War Thunder News

The free-to-play military simulator War Thunder is taken incredibly seriously by its playerbase, some might say too seriously, and in recent years has been in the headlines again, and again, and again for one reason: players getting in arguments over the specifications of a given vehicle, until one produces actual real-world classified documents about it. Presumably in triumph. These documents tend to be highly protected—literally classified—and militaries understandably don't want the specs of their hardware floating around on the internet. So you'll never guess what's happened, again...
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The F-16C Block 50 is a further developed variant of the famous F-16 multi-role fighter — featuring a new engine and new guided weapons. Meet this exciting jet fighter, coming to War Thunder in the next major update!

[h2]F-16C Block 50: Jet fighter, USA, rank VIII[/h2]

Features:

• 8 weapon hardpoints.
  
• Laser-guided bombs.
  
• Improved engine.
  

The F-16C Block 50 will come to War Thunder in the next major update as a new flagship jet fighter at the top of the US fighter jet line. Featuring 8 weapon hardpoints, a more powerful engine, AIM-7 Sparrow air-to-air missiles, and most excitingly, new laser-guided precision bombs, the F-16C will be a formidable force to be reckoned with. Let’s take a look at the details!

Courtesy of the Block 50 modernization program, the F-16C is equipped with a brand new F110-GE-129 engine, which in comparison to the well known F-16A, means the F-16C will have an increase in thrust in static and lower speeds. Furthermore, when approaching the speed of sound, the thrust increase is proportional to the overall mass of the F-16C. Because of this, while at transonic and supersonic speeds, the performance of the F-16C is equal to or just slightly superior to the F-16A Block 15.




Moving onto what weaponry this further developed F-16C has to offer. Thanks to 8 weapon hardpoints and a new radar, the F-16C will ensure that you’ll have the best weapons at your disposal. For air-to-air missiles, the F-16C can carry the AIM-7 Sparrow air-to-air missile as well as AIM-9L Sidewinders. In addition to this, the F-16C can also carry conventional unguided weapons that can be used against ground targets, which include free-fall retarded bombs, incendiary bombs as well as rockets — there’s certainly plenty to choose from!



There are also exciting new laser-guided bombs, which are currently not featured on F-16s in the game, thanks to the addition of the LITENING II targeting pod. Previous F-16 pilots will be glad to know that this means two types of bombs — the GBU-12 Paveway II and GBU-24 Paveway III — weighing 500 and 2,000 pounds respectively, will be able to be carried on the F-16C. Moreover, the F-16C can also carry AGM-65D Maverick missiles, which are launched from a triple-rail pod.



We’d like to mention that our artists, especially for the F-16C Block 50, have prepared a very cool “snake” camouflage of the Viper Demo Team aerobatic team. That’s it for now! This fantastic and further developed F-16C will be waiting for you with the release of the next major update. Until that happens, happy flying, pilots!

[h2]Missions[/h2]

• The minimum Battle Rating of sessions in which strike UAVs are available has been increased from 10.7 to 11.3.
  

[h2]Ground vehicles[/h2]

• Fuzed projectiles that ricochet off the ground now detonate at a much shorter distance from the ricochet point.
  
• A bug that caused a lack of illuminating light in night-time ground battles has been fixed.
  
• A bug that caused a brief display of thermal imagery from the thermal sights in third-person view when switching the camera from third-person to sniper mode has been fixed.
  
• ZT3A2 — a bug that caused an offset of the coaxial machine gun which also made firing the guns shoot above the target has been fixed. (Report)
  
• A bug related to radio fuze activation of anti-aircraft guided missiles when switching target tracking modes between radar and infrared sensor has been fixed. (Report)
  
• A bug where if rounds hit an enemy vehicle and a display of the “Shell destroyed” message in the impact camera shows, damaged icons in red for components and the crew would display, even if the vehicle hit did not receive any damage has been fixed.
  
• A bug that caused ATGM lock-ons to switch to other objects with high-temperatures such as rockets has been fixed.
  

[h2]Aircraft[/h2]

• SK60B, SAAB-105G, SAAB-105OE — a bug that caused damage to be displayed even though the tail was shot off has been fixed.
  
• SK60B — the weight of suspended armament per wing has been increased from 500kg to 550kg.
  
• Q-5A — a bug that caused two inboard empty pylons to be shown on each wing when using the Type-130-2 missile has been fixed. (Report)
  
• J1N1 — a bug that caused the wrong number of turrets to display in the vehicle’s stat card (4 instead of 2) has been fixed.
  
• Lightning F.53 — a bug that made it impossible to copy a weapon loadout that had 48 x RP rockets and 144 x SNEB type 23 rockets has been fixed.
  
• AJ37 — a bug that caused the x-ray view of the outboard 30mm Akan m/55 guns to remain even when this gun was detached has been fixed.
  
• Su-25T, Su-39 — a bug that caused the button for the infrared countermeasures to not work has been fixed.
  

[h2]Interface[/h2]

• A bug that caused the first-round replenishment indicator to disappear when opening the scoreboard in ground battles has been fixed.
  
• The readability of the hit camera tooltip has been improved. Regular hits to vehicles are now displayed in orange, while a non-damaging hit is now shown in green.
  
• A bug that caused the tooltip of torpedoes in-game when hovering over them to display an incorrect depth has been fixed.
  
• A bug that caused a large number of rewards for actions in the battle results tooltip screen to clip outside of the screen has been fixed.
  
• A bug that caused armor-piercing shells on stealth belts to display incorrectly in the protection analysis screen has been fixed.
  
• A bug that caused the multifunctional menu in battle whilst in an aircraft with a ballistic computer for guns to erroneously show missiles active has been fixed.
  
• The ability to display the names on markers of allied players only in squads has been added to the settings.
  
• A bug that, in some cases, caused the filter of preferred maps to incorrectly display a lower Battle Rating has been fixed.
  

[h2]Graphics[/h2]

• Ka-Chi — a bug that caused vehicle tracks to incorrectly display in the sky for other players has been fixed. (Report)
  

[h2]Other[/h2]

• The incorrect activation time for the sale of coupons from the “Summer Extreme” event has been fixed.
  

The current provided changelog reflects the major changes within the game as part of this Update. Some updates, additions and fixes may not be listed in the provided notes. War Thunder is constantly improving and specific fixes may be implemented without the client being updated.

A special version of the T-90 main battle tank that is in service with the Indian Army comes to the game as a new squadron vehicle, available in the upcoming major War Thunder update!

[h2]T-90 Bhishma: MBT, Britain, rank VII![/h2]

Features:

• Good protection against other tanks.
  
• Advanced ammunition!
  
• Lacks soft-kill APS.
  
• Slow reverse speed.
  

The Indian T-90 Bhishma tank is a special version of the Russian T-90 tank, modified to fit the needs of the Indian Army. The T-90 Bhishma will arrive to the game as a new squadron vehicle in the upcoming War Thunder major update. Its ERA protection, guided missiles and a modern fire-control system make the tank an exotic and desirable addition to Britain’s top-tier ground forces lineup!

[h3]

First and foremost, we’d like to let you know the reasons as to why we’re going to be adding this vehicle to the British tree. Britain’s top-tier MBTs are generally niche and are typically geared towards methodical combat engagements. Because of this, additional export MBTs and other vehicles that have ties to some Commonwealth nations will allow for more options and new approaches to Britain’s gameplay. We'd like to note that we are continuing to work on filling the British ground forces tree, which will include various armored, infantry fighting vehicles, and light tanks. These are planned for the future.

[/h3]

Let’s take a look at the main differences of the Indian T-90 Bhishma. Firstly, the Bhishma lacks the well-known soft-kill active protection system (those spooky-looking red eyes), and secondly, the Russian 3BM60 APFSDS round. In the position of where the APS emitters would be, the Indian Army requested additional ERA blocks, which in turn improves the overall turret protection from shots to the front. Additionally, an IR searchlight was mounted on the kingpin of the commander’s hatch to help illuminate targets in the dark. Other differences include another angle of smoke grenade launchers, a different design of the dozer blade, and increased anti-radiation armor — this slightly improves the protection of the tank.



As the T-90 Bhishma is a modern tank, it offers good protection in the form of Kontakt-5 ERA — as well as an advanced fire control system which promises good fighting dynamics. The T-90 Bhishma also features a large capacity autoloader, and can fire excellent tandem warhead ATGMs from the main cannon.



There are, however, some disadvantages of the T-90 Bhishma. In addition to the lack of APS as we’ve already mentioned, the T-90 Bhishma also has poor reverse speed, which is, unfortunately for T-90 fans, an inescapable legacy of the T-72 series. As T-72 and T-90 enjoyers would know, this in turn may make the T-90 Bhishma tricky to use whilst wanting to roll back behind cover after taking or receiving a shot. The T-90 Bhishma also brings along with it poor gun depression and turret traverse speed.

Just like other squadron vehicles, the T-90 Bhishma can be obtained for free by gaining enough squadron activity points, and can also be purchased for GE. If you’re still without a squadron, the T-90 Bhishma is a good reason to join one in War thunder — or even lead your own. See you in the next dev blog!

A formidable vehicle comes to the game: meet the AMX-10M, a French SPG that was specifically designed to fire anti-tank guided missiles!

[h2]AMX-10M: SPG, France, rank V[/h2]

Features:

• A gun that is capable of firing ATGMs!
  
• An auxiliary 20mm gun, good against light tanks and aircraft.
  
• Decent mobility — able to get to cover quickly.
  
• Capability to be amphibious.
  

With the arrival of the next major update, the AMX-10M will help bolster the French ground force lineup in and around rank V, thanks to its decent mobility, 20mm autocannon and 142mm gun that is capable of firing anti-tank guided missiles. Let’s take a detailed look at what this SPG can offer!



Experimental guns that were capable of firing anti-tank guided missiles were developed as part of the ACRA anti-tank project in France. French ground force players and their enemies may already be familiar with one particular vehicle that derived from this project: the AMX-30 ACRA, which has already been in the game for some time now, and has the same gun as the AMX-10M! Moving onto the nitty-gritty parts of this tank, the missiles fired from the 142mm ACRA gun have great velocity and a range of nearly 4km — which is even enough to scare and take out enemies that are flying a helicopter within this range. We’re also going to mention the missile’s penetration: these missiles can pierce through 700mm of armor, which is enough to defeat most homogeneous armor and even early ERA!



The AMX-10M can also carry conventional high-explosive shells, which will certainly help in sticky situations at closer ranges where the use of an anti-tank guided missile just doesn’t quite cut it. The AMX-10M’s turret also includes a handy auxiliary 20mm autocannon, which is useful against lightly armored vehicles as well as low flying planes and helicopters that you may encounter.



Moving on to an important part of any tank: armor. The AMX-10M’s armor is cast light alloy, which is enough to keep out light machine guns and nearby artillery strikes that it may face. However, this does mean that it will struggle to protect against conventional anti-tank shells and larger machine guns that are fired from enemy tanks. Be sure to utilize the gun from longer distances!

The quirky, but nonetheless interesting AMX-10M tank will be an exciting addition to the French ground tree, and will be coming in the next major War Thunder update. That’s this dev blog wrapped up — be sure to stay tuned to our website and social media, where we’ll be announcing other dev blogs soon!