War Thunder News

On September 18th, the U.S. Air Force turns 77 years old! It currently has nearly 500,000 service members (including the National Guard and reservists) and operates about 5,500 aircraft and 400 intercontinental ballistic missiles.

[h2]Bostwick’s P-47M-1-RE and Wetmore’s P-51D-10 are temporarily available for Golden Eagles![/h2]
Two American premium aircraft, George Bostwick’s P-47M-1-RE and Raymond Wetmore’s P-51D-10 are temporarily available to purchase for 6090 and 4880 Golden Eagles respectively.

When: From today until September 23rd (07:00 GMT).
Where: USA > Aviation > Premium vehicles

About these aircraft

• The P-47M-1-RE is an excellent aircraft for high-altitude fighting, where it proves to be unrivaled in speed and maneuverability. Armed with eight deadly 12.7 mm Browning machine guns, the P-47M-1-RE can also carry bombs and rockets. This aircraft was flown by American ace George Bostwick, who fought on the Western Front and destroyed at least eight German aircraft in the air, and 6 more on the ground.
  
• The P-51D-10 is great at flyby and ground attacks in general! It has six excellent 12.7 mm guns with a large amount of ammo, a wide selection of bombs and rockets, and impressive dive speed. This aircraft belonged to Ray Wetmore, the eighth most successful American ace in the European war theater. He shot down 21 Luftwaffe aircraft and ended the war as a major at just 21 years old!
  

[h2]50% Discount on the “Above All” Bundle![/h2]
Can be purchased through the store in-game. Shop → Online Store

Until September 23rd (07:00 GMT) a bundle including both aircraft and a unique title is available at a discount!



This bundle includes:

• Ray Wetmore`s P-51D-10 Pack
  
• George Bostwick's P-47M-1-RE Thunderbolt Pack
  
• Unique title “Above all”
  

Players on all platforms who already own Ray Wetmore's Р-51D-10 or George Bostwick's P-47M-1-RE Thunderbolt can receive this title if they play 3 battles in either of these aircraft until September 23rd (07:00 GMT)

[h2]Get the “USAF Day 2024” decal![/h2]
To celebrate, we’ve also got a special decal for this day!

“USAF Day 2024” decal

When: From today until September 23rd (07:00 GMT).
Task: Play 3 battles using US aircraft at rank III or higher to receive the “USAF Day 2024” decal.

Additional details:

• You must use a minimum of rank III.
  
• Your activity must not be below 70%.
  
• Complete the task in random battles, except for Enduring Confrontation missions and [Assault] mode.
  
• Track your progress in the hangar by clicking Nickname → Achievements → Holidays → US Air Force Birthday.
  
• You can find the decal in the “Holidays” tab in the Customization menu.
  

[h2]Ground Vehicles[/h2]

• Sholef V1 — gun designation has been changed from M839 to M845. Muzzle velocity has been increased from 684 to 897 m/s. (Report).
  
• ZSU-23-4M2 — a bug where the gun cover model did not raise with the guns has been fixed. (Report).
  
• ZTZ99A — the animation for the dozer blade has been fixed. (Report).
  
• Antelope — some inaccuracies in the missile model have been fixed.
  
• Pz.II C — gaps in armor on the plate joints have been removed.
  
• A bug that caused the time fuze to not set a distance when measuring the distance from the sights has been fixed.
  
• A bug that caused the hit camera to not appear when the shot was made with APFSDS that had a penetrator with a caliber of 15 mm or less and the armor had not been penetrated has been fixed.
  

[h2]Aircraft[/h2]

• J-11A — the position of the missiles on the pylons has been fixed. (Report).
  
• F-16C Barak II — nozzle texture has been replaced with the correct one. (Report).
  
• Hunter F.58 (Germany) — a bug that caused some textures to flicker in the cockpit has been fixed.
  
• AV-8B (NA) — a bug that caused no nozzle animation has been fixed. (Report).
  

[h2]Naval Vessels[/h2]

• La Combattante — ship textures have been improved.
  
• IJN Amagi — the color of the emblem on the ship’s bow has been corrected. (Report).
  
• A bug that sometimes caused two torpedoes to be launched simultaneously from fixed torpedo tubes if during the launch a player had abruptly shifted view to the side has been fixed.
  

[h2]Other[/h2]

• A bug that caused some actions in the gamepad event selection menu to not work due to a conflict with other actions with the same keybinds has been fixed. (Report, Report).
  
• WEP is no longer disabled when a key combination which contains a key bound to throttle increase is pressed. (Report).
  

Patch notes reflect only key changes, meaning they may not include a complete list of all improvements made. Additionally, War Thunder is constantly being updated and some changes may not require an update. Changes reflected in patch notes are formed by taking reactions and requests of the community from the bug reporting service, forums and other official platforms into account. Bug fixes and changes are implemented in order of importance, for example a game-breaking bug will be worked on and implemented sooner.

On September 17th 1940, the YP-38, being the second prototype of Lockheed’s P-38, took to the air for the first time. Only 13 YP-38s were produced, with P-38s themselves mass-produced in the United States throughout WWII — more than 10,000 aircraft in total. Famous French writer Antoine de Saint-Exupéry also flew the P-38!

[h2]The YP-38 is temporarily available for Golden Eagles![/h2]
This aircraft is available for 1,150 Golden Eagles.

When: From today until September 20th (07:00 GMT).
Where: USA > Aviation > Premium vehicles.

About the aircraft

• The YP-38 is armed with a powerful 37 mm cannon, capable of destroying almost any enemy in one hit. This plane is also quite durable, has a high rate of climb and maintains speed at high altitudes quite well!
  

Until September 23rd (17:00 GMT), Steam is hosting a festival named after the comedy Planes, Trains and Automobiles.

Do you know where else you can find planes? In starter packs that you can buy during the festival at a 50% discount! They represent all in-game nations (except Israel since this nation doesn’t have a starter pack). This is a great way to start researching vehicles in a nation that you haven't yet started!

Make sure to pick up these starter packs at a great discount and also get an animated avatar, avatar frame and animated sticker for your Steam profile as a gift!



[h3]War Thunder - US Starter Pack[/h3]
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1108450/War_Thunder__US_Starter_Pack/

[h3]War Thunder - German Beginner's Pack[/h3]
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2054413/War_Thunder__German_Beginners_Pack/

[h3]War Thunder - USSR Starter Pack[/h3]
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1233370/War_Thunder__USSR_Starter_Pack/

[h3]War Thunder - British Starter Pack[/h3]
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1368801/War_Thunder__British_Starter_Pack/

[h3]War Thunder - Japanese Starter Pack[/h3]
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1368800/War_Thunder__Japanese_Starter_Pack/

[h3]War Thunder - Swedish Starter Pack[/h3]
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1582830/War_Thunder__Swedish_Starter_Pack/

[h3]War Thunder - Chinese Starter Pack[/h3]
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1937490/War_Thunder__Chinese_Starter_Pack/

[h3]War Thunder - French Starter Pack[/h3]
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1423760/War_Thunder__French_Starter_Pack/

[h3]War Thunder - Italian Starter Pack[/h3]
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1368110/War_Thunder__Italian_Starter_Pack/

We’re continuing to introduce some of the features planned in the Roadmap set out at the beginning of this year. And today, we’re pleased to announce that with the release of the Dance of Dragons update, helicopter damage models are now more detailed. Let’s take a look!



[h3]New Modules[/h3]
New damage model modules have been added to the Ka-52 and AH-64 Apache helicopters. Each module is responsible for a specific set of functions of the helicopter’s electronic equipment. The list of added modules include Flight Control Panels, an Electro-optical station, a Radar, Avionics blocks and IRCM blocks.



The following functions are distributed among the new modules: an RWR, Targeting optic, Weapon control, NVD, Sensors, MFD/HUD, Guided weapon control and IRCM. Some modules can be responsible for multiple functions at once and multiple modules can be responsible for the same function. For example, both the Flight Control Panels and Avionics blocks are responsible for the use of Weapon control, and a single Avionics block are responsible for both NVD and MFD/HUD.



[h3]Modules For Other Helicopters[/h3]
As for filling in remaining helicopters with modules, those already in the game will be given modules gradually with the release of subsequent updates as we’re going to be looking at on-board systems for each of them and make changes to the models. New helicopters that are added will be introduced with a full set of modules straight away.

[h3]How Does Disabling Modules Work?[/h3]
Let’s talk about how disabling systems works. For helicopters that have new modules, it’s quite simple — each system can be disabled either by the complete destruction of the module or by damaging it, but with a certain chance depending on the type and amount of damage.



In the damage model of helicopters that didn’t have new modules added, all on-board systems are included in the fuselage damage model. If this is damaged, all avionic functions may also be disrupted, with the probability of this also depending on the type and amount of damage. However, since it’s much easier to damage the fuselage than individual modules, the chances of various systems failing when the fuselage is damaged are lower than when individual modules are damaged. Additionally, unlike the destruction of a specific module — which is guaranteed to lead to the failure of the corresponding system — when the fuselage is destroyed, all electronics will not be immediately disabled. Instead, each system will retain some chance of being disabled with each subsequent hit.

[h3]Updated Tail Destruction Conditions[/h3]
Previously, helicopter tails could only be torn off by various means of hits, but not by collisions with anything else. It is important to note that even though the ground obviously has 100% efficiency against aircraft, it is not considered a specialized mean of destruction. At least it wasn’t considered such in the game until now.

However, since a bump even on the hull of a helicopter can quite easily cause damage to the elements inside, which depending on the severity of the collision, can lead to damage of the tail or even to it being ripped off. We’ve now introduced the mechanics of destruction of elements in the tail booms of helicopters from hard clams, both by the tail itself and by the fuselage of the helicopter when hitting the ground and environment, such as trees and various buildings.

This will minimize the number of successful take offs after very hard bumps against the ground where the helicopter doesn’t crash but instead flies on to base or even continues to fight as if nothing had happened.

[h3]Improved calculation of center of mass displacement after tail boom separation[/h3]



In addition to all of the above, in the near future (before the release of the next major update), we’ll be reworking and supplementing the calculation of the center of mass and balancing of helicopters when damage leads to the separation of various parts. For example, the center of gravity of a helicopter shifts forward when the tail is torn off, leading to a nose-dive that would need to be compensated by increasing the cyclic pitch (counteracting the lowering of the nose). This will lead to a strong limitation of maneuverability for coaxial helicopters when there is tail separation, while for helicopters with a classic tail rotor design, the behavior after tail boom separation will be more realistic.

That’s all for now. Check out the updated helicopter damage model in game and let us know what you think!