness after these changes.


We decided not to expand the range of weapons of the Tornado IDS WTD61, since we’re not sure that this aircraft could carry a targeting pod and guided bombs. However, we’re closely monitoring this aircraft’s performance and are ready to make other changes if necessary.


We’re working on your reports on the Challenger 2 series of tanks, and many of these issues have already been fixed. We’ll publish answers to some questions regarding these tanks in the near future. In addition to this, a development blog about the changes to the parameters of Stinger and Mistral MANPADS missiles is planned for release in the very near future, so keep an eye out on the news for that.