War Thunder News

Today, pre-orders for this special variant of the AV-8B Harrier VTOL strike aircraft with thermal imaging have started!

[h2]AV-8B Night Attack: A Premium Naval Strike Aircraft for the USA at Rank VII[/h2]

Features:

• A huge variety of weaponry, including JDAMs!
  
• Thermal imaging!
  
• VTOL capability but relatively slow speed.
  
• Fantastic versatility in both air and ground battles.
  

Vehicle History
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In 1989 to support the U.S. Marine Corps during both day and night, a special version of the VTOL AV-8B Harrier was developed, NA standing for Night Attack. This version differed from earlier modifications with the addition of the NAVFLIR (Navigation Forward-Looking Infrared) system, the cockpit was configured for night vision goggles, and an upgraded Rolls-Royce Pegasus engine was installed. This modification also involved upgrading existing AV-8B models to the AV-8B Night Attack standard. Still in service with the U.S. Marine Corps today, this variant participated in most military operations involving marine aviation from the late 20th to the early 21st century.
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Pre-order - AV-8B Night Attack Pack
Can be purchased through the store in-game. Shop > Online Store
69.99

• AV-8B Night Attack (Rank 7, USA)
  
• 2500 Golden Eagles
  
• Premium account for 20 days
  
• Pre-order bonus: unique "True Action Hero" title
  
• Pre-order bonus: "VMA-223 insignia" decal
  

This offer is not endorsed by the U.S. Department of Defense or any military branch

[h2]Introducing the AV-8B Night Attack! [/h2]

Say hello to this special variant of the much loved Harrier, one of the most effective strike platforms for ground battles — the Night Attack (NA) variant, designed to support U.S. Marine Corps around the clock, night and day! This unique variant will be coming to the game when the Dance of Dragons major update is released, but today pre-orders for a special bundle containing the aircraft, unique pre-order bonuses and Golden Eagles and Premium time have started. Let’s take a look!



Representing one of the most advanced variants of the carrier based Harrier, the AV-8B (NA) will be quite familiar to those already accustomed with top-tier American or British aircraft. The real key feature of this variant is its thermal imaging mode, available even without a targeting pod — although it will only point forward. The Night Attack variant comes equipped with the F402 engine (the U.S. designation for the Rolls-Royce Pegasus) with familiar thrust vectoring capabilities. This aircraft is excellent for ground striking thanks to its great bomb load and wide array of ordnance. Make sure to take care though when approaching the battlefield as its speed is still relatively low, you’ll have to utilize its high maneuverability and large supply of countermeasures — 180 of them to be precise!



With the right pilot behind the controls, the AV-8B (NA) is a truly formidable force in ground battles, where its VTOL capabilities really come into play, sort of becoming a cross between a typical strike aircraft and an attack helicopter. It can hover behind terrain and surprise enemies, and swiftly rearm close to the battlefield from helipads.

At the core of any AV-8B loadout is the classic 25 mm GAU-12/U cannon. Much like the AV-8B Plus, the AV-8B (NA) has no in-built gun, only being able to carry one under the fuselage. As this variant is at a lower rank and battle rating, it lacks radar guided missiles and the top tier AIM-9M. However, it can still carry four of the highly maneuverable AIM-9L missiles, which are more than sufficient for any dogfight at its rank, as well as easily combating enemy helicopters. 



Thanks to its onboard electronics, the AV-8B (NA) excels with unguided weapons, being able to carry a wealth of free fall, drag and napalm bombs, along with Zuni and Mighty Mouse unguided rockets. Although, the real highlight is of course the guided weaponry! You can choose from precision guided bombs like the GBU-12 (up to ten) or the GBU-16 (up to four) which require the LITENING II targeting pod. The major update will also be introducing GPS-guided bombs, with this Harrier being able to equip up to 10 GBU-38 JDAMs. And finally, it can also equip some excellent air-to-ground missiles! Up to 4 AGM-65G or the new AGM-65E2 missiles can be carried, making this Harrier exceptionally versatile.



The pre-order for the AV-8B Night Attack pack is only available for a few more days, give it a look and pick it up for some exclusive cosmetic content, along with Premium time and a lot of Golden Eagles. Don’t miss out!

Please note that this vehicle’s characteristics may be changed before it is added to the game.

Unrivaled in its time and one of the first representatives of a class of fast battleships, HMS Barham is the main reward for the Steel Baron naval event!

[h2]HMS Barham: An Event Vehicle Battleship for Great Britain at Rank VI[/h2]
At a glance:

• Deadly 381 mm guns!
  
• Good armor protection.
  
• One of the best top speeds amongst British battleships.
  
• Very weak AA defense, just two 76 mm cannons.
  

[h3]Vehicle History[/h3]
[expand]
Queen Elizabeth-class battleships were revolutionary for their time, with two key differences making them unrivaled in combat performance for many years. Firstly, the most powerful main battery with a rate of fire of two rounds per minute, which allowed them to destroy any potential enemy, and secondly the power plant with oil boilers, which provided these ships with high speed. The armor also took a step forward compared to other British ships, and the class was considered so successful that the Admiralty suspended the production of battlecruisers in favor of building another Queen Elizabeth-class battleship.

HMS Barham was launched in the autumn of 1914 and commissioned a year later. Barham took part in the famous Battle of Jutland as part of the 5th Battleship Squadron, attached to Beatty’s battlecruisers. During the interwar period, HMS Barham carried out patrols and took part in exercises. She also took part in active military operations during WWII from the first days after its outbreak, mainly in the Mediterranean. On November 24th 1941, while escorting a Maltese convoy, HMS Barham was torpedoed by German submarine U-331. Three torpedoes hit Barham, causing a fire and detonation on board. The moment of the tragic death of hundreds of sailors and the sinking of HMS Barham as a result of a huge explosion was captured on newsreel footage filmed from battleship HMS Valiant.
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[h2]Meet HMS Barham![/h2]
Meet the main reward for the Steel Baron naval event, which was probably the best battleship in the world at the time of its inception, the mighty HMS Barham! This battleship features powerful armament and a good top speed, all coming to rank VI in the British Bluewater fleet tree. Let’s take a closer look.

Like the other four Queen Elizabeth-class ships, HMS Barham is armed with 8 x 381 mm (15 inch) guns in four turrets, with a rate of fire of two rounds per minute. In terms of auxiliary caliber weapons, HMS Barham features 14 x 152 mm (6 inch) guns in single-barrel mounts, with seven per side. As you may have already figured out, this is one of the most powerful ships in the game, capable of sinking any enemy ship with a few accurate salvos. The main caliber guns have shells that weigh a massive 871 kg, the SAPCBC and APC, both great for dealing with thick enemy battleship armor, with the APC featuring good post-pen effects.



For armor, HMS Barham is well-protected. The thickness of the armor belt and front turret reaches 330 mm, which, together with the well-protected barbettes and large crew size make HMS Barham very survivable and capable of quickly eliminating fires and leaks. One signature feature of the Queen Elizabeth-class battleships is their oil boilers, which allow them to accelerate to 24 knots (44 km/h). This is very good compared to other Royal Navy battleships and one of the best among other early battleships in other nations.



HMS Barham has a few disadvantages though, one of which includes its weak AA capability. Only 2 x 76 mm guns are defending Barham from aircraft which are unlikely to be of much use against a good pilot. Another disadvantage is her very slow horizontal aiming speeds of the main turrets, meaning HMS Barham won’t be able to react quickly and attack ships that are firing at her from several directions. Keep your distance to ensure that you have the widest possible view of the open sea, and plan your route in advance. And lastly, if you do need to get involved in close-range combat, four 533 mm underwater torpedo tubes with 20 torpedoes are there to help.



HMS Barham is the main reward in the Steel Baron event that started today. Check out the link below for all the terms and how to participate in this event to earn yourself this awesome battleship!

Please note that this vehicle’s characteristics may be changed before it is added to the game.

LEARN MORE ABOUT THE STEEL BARON EVENT HERE

[h2]Aircraft[/h2]

• Now when landing on an enemy aircraft carrier, a player will surrender just like it happens when landing on an airfield.
  

[h2]Ground vehicles[/h2]

• A bug that caused the button for launching an UAV to change to the button for deploying an UGV activation of which was spawning a tank has been fixed. (Report).
  
• A bug that caused shells replenished on a capture point to be damaged if they were lost in an ammo rack fire has been fixed.
  
• A synchronization bug that caused the destroyed reactive armor to appear functional for the player who has spawned in after the destruction of said armor has been fixed.
  
• A synchronization bug that caused the player to be visually shooting for other players if the player was holding down the firing key with a broken down autoloader has been fixed.
  

[h2]Interface[/h2]

• Following the Roadmap: a notification of when a reported player got banned has been added. More details on this here.
  
• A bug that caused the reloading values for the top crew in the X-ray view to not display or display wrongly for ground vehicles with multiple cannons has been fixed. (Report).
  
• A bug that caused the reloading values for the top crew in the X-ray view of some ships to not reflect the actual values has been fixed.
  
• A bug that prevented the research window from closing if after researching all vehicles a player had some extra research points left has been fixed.
  
• A bug that caused the icon-tooltip informing about the possibility to remove a vehicle from the crew slot just by dragging it to not fit into the “Remove from the preset” button, located in the “Change vehicle” menu has been fixed.
  

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.

Today, we’ll be showing you a new Roadmap feature that has just been implemented into the game: a notification of when a player that you reported has been banned. This works for players that were reported in-game as well as for those reported via the replay service on our website.



From now on, if a player that you reported gets banned, you’ll get a window with a notification letting you know when you log into the game. We’ve also added a new tab to the messages window called “System notifications” that contains messages about banned players that you reported. An important note here is that all notifications are anonymized, since personal data legislation in many countries obliges us to do this.



In the meantime, we’re continuing to work on new features from the Roadmap, with a few of them coming with the release of the Dance of Dragons major update. Keep an eye out for more news!

Meet the CV9035NL, a Dutch modification of the CV90 IFV, developed specifically for the export market.

[h2]CV9035NL: A Squadron Vehicle Light Tank for France at Rank VII[/h2]

At a glance:

• Potent 35 mm autocannon!
  
• Good mobility.
  
• Laser warning system.
  
• Add-on armor, making it slightly heavier than the CV9035DK.
  

Vehicle History
[expand]
Following the development of the CV90 Mk III, many countries adopted the vehicle into their military. Among these operators was also the Dutch army, which placed orders in 2004 and obtained up to 193 vehicles by the time the last units were delivered in 2011.
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[h2]Meet the CV9035NL![/h2]

This is the CV9035NL, another unique variant of the CV90 family of IFVs that are already familiar to the game. Arriving as a new squadron vehicle to the French ground forces tree with the release of the Dance of Dragons major update, the CV9035NL will further diversify the French top tank lineups. Let’s take a further look!



For those of you who have already had a chance to play the CV9035DK, the CV9035NL will feel right at home as both vehicles share nearly identical specifications. The most noticeable difference distinguishing the two vehicles from one another is the presence of upgraded add-on armor for the Dutch variant’s sides and roof. While this effectively has increased the vehicle’s side protection against shrapnel and high caliber machine gun fire, it also adds weight. As a result of this, the Dutch modification of the CV9035 possesses slightly worse mobility, making itself noticeable in the vehicle’s slightly slower acceleration due to the decreased power-to-weight ratio. Additionally, the CV9035NL comes equipped with a laser warning system, increasing crew awareness of missile threats both from enemy ground vehicles and aircraft.



You’ll be able to obtain the CV9035NL either through squadron activity points or by purchasing it with Golden Eagles. In the meantime, be sure to stay tuned to the news as we continue to keep you posted on all the latest developments surrounding the upcoming update. Until then, happy hunting tankers!



Please note that this vehicle’s characteristics may be changed before it is added to the game.