Nov 18, 2020

Historical Skins and Camouflage – Japanese Winter

Armored Warfare - Silentstalker

Commanders!

This December, we have prepared, amongst many other things, two historical skins for you that you have long asked for. Both will be available for a single vehicle in the game – the Type 90 Premium Main Battle Tank (which is currently available either via Loot Crates, or directly on MY.GAMES Market with a discount).

We truly hope that these skins will make the Type 90 owners happy because we are introducing them based on your earlier feedback. As you already know, the Type 90 MBT has never really seen combat and has never been deployed outside of Japan itself. Despite this fact, the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force has produced some of the most interesting winter camouflages around.

Two of these camouflages became quite well known. Both are applied to a Type 90 MBT that is already covered with the standard green and brown Japanese camouflage (also available in the game and currently on offer as a part of a discounted Type 90 bundle).

The first camouflage consists of spray-painted white dots on the vehicle’s hull and turret top. Both turret sides and the gun are covered by a white tarp with the vehicle’s number being painted on a blue plate and attached to the sides of the turret. We are introducing this pattern as a skin called Snowstorm.

The second camouflage consists of – believe it or not – vertical white lines of plastic. It looks like the crew camouflaged their vehicle by covering it in white tape and some transparent plastic sheets, creating a unique look unseen on any other vehicle. We are introducing this pattern as a skin called Winter Warrior.

Both patterns appeared either in the 1990s or the early 2000s during various Japanese military exercises and we attempted to re-create them as faithfully as possible.

And last but not least, we will also be introducing a Japanese winter camouflage, this time for all vehicles. It consists of the standard Japanese summer camo with white stripes brush-painted over it, giving your vehicle that epic winter coating you’ve always wanted because – and this is the best part – you won’t have to pay a dime to get your hands on all of these items.

They will all be available in December 2020 during various winter-related activities, unrelated to the upcoming Battle Path, and will be very easy to obtain, as long you pay attention to Armored Warfare news on the game’s portal. Make sure you check it every day in order not to miss anything because this year’s December will be jam-packed with activities, contests and winter fun.

See you on the battlefield, commanders!

Nov 16, 2020

In Development: Object 195

Armored Warfare - Silentstalker

Commanders!

The crown jewel of the upcoming Battle Path will be the Object 195 Main Battle Tank.

The Object 195, which is sometimes also known under its marketing name T-95, is a result of the same line of thought as the Black Eagle, but with one significant difference. It has a really, really big gun so it can deal with literally anything it comes across.

Object 195 was originally designed to become the future fourth generation Main Battle Tank. It was developed in Nizhny Tagil by the experienced Uralvagonzavod design bureau (UKBTM), which was responsible for such legendary tanks as the T-72 and T-90.

The actual development was probably initiated in the Soviet Union in the late 1980s as part of the “Sovershestvovanie-88” (Improvement-88) military program to upgrade the Soviet tank fleet with something more powerful that would completely outclass its western opponents – the ultimate battlefield predator with unparalleled firepower and protection levels.

The program had four cornerstones:

Maximizing the probability of knocking the enemy target out with the first hit
Maximizing crew survivability against enemy armor-piercing and HEAT tank shells
Integrating the vehicle into the future command and control system of the Russian forces
Making the chassis versatile enough to be usable for various other vehicle classes (such as heavy ARV) and to be upgradeable over the next thirty years

Several decisions were made based on these requirements. The vehicle had to have multiple weapons systems. These weapons would be using as advanced ammunition as possible and were to be operated remotely. The fire control system was to include advanced optics and a thermal imager. Protection levels were to be twice or even three times as high as that of its contemporaries. The engine was to be a diesel or gas turbine of at least 1500hp with hydro-dynamic suspension to ensure the best off-road characteristics achievable and high fire accuracy on the move. And last but not least, the vehicle was to be equipped with an internal electronic management system capable of signaling any issues to the crew.

The developers hoped each of these vehicles would be able to carry out three times as many combat missions from deployment to eventual destruction in combat compared to other tanks of the time.

The development progressed well but seems to have been interrupted after the fall of the Soviet Union due to a lack of funding. Interestingly, unlike other Soviet era projects, it was revived after approximately a decade. The second development phase took place approximately between 2000 and 2008.

The most important feature of Object 195 was its unmanned turret armed with a massive automatically loaded 152mm 2A83 gun. The ammunition was not fed into the gun from a bustle, but from a carousel located below the turret. The vehicle was also armed with a 30mm 2A42 autocannon for softer targets.

The crew was completely isolated from the weapon system. The two crewmembers (reduced from the standard three of other Soviet tanks) were located in the frontal part of the vehicle, where they were protected not only by massively thick frontal armor but also by the armored capsule they sat in. This layout protected the crewmembers not only from enemy shell hits, but also from ammunition explosion or burning fuel.

The project counted on an undisclosed type of newly-developed diesel X engine producing around 1500hp and – as mentioned above – on hydro-pneumatic suspension. Officially, the engine type is not known, but some sources speculate that it might be the A-85-3 12-cylinder turbocharged diesel engine from Chelyabinsk, producing some 1650hp (or even 2200hp in its supercharged version).

The suspension was of a new type – it probably used some T-72 components but generally was not copied from any other tank.

One of the reasons for the development of such an advanced vehicle was the need to develop a very well-protected tank within the weight constraints specified by Russian military requirements. As a result of these considerations, the vehicle, weighing around 52 to 55 tons (sources vary), was quite light for its weapons category. With some 27 hp/t power-to-weight ratio, the acceleration, maximum speed and agility were very likely quite impressive, although all three remain classified. The numbers published (80 km/h maximum speed etc.) are very likely little more than general estimates.

A single prototype was built and it allegedly passed state trials between 2008 and 2010 (sources vary), but by 2010 the project was discontinued due to a lack of financing. On April 7 2010, the deputy defense minister, Vladimir Popovkin, publicly announced the termination of the project because the then more than two-decade-old project was obsolete.

The prototype was shown to several journalists in July 2010 and Uralvagonzavod released several ambiguous statements but no more information appeared on the vehicle until the appearance of the Armata platform. Much like the Black Eagle, Object 195 development served as a source for some of the Armata solutions and elements.

In Armored Warfare, the Object 195 will be a Tier 10 Premium Main Battle Tank.

But before we get into any details, the usual disclaimer:

The numbers below are very preliminary as the vehicle has not been properly tested. They are sure to change and should only be discussed as an indicator of how we’d like to set the vehicle up. With that being said:

All things considered, in its basic form, the Object 195 will be quite similar to the 152mm version of the Armata MBT, so if you are familiar with either the standard Armata or its Premium counterpart, you already know what to expect.

Protection-wise, it’ll be almost the same, with one exception – Object 195 will not feature the Supercharged APS ability, or, for that matter, the Afganit APS itself. Instead, it will be equipped with an older combination of Shtora-2 soft kill APS and a hard kill APS called Shtandard.

Firepower-wise, there’s of course the trusted 152mm 2A83 gun installed in an unmanned turret. However, unlike on the Armata, there’s also a 30mm autocannon available with its own complement of shells. What that means is that you can switch between 152mm shots to your autocannon in order to do some extra damage, or that you don’t have to waste your precious main gun shells on some very light targets. The guns can elevate to +14 degrees and depress to -7 degrees. The rate of fire, accuracy and other similar values will be the same as on the 152mm Armata. The 152mm gun fires APFSDS and HE shells, the 30mm autocannon fires APDS shells only.

The same more or less goes for the tank’s mobility. Its 57 tons are propelled forward by a 1500hp diesel engine, allowing it to go as fast as 70 km/h.

Last but not least, the vehicle will be available with three active abilities to choose from:

Rapid Fire
Override
Top Speed

We hope that you will enjoy this long-awaited Main Battle Tank and, as always:

See you on the battlefield!

Nov 13, 2020

In Development: Special Operations Mission “Plague”

Armored Warfare - Silentstalker

Commanders!

As you already know, the Apocalypse season is about to begin in the near future and one of the first parts of it introduced will be a new Special Operations mission called Plague, the first in the chain of several about to be introduced in 2020 and 2021.

The mission will take place after the supervolcano explosion that happened during the events of the Spirithaven campaign and continues the story of a world broken by conflict and an environmental disaster of an unprecedented scale. In the months and years that followed, the survivors salvaged what they could and sought shelter to survive in the harsh, post-apocalyptic world.

Amongst the survivors were Ivo Rinaldi, the former leader of PLM, and Igor Kopylov, an ex-major of the Russian military. Together, they started a colony out of an Enigma vault they captured right after the cataclysm. It is now 2047. Their settlement is thriving but is far from safe. Raiders and looters roam the land, fighting over last scraps of food, fuel and ammunition. Commandeering an abandoned Enigma warship, both men set out on a mission to capture vital resources in the Georgian city of Gori, recently devastated by an earthquake...

The “Plague” Special Operation mission will take place in the city of Gori, which you are already familiar with from some other PvP and PvE maps. Don’t get too comfortable though – the earthquake has changed much of its layout. Wide chunks of it were swallowed by massive cracks in the earth and places you might have known from the other maps no longer exist or allow safe passage.

We overhauled the Gori map significantly to offer a lot of blood-pumping short-range city combat against unrelenting enemies. There are, of course, new achievements coming as well – some of them will be fairly difficult and unorthodox, but we’re confident you’ll love them!

We will of course continue to develop more PvE content for the future. The sequel to this operation is already in the works and coming in a few short months. For now, we hope that you will enjoy this one mission and, as always:

See you on the battlefield!

Nov 12, 2020

Offer: Asian Week

Armored Warfare - Silentstalker

Commanders!

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

ZTQ-15 Tier 9 Premium Light Tank
K1A1 Tier 7 Premium Main Battle Tank along with Korean camouflage
Type 90 Tier 7 Premium Main Battle Tank along with Japanese camouflage
K21 Tier 8 Premium Armored Fighting Vehicle
Spirithaven Treasure Trove with 10.000 Golds

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

ZTQ-15

The ZTQ-15 is the current most modern domestic Chinese Light Tank and is reserved for the Chinese military only with its export counterpart, VT-5, offered for export. The ZTQ-15 Light Tank is intended to be used in mountainous regions of China where standard MBTs are all but impossible to operate. You can learn more about it in our dedicated article.

In Armored Warfare, the ZTQ-15 is a Tier 9 Premium Light Tank. It combines excellent mobility with plenty of firepower as well as adequate protection for its Tier and vehicle class. It also features several neat elements that increase its value on the battlefield, such as its active suspension and the ability to launch guided missiles from its gun or its advanced ERA. For players who prefer fast-paced, high-risk and high-reward combat style, it’s one of the best options out there.

This vehicle is available via Loot Crates, which drop ZTQ-15 parts. Collect 100 ZTQ-15 parts from these Loot Crates to assemble the whole vehicle.

K1A1

The K1A1 is an upgraded version of the older South-Korean K1 MBT. It’s a very distant relative of the Abrams MBT with the main difference being the presence of a hydro-pneumatic suspension, allowing the vehicle to tilt itself forward, backward and to the sides.

In Armored Warfare, the K1A1 is a Tier 7 Premium MBT. The combination of a 120mm gun, good mobility and solid armor (all of them roughly the same as the M1A1 has) as well as the ability to mark enemy targets for increased damage make it powerful opponent even in its basic form with additional upgrades readily available.

The K1A1 is also available in the South Korean bundle, which contains:

K1A1 Tier 7 Premium MBT
Korean camouflage
Korean "Squad Leader" decal

You can learn more about the Korean camouflage in our dedicated article.

Type 90

The Type 90 is the current service main battle tank of the Japanese Self-Defense Force. On the outside, it vaguely resembled the German Leopard 2, but inside, the vehicle’s completely different. It was adequately armed and armored for the time it was developed in, but what made it really stand out were its cutting-edge Japanese electronics and its hydraulic suspension, allowing the tank to tilt itself forward or backward, enhancing its gun elevation and depression beyond what the turret would normally allow. This trait was considered to be an important for Japan, as much of its landmass is covered by mountainous areas. You can read more about it in our dedicated article.

In Armored Warfare, the Type 90 is a Tier 7 Premium Main Battle Tank. Gameplay-wise, it resembles the Leopard 2 and Abrams version of the same Tier. The difference between the Leopard and the Type 90 MBT lie in the presence of an automatic loading mechanism – otherwise, the firepower and protection levels is roughly the same with the Japanese tank having a little less armor, compensated by more module hitpoints. Overall, it is not the best-protected MBT on the battlefield, requiring careful long-range gameplay. However, the advanced electronics installed in this tank as well as its hydraulic suspension allow it to aim faster than all its class and Tier counterparts.

The Type 90 is also available in the Japanese bundle, which contains:

Type 90 Tier 7 Premium MBT
Japanese camouflage
Two Japanese decals
Japanese red flag

You can learn more about the Japanese camouflage in our dedicated article. This vehicle is available via Loot Crates, which drop Type 90 parts. Collect 100 Type 90 parts from these Loot Crates to assemble the whole vehicle.

K21

The K21 is a modern Infantry Fighting Vehicle, designed to replace the K200 series in the Korean Army. It features good protection and a hi-tech weapon system with the "hunter-killer" capability. You can read more about it in our dedicated article.

In Armored Warfare, the K21 is a Tier 8 Premium Armored Fighting Vehicle. In the game, it is an IFV with solid protection and firepower, but also excellent mobility. It carries Mechanized Infantry.

Spirithaven Treasure Trove

Today, we have a special offer for you. A veritable treasure trove of 10.000 Gold awaits you at a discounted price.

Please note that this item can only be purchased once per user. You can find out more about Gold and its uses in our dedicated article.

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

See you on the battlefield!

Nov 10, 2020

Maintenance - November 11

Armored Warfare - Silentstalker

On the 11th of November, starting from 8:00 CEST (10th of November, 11 PM PST), the server will not be available for 5 hours due to the application of Update 0.33.7478

List of Update 0.33.7478 Changes

Challenger and PTZ-89 HESH Changes

These vehicles received the following changes to their HESH shells:

Shells renamed from L31A5 to L31A4
Challenger 1 HESH damage reduced from 510 to 460
PTZ-89 HESH damage reduced from 510 to 430
PTZ-89 HESH shell now has the same penetration and velocity as the one of the Challenger 1 MBT

Leopard 2 Changes

All Tier 7 to Tier 10 Leopard MBTs were adjusted as such:

Added the Improved Propellant module to all of them, reducing the kinetic shell penetration loss over distance by 10 percent
Improved the thickness of mid- and rear-part of its flanks by 20mm
Reload time improved by 0.4s

2T Stalker

ATGM minimum damage dealt upon non-penetration changed to take armor thickness more into account (thick armor hits now do less damage)

AFT-10

ATGM penetration increased from 1400mm to 1450mm
ATGM damage increased from 1200 to 1300
ATGM minimum damage dealt upon non-penetration changed to take armor thickness more into account (thick armor hits now do less damage)
ATGMs now accelerate to their maximum flight speed faster
ATGMs are now a bit less agile but also less affected by soft-kill APS

Altay

Fixed this vehicle’s UI armor values to correspond to the actual ones

BMP-3 and BMP-3M

Updated the armor of these vehicles (their frontal armor is now able to withstand the fire of 30mm autocannons at certain distance)

BMPT Mod.2000

30mm AP shell penetration loss over distance brought to the same value as for other vehicles
ATGM minimum damage dealt upon non-penetration changed to take armor thickness more into account (thick armor hits now do less damage)
ATGMs are now a bit less agile but also less affected by soft-kill APS
ATGM damage increased from 920 to 1000

BMPT Mod.2017

30mm AP shell penetration loss over distance brought to the same value as for other vehicles
Delay between ATGM launches increased from 3s to 4s
ATGM minimum damage dealt upon non-penetration changed to take armor thickness more into account (thick armor hits now do less damage)
The vehicle no longer fires from both autocannon barrels at once
ATGM penetration increased from 1000mm to 1100mm
ATGM damage increased from 850 to 900

BMPT-72

ATGM damage increased from 850 to 900
Delay between ATGM launches reduced from 4s to 3s
ATGM minimum damage dealt upon non-penetration changed to take armor thickness more into account (thick armor hits now do less damage)
The vehicle no longer fires from both autocannon barrels at once

Bradley FV

ATGM minimum damage dealt upon non-penetration changed to take armor thickness more into account (thick armor hits now do less damage)
30mm AP shell damage increased from 23 to 32
Autocannon rate of fire increased from 400 to 450 RPM for 30mm shells
40mm AP shell penetration increased from 210mm to 230mm
Delay between ATGM launches reduced from 3s to 2s
Tandem HEAT ATGM damage increased from 850 to 900
Tandem HEAT ATGM penetration increased from 950mm to 1000mm

CRAB

Delay between ATGM launches reduced from 3s to 2s
ATGM minimum damage dealt upon non-penetration changed to take armor thickness more into account (thick armor hits now do less damage)
ATGMs now accelerate to their maximum flight speed faster
Somewhat reduced the camouflage penalty for ATGM launches

Hunter AFV

ATGM minimum damage dealt upon non-penetration changed to take armor thickness more into account (thick armor hits now do less damage)
40mm AP shell damage increased from 38 to 44
40mm AP shell penetration increased from 192mm to 210mm
40mm AP shell rate of fire reduced from 450 to 400

K-153C Raybolt

Viewrange increased from 425m to 440m
Somewhat reduced the camouflage penalty for ATGM launches
Target lock time reduced from 1.7s to 1.6s
Magazine reload time reduced from 17s to 15s

K21

40mm AP shell penetration increased from 210mm to 230mm

K21 XC-8

This vehicle now has a 4-round Ready Rack with 3.5s between shots within the Rack and 5s reload time once it’s empty

Kornet-EM

ATGM damage increased from 900 to 1100
ATGM minimum damage dealt upon non-penetration changed to take armor thickness more into account (thick armor hits now do less damage)
ATGMs now accelerate to their maximum flight speed faster
ATGMs are now a bit less agile but also less affected by soft-kill APS
Fixed an issue where this vehicle wasn’t dealing the correct damage when firing in the single launcher mode

Leclerc T-40

40mm AP shell penetration increased from 210mm to 230mm

M1128 Stryker

Stock gun reload time reduced from 6.2s to 4.5s

M113 Hellfire

ATGM minimum damage dealt upon non-penetration changed to take armor thickness more into account (thick armor hits now do less damage)

M1134

ATGM minimum damage dealt upon non-penetration changed to take armor thickness more into account (thick armor hits now do less damage)
Tandem HEAT ATGM damage increased from 850 to 900
Tandem HEAT ATGM penetration increased from 950mm to 1000mm
Removed the restriction on the amount of ATGMs simultaneously in flight

NM142

Tandem HEAT ATGM damage increased from 850 to 900
Tandem HEAT ATGM penetration increased from 950mm to 1000mm
Delay between ATGM launches reduced from 3s to 2s
ATGMs now accelerate to their maximum flight speed faster
Somewhat reduced the camouflage penalty for ATGM launches
ATGM minimum damage dealt upon non-penetration changed to take armor thickness more into account (thick armor hits now do less damage)

Ramka-99

30mm AP shell penetration loss over distance brought to the same value as for other vehicles
Delay between ATGM launches reduced from 4.5s to 3.5s
ATGM minimum damage dealt upon non-penetration changed to take armor thickness more into account (thick armor hits now do less damage)
The vehicle no longer fires from both autocannon barrels at once

Rosomak

30mm AP shell damage increased from 23 to 32
Autocannon rate of fire increased from 400 to 450 RPM

Rosomak M1

ATGM minimum damage dealt upon non-penetration changed to take armor thickness more into account (thick armor hits now do less damage)
30mm AP shell damage increased from 23 to 32
Autocannon rate of fire increased from 400 to 450 RPM

Sphinx

ATGM damage increased from 750 to 850
ATGM minimum damage dealt upon non-penetration changed to take armor thickness more into account (thick armor hits now do less damage)
ATGMs now accelerate to their maximum flight speed faster
ATGMs are now a bit less agile but also less affected by soft-kill APS
Stock 40mm AP shell penetration increased from 210mm to 230mm
Upgraded 40mm AP shell penetration increased from 252mm to 260mm

T-72 Ural

Rebalanced this vehicle’s armor and improved its visual model quality

T-15 Armata

ATGM penetration increased from 1200mm to 1300mm
ATGM damage increased from 900 to 1100
ATGM minimum damage dealt upon non-penetration changed to take armor thickness more into account (thick armor hits now do less damage)
ATGMs now accelerate to their maximum flight speed faster
ATGMs are now a bit less agile but also less affected by soft-kill APS

T-90MS

Fixed this vehicle’s smoke deployment location

Type 89

Fixed an issue where Mechanized Infantry would sometimes die upon disembarkation

VCAC Mephisto

ATGM minimum damage dealt upon non-penetration changed to take armor thickness more into account (thick armor hits now do less damage)

VBR

Viewrange increased from 410m to 430m
Upgraded ATGM damage increased from 600 to 650
ATGM minimum damage dealt upon non-penetration changed to take armor thickness more into account (thick armor hits now do less damage)
ATGMs now accelerate to their maximum flight speed faster
ATGMs are now a bit less agile but also less affected by soft-kill APS
Somewhat reduced the camouflage penalty for ATGM launches

Warrior

ATGM minimum damage dealt upon non-penetration changed to take armor thickness more into account (thick armor hits now do less damage)
ATGMs now accelerate to their maximum flight speed faster
ATGMs are now a bit less agile but also less affected by soft-kill APS
Autocannon rate of fire increased from 400 to 450 RPM
Stock ATGM damage increased from 500 to 550
Upgraded ATGM damage increased from 560 to 600
30mm AP shell penetration loss over distance brought to the same value as for other vehicles

Wiesel HOT

ATGM minimum damage dealt upon non-penetration changed to take armor thickness more into account (thick armor hits now do less damage)

Wilk XC-8

PELE shell damage increased from 550 to 600
Missile reload time reduced from 4s to 3.5s

ZTQ-15

Simplified the ERA and spaced armor layout in order to reduce the number of unintended weakspots
Fixed the issue that caused this vehicle’s machinegun blast to appear in an incorrect spot

ZUBR PSP

Tandem HEAT ATGM damage increased from 850 to 900
Tandem HEAT ATGM penetration increased from 950mm to 1000mm
Delay between ATGM launches reduced from 3s to 2s
Missile reload time reduced from 4s to 3.5s
ATGMs now accelerate to their maximum flight speed faster
Somewhat reduced the camouflage penalty for ATGM launches
ATGM minimum damage dealt upon non-penetration changed to take armor thickness more into account (thick armor hits now do less damage)

General Changes

Fixed the issue that allowed for an incorrect full magazine reload when switching shells during the reloading process
Fixed the issue that broke some HE shells (the “violet HE rounds with broken description” bug)
Fixed an issue with the Defense active ability, which incorrectly reduced the hull traverse rate value
WPB Anders, PL-01 and Draco: Removed the module that improves these vehicles’ time to switch between different shell types since these vehicles already have this ability by default
Fixed the XM1A3 Archangel gun collision model
Fixed an issue where the Leopard 2 MBT would keep the name Leopard 2A4HU even after the 2A4HU skin was disabled
Port Storm: Fixed the textures on several buildings
Fixed a rare issue where some AI vehicles would not fire at players
Fixed an issue that arose in Update 0.33, where the PCs with their GPUs significantly more powerful than their CPUs would suffer from performance losses
Fixed an issue that caused vehicle shadows to remain even when the vehicles were no longer spotted
Fixed an issue where the HQ PvE mission change timer did not correspond to the actual server timer
Fixed a number of smaller visual model issues
Fixed some smaller UI issues
Added a number of assets for future events

Nov 10, 2020

In Development: ZSU-23-4 Shilka

Armored Warfare - Silentstalker

Commanders!

The first reward vehicle that you’ll be able to obtain in the Echoes of War Battle Path campaign will be none other than one of the symbols of the Soviet military, the legendary ZSU-23-4 Shilka.

The Shilka (named after a Siberian river) came to be in the early 1960s as an attempt to provide Soviet mechanized forces with a short-range highly mobile anti-air platform that would also feature some basic protection. The designation itself, ZSU-23-4, stands for “self-propelled anti-aircraft gun” with the number signifying its gun caliber (23mm) and the amount of barrels (4).

Of course, Shilka wasn’t the first such design in the Red Army – ever since the 1950s, the Soviet Union had been operating a vehicle called ZSU-57-2, which, as you might have guessed from the abovementioned nomenclature, was armed with two large 57mm cannons on a heavily modified T-54 chassis – in an enclosed turret. The Soviets adopted this vehicle after witnessing (and later exploiting) the power of close support aircraft and ground troop cooperation.

While offering a lot of firepower, the ZSU-57-2 was still a design from the WW2 era, intended to be used against propeller-driven (and therefore slow) aircraft. It had a rudimentary fire control system and by the time it entered service in 1955, it was effectively obsolete because after the Korean War, everyone saw that the future would belong to jet planes.

As a result, the work on its replacement therefore began practically immediately after it entered service. There were two basic directions of development – a twin 37mm autocannon project called Enisey (built to be a rough equivalent to the American M42 Duster) and a quad 23mm autocannon project called Shilka. The prototypes of both vehicles were ready by 1960 with the trials taking place until 1961. During various joint exercises, the Shilka would ultimately turn out to be considerably more effective than the Enisey (despite Enisey’s good performance) and would enter service in 1962.

The defining characteristics of the Shilka would be its low weight (mere 19 tons), light armor and high firepower of its quad water-cooled 23mm guns. Thanks to its excellent cooling system, the vehicle was able to fire as many as 3400 rounds per minute. The system was guided by rather advanced radar and was therefore capable of engaging even fast-flying targets.

The Shilka would turn out to be a very successful design. Roughly 6500 were built between 1964 and 1982 (the original production run ended in 1968) with some 2500 of them exported all over the world. They participated in pretty much every major conflict of the 20th century, including the Soviet-Afghan War, the Vietnam War, the Yom Kippur War, the Gulf War and many others, sometimes even appearing on both sides. The brutal volume of fire it offered in combination with HE shells would often be used against soft ground targets with excellent results. Several modernized variants exist, more than two dozen countries or organizations still operate it and it is even now being used in several conflicts, including the Donbass War or the Syrian Civil War.

In Armored Warfare, the Shilka will be a Tier 4 Premium Armored Fighting Vehicle. Once again, just by taking one look at it, it is not difficult to determine this AFV’s main feature – it is not long-range accuracy or heavy armor, but its sheer, uncompromising volume of fire.

But before we get into any details, the usual disclaimer:

The numbers below are very preliminary as the vehicle has not been properly tested. They are sure to change and should only be discussed as an indicator of how we’d like to set the vehicle up. With that being said:

In order to imagine how the Shilka will perform in the game, you can start with the XM247 that sits one Tier higher.

The Shilka will have very light armor only (protecting it against machinegun fire) and average mobility due to the fact that its 21 tons will be propelled forward by a diesel engine producing just 280hp. Its maximum speed will therefore be limited (50 km/h), as will its agility and acceleration. As you can also see from its size, its camouflage levels won’t be great either. This will not be an agile, stealthy, fast scout.

However, these downsides are more than compensated by its weapons and viewrange. Let’s talk about the firepower first.

The Shilka is armed with four 23mm guns with the combined rate of fire of 3400 rounds per minute. This is achieved by using overheat mechanics similar to those utilized by the M48 GAU-8 Tier 10 TD. Simply put, the guns do not utilize magazines, but instead heat up when being fired. If you fire them too much, they overheat and need several seconds to cool down. Much like in real life, the weapon system will offer excellent elevation (+85 degrees) but only mediocre gun depression.

There will be three types of rounds available:

Basic AP (100mm of penetration, 18 damage)
APDS (150mm of penetration, 15 damage), available via additional progression
PELE (70mm of penetration, 20 damage with non-penetration PELE damage mechanics), available via additional progression

Additionally, all these rounds will also deal reduced damage upon non-penetration automatically, much like those of the M48 GAU-8. This will not allow the vehicle to destroy MBTs from frontal angles, but anything lighter is pretty much fair game.

The already excellent viewrange for its Tier (440m) will be possible to improve even further by activating the Radar ability, which will trade some of your (already low) camouflage for extra spotting abilities.

In summation, the Shilka will be the undisputed king of damage output on lower Tiers, balancing its firepower by its low survivability. This will make the vehicle highly suitable for PvE but, at the same time, any PvP mode will require careful gameplay and staying behind your team’s MBTs.

We hope that you will enjoy this vehicle and, as always:

See you on the battlefield!