Commanders!

Today, we have an important piece of news to share with you. No doubt you are aware of the events unfolding around the world and of their impact on everyday life. You are likely also aware of the precautions that you need to take in order to minimize any risks of exposure and harm because when all is said and done, your health and the health of your loved ones is the most important thing there is.



We are dedicated not only to delivering premium quality games for you to enjoy, but also to the strict standards of ethical workplaces. We value the well-being of each of our employees and want to ensure that they can stay safe by not taking any chances. That is why, effective immediately, the entire development and maintenance process will temporarily change to ensure that the abovementioned standards are met. In other words, all our employees will conduct their work from the safety of their homes.

This will, unfortunately, influence the arrival of several new features, as such:

• AS21, K-153C and K2 Black Panther – end of March
• Fourth Special Operations mission – early April
• Major, yet unannounced event – mid-April

We’ll absolutely do our best to deliver these features to you as soon as possible, but, with all honesty, delays can and likely will happen.

We’d like to apologize for the situation with the hope that you understand the steps we feel we have to take. As a token of our appreciation of your support, we’d like to offer you 7 days of Premium Time, to be delivered to your account tomorrow.

See you on the battlefield!

• The Armored Warfare team

Commanders!

The Spirithaven season is here and, with it, a new series of contests that we’ve prepared for you.



In the second contest, we’ll be asking you to deal as much damage as you can while driving the Type 16 Tier 7 TD and post the screenshot of your result in the dedicated contest channel on Discord. You can compete in three categories, separated by mode:

• PvP (Random Battles)
• Global Operations
• Spirithaven Special Operations

However, please note that you can only win in one of the categories. The best result for each mode will be rewarded with the Japanese Type 90 Tier 7 Premium MBT!

Make sure that your submission includes the following information along with the screenshot: Your in-game nickname, mode and your result.

Please note:

• The contest ends on March 23, 16:00 CET
• One player can only submit one result per category (so make sure you submit your best one)
• One player can only win in one category
• All submitted results must be from the battles that take place during this event (March 16, 13:00 CET to March 23, 16:00 CET)
• Platoons are not allowed
• If you own the Type 90 already, you will receive its price in Gold instead

Good luck and see you on the battlefield!

Commanders!

Today, we’d like to tell you a bit more about an upcoming change to the Global Operations mode – the re-introduction of the Self-Propelled Gun class (also known as artillery) and the reasoning behind it.



As we announced during the Spirithaven season launch, artillery would be making a comeback to Global Operations along with the re-implementation of its special shells (smoke and illumination rounds). This is a significant change to this mode’s gameplay, so, as you can imagine, the decision wasn’t taken lightly or out of the blue.

Over the last couple of months, we’ve carefully analyzed both your feedback and our data regarding the balance of the Global Operations mode. It’s no secret that with the introduction of several vehicles and features (such as the LOSAT kinetic ATGMs), the gameplay balance of – especially high-Tier – Global Operations was somewhat disrupted, leading to teams full of one type of vehicles (such as the Wilk XC-8 situation before American Dream season).

This was, of course, not the intended state of things. The thing about Global Operations is, not only does this mode sort-of magnify specific vehicle traits and, subsequently, the impact of said vehicles on gameplay; it also favors long-range encounters to close combat in an effort to emulate the feeling of a real, open battlefield. This is, on the other hand, is intended, but one has to find the right counter to the vehicles that tend to outperform the most (and are therefore the most popular) such as various long-range Tank Destroyers that have:

• A lot of firepower
• Good camouflage (very useful at long distances)

Very simply put, the best counter to such vehicles is artillery. But not the way it is right now, since just dumping a PvE class in a PvP mode wouldn’t be very useful or fun for either side. That is why we will be making the following changes to the Self-Propelled Guns as a whole:

• Accuracy changes – we’ll be taking a look at the entire class to make sure it’s not overpowered but, generally speaking, we’ll be increasing the accuracy to make the class useful in Global Operations
• Aim changes – SPGs will take aim somewhat faster than the way it is now
• Special shells – smoke shells are making a comeback
• New shell type – white phosphorus shells (overhauled illumination shells)
• Switching between ammo types will be practically instant

Special shells existed in the game in the past, before they were removed during the overhaul of the entire class. Simply put, the smoke shells allow the artillery to deploy smoke to a certain position, blocking enemy lines of sight or covering your friendlies when they get exposed too much. It’s worth noting that artillery shell smoke will stay around for far longer than standard tank smoke and also fly a lot faster than before, so the deployment is nearly instant.

The white phosphorus shells, on the other hand, are new and represent a significant change to the previous illumination mechanics. Before, the artillery would just fire a flare over a certain area and would spot everything there instantly. This wasn’t really all that great for gameplay because there was no defense available against this kind of mechanic and even if you did everything “right”, you could still get spotted this way, often resulting in your vehicle’s destruction (in PvP, at least).

The way the WP shells will work instead is they will deploy white phosphorus to a certain (rather wide) area. This area will, of course, be visible to everyone (burning ground is hard to miss). Anything in that area will get covered in burning phosphorus, suffering from the following effects:

• Camouflage factor reduced to zero for the duration of the burn
• The vehicle will start taking damage for as long as it is in the affected area
• Engine starts overheating and will start to burn if you in the area for too long

Additionally, any infantry caught in the zone is not going to have a good day, to put it mildly. However, the phosphorus disappears as soon as you leave the affected area.

They will also have reload times independent on the standard ammunition (will therefore act more as an ability than an actual shell).

Basic shells will also be available, but these will not do a whole lot of damage and will serve either to suppress the enemy or to finish off almost destroyed vehicles.

In other words, the artillery in Global Operations will serve mostly as a support class that will aid your team in victory by providing cover and additional spotting abilities. With that being said, we do not want the class to have too big of an impact, which is why we will be introducing the following restrictions:

• No more than four artillery vehicles per match (two per team at most)
• No artillery platoons

Last but not least, given the special nature and abilities of this class that would become too overpowered in regular PvP without respawns, we do not intend to return this class to Random Battles.

Currently, the plan is as follows – much like the Mechanized Infantry feature, we will release this feature for one week in the near future to gather your feedback. If the feedback turns out to be positive, the feature will be launched permanently or, possibly, removed for further work.

We hope that you will enjoy the new balance of power in Global Operations and, as always:

See you on the battlefield!

Commanders!

The winter is almost over and it’s time for some proper spring cleaning – we’re cleaning Armored Warfare and would like to ask you for your help.



This time, we’ll be focusing on the game’s English texts. It has been brought to our attention that some texts in the game are unclear or just plain wrong. We’d like to fix those as soon as possible and have been, for the past couple of weeks, reviewing the game’s files to make sure that everything works and appears as intended.

However, the game is big and we might have missed something. And that’s where you come in. Do you know of any such issues? Please report them in this special form, which includes:

• Description of the issue (for example: “Tank X description of module Y is wrong because reason Z”)
• Screenshot (we really need one to identify the problem properly)
• Your nickname (for prize purposes, see below)

What can you report?

• Typos
• Misleading or outright wrong item or objective descriptions, objectives and any other texts
• Nonsensical caps use (lists or groups of texts where some parts are written in capital letters and some are not)
• Anything else text-related

 

SUBMIT REPORT

What should NOT be reported?

• Issues in German, French, Russian or Polish localizations
• Other game bugs than localization issues
• Issues elsewhere than directly in the game

But it wouldn’t be a contest without a prize! The best issue reporter will receive the K21 Tier 8 Premium AFV (or other premium vehicle of Tier 8 or lower of his or her choosing).

But, even if you don’t win the prize, rest assured that your contributions are helping to improve Armored Warfare for you and for everyone else to enjoy.

Please note:

• This contest will end on March 16, 20:00 CET
• This contest concerns English texts only, please do not report German, French, Russian or Polish issues (those will get their separate event)
• In case you win, the K21 is the default prize that will be sent to your account within 24 hours of the event’s end – if you desire an alternative prize, please make sure to contact a community manager on Discord (Maciekm4A4, Silentstalker)

See you on the battlefield!

 

Commanders!

This week, we’ve prepared another set of attractive items for you:

• ZUBR PSP Tier 7 Premium Tank Destroyer
• Special St. Patrick’s Day bundles (since March 17 is St. Patrick’s Day)
• Clover skin for FV721 Fox
• Challenger 1 Fionn Tier 7 Premium MBT
• Challenger 1 Falcon Tier 8 Premium MBT

Between March 12 and March 19, 2020, the following items will be available:




The ZUBR was a Czech privately-funded project by PSP Bohemia from the 1990s to develop a successor platform to the aging Soviet-era BMP-series IFVs and various other obsolete specialized vehicles. Even though it was quite advanced for its time, it was ultimately unsuccessful due to the end of the Cold War and the subsequent cuts in European military budgets, including the Czech one. You can read more about it in our dedicated article.



In Armored Warfare, the ZUBR PSP is a Tier 7 wheeled Premium Tank Destroyer. What makes it fairly unique is the fact that you can choose from two different weapon systems for this vehicle:

• Cockerill CT-CV turret with 105mm gun
• Four-barreled TOW ATGM launcher

Each of these weapons changes the gameplay style of the vehicle considerably and it is up to you, how you configure this powerful machine.








Saint Patrick is the patron saint of Ireland and although St. Patrick's Day is not celebrated just there, it's certainly the day to remember the bravery of the Irish all across the world.



For the occasion, we’ve prepared a special bundle for you with the following Irish-themed content:

• Challenger 1 Falcon Tier 8 Premium MBT
• Commander Erin O’Connell
• Two Commonwealth camouflages
• Clover decal
• Green (St. Patrick Day) base paint
• 30 days of Premium Time
• 5 Platinum Loot Crates
• 100 Commander XP Insignia tokens

This is a special St. Patrick-themed skin for the FV721 Fox. Please note that in order to apply it, you need to own the progression version of the FV721 Fox. Upon its application, the vehicle’s name will change from Fox to Clover Fox.



In Armored Warfare, the FV721 Fox is a Tier 6 Armored Fighting Vehicle. The FV721 Fox is one of the fastest and nimblest vehicles of Armored Warfare. It can dance around its opponents, unloading round after round of 30mm ammunition into their soft, rear areas, or destroy them from distance using guided missiles. It’s also one of the best spotters in the game, making it extremely valuable to any team it finds itself in.








The Challenger 1 Main Battle Tank has always been a rather unique vehicle amongst the NATO forces. For one, it kept a rifled 120mm cannon when the rest of NATO switched to 120mm smoothbore shells. On the battlefield, however, it has proven to be a tough vehicle, completely outclassing its Soviet era opponents during Operation Desert Storm.



In Armored Warfare, the Challenger 1 Fionn is a Tier 7 Premium Main Battle Tank. It is one of the toughest vehicles of its tier. Its thick armor allows it to shrug off most hits while the 120mm rifled cannon is more than capable of dealing punishment on its own. The Challenger 1 is ideal for players who like to enter the thickest fights head on, advancing relentlessly through hailstorms of shells.








The Falcon is an experimental turret developed in the early 2000s in Jordan as an upgrade to the Jordanian Al-Hussein (Challenger 1) Main Battle Tanks. It's a low profile turret, armed with an automatically loaded Swiss 120mm L/50 RUAG smoothbore gun, capable of firing standard NATO ammunition. The operator controls the turret from inside the vehicle's hull, significantly improving crew protection. A prototype was built and tested, but the design was never mass-produced.



In Armored Warfare, the Challenger 1 Falcon is a Tier 8 Premium Main Battle Tank. The best word to characterize this lumbering behemoth in the game is “tough” – its excellent hull armor shrugs off most shells while the damage its low profile turret takes when it is reduced by 90% thanks to the fact the crew is not located directly in it. Despite being generally very slow and sluggish, the Challenger 1 Falcon can take tremendous punishment and is ideal for the players who prefer the British Main Battle Tank play style.





We hope that you will enjoy the offer and, as always:

See you on the battlefield!

New Features

• Added the third Spirithaven Special Operation along with its respective achievements
• The Last Patriot Battle Path ends with this update (please make sure to spend all your Battle Coins before the maintenance)
• Added a Battle Coin reward for the upcoming Battle Path to the list of War Games Loot Crate drops

Please note that there is a known issue, where, if you destroy the EMP guns before the appearance of the objective for their destruction, the objective will sometimes appear as impossible to complete.

Kinetic ATGM Changes

We are changing the way the kinetic ATGMs work on the Bradley AAWS-H and M8 MGM-166 vehicles as such:

• Removed the damage randomization, making the shell damage more predictable
• Distance now again influences damage, but not by much. At the same time, improved the damage value for both kinetic missiles. Depending on the distance, the KEM ATGM will now deal 700 to 840 damage and the CKEM ATGM will now deal 800 to 1000 damage
• Removed the penetration randomization altogether

General Changes

• Fixed an issue where the GPU would heat up a lot during the loading screen phase
• Fixed an issue where vehicle’s ammunition would disappear after a respawn
• The old Battle Coin Coupons for the Last Patriot Battle Path can now be sold for 10.000 Credits
• New Battle UI: Added new tooltips to the vehicle status interface, which depend on each module and crew-member’s status
• New Battle UI: Added new tooltips for the active Commander abilities
• New Battle UI: Improved the appearance of the shell reload element in the UI
• New Battle UI: Fixed an issue where respawning could cause some elements to move around to incorrect places
• Harimau: Fixed and simplified the armor geometry to remove some of its stranger elements (the actual protection levels have not changed)
• K21: ATGMs can now be launched if the target is lower than before (maximum ATGM camera depression improved from -8 to -20 degrees)
• K21: Fixed an issue where firing 40mm AP shells imposed too small a camouflage penalty while the penalty for firing 40mm HE shells was in turn too big
• M8 MGM-166: Fixed an issue where two missiles from its magazine would not fly using the correct trajectory
• Object 640: Improved the tank’s upper frontal plate armor by reverting it to the pre-0.31 value
• QN-506: Fixed an issue where the mud on the hull looked different than the mud on its ERA
• T-90MS: Fixed the Supercharged soft-kill APS ability for this vehicle
• Type 89: Fixed the incorrect 35mm shell caliber UI value (was listed as 30mm)
• Type 89: Fixed the incorrect Improved Turbocharger module description
• VT-4: Improved the visual model of this vehicle
• Fixed an issue where the Team and General chat settings were inverted
• Enabling v-sync no longer automatically forces the Normal render mode
• Improved the lighting in the Spirithaven Garage
• Changed the icon of the game

Commanders!

Following your numerous requests, we’ve uploaded the entire Armored Warfare soundtrack to SoundCloud, where it is now freely accessible!



Check out our official SoundCloud account and listen to the music you’ve come to enjoy, including the new Spirithaven tracks.

Which track is your favorite? Let us know what you think on Discord and, as always:

See you on the battlefield!

Commanders!

The K2 “Black Panther” MBT is, without any doubt, one of the most advanced tanks in the world – if not the most advanced one because, unlike so many other designs that claim to be next-gen, it can actually back this claim up with the very best technology the Republic of Korea can develop. This makes the machine not only cutting-edge, but also incredibly expensive, so one has to ask – why? What’s the reason behind its development and deployment and how did it come to be?



The answer is perhaps not all that obvious at first glance – at least not to anybody not familiar with tank design. Its raison d'être is, of course, the threat posed by the military of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (commonly known as North Korea). This criminal, dictatorial regime controls one of the world’s largest militaries and even though the consensus is that the quality of North-Korean troops and equipment is generally quite low, their sheer number makes them a force to be reckoned with.

South Korea does not have the manpower sources the North enjoy (on the upside, South-Korean troops do get three meals a day so that’s definitely an advantage), which is why it has to rely not only on military alliances, but also on force multipliers. And one of the best force multipliers is absolute technological dominance aimed at making the country practically impossible to invade because nobody is really interested in invading North Korea. The biggest threat from that country comes in the form of the South-Korean capital Seoul being in range of North-Korean artillery, making it impossible to prevent serious civilian casualties.

And, really, nobody is interested in liberating North Korea from the Kim dynasty anyway – doing so would suddenly leave the attacker responsible for 25 million Koreans, who mostly live in such poor conditions that they are, at best, impossible to integrate to an advanced society and would therefore have to be clothed and fed by various aid programs. At worst, you’d end up with a very hostile indoctrinated population that would be impossible to govern. Plus, there’s always the threat of Chinese “volunteers” coming to aid the “comrades”, like they did in 1950.

Either way, it’s far easier for everyone to leave the regime “as is” (that is, propped by China) and push the inevitable problems to the future generations, leaving the South Korean military in the defensive role only.

When it comes to tanks, North Korea is armed with a wide assortment of strange designs, none of them coming even close to the level of technology used in the K2 Black Panther. But that is the way of superior tank design – one might be tempted to think that as long as the tank has some sort of composite armor and a 120-125mm smoothbore gun from the Cold War era, all such designs are roughly equal. In reality, many more factors come into play – communications, optics, even internal ergonomics are used in the mix that makes a good tank.

As a result, the differences even between various models of the same line can be incredible. As an example, as the Ukrainian conflict lessons have taught us, a modernized tank of the same series (T-72 or T-64 in this case) can have three times as high combat value as the base model. And that’s only just scratching the surface – the difference between the Black Panther and anything North Korea can field will be even higher, giving the South Koreans the chance to outfight even considerably more numerous enemies.



The K2 tank was designed sometimes in the early 2000s (even though the program itself was likely launched as early as 1995) to replace the aging K1 tank series, which were basically like a Korean equivalent to the older Abrams models, but not quite – Korea is a mountainous region, which is why these tanks emphasized, on one hand, mobility, and on the other hand, the capability to operate in difficult terrain. That’s why these tanks featured hydraulic, adjustable suspension, giving them an edge in the hilly parts of the country. By 2015, the Republic of Korea military was operating 1027 K1 tanks and 484 K1A1 tanks.

Of course, by that time, the military of South Korea was operating also some even worse tanks – heavily upgraded M48 Patton modifications (800 in reserve by 2015) and, oddly enough, around three dozen Russian T-80U MBTs, transferred to South Korea (along with some BMP-3s) in the late 1990s to pay off a Soviet era debt. Operating this many MBT types was, of course, not ideal for Korea and the K2 was an attempt to unify these.

The tank itself weighs 55 tons and is well-protected. The armor is, of course, composite (and secret) and is said to be able to withstand a hit from a 120mm APFSDS round, fired from a gun with 55 caliber barrel length. Might not sound like all that much at first, but this is actually a significant step-up compared to being able to withstand a 120mm APFSDS round fired from a 44 caliber gun – the muzzle energy difference between the two weapons is somewhere around 20 percent (est. 11-11.5MJ compared to 13-14MJ of the L/55). Few other tanks can boast this level of protection – in fact, no mass-production tanks likely can.



The sides are also protected by an optional ERA kit and the vehicle features other defensive systems as well, including:

• Advanced laser warning receiver
• Jammer and other electronic warfare devices
• Sort-of soft-kill APS (its advanced smoke grenades that are tied to the LWR and the when the tank gets targeted by an ATGM, it fires them to obscure it and to block its thermal signature)
• Automatic fire suppression system
• Isolated ammo rack with blow-out panels

The sides are, of course, considerably thinner, but that’s the case for any MBT.

The mobility is provided by a German MTU MT883 Ka-501 1500hp V12 diesel (with RENK HSWL 295TM transmission) with the later production models being fitted with an indigenous 1500hp Doosan DV27K 1500hp power pack (featuring S&T Dynamics EST15k transmission). The German engines were adopted because the Korean power unit still had problems by the time the production was supposed to launch – mainly with cooling.

Both engines allow for the same level of mobility – 70 km/h on hard surfaces, up to 50 km/h off-road and the acceleration from 0 to 32 km/h in 7 seconds. The advantage of the latter is, of course, that it’s produced entirely in South Korea, which is, after all, the ultimate goal of the program.



The tank is also equipped with an in-arm hydraulic suspension, allowing it to “sit” (lowering its silhouette in defensive position) or tilt to all sides to improve its gun elevation as needed. Like we mentioned before, it’s a useful important think to have in difficult terrain.

By now, you might be thinking: “Hold on – there’s a German power pack, the gun’s obviously German too since Rheinmetall developed a L/55 smoothbore for the Leopard 2A6. This is a German tank!”

No, not really. The South Koreans aren’t Turks, after all. It is true, that some commercially available German components were used for the earlier models. However, the main weapon of the tank – a 120mm L/55 smoothbore cannon – is not a copy of the Rheinmetall design. It was developed indigenously by Hyundai in South Korea.

With that being said, it’s true that the Germans had their fingers in the original weapon system of the tank – the Black Panther was originally supposed to be armed with a 140mm gun by Rheinmetall early in the program, but even the Germans agreed this would be a total overkill and the plan was actually cancelled even on the German side since the longer 120mm gun variant can defeat pretty much anything it encounters on the battlefield.

Unlike the German L/55, the Korean weapon is automatically loaded from a bustle-mounted ammo rack with 16 rounds, allowing for a rate of fire of 10 rounds per minute (the tank carries 40 rounds in total). There are a number of reasons for that, not the least of them being the general smaller size of Asian troopers, who would have relatively more trouble handling the large 120mm shells than their European counterparts. This, of course, allowed to reduce the crew of the tank to three members (gunner, driver and commander), which has its own disadvantages, but generally reflects the abovementioned difference between manpower pools between the North and South Koreas.

The gun is controlled by an advanced FCS, featuring:

• Laser Rangefinder
• Thermal Imager
• Korean Gunner’s Primary Sight (KGPS)
• Korean Commander’s Primary Sight (KCPS)

The FCS can target all sorts of potential threats, including low-flying helicopters.

As a side note, it seems that the Koreans love to add the word “Korean” or the letter K to many of their system designation. So, for example, the Korean M256 clone is called KM256, the Korean M68A1 clone is called KM68A1, their indigenous APS is called Korean APS and so on. Nothing wrong with a bit of national pride, but... yeah, we get it. It’s all Korean.



Either way, the maximum gun elevation is around 24 degrees (with the assistance of its hydraulic suspension) with the maximum depression being -16 degrees. When fully elevated, the FCS can engage flying targets at roughly 5km. The tank uses several types of advanced ammunition, including:

• K276 APFSDS (1700 m/s muzzle velocity, 7.35kg weight of the rod, allegedly 650mm of RHAe penetration at 2km)
• K279 APFSDS (1760 m/s muzzle velocity, heavier shell, allegedly 700mm of RHAe penetration at 2km)
• K280 HEAT-MP

The crown jewel is, however, the KSTAM-II shell (Korean Smart Top-Attack Munition), based on the (German) Diehl SMart 155 round. This special round is fired indirectly at targets that would normally be beyond the reach of standard ammunition. Its range is between 2 and 5km (some sources claim 8km even) and what it does is it acquires the target in flight, guides itself on top of it, descends on it using a parachute and finally explodes, forming an EFP (Explosive Formed Penetrator) and punching right through the enemy vehicles weakest (top) armor.

This is an incredibly potent (if expensive) weapon system that has few equals in the world – certainly nothing in Russia or China, let alone North Korea.

And that’s still not all. The Black Panther features a number of cutting edge electronic and communication systems, including:

• Battlefield Management System with uplink (allowing the commander to see the position of his tank and the troops around it as well as the enemies)
• GPS-based navigation
• IFF system (based on STANAG 4579 NATO standard)

In short, when it comes to tanks, the K2 Black Panther is literally the best the money can buy right now, even though it has some drawbacks. Most notably:

• It is very expensive (roughly 50 percent more expensive than a Leopard 2A6)
• 24 ammunition rounds stored in the hull are poorly protected from the sides

It's worth noting that the PIP version (Product Improvement Program) is in development, featuring:

• Improved NERA blocks in addition to the existing ERA kit
• Upgraded suspension (including active elements and an AI system that scans the ground in front of the tank to determine the best suspension and track setting)
• Korean APS

The KAPS system is also an interesting piece of equipment. It was finished relatively recently, after the Koreans investigated the Russian Arena-E APS and decided against it. It is a hard-kill APS, intercepting incoming threats (RPGs, ATGMs) using rotating two-barreled launchers, has the minimum detection range of approximately 150m and the intercept range of 10-15m. It fires a grenade against an incoming projectile, which then explodes and shreds the projectile with shrapnel.



The vehicle was accepted in service in 2014 or so and the first 36 vehicles were delivered around the summer of that year. These were effectively pre-production vehicles with German engines and transmissions. Roughly 70 more production vehicles followed by 2014-2015.

The second production batch was launched in 2019 and consists of 106 “hybrid” Korean engine – German transmission vehicles (the problems with the Korean engine were solved by September 2014) with the third (purely Korean power pack) batch planned for this year. It is estimated that, until now, South Korea operates roughly 200 of these tanks with 100 or so more planned.

And that’s where the story could end – but it doesn’t, because the Koreans are looking for partners. First, there was the Turkish Altay cooperation (Altay allegedly uses some K2 solutions, although, contrary to the popular belief, it is NOT a development of the K2). But, lately, another potential customer has emerged: central Europe, of all places, or, specifically, Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

This does sound a bit odd, but it’s not illogical. Starting in mid-2020, Poland will be looking for 800 new Main Battle Tanks to replace (in this order) the obsolete T-72M1s, somewhat newer Leopard 2A5s and, finally, the upgraded Leopard 2PL MBTs. The program is (once again) called Wilk (Wolf).

Hyundai Rotem already announced that the company will be one of the contenders. The idea would be to create a “Polish” version of the Black Panther to be developed and delivered between 2023 and 2033. By “making it Polish”, we mean mostly making it bigger – the Black Panther is a small vehicle, designed for Asian troopers and Europeans would have hard time using it as is.



The cost of such a contract would be between 6 and 8 billion USD, but, with all the additional development costs and infrastructure building, they could be as high as 15 billion USD. And that’s a lot of money. The Poles expect the tank to be manufactured locally, which means further investments into their heavy industry.

On the plus side (for the Koreans, at least):

• Poland is already familiar with South-Korean arms (the AHS Krab SPG uses a K9 Thunder chassis combined with a British turret)
• Further Leopard acquisitions are likely out of question due to the current Polish political situation
• Poland was fairly recently (January 2020) officially ousted from the future European MBT program (MGCS) by Germany and France with either unwilling to share modern technologies included in its development

The other countries of the region would then “tag along for the ride”, sharing costs with their northern neighbor. It would be quite convenient for them too – the Czech Republic is running out of time with its T-72M4CZ MBT growing increasingly obsolete, while Slovakia is still struggling with its old T-72M1 tanks from the late Soviet era still in service.

With that being said, starting a modern MBT production is a risky, expensive and slow business and even if the Black Panther solution was accepted, no production would likely take place until mid-2030s. Still, at that point, Poland would have an MBT of qualities Russia could only dream of due to the total collapse of the Armata program. And that might just be an offer Poland can’t refuse.

See you on the battlefield!

Commanders!

This week, we’ve prepared three attractive items for you – two Premium vehicles and a brand new set of Spirithaven skins that we call Mistwalker.



Between March 5 and March 12, 2020, the following items will be available:




Take a trip amongst the fallen heroes of old, inhabiting the Land of the Rising Sun. Their spirits will guide you through the mists and bless your lonesome journey towards doom – yours, or that of your enemies.



Four demon-inspired Mistwalker skins await you, featuring a Tiger-Shark-inspired camouflage pattern as well as leering demonic and dragon faces, guaranteed to ward off any evil specters you may encounter on your journeys. These skins are available for the following vehicles:

• Kornet-EM Tier 10 AFV
• WPB Anders Tier 9 LT
• VT-4 Tier 8 MBT
• Griffin 50mm Tier 8 AFV

They are available either alone or in a discounted Mistwalker bundle. Please note that these bundles include the skins only, not the vehicles themselves, which need to be obtained separately.








The M-95 Degman is an advanced Croatian prototype MBT, developed during the 1990s and 2000s. It is based on the previous Yugoslavian project, the Vihor MBT, which in turn has its roots in the improved T-72M series produced in former Yugoslavia. You can read more about its history in a dedicated article.



In Armored Warfare, the tank is relatively fast and fairly agile while carrying some potent firepower for its Tier. In fact, its owners can choose from two powerful guns:

• 125mm 2A46 Russian-style smoothbore gun, known from many Russian MBTs
• 120mm CTG NATO-style smoothbore gun that you know from the Challenger 1 Falcon MBT

It’s worth noting that the 120mm shells have higher penetration values and the gun can also fire Falarick ATGMs while the 125mm gun has higher damage per shot. Both guns will feature good handling as well as overall performance to offset the vehicle’s weakness, which is its mediocre armor. The Degman must rely on its mobility and firepower to survive, making it an ideal vehicle for aggressive, daring players.








The Type 99A2-140 is an experimental version of the most advanced Chinese Main Battle Tank in existence – the Type 99A. Unlike its production counterpart, however, it is not armed with a 125mm smoothbore, but massive 140mm smoothbore cannon. This is a theoretical upgrade to the vehicle – while the People’s Republic of China was considering upgrading the firepower of its Main Battle Tanks to face latest western and Russian MBT models, a 140mm gun was never installed on this chassis and was only mentioned in passing by certain Chinese sources. Now, however, your enemies will have the opportunity to experience what such a vehicle with you in command would be like to face in battle!



In Armored Warfare, the Type 99A2-140 is a rather unique Tier 10 Premium Main Battle Tank. It is essentially a version of the progression Type 99A2 Tier 10 MBT with one difference – the 140mm gun, trading its rate of fire for penetration and single shell damage. It is very fast and mobile (with its maximum speed being well over 90 km/h), protected by ERA and APS both and capable of using an acceleration-boosting active ability that pushes its engine far beyond the limits of common Main Battle Tanks. If used right, the vehicle is extremely deadly and one of the best Tier 10 MBTs on the battlefields of Armored Warfare.

The Type 99A2-140 MBT is available in our Web Shop via Loot Crates. Collect 100 blueprint pieces from these crates to obtain the vehicle.





We hope that you will enjoy the offer and, as always:

See you on the battlefield!

Commanders!

We would like to remind you that, much like during the previous Battle Path campaigns, the Battle Coins acquired during the Last Patriot Battle Path will not carry over.



Please make sure you spend your remaining Battle Coins before the end of the Last Patriot Battle Path (March 12, 2020, 8 AM CET)!

We hope that you enjoyed this Battle Path campaign and, as always:

See you on the battlefield!