War Thunder News

The M551 Sheridan light tank was named in honor of General Philip Sheridan, an American Civil War General. Equipped with a 76mm M32 cannon, this tank is the main reward of the 14th Battle Pass Season in War Thunder!

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New! You’ll now automatically receive all Battle Pass rewards that you earn, even if you forget to claim them on time. At the end of the season, all unclaimed rewards will be credited to your account when you first log into the game. This new feature has already come into effect, which means that you’re guaranteed to receive your earned rewards in the current 13th Battle Pass Season, which ends on January 24th.

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To receive Battle Pass rewards, you’ll need to regularly log into the game and complete tasks and challenges. Each level of the Battle Pass will earn you a prize, be it a player icon, loading screen, title, decals, decorations, or 3 brand-new premium vehicles!



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When: From January 24th until April 24th.

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[h2]This Season’s Rewards[/h2]

We’ve got a new set of decals, decorations, a profile icon and vehicles lined up for you this season! See the full list in the Battle Pass tab in the hangar, or check them out on our Wiki. Here’s some key rewards for Season 14:

[h2]Le Triomphant[/h2]
A Premium Destroyer for France at Rank III.

Le Triomphant is now going to be one of the fastest Destroyers in the game. Thanks to its amazing speed, this ship is able to quickly get to advantageous positions on the seas. Combining this with its 4 x 138.6 mm main caliber cannons, you’re going to be giving any enemy at this rank a hard time!



[h2]IL-8 (1944)[/h2]
A Premium Strike Aircraft for the USSR at Rank III.

A modernized variant of the IL-2 attack aircraft, equipped with a new engine and a bomb load up to 1000 kg. Fast and easy to use, this aircraft is going to be fun to play in both ground and air battles.



[h2]M551(76)[/h2]
A Premium Light Tank for the USA at Rank IV.

The “Airborne General” Sheridan, who’s given this season its name! This is the M551 Sheridan with the M41 Walker Bulldog’s gun, a two-plane stabilzer and an increased turret traverse speed — perfect for an aggressive playstyle!




[h2]Decals[/h2]

4 decals!







[h2]3D decorations[/h2]

3 decorations!



[h2]Profile Icon[/h2]

US Paratrooper


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All Rewards and Challenges for Season 14

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[h3]About the Battle Pass[/h3]

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If you’ve got two Coupon Upgrades from stages in the previous season, then you can claim the new Battle Pass for free! Exchange them in the purchase menu of the Airborne General season.

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The Battle Pass is a seasonal event where players can earn many rewards, from Silver Lions and boosters to exclusive season prizes: decorations, profile icons and premium vehicles. The rules are simple: you earn progress points and use them to unlock new stages, earning valuable prizes in the process.

You can unlock new stages and receive awards at any time during the season.


You can access the “Battle Pass” window through the promo block on the right side of the hangar screen.

[h3]How to participate[/h3]
Play

• You get progress points every day for entering the game.
  
• From 1 to 5 points.
  

Complete Battle Tasks

• You can check your Battle Tasks in the game. Complete them and receive progress points.
  
• From 2 to 5 points.
  

Complete Season Challenges

• One Challenge is available at the start of the season. Every week you get a new one, while three more can become available by unlocking stages.
  
• 30 points.
  

Learn more about the Battle Pass

The screenshots all of you submitted last week looked great! Heavy vehicles have some obvious advantages over their lighter weight alternatives, but the lighter vehicles are far more versatile! The three most popular and three selected by us will get 300 GE. See the winners down below!

[h2]Let’s begin the 103rd edition of our competition![/h2]

Create a stunning screenshot and submit it on the War Thunder Steam Community Hub with the tag #WTscreen103. You have time until the 26th of January to submit your screenshot.

After that date, 6 winners will be selected (3 of which will be the highest rated by the community and 3 selected by our judges), each of which receive a reward of 300GE.

[h3]Terms:[/h3]

Your screenshot must feature a naval aircraft, amphibious tank, or naval vessel.
You must add the #WTscreen103 tag (title cannot have any other text in it).
• Screenshots need to be compliant with the War Thunder rules.
  
• You need to be the author of the screenshot.
  
• Screenshot needs to be new. You cannot use those which have previously been published or used in other competitions.
  
• We will only accept raw screenshots from the game. You cannot use any editing software nor any other visual enhancements (like Nvidia Ansel filters).
  
• You can use filters and settings built into War Thunder.
  
• You can use the replay functionality built into War Thunder.
  
• Rewards will be delivered to the author's account within 14 working days.
  

[h2]And now, time for the winners of the competition’s 102nd edition - Lightweight![/h2]

[h3]Winners selected via community votes:[/h3]
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3139879805
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3138921128
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3140059349

[h3]Winners selected by our judges:[/h3]
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3141733905
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3139186940
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3138505291

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

Today we’re showing you the rather interesting M551(76), an American light tank coming to the game in the upcoming Battle Pass season called “Airborne General”!

[h2]M551(76): A Premium Light Tank for the USA at Rank IV[/h2]

Features:

• Effective APDS shell.
  
• Gun stabilizer!
  
• High turret traverse speed.
  
• Light armor.
  

[h2]Meet the M551(76)![/h2]

The M551(76) is a premium light tank and the main prize of the upcoming Battle Pass season in War Thunder, which we’ve named “Airborne General” in honor of this tank. What do you get when you combine the M551’s chassis and turret and stick the M41 Walker Bulldog’s 76 mm gun in it? You get the M551(76), which will offer you a lot of advantages! Let’s take a closer look.

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Interesting: The M551 was given the nickname Sheridan in honor of Philip Sheridan, a United States Civil War General.

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In an attempt to solve problems with the Sheridan’s 152 mm gun, engineers proposed to use a gun that had lower recoil, one of which included the M32 76 mm cannon which is found on this tank. Capable of firing a high-penetrating APDS shell, the 76 mm cannon has great accuracy and is backed up by a two-plane stabilizer, something not found on the M41 Walker Bulldog. Combining this new addition and a higher turret traverse speed than the M41 (a whopping 40 degrees a second on a top crew!), the M551(76) can be put to good use while on the move, and is great at reacting to new threats quickly thanks to the fast turret traverse.



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Did you know? The M551 Sheridan light tank could not only parachute from aircraft, but also float. To do this, the crew needed to install a special set of equipment which literally made it look like a boat. We’ve not got this in War Thunder because the gun couldn’t be used while amphibious, and it would simply take too much time to set up!

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Moving onto the M551(76)’s chassis, which stays the same and is generally no different from the standard M551 already in the game: very light armor so that mass remains as low as possible, decent driving characteristics and a great top speed of 69 km/h.



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In your matches by Tom, Community Management Team Leader:“The key element this vehicle offers is reaction time, so it’s important to factor this advantage into how you play. An aggressive flanking playstyle will work well here — you want to try to catch enemies out while they’re on the move as you can fire at them accurately before they can in the majority of cases, which is a huge advantage. Try to avoid sitting still and playing defensive, if you’re just sitting there covering a signline your main advantages aren’t being utilised, and you’d be better off playing another tank. Keep moving, keep being aggressive, and the nukes will flow.”

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The premium M551(76) can be yours by completing tasks in the upcoming Battle Pass season that’s set to start on January 24th, named “Airborne General”. We’re sure that this new Sheridan is going to be a popular one amongst those of you who enjoy light tanks and premiums! Make sure to keep an eye out for the news regarding the upcoming Battle Pass on Monday January 22nd. Until then, see you!

We present to you the experimental IL-8 which is an improved variant of the famous IL-2 attack aircraft. What’s the difference? It has an increased bomb load and signature survivability that’s common to the IL series of aircraft. This new aircraft is available in the new season of the upcoming Battle Pass!

[h2]IL-8: A Premium Soviet Attack Aircraft at Rank III[/h2]

Features:

• Bomb loads up to 1000 kg.
  
• Good survivability.
  
• No rockets.
  
• Low speed.
  

[h2]Meet the IL-8![/h2]

Welcome to the main aircraft prize of the upcoming Battle Pass season — the Soviet IL-8 attack aircraft! This is a modernized version of the earlier versions of the IL-2 that features a new engine and an increased bomb load. You’ll be able to earn this aircraft in the Battle Pass for free by going through Battle Pass levels. Let’s take a closer look!

The IL-8 is fitted with a brand-new AM-42 engine, which in turn has made it noticeably faster at higher altitudes despite its increased weight. Of course the IL-8 is heavy and can only dream of being a fighter aircraft, but reaching speeds of over 400 km/h is now quite possible even when using a medium-sized bomb loadout.



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Interesting: Unlike the IL-2, the gunner on the IL-8 is also protected by armor on the sides and bottom. The total mass of armored parts on the IL-8 was 1110 kg!

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However the main changes to the IL-8 in the game are at its secondary weapons. There’s some good and bad news: the bad news is that this aircraft does not have any unguided rockets, and the good news is that the total payload has increased to 1000 kg! Thanks to this, at your disposal, you’ll now have a pair of 500 kg bombs and access to the secondary weapon menu, allowing you to place bombs wherever you wish on available bomb pylons.



Along with the increased bomb load and improved speed, playing the IL-8 will be a very similar playstyle to playing the IL-2 attack aircraft. After you’ve dropped your bombs, using the 23 mm cannons against AI columns in aircraft battles and in shooting open-top or the sides of some lighter tanks in ground battles is ideal. With a bit of practice, you’ll also be able to easily shoot down enemy fighter aircraft at lower altitudes with the deadly 23 mm cannons. As for survivability, the IL-8 can survive a good amount of hits from machine guns, where it’s capable of returning to the airfield to repair any damage. This is thanks to the armored area around the cockpit and frontal area that protects the pilot and engine from incoming bullets. In addition to this, just like on later IL-2s, the back gunner has a 12.7 mm machine gun, where on the IL-8 this area is also protected by bulletproof armor.



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In your matches by Ilya, Community Manager: “Finally, pilots of the USSR have an IL with a 1000 kg bomb load! At its rank, it’ll be a very good option for both air and ground battles. In ground battles, I would advise flying into the combat area with tanks at extremely low altitudes so that you can avoid SPAA and in-coming aircraft. In air battles, look for cover from allied fighters or other attack aircraft. The slow IL, despite its survivability, can still be chewed up quickly if alone. Always use delayed fuses on your bombs, and always invest crew points into your tail gunner, which is a key to survival!”

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That’s everything! You’ll be able to receive this cool, plus easy-to-use attack aircraft as a free prize in the upcoming Battle Pass season — the IL-8 will come in handy in any gamemode, so don’t miss your opportunity to grab it. Tomorrow we’ll be telling you about the main tank prize, and on Monday we’ll announce the full list of prizes and conditions for the upcoming season. Stay tuned!

Hey everyone, thanks for your patience while waiting for this post. Today we’d like to discuss bug reports relating to the Challenger 2 series of tanks, what we’ve already fixed thanks to your reports, and what we’re planning to do in the near future. Let’s dive in and take a look at these reports.

First and foremost, we want to take the time to thank you for creating bug reports for the Challenger 2. Thanks to these reports, the following have been actioned and have already been implemented, or will be implemented into production either in the near future or the next major update:

Mobility

• Turning issue when at low speed.

Armor and Survivability

• Challenger 2 Ammunition Armoured Stowage Bins Too Thin
• Challenger 2 Incorrect Additional Side Armour Composition
• Challenger 2 (All) - Missing Spall liners

Main gun

• Incorrect side depression for main gun

Other armament

• Incorrect ammo count for Enforcer 7.62mm. Should be 200 rounds with optional 400 round mag, currently 100

Other

• ESS on challenger 2 coming out the wrong exhausts

Challenger 3 TD

• Challenger 3(P): Incorrect name
• Challenger 3(P): armor missing and not align with the model
• Challenger 3(P): missing armor around the ammunition storage
• Challenger 3(P): Incorrect Weight
• Challenger 3(P): Missing Spall Liner
• Challenger 3(P): Wrong engine sound
• Challenger 3 (TD) turret floor invisible and misplaced.
• Challenger 3 (TD) turret bustle ammunition not exploding/venting.

Let’s move onto the outstanding reports and discuss them in detail.

[h2]Discussing the protection of the gun mantlet[/h2]


First up, let’s take a look at the report created by Fireball_2020 regarding the Challenger 2’s gun mantlet. We fully appreciate the time taken to source these photos to showcase the mantlet in as much detail as possible, we’ve looked into this one thoroughly.

One of the main things this report talks about is that the turret was fired at (mantlet and cheeks) using kinetic and chemical rounds and that both areas withstood these shells. Some important details in this report that we’d need are missing, for example, we’re lacking concrete data on what types of weapons or shells were used in this testing, making it difficult to enact changes without this information. Technically, ensuring the equality of protection between the main armor sections (large dimensions, thick steel plates on the outside and a thick base) and the mantlet (required for stabilizing the gun, where it’s impossible to accommodate a large armor dimension) is a very difficult task.

If you’ve got any public information regarding what shells or weapons were tested, please feel free to leave a post here or contact a Community Manager so we can take a look.

We have however looked at the damage model geometry for the mantlet in detail and we’re planning to refactor it. There’s a layer of combined armor in the gun mantlet, and the fastenings are identical to the fastenings of the combined armor package that’s visible on the turret cheeks.

Photos from the Queen’s Royal Hussars page on Facebook (Source 1, Source 2)

What are we going to do exactly? First off, the Challenger 2’s damage model will be refined based on the available information we have, and in turn will become more detailed. We’d like to note that while refinements sound interesting, they don’t necessarily mean that the armor values will increase — in some cases they may even decrease. Increasing the details will mean vulnerable areas will be more accurately represented and the protective size of the mantlet may increase.



When are we going to start this? The plan is to start updating the geometry of the damage model, as well as the visualization of internal modules in the Challenger 2 tanks.
To make sure that we go through this process as effectively as possible, these changes will come to the game in the next major update — but may possibly come sooner if we finish working on it earlier.

[h2]Protection values of the turret’s side armor[/h2]

Let’s take a look at this report created by Flame2512, which notes the protection values of the turret’s side armor are too low. Thank you for providing these screenshots and information regarding the armor values. The differences in protection are down to inaccuracies of the damage model, these inaccuracies that lead to discrepancies in protection will be corrected by updating the damage model geometry as mentioned in the first section.

[h2]Protection values of mounted Explosive Reactive Armor[/h2]


Next up, let’s take a look at this report created by Legwolf regarding the protection values of the Challenger 2’s ERA. We’ve seen that Armor Shield R is noted to be equipped on the Challenger 2 TES and Challenger 2 OES and is protected according to STANAG 4569 level 5. Despite this, we’re missing some important information about the Heading angles at which protection is provided. The basic STANAG 4569 level 5 requirement, with protection at a Heading angle of +/-30 degrees from 25 mm APFSDS at 500m is already met in the game, as well as at a Heading angle of 90 degrees at a slightly greater distance.

When comparing to other vehicles that are equipped with Armor Shield R, what’s not taken into account is the possibility that the design of the armor package may differ from vehicle to vehicle depending on the primary protection of each vehicle. The current implementation of this ERA in the game does not contradict with documents presented in the report, so we’re not going to make any changes or revisions to its protective capabilities. Moving onto the mounting plate of the ERA itself though (which is currently made of composite armor in game), will be changed to an aluminum plate in accordance with the information provided.

[h2]Armor penetration of the L27A1 shell[/h2]


Moving onto the L27A1 shell in a report again created by Flame2512. Documents in this report show that the armor penetration value of the L27A1 is 700 mm at a distance of 2km. There are some discrepancies in these values, as in War Thunder we use the Lanz-Odermatt formula for calculating penetration values using one universal standard which takes the physical data for projectiles to find this calculation. In addition to this, public information about this projectile, as well as images of it are available and verifiable by the formula that we use.

Additionally, it’s worth noting that usually in British documents, assessments of the armor penetration of APFSDS rounds consist of firing at plates at steep angles at about 70-75 degrees, where APFSDS rounds show their greatest armor penetration (the maximum length of the penetration channel). This is the reason why the document shows a penetration of 700mm.

If we were to compare the way testing is carried out to get the numbers in the document provided to War Thunder, then the L27A1 with the current values at 2 km penetrate path length of more than 650 mm at an angle of 70 degrees (a 225 mm plate at 70 degrees). A difference in armor penetration in the game compared to the values in the document are due to differences in the criteria for assessing penetration values, the properties of the armor plates being fired at, the angles of impact for APFSDS rounds, or a difference between the initial requirements for the projectile/plate and the results achieved in practical testing as well.

If you’ve got any additional public information that we may have missed about the L27A1 shell’s dimensions and velocity, we can make a recalculation to see what values it’ll then come to, and make changes if required after this.

[h2]Ammunition locations inside of the tank[/h2]


Lastly, let’s take a look at this report, again created by Legwolf, which states that the current ammunition locations in the Challenger 2 are incorrect. We’ve partially confirmed this with our own information, however, some diagrams in the report show the internals of prototype tanks (or are in general just concept diagrams) as they have verifiable inaccuracies. The diagrams in the report show the ammo rack in the turret containing 20+8 shells, but real photos of the Challenger 2 tanks we have in the game show 24 shells in the turret rack.

However, we’re going to review the placement of ammunition inside of the Challenger 2, and will be implementing changes when we update the damage model geometry as well as x-ray modules of these tanks. These changes will come in an update in the near future.