Aug 2, 2022

Armored Warfare - Silentstalker

Commanders!

Today, we’d like to tell you more about an upcoming skin for the T249 Vigilante American Tier 9 progression Armored Fighting Vehicle that is called Gunslinger.

Like the previous Ridgway and Rough Rider skins, this one too tells a story of things that could have been. If you are already familiar with the history of the T249 Vigilante, you already know the fate of the project. It was developed in the 1950s as a short-range anti-air defense platform only to be cancelled in 1962 based on the idea that guided missiles would sweep the skies far better than any gun could have. This was of course a false assumption and for the Vietnam War that broke out a couple of years later, the Americans were forced to bring back obsolete M42 Dusters out of retirement.

But what if the T249 made it to active service? What if the U.S. Army entered the Vietnam War with its formations covered by this awesome piece of machinery? And precisely that is what this alternative history skin is all about.

Let’s start with the basics as usual. The color is historical – during the war, American armored vehicles were painted this shade of dark green that would peel off rather quickly, creating a nondescript mix of color and rust.

The biggest 3D change to the model is the lack of mudguards and side skirts. In the war, mud, branches and all sorts of other nasty stuff would get stuck behind them, which would then require the crew to clean the mess out. The skirts would sometimes get replaced by an improvised set of baskets to carry the crew’s belongings as well as additional provisions required on extended patrols. And that’s exactly what we can see on the model.

The surface of the vehicle had a number of various fittings welded to it to carry extra ammunition, fuel or grenades.

As for the imagery painted on the tank – it was inspired by a real M42 Duster that served during the Vietnam War, which in turn was inspired by one of the most popular American western TV series from the late 1950s and the early 1960s – “Have Gun, Will Travel”. In the series, a lone gunman only named Paladin (played by Richard Boone) traveled the Old West, righting wrongs and helping people in distress. That kind of imagery would naturally sit well with an American vehicle crew – and it did.

We can see the influence of the series on the following elements:

White knight chess piece imagery on the radar and the hull (in the show, the knight was displayed on Paladin’s business card)
The name HAVE GUN and WILL TRAVEL on the frontal hull
The name PALADIN next to the driver’s hatch

All these are painted with some improvised white paint as the crews would use anything they could get their hands on. Here it’s worth noting that naming the skin “Paladin” might have been a logical choice but we specifically decided not to do that in order to not confuse it with the M109A6 Paladin SPG that’s already in the game.

There’s a Texas flag installed on the vehicle as well. During the Vietnam War, all sorts of flags were used on American armor, usually signifying the crew’s home state.

And last but not least, the vehicle bears a full set of unit insignia taken from the real-life Duster that inspired this skin in the first place.

The skin will be obtainable in the near future. We hope that you will like it and, as always:

See you on the battlefield!

Jul 29, 2022

Rise of the Dragon Battle Path – Part 5: Modern China

Armored Warfare - Silentstalker

Commanders!

We’re almost at the end of our list of the Rise of the Dragon Battle Path rewards. The final block of rewards will be dedicated to Modern China.

Throughout the 1970s and the 1980s, China rose as major power in the east, turning its once numerous but poorly equipped military into a force to be truly reckoned with. Nevertheless, at the end of the 1980s, most of its tank fleet comprised of various upgraded Type 59s which were quite obsolete at that point. That was a lesson the entire world would learn with Operation Desert Storm.

Today, we tend to look down upon the Iraqi army given the results of the 1991 and 2003 wars but in the early 1990s, it was large (one of the largest in the world in fact), well-armed and relatively well-trained. Emphasis on the world relatively – we all know how the confrontation with the United States-led coalition went.

In armor terms, the conflict caused a deep shock in both Russia and China. Russia had its own problems at that point, trying to hold on to whatever Soviet legacy it could. But for China, the matter was urgent on another level. The Chinese experts knew – as they know now – that if the land of the dragon was to rise to the level expected by its leadership, a confrontation with the United States of America would be (and still is) all but inevitable.

And so the Chinese went to work re-arming their juggernaut of an army. Luckily for them, the 1990s were a tumultuous era for Russia with pretty much all its advanced equipment available on an open market. The Chinese were able to acquire and reverse-engineer all sorts of armored vehicles, including the BMP-3 series, which gave birth to China’s modern ZBD-04 IFV. The T-72 was known to the Chinese by that time already (they imported it from Romania in the 1980s) but the advanced electronics and optics of its later models were also a welcome addition to China’s research programs, as was the ammunition and engines.

The first operational and mass-produced modern MBT was the Type 96 from 1997 and its successor, the Type 96A that came after it as an upgrade. This tank was built using the older Type 85-IIM export model from the 1980s since that was the best platform available to China at the time. Over 2000 were built between 1997 and 2005 with roughly one half of them (1100) being later upgraded to the Type 96A standard. However, the Chinese had to wait for their first true third generation tank until the introduction of the Type 99 MBT, which was, as its name suggests, unveiled to the public in 1999.

In the 1990s, the Chinese MBTs were already factory-painted with camouflage and one of the most common patterns was a variant of the three-tone camouflage used earlier. The first prize of this segment is therefore the Modern Stripe camouflage.

This camouflage consists of yellow, light green and dark green stripes and will be, as usual, available to all environments.

The Type 99 was a game changer for the People’s Liberation Army, the first truly modern MBT. It entered service at some point between 1999 and 2001 with the initial vehicles painted using the same camouflage described above. Given the vehicle’s importance, we have decided to introduce one more version of this camouflage as a special fitted skin for the Type 99 MBT called Type 99 PLA.

Aside from the camouflage, the skin bears the PLA star symbol and several smaller details were added.

As of now, most modern Chinese armored vehicles (and not just those) use digital camouflages. These started to appear after the turn of the century and are now used pretty much the same way U.S. Lt. Col. O’Neill devised them in the 1980s. Interestingly enough, while this seems to be the standard for the Chinese, for the Americans it is not.

The Type 99A MBT, an improved version of the Type 99, typically only appears with a digital camouflage (or the older striped one mentioned above) and several such Chinese digital camouflages are already present in the game. In this Battle Path, we’ll be introducing two more variants of the same camouflage.

The first is a rather standard Digital camouflage that appears on multiple various vehicles. The exact idea behind this pattern is unknown. It’s most likely connected to the arid regions of China such as Inner Mongolia because it was used on various export vehicles presented there to potential buyers.

The next camouflage is a Desert Digital camouflage one and this one is definitely intended for China’s desert and mountainous areas. Especially the borders with India (the contested region of Ladakh) are lately a hotspot with hostilities flaring up every now and then – so far, thankfully, without any serious escalation.

And, last but not least, we’d like to tell you about the final camouflage from this Battle Path, the Winter camouflage. The name says it all, although unlike the previous two, this camouflage is not of the “digital” type. Instead, it’s one of the older spot patterns with some of its colors covered by an improvised layer of white.

Since the early 2000s, China’s military has been undergoing several rounds of reforms and reorganizations, including the most recent one from 2014. These reforms are at least partially based on the western militaries, specifically the U.S. Army, China’s largest political and potentially military opponent. This can be seen in a number of aspects:

China adopted a system similar to the American Stryker brigades
Modern Chinese combat vehicles are clearly western-influenced

And much more. Geopolitically, China is surrounded by potential enemies. To the north, Russia with its vast Siberian resources, a prime target for Chinese expansion that is already taking place (only not in the military sense). Chinese investments have already secured large portions of Russia’s vulnerable eastern part. The fear of a Chinese military intervention is the main reason why Russia has adopted a strategy where any such incursion would be met with tactical nuclear weapons.

To the south and west, China’s strained relationship with India makes the border a prime hotspot. However, the mountainous terrain of the region limits any heavy armor movement and it is for these conditions the ZTQ-15 Light Tank was designed for. India, while interested in Russia’s Sprut-SD, has yet to respond to that particular threat.

And, finally, there’s the question of the South China Sea and Taiwan. China’s been steadily building and upgrading its naval fleet to rival that of the Americans. With a conflict looming on the horizon, China’s goal is clear – to be ready for anything.

And that’s it for this Battle Path’s prizes, commanders. In the next and final article, we’ll discuss the mechanical changes to the Battle Path that we hope you will like. Not to worry, the Battle Path is coming in the near future.

We hope that you’ll enjoy the event and, as always:

See you on the battlefield!

Jul 28, 2022

Offer: Middle East

Armored Warfare - Silentstalker

Commanders!

Today we’ve prepared the following items for you:

M60T skin for the Sabra Mk.2 Main Battle Tank
Merkava Mk.2D and Israeli bundle (with an Israeli camouflage and base paint)
Syrian camouflage bundle
Altay Tier 10 Premium Main Battle Tank
Magach 7A Tier 6 Premium Main Battle Tank
Sabre Tier 6 Premium Armored Fighting Vehicle
Challenger 1 Falcon Tier 8 Premium Main Battle Tank
Commander Loot Crate (with new Key mechanics)

Between July 28 and August 4, 2022, the following items will be available:

M60T skin for Sabra

This skin for the Sabra Mk.2 Tier 7 Premium Main Battle Tank is based on the Sabra MBTs that participated in the Turkish incursion into Syria in October 2019 (Operation Peace Spring). It combines a number of real-life elements, turning your Sabra into a Turkish service MBT. You can read more about it in our dedicated article.

The skin is available either as a standalone item or as a part of the M60T bundle, which contains the following items:

M60T skin for the Sabra Mk.2 MBT
Sabra Mk.2 Tier 7 Premium MBT
500 Gold

That way, you can get this amazing vehicle together with the skin. Alternatively, the Sabra is also available in other bundles without the skin.

Merkava Mk.2D and Israeli Bundle

The Merkava IID (also known as Mk.2D) is an advanced version of the standard Mk.2 Merkava, upgraded with a modular “Dor-Dalet” composite armor kit. It’s a tough and unyielding vehicle, featuring a number of battle-proven components such as its 105mm rifled cannon. The first version of the Merkava Mk.2 entered service in 1983 and the last vehicles were phased out in 2016 after thirty long years.

In Armored Warfare, the Merkava IID is a Tier 7 Premium Main Battle Tank. It is not equipped with an explosive reactive armor kit, but is, nevertheless, a very tough customer due to the introduction of the applique armor, allowing it to take a lot of damage. Additionally, the tank is equipped with a Ready Rack mechanism, significantly increasing the rate of fire for the first four shots.

This vehicle is also available as a part of the Israeli bundle, which contains the following items:

Merkava Mk.2D Tier 7 Premium MBT
Sinai Grey base paint
Israeli Experimental camouflage
Israeli Flag decal (free bonus)
Israeli Flag banner (free bonus)

The Sinai Grey base paint is based on the color commonly used by the Israeli vehicles. You can now apply it to all your Merkava MBTs for maximum realism. The camouflage, on the other hand, is an experimental one and not used in active service. It was developed in the 1980s for a series of trials, but Israel ultimately decided not to adopt it. Still, it’s a piece of history and will fit your Merkava Mk.2 MBT really well. You can read more about both in our dedicated article.

Syrian Bundle

This gorgeous Syrian camouflage was seen in the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War on a captured Syrian BMP-1 IFV and consists of sand, green and grey stripes. You can read more about it in our dedicated article.

It is available as a part of the Syrian Camouflage bundle, which contains the following items:

Syrian camouflage
14 days of Premium Time
2.000 Gold
Syrian Flag decal (free bonus)
Syrian Flag banner (free bonus)

This camouflage can be installed on any vehicle that has the camouflage customization feature available and can be used in all three environments.

Altay

The Altay is the result of a Turkish program to build a true indigenous MBT. After a decade of development with hundreds of millions of dollars spent, Turkey finally achieved its goal and built a tank that is roughly on par in performance with decades-old Leopard 2 variants while it still uses many foreign components, including some of its most critical systems. Nevertheless, future Altay variants are expected to feature some cutting edge components.

In Armored Warfare, the Altay is a Tier 10 Premium Main Battle Tank based on the current prototypes, but also upgraded by various hypothetical aftermarket components of the future to surpass its current capabilities and to match its assigned Tier in power. The basic tank is – gameplay-wise – a mobile sniper, much like the Leopard 2 series, relying on its mobility and the penetration of its shells rather than on its armor. There are two key features to this tank: Adjustable Suspension (tilting forward and to the side) and Hybrid Engine with its distinctive electric sound, giving the vehicle excellent mobility and agility.

The Altay Tier 10 Premium MBT is available in our Web Shop via Loot Crates. Collect 100 blueprint pieces from these crates to obtain the vehicle.

Magach 7A

The Magach 7A is an early M60 series American tank, upgraded by the Israelis to meet the requirements of the 1990s battlefield, especially to combat the threat of anti-tank guided missiles that had started to find their way into the hands of various terrorist groups in the late 1980s. The most distinctive upgrade is its box-shaped extra turret armor. While well-protected, the tank was quite lethargic when it came to its mobility due to the use of its old engine, a shortcoming that was only corrected in the final evolution step of the Magach series, the Magach 7C. You can read more about it in a dedicated article.

In Armored Warfare, the Magach 7A is a Tier 6 Premium Main Battle Tank. With its excellent gun accuracy and aiming time values, the Magach 7A is a good sniper for its class and is perfectly suitable for those players, who want to experience long-range combat but who also want to keep some level of protection and survivability instead of completely relying on mobility and camouflage. It’s a rather sluggish vehicle, but more than a match for anything that it encounters on the battlefield.

Sabre

The Sabre is an interesting British recon vehicle, assembled together from older Scorpion hulls and Fox turrets after both parts were brought to zero hour state (completely overhauled) by a company called Alvis. The resulting vehicle from the early 1990s was called Sabre and, considering it was made of decades old components, it worked fairly well as a scouting vehicle, participating in the Iraq War as well as in several peacekeeping missions. You can read more about it in our dedicated article.

In Armored Warfare, the Tier 6 Sabre Premium Armored Fighting Vehicle is one of the deadliest vehicles on the battlefield thanks to its rather unique upward-aimed Swingfire missile launcher that allows it to fire over obstacles or while hidden, for example behind uneven terrain. While being quite difficult to master, this ability makes it a potent ambusher, especially in skilled hands.

Challenger 1 Falcon

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.

Commander Loot Crate

This week, we’ve prepared another special offer for you in the form of a brand new Commander Loot Crate, featuring, amongst other things, some of the rarest commanders in the game!

This Loot Crate gives you the opportunity to obtain the following items:

Commander Ofelia Kitescu
Commander Austin Harper
Commander Alexander Cortez
Commander Alisa Korhonen
Commander Erin O’Connell
Commander Jorge Alvarez
Commander Joshua Seagrove
Commander Fyodor Sokolov
Platinum Commander XP Insignia tokens
Gold Commander XP Insignia tokens

We’re implementing a new mechanic to the MY.GAMES Market Loot Crates (no worries – the in-game crates will remain the same). The mechanic is simple – instead of purchasing the Loot Crates, you purchase keys to them, which you then use to unlock them.

However, please note:

Discounts do not apply to Loot Crates, but rather to Keys
It is possible to buy multiple keys for a single chest type
Keys belong to individual Loot Crates (that is, a key to a Commander Loot Crate purchased now is not guaranteed to work on a Commander Loot Crate a month down the line)
Keys can be found in a separate Market section

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

See you on the battlefield!

Jul 24, 2022

In Development: ZBD-04A

Armored Warfare - Silentstalker

Commanders!

Today, we’d like to tell you more about the final vehicle prize of the Rise of the Dragon Battle Path – the Chinese ZBD-04A Premium Armored Fighting Vehicle.

The ZBD-04A is a modification of the original ZBD-04. If you’re familiar with the previous articles, you already know what the name means – Armored Vehicle (Z), Infantry Fighting Vehicle (B), Tracked (D) and accepted in service in 2004. The letter A signifies it’s the first service upgrade of the said machine.

The ZBD-04 is the main tracked IFV of the People’s Republic of China. It was developed in the mid-1990s as a replacement to the (even at that time) utterly obsolete ZBD-86 (which was a direct copy of the Soviet BMP-1 without significant improvements). In the 1990s, during the “fire sale” years, advanced Soviet technology was available on an open market as a result of the size and budget reduction of the Russian armed forces, China acquired the BMP-3 technology and it all pretty much went all from there.

The ZBD-04 is most definitely not a BMP-3 copy, but it was heavily influenced by it and carries the same weapon system – a 100mm 2A70 low-pressure rifled gun paired with a long 30mm 2A72 autocannon (designated ZPT-99 in Chinese service). The turret is, however, not similar to the BMP-3’s Bakhcha-U. It is welded and allegedly co-developed with Russia.

The body is made of thin welded steel and aluminum alloy plates with its front protruding heavily, allowing the vehicle to actually swim. Unlike with the BMP-3, however, the idea wasn’t here to cross rivers and lakes but to deploy these vehicles from landing ships during amphibious operations against islands. To that end, the ZBD-04 is fitted with water jets.

The vehicle has a crew of three and carries 7 troops. It weighs roughly 20 tons and is powered by a 600hp diesel engine allowing it to move as fast as 65 km/h on land and 20 km/h in water.

Despite its designation, the early prototypes (under the name ZBD-97) actually saw some use as early as in 1997. According to the Chinese sources, however, the vehicle was developed only between 1997 and 1999 with the following four years being spent ironing out the issues that inevitably emerge with each new design. In 2003 the vehicle officially passed the state trials successfully, becoming a service model in the process under the name ZBD-04. It was first shown to public in 2007 during a special exhibition celebrating the 80th founding anniversary of the Military Museum of the Chinese People's Revolution. By then the production was in full swing.

As durable as it was, the ZBD-04 (mass-produced since 2003) had a number of flaws, most notably its poor protection that no longer matched the requirements of modern battlefields. That was why, in 2011, the production switched to a modified and improved model designated ZBD-04A.

Very simply put, the ZBD-04A sacrificed the ability to operate on an open sea (by getting rid of the water jets) for additional protection. The vehicle can mount a composite armor set that allows it to withstand 30mm autocannon fire from the front and 14.5mm machine bullets from its sides while still being partially amphibious. The ZBD-04A can use its tracks to ford rivers and lakes.

The turret was also improved by the addition of cage-type stowage baskets and a laser warning system. Its Fire Control System also underwent an overhaul and the vehicle received the hunter-killer capability (thanks to commander’s independent stabilized optics) as well as a new thermal imager. The gunner received a new set of optics as well, similar to those used on the ZTQ-15 Light Tank.

As a result, the weight of the vehicle increased from 20 to some 24-26 tons. To compensate for that, the Chinese copy of the Russian 6V150 diesel was up-tuned from 600hp to some 670hp, which made the vehicle actually faster (its maximum speed grew from 65 km/h to 75 km/h).

The production of this vehicle is ongoing. Between 2003 and today, roughly 2400 vehicles of the ZBD-04 series have been built, including:

400 ZBD-04 IFVs (2003-2011)
1400-1900 ZBD-04A IFVs (2011 and ongoing, estimates vary)
100 AFT-10 Tank Destroyers
Other models such as recon and command vehicles

It is a modern vehicle that’s expected to serve for many more years. Export models exist as well, they haven’t found a buyer yet though. The ZBD-04 or ZBD-04A IFVs haven’t seen combat either, although they participated in numerous exercises.

In Armored Warfare, the ZBD-04A will be a Tier 7 Premium Armored Fighting Vehicle.

Similar to the BMP-3, the ZBD-04A will be a medium weight class AFV with a decent set of frontal armor capable of withstanding 30mm autocannon fire. Unfortunately the vehicle will not carry any ERA or NERA, nor will it come fitted with APS.

On the bright side, it will be fast (75 km/h) and relatively agile and, most importantly, aside from the troops it will carry, it will also be able to lay down considerable firepower in the form of a 30mm and 100mm combo. Both weapons will come with the same properties as the BMP-3/3M weapon system.

And last but not least, there’s its decent camouflage (30%) and view range (460m when driving, 495m when standing).

Once again (much like the VN17), the ZBD-04A will be a fairly universal vehicle, not a one trick pony. Thanks to its maneuverability and firepower, it’ll be suitable even for the players who are new to Armored Warfare.

We hope you’ll enjoy it and, as always:

See you on the battlefield!