We’re pleased to announce that the Hungarian aircraft line is going to be added to the Italian aircraft tree in the next major update called Alpha Strike, which continues the development of Hungarian vehicles being added to the game. Let’s dive in and take a look!

[expand type=details]
Initially the Hungarian Air Force was founded in 1918 where it was made up of aircraft left over from WWI. In 1920 however, the Treaty of Trianon was signed between Hungary and the Allies that prevented Hungary from producing and using any aircraft. Despite this, they still opted to rebuild their air force in secret where it was eventually discovered in 1938 that this had been going on.

Hungary fought in several WWII battles including the German invasion of the Soviet Union, and the Invasion of Yugoslavia where their air force took part mostly using German and Italian aircraft. Hungary’s highest scoring Ace of WWII was Dezső Szentgyörgyi, having had 30 confirmed victories against Soviet and U.S. aircraft.

After WWII and the Battle for Hungary in 1945, Soviet influence played a significant role in the country. Hungary was given several WWII-era aircraft that had survived the war, including the Yak-9P, Tu-2 and IL-10 which remained in service into the 50s. This was until moving to Soviet jet fighters such as the MiG-15, MiG-17 and MiG-29 that were used throughout the Cold War. Currently, Hungary’s flagship jet fighter is the JAS39C which has been in service since the early 2000s.
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We’ve prepared a selection of interesting aircraft from WWII and the Cold War. Take a look at what’s awaiting you in this line!

Some of Hungary’s WWII aircraft were delivered to the Hungarian Air Force after the end of the war. First up is the famous Yak-9P and IL-10, as well as the Tu-2 bomber. These Soviet classics are going to bring the powerful 37 mm and 20 mm cannons, plus FAB bombing options that can be enjoyed in different game modes!




As for post-war, the Hungarian Air Force operated several interesting aircraft that are coming to the game: the MiG-15bis, MiG-17PF, IL-28, MiG-21MF, MiG-21bis-SAU, MiG-23MF, Su-22M3 and the MiG-29 9-12B! It’s these aircraft that are going to play a key role in enhancing Italy’s ground force lineups and will complement Hungarian tanks that are already in the game thanks to their additional bomb attacking options. In addition to this, they’re going to be fun in air battles thanks to their great top speeds and great air-to-air missile capability!





To top it all off is the JAS39C which is going to become the flagship jet for the Hungarian line! Still in service with the Hungarian Air Force today, this aircraft is going to be the one you’re going to want to get. Fast, maneuverable and the option for different types of air and bomb attack weapons including 6 x AIM-9M’s is exactly what you can look forward to.




This is just the start, as we have plans to implement other Hungarian aircraft in the future as well!

Make sure that you take a look at the addition of Hungarian aircraft in the Italian tree in the next major update called Alpha Strike, which is the first major of 2024, as there’s plenty to research and have fun with. With that, we’ve reached the end of this dev blog — stay tuned to the news where we’ll be unveiling other exciting vehicles that will soon be arriving!

The next major update for War Thunder — “Alpha Strike”!

 
On March 1st, Wales celebrates St. David’s Day! On this day, parades and music festivals take place all around the country, as well as the wearing of the daffodil and leek. We’re joining in by temporarily bringing back the Welsh flag decal for the first time since 2016.

This flag is available for 500 Golden Eagles over the weekend period.



“Wales” flag decal

We’ve got more to talk about regarding the work on improvements and bug fixes to the game over the past 2 weeks! Let’s take a look at what we’ve been working on.

If you’ve found a bug that you’d like to report, you can do so on our community bug reporting platform.




We recently spoke about this mechanic in a separate news post here. Briefly, this mechanic rewards both the player who inflicted severe damage, and the player who destroyed this enemy aircraft. A test for this mechanic happened last week and now we’ve enabled it for aircraft in all game modes!

In the previous It’s Fixed update, we released a new HUD that was specific to the “Battle” mode for ground forces which featured a better indicator with the number of vehicles destroyed and time left. Thanks for the feedback that you’ve provided on this. We’ve gone ahead and made some cosmetic changes to further improve this HUD.

We’ve now made the animation when a vehicle is destroyed to be more simple, so that it’s not as distracting as before: it’ll now only blink once when there’s a destruction instead of pulsate. We’ve also made some changes to the capture point icon: being directly on a capture point is now indicated, with the icon becoming larger. The colors, outline and background of the capture point icon have been improved in general as well as when capturing a point, to help with readability overall.

In addition to this interface improvement, we’ve added an additional window to let you know if you’re sure you want to enable the ability to research helicopters with ground vehicles. This has been added because players have accidentally enabled this option without knowing, causing many to become confused as to why no research was going towards their ground vehicles. This additional window will help to avoid these situations.




Also in the previous It’s Fixed, we made some changes to active scouting on ground vehicles, and since then there’s been another improvement.

You know those times when you were going to scout an enemy, but right before pressing the scout button, the enemy you had in your sights was engaged by an ally and destroyed. Since you scouted right at that moment, your active scouting gets a lengthy cool-down as it was counted as a miss.

We’ve reduced this timer if this occurs: if an enemy was destroyed less than 1 second ago, your active scout will not be counted as a miss, which means you’ll be able to scout again after 6 seconds — the same amount of time for a successful scout — rather than 45 seconds.




Several Swedish aircraft had no tracer rounds in their belts, which meant there wasn’t a separate stealth belt as it was not needed. This made shooting difficult for these aircraft, so we’ve decided to add the type 5876 armor-piercing tracer round to the existing belts for the Akan m/55 cannon, and a separate stealth belt to this gun as well on the following aircraft: SAAB-105G, SAAB-105OE, AJ37, AJS37, J29D, J32B, J35A, J35XS, J35D and SK60B.

We’ve also expanded the range of belts available to the GSh-30 cannon. All Mi-24 helicopters and Su-25 aircraft will now be able to use stealth belts.

The full list of improvements can be found in each separate update note. Here’s some others: Aircraft without horizontal stabilizers no longer receive severe damage from any type of hit, gun stabilization in the rear hemisphere of a tank has been corrected, and the correct grid square is now announced in voiceover when an artillery strike is made.

• Update 2.33.0.145
  
• Update 2.33.0.135
  
• Update 2.33.0.132

• The Severe Damage mechanic carried over from the previous Roadmap has now been added to all gamemodes for aircraft.

• A bug with the gun stabilizer which caused them work with a delay when moving the gun horizontally in the rear hemisphere has been fixed.
  
• VT-4A1, Black Night — a bug causing the APS launchers to sometimes make an extra rotation when activated has been fixed.
  
• A bug where leaving a fighter during an air event in Ground Arcade Battles caused ground vehicle markers to appear to a spectating player has been fixed.

• F-111A — missing limitation on wing folding when attaching underwing 20 mm cannons in the Dynamic Campaign mode has been fixed.
  
• For the Akan m/55 gun, the type 5876 armor-piercing tracer round has been added to the ammunition range. A stealth belt for the Akan m/55 gun has been added to the following aircraft: SAAB-105G, SAAB-105OE, AJ37, AJS37, J29D, J32B, J35A Saab, J35XS, J35D, SK60B.
  
• Mi-24P (all variants), Su-25 (all variants) — a stealth belt has been added to the GSh-30 cannon.
  
• A bug where aircraft without horizontal stabilzers received severe damage from any hit has been fixed. (Report)

• A bug where the reload time for main caliber guns increased up to 2 times when a feed elevator was destroyed has been fixed.
  
• A bug where the aiming indicator remained visible while torpedoes were being reloaded has been fixed.

• The new “Battle” mode HUD has been improved:
  
  • The destroyed vehicle counter animation has been simplified;
    
  • Indication of when a player is at a capture point has been added;
    
  • The color of the font, outline and background of the capture points has been changed so that they are similar to the spatial HUD (font and outline to black, background to white) for better readability of capture point progress;
    
  • Thickness of the outline for a capture point has been reduced for better readability of the capture progress.
• A confirmation window when enabling the “Researching of helicopters playing ground vehicles” option has been added.
  
• A bug that caused crew qualifications to not be updated in the crew window after purchasing an expert or ace crew has been fixed.
  
• A bug that caused an unobtainable camouflage to be shown in the modification window after unlocking all camouflages for a vehicle has been fixed.
  
• A bug where flag tooltip background in the customization window could have been smaller than the flag itself has been fixed.

• A bug causing the voiceover to say an incorrect grid square and number when calling an artillery strike 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.

In this blog we’ll be talking about the most advanced variant of the Buccaneer that will soon be taking to the skies in War Thunder: meet the Buccaneer S.2B!


Features:

• AIM-9L missiles.
  
• Laser-guided bombs.
  
• Internal Countermeasures.
  
• Large payload.

Vehicle History
[expand type=details]
Initially intended for the Royal Navy, the RAF showed little interest in the Buccaneer until the cancellation of both TSR-2 and the RAF’s own version of the Aardvark, the F-111K, led to a decision to adopt the Buccaneer into service to fill a gap in capabilities. This coincided with the gradual retirement of Aircraft Carriers from the Royal Navy freeing up aircraft that could be provided to the RAF, as well as new build aircraft to the S.2B standard. This variant would initially see an enlarged “bulged” bomb bay and the capacity for Martel Anti-Ship missiles.

Operation Pulsator, supporting British forces in Lebanon in 1983, would see a further significant upgrade for the Buccaneer, introducing internal countermeasures to the aircraft for better self defence. AIM-9G and AIM-9L capability was also added, a notable improvement over earlier AIM-9Bs on earlier S.2s.

Despite its age, the Buccaneer would however still prove its worth as late as the 1991 Gulf War, acting as a laser designator aircraft for Tornado GR.1s to deliver their laser guided bombs before early TIALD pods became available for operations. Later in the conflict, Buccaneers would themselves take part in direct bombing attacks.

Initially not planned to take part in “Operation Granby”, a handful of Buccaneer S.2Bs from No.12, 208 and 237 OCU were rushed over to the Gulf, hastily repainted in “Desert Pink” and equipped now with AIM-9Ls and Pave Spike pods. The pilots that would operate them dubbed themselves the “Sky Pirates” and were famous for their skull and crossbones flag and colourful nose art adorning many of the aircraft that took part.

The Tornado would however fully replace the last Buccaneers in service shortly after the Gulf War, covering all roles that it had previously maintained. The last Buccaneers would bow out of service with the RAF in 1994, 36 years after the first Buccaneer took to the skies.

[/expand]



In the next major update, the RAF’s Buccaneer S.2B variant will be joining the Strike aircraft line of the British tree, taking its place at Rank VII and filling a noticeable gap. This variant of the Buccaneer addresses many of the shortcomings of the previous variant, improving both defensive and offensive capabilities. Let’s take a look at what’s on offer!

Firstly, the S.2B has both internally mounted countermeasures and also more of them in total. Unlike the previous version, you won’t have to use valuable wing stations in order to have protection from missile threats. This means you can instead use those pylons for more strike weaponry, or the expanded Sidewinder arsenal this variant offers with both the AIM-9G and L available.

Interesting: Buccaneers in the Gulf War that were originally based in RAF Lossiemouth, flown by the “Sky Pirates”, were aptly named for their Scottish heritage after Malt Whiskeys adorned on the side of the aircraft.

The other key focus of this Buccaneer is its precision air-to-ground loadouts. Armed with a Pave Spike targeting pod, the S.2B can deploy Paveway II bombs as well as the regular conventional bomb types found on the previous variant. This gives a noticeable level of flexibility, allowing you some degree of standoff against more dangerous targets from a far, all while retaining the capacity to come in afterwards with conventional bombs and take full advantage of the CCIP system onboard. Lastly, the S.2B offers Martel anti-ship missiles for larger targets that really require a sizable strike!

In your matches by Scott, Community Manager: “The Buccaneer is a real personal favourite of mine thanks to its distinctive character. The S.2B rounds off the aircraft family nicely as a perfect CAS choice for many ground lineups surrounding the Challenger Is, and offers some significant improvements over the existing variant available in the tree. The internal countermeasures widen your strike options and mean you don't have to choose between Sidewinders and Flares/Chaff anymore. Whilst you still should not directly seek out combat with other aircraft, having that extra defence and the all-aspect offence really improves your chances in tricky situations. Use your Paveways to deal with SPAA/SAMs and keep out of harm’s way as much as possible, following up with your standard bombs. Armed with both guided bombs and AIM-9L missiles, it can strike hard, keep itself reasonably well defended and still make it home safely for tea!”

This improved Buccaneer variant will shortly be joining the ranks of the British tree, bridging the gap between the earlier Buccaneer S.2 and Tornado GR.1. As always, stay tuned to the news to see what else we have lined up for the next major update in War Thunder. Until then, enjoy your battles!

In this month’s Pages of History, you’ll be at the center of events that took place in different theaters of war. The Pacific Ocean and North Africa, the Mediterranean Sea and the banks of the Rhine: take part in battles with the vehicles corresponding to these historic battles and receive prizes. 



Jan Zumbach was a Polish pilot who served in the Royal Air Force during World War II. He flew a Supermarine Spitfire and shot down at least 12 enemy aircraft. Zumbach rose to the rank of squadron leader and was awarded the War Order of Virtuti Militari, the highest Polish military decoration.

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


Completing each individual task will give 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 backups;
  
• Premium account for 1 day;
  
• 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 read a detailed description of which task is for which day and your overall progress by going to your Nickname → Achievements → Pages of History.

From the 2nd to the 4th March 1943, Allied air forces attacked a Japanese naval convoy transporting soldiers from Rabaul to Lae in Papua New Guinea. American-Australian forces managed to sink all transport ships and half of the covering ships.

On March 5th 1936, the Supermarine Spitfire, one of the fastest fighters of its time and the pride of the Royal Air Force during World War II, took off for its first test flight. In total across all variants, more than 20,000 Spitfires were produced. They were actively used during the Battle of Britain and several other fronts such as the Eastern front where they were supplied under Lend-Lease.

On March 9th 1944, the Pskov offensive operation began. The Red Army wanted to encircle Wehrmacht forces near Pskov, defeat them and liberate the city. However, after a month of fighting, Soviet troops were only able to advance 15 km forward.

On March 15th 1945, a large-scale Allied offensive began in Germany. In ten days, they went from Saarbrücken to Karlsruhe, completely taking control of the western bank of the Rhine.

On March 16th 1945, Soviet and Bulgarian troops launched an attack on German fortifications near Vienna. Battles took place literally for every block and street. After a month of fierce urban fighting, the capital of Austria was completely cleared of Wehrmacht forces.

The defeat of Allied forces in the Kasserine Pass encouraged German command in North Africa to launch a further counteroffensive. On March 23rd 1943, Axis tank units launched an attack on American positions near El Guettar, but minefields and artillery held back their onslaught, inflicting notable losses. An Allied offensive conducted at the same time also proved fruitless, and the front line did not move at the end of March.

At the outset of the US invasion of Iraq in 2003, the city of Najaf, south of Baghdad, offered significant resistance. As a result of the fighting, which began on March 24th and ended on April 4th, the Americans lost 4 vehicle units while the Iraqi side lost more than 100.

In March 1941 Germany planned to invade Greece, which required disrupting British shipping in the eastern Mediterranean. The Italian fleet was supposed to carry out this task, but it was unprepared for battle in night conditions and greatly underestimated the British forces. In addition the Italians, unlike the British, did not have an aircraft carrier and as a result, suffered a crushing defeat.

Meet an anti-aircraft platform that features four 12.7 mm machine guns on a light APC chassis which is going to be a very welcomed addition to the lower ranks of the French ground tree!


Features:

• Light tracked chassis.
  
• High rate of fire.
  
• Good mobility.
  
• Light protection.

Vehicle History
[expand type=details]
Based on the AMX-13 light tank, the VTT armored personnel carrier was developed and launched into mass production in 1957. As this chassis was widely produced it became quite a suitable platform for numerous experimental variants, a notable example being the AMX-13 VTT / DCA (Véhicule de Transport de Troupe/Défense Contre Avions). It was armed with an American M45 .50 caliber quadmount, the same found on the iconic M16 Half-track. Unlike the M16 however, the VTT DCA was only a single prototype and didn’t reach mass production.
[/expand]



Today we’re continuing our coverage on the spring update and will be talking about the rapid firing VTT DCA. This little beast will soon be available in the lower ranks of the French tech tree, and will make for a highly effective anti-air vehicle for beginner players. Let’s take a look at what it has to offer!

If you’re an experienced tanker, you’ll find the armament of the VTT DCA quite familiar. This is because it features the American M45 Quadmount that can be found on several vehicles throughout the game, some of which include the M16 Half-track in the American and Japanese tree, to more obscure vehicles such as the CCKW 353 for China and the CM52 for Italy. However, this addition to France is comparatively stronger, since it’s based on an APC chassis which can also fire directly forwards — something the CCKW and CM52 struggle with.

Interesting: The American M16 with the M45 Quadmount received the daunting nickname of “Meat Chopper” during World War II (hence the name of this blog)!

Since the VTT DCA is going to be at Rank II, its high caliber machine guns are not only going to be useful against aircraft, but also against lightly armored ground vehicles if you bring some AP belts into your battle. Thanks to its mobility, this vehicle can also be used effectively in the support role, where its machine guns can make very quick work of enemy tracks. The sheer volume of fire can quite easily obstruct an enemy’s field of view if fire is concentrated on the optic sights!

Despite having more armor than most anti-air vehicles around this rank, this armor can’t be fully relied on since it only offers protection against shrapnel and light machine guns. What’s rather interesting though is that the VTT DCA has a rather unusual crew layout: the driver and gunner are in standard positions in the front of the hull and manning the turret respectively, but the commander and loader are positioned at the back of the hull. Because of this, the VTT DCA has a decent chance of being able to survive a shot or two without being taken out, which is something most contemporary SPAA vehicles can’t boast about.

In your matches by Ilya, Community Manager: “It just so happens that I’ve only recently started progressing through the French tree, so I’m especially looking forward to the VTT DCA in game. A strong point of this machine is that it doesn’t have a cabin getting in the way of how much it can depress the guns, something a lot of early SPAA struggle with, and this definitely helps a lot when going after ground vehicles. I would advise you only use the armor-piercing incendiary belts as these are effective against both aircraft and ground vehicles, giving you a lot of versatility and saving you time from having to switch belts.”

That’s today’s blog wrapped! All in all, the VTT DCA will soon be arriving in the next major update and is sure to be a neat addition to France’s Rank II ground forces. We’ve got a lot of other interesting vehicles left to show you, so stay tuned to the news where we’ll see you in the next blog with all the details.

In this blog we’ll be taking a look at a familiar helicopter silhouette with a distinctly British twist. Meet the Wessex HU.5, which will soon be coming to the game in the next War Thunder major update. This important domestic rotary-winged icon will soon reinforce the British helicopter tree! 


Features:

• AS.11 and AS.12 AGMs.
  
• Turboshaft engine.
  
• Improved flight performance.

Vehicle History
[expand type=details]
Westland Helicopters began work on the Wessex in the late 1950s after the relative success of their previous American origin Dragonfly and Whirlwind licence built designs. Following the acquisition rights to produce the Sikorsky S58/H-34, a singular S58 was transferred to Britain as a development and template vehicle. By 1958, a domestically produced and redeveloped version powered by a Napier Gazelle turboshaft engine, rather than the piston engine of the Sikorsky design, designated the Wessex HAS.1 (Helicopter Anti-Submarine), would take to the skies for the first time. Entering service initially with the Royal Navy, the Royal Air Force would later adopt the type too. In addition to this, the Royal Australian Navy and several other customers that Westland could sell too.

The HAS.3 would further enhance the systems on board the Wessex, followed by the HU.5 Commando variant. Primarily a troop transport and also utilised in the Search and Rescue role, the HU.5 employed a further improved power plant in the form of two Rolls-Royce Gnome engines. Serving all over the world from Cyprus, to the Indonesia–Malaysia conflict and the Falklands War, the Wessex was operated in utility, lift, transport and attack roles.

Retiring finally in the early 2000s, the Wessex was finally replaced in all major roles it maintained by the Westland Sea King which it had served alongside for many years.
[/expand]



The Wessex HU.5 is a British development of the already well known H-34 family. Domestically produced and improved, this modification is an attack variant of this famous helicopter that will provide a variety of ordinance options as well as a more powerful power plant. Let’s take a closer look!

While it might look visually quite similar to the H-34 that French and American pilots may be used too, the Wessex is quite a different beast under the hood! Powered by two Rolls-Royce Gnome engines, the Wessex has a significant power increase and performance over the Choctaw. The distinctive nose profile marks this helicopter’s main distinguishing feature compared to its piston engined counterpart. 




The Wessex also provides an expanded weapon arsenal over its counterparts, with both the AS.11 and AS.12 on offer. While these missiles can already be found on the Wasp, the Wessex can mount 2 of each at the same time. As well as this, you can take machine guns and unguided rockets to really maximise the flexibility that this helicopter offers. 

Interesting: The Westland Wessex served for 42 years in British service, one of the longest service lives of any British helicopter. It served in almost every major role, from Troop transport, Anti-Submarine warfare, Commando operations, Search and Rescue and even served as part of the “Queen's Flight”, carrying members of the Royal Family.

In your matches by Scott, Community Manager: “The Wessex will provide you with a very versatile all round platform to bridge the gaps between the existing British helicopters. It’s the polar opposite of the small and nimble Scout and Wasp, being significantly larger and more of a chunkier target, but you do however get to take the best of both of those and combine a loadout of AS.11s and AS.12s at once. Keep your distance initially and use your AS.12s first to deal with any SPAAs or stronger threats, then move in closer to utilise those AS.11s. Whilst you should not rely on them, the Wessex also has machine guns which can be useful in some situations for light targets or self defence. Giving you a great all rounder helicopter platform for your ground lineups.”

The Wessex will soon be coming in for land in the next War Thunder major update, bolstering the ranks of the British Helicopter tree. Keep your eyes on the news for more information about what else you can find coming soon in the next update!

Your screenshots from last week were great! A lot of you captured the theme perfectly with flying acrobatic smoke, or two vehicles close together. 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 #WTscreen108. You have time until the 1st of March 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 a player vehicle with black paint on it (You can use decals).
  
• You must add the #WTscreen108 tag (title cannot have any other text in it).
  
• Artists may only win by popular vote once per four screenshot competitions.

[/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=3162366257
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3164701370
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3163899048

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3165249473
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3162593900
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3163080785

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

• In Air Simulator Battles, mission points will no longer be awarded for attacking an enemy aircraft on an airfield that had not earned any mission points since their respawn. This is to prevent players who match-fix from easily earning mission points in this mode. More details about this here.
  
• A bug where the price drop threshold bar on Sword of Justice event tasks could be displayed on other tasks in the game 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.