War Thunder News

Developed at the dawn of WWII, the B-26 Marauder was an iconic American medium bomber that recorded an illustrious service career with Allied forces right up until the end of the war. Soon, pilots may look forward to getting the chance to take control of this much anticipated American bomber as it arrives to War Thunder as part of the next major update!

[h3]Briefly: A fast American medium bomber, highly regarded for its good payload, superb durability and formidable defensive arsenal.[/h3]

[h2]B-26 Marauder, medium bomber, USA, rank III[/h2]
[h3]Features[/h3]

• High speed
  
• Heavily armed
  
• Resilient against battle damage
  
• Vulnerable lower hemisphere
  

In War Thunder, the highly anticipated B-26 Marauder is arriving to the mid ranks of the American aviation tree as part of the upcoming major update. Fans of the B-26 Marauder will only have to wait a little while longer before they’re able to take to the skies behind the controls of not just one, but two variants of this iconic American medium bomber! In this devblog, we’d like to give you a first look at the B-26B and B-26C Marauder, arriving soon to the battlefields of War Thunder. Let’s begin!

Being conceived from the very beginning for speed, the B-26 Marauder is outfitted with a pair of Pratt & Whitney R-2800 Twin Wasp radial engines, producing a peak power output of 1,920 horsepower on take-off. Thus, the aircraft is able to attain a maximum speed of 282 mph (454 km/h) at medium altitudes. Consequently, the B-26 will be everything but a sitting duck to hostile fighters and will often require enemy pilots to attack from above in order to catch up to it.

[h3]Interesting Fact: Due to the numerous accidents early on in its service career, the B-26 Marauder quickly gained the infamous reputation of being a “widowmaker” aircraft: a stigma it would carry up to the end of WWII, despite its excellent late war track record.[/h3]

While fast indeed, the Marauder isn’t fast enough to outrun every pursuer in the skies. Inevitably, some fighters will catch up to it and for this occasion, the B-26 is equipped with just the right tools: defensive .50 calibre machine guns, and plenty of them at that! Namely, the Marauder is equipped with up to seven 12.7 mm heavy machine guns, covering the aircraft’s front, rear and upper hemisphere. Only the lower hemisphere is less well protected and this gap in the aircraft’s protective sphere is a weak point which bold fighter pilots can take advantage of in order to launch an attack run.



However, the Marauder’s arsenal doesn’t just stop at its defensive turrets - it’s a bomber aircraft after all. Apart from the defensive turrets, the B-26 is also fitted with a further five .50 cal machine guns, fixed in position in the aircraft’s nose section. This allows the Marauder to perform strafing attacks on soft ground targets or even actively engage other hostile aircraft. But the Marauder’s core arsenal really lies within its payload, and rest assured, it’s quite a sizable one! Being able to carry a payload in excess of 4,000 lbs, the B-26 can be loaded with bombs of various calibers, ranging from 100 to 2,000 lbs and as a result, the types of targets the Marauder can take on with these bombs is just as diverse.

The highly anticipated B-26B and B-26C Marauder will soon take to the skies in War Thunder as they arrive to the game as part of the next major update. In the meantime, make sure to stay tuned to the news as we continue revealing which other exciting new additions and features await you in the upcoming update. Until then, clear skies pilots!

80 years ago, an excellent exponent of the legendary fighter family, Spitfire Mk IX, took her virgin flight. Get battle trophies in honour of this anniversary. Plagis’ Spitfire LF Mk.IXc will be temporarily available for Golden Eagles, Spitfire LF Mk.IXc (USA) is available with 30% discount.

Complete the task from 11:00 GMT on the 25th of February until 11:30 GMT on the 28th of February and get the reward!

Completing the “Spitfire Mk.IX first flight” task will bring you a battle trophy with one of the following rewards:

• 20-50% RP booster for 3-10 battles
  
• 20-50% SL booster for 3-10 battles
  
• 3-5 universal backup vehicles
  
• 1 day premium account
  

We present to you a new type of task - scoring points. Scoring point task count all mission points, if at least one vehicle from the task list has been deployed in battle. The score multiplier coefficient is now tied to the game mode, instead of difficulty. Multipliers are displayed as before. The multipliers are displayed only for the selected difficulty: if the game mode is set to the Ground Arcade Battles, you will see multipliers for Ground, Air, and Naval Arcade Battles.


Score 20,000 points in random battles, where at least one aircraft from the list been used:

• Spitfire F Mk IX, Spitfire LF Mk IX, Plagis’ Spitfire LF Mk IX, Spitfire Mk IXc, Spitfire Mk IXc (USA), Spitfire Mk IXc (USSR), Weizman’s Spitfire LF Mk IX, Spitfire Mk IXc (Israel), Spitfire Mk IX (CW)
  

Follow progress by clicking on your nickname → Achievements → Memorial Date.

Until February 28th (11:30 GMT), the Premium Plagis' Spitfire LF Mk.IXc is available for Golden Eagles, and Spitfire LF Mk.IXc (USA) is available with a 30% discount.

The Zachlam M3 (Tager) is an ATGM carrier, domestically developed by Israeli engineers on the basis of the American M3 and M5 halftracks, which were fitted with French SS.11 missiles. This unique new ground vehicle will await tankers in the upcoming Israeli ground forces tree, arriving in War Thunder as part of the next major update!

[h3]Zachlam M3 (Tager), anti-tank missile carrier, Israel, rank V[/h3]
Features:

• Deadly SS.11 missiles
  
• Good mobility
  
• Lightly armored
  
• Limited number of missiles
  

In War Thunder, the Zachlam M3 (Tager) will be one of the more unique vehicles awaiting tankers in the upcoming Israeli ground forces tree, arriving to the game as part of the next major update. Compact, nimble and equipped with deadly anti-tank guided missiles, the Zachlam M3 (Tager) represents an interesting Israeli twist on a chassis familiar to most tankers in War Thunder!

What will certainly draw the most attention from a tank commander’s perspective is the Zachlam’s primary and indeed only weapon system, namely the SS.11 missiles or ‘Tager’ as they are known in Israeli service. These first generation guided anti-tank missiles are well familiar to seasoned War Thunder tank commanders as they can be found on a number of vehicles at the higher ranks. While promising a high destructive potential, their effectiveness is highly dependent on the tanker’s gunnery skills due to the missile requiring manual guidance. However, players will be able to research the semi-automatic guidance version of the missile as well.



Furthermore, advanced armor such as ERA or composites significantly reduce the missile’s destructiveness. Nevertheless, a skilled tanker can still make good use of the weapon to severely damage or outright knock out unsuspecting enemies from up to 3.5 km away. In doing so however, commanders should keep in mind that the Zachlam’s ammunition capacity is severely limited though. In fact, the vehicle only carries two additional SS.11 missiles after the four preloaded ones are expended from the launcher, so make your shots count!

Because the Zahlam is based on the familiar M3 halftrack chassis, the vehicle also inherited the good mobility from the American base model. Thanks to its low mass and 143 horsepower engine, the Zachlam can reach a top speed of around 67 km/h on paved roads while only dropping slightly in less hospitable terrain types thanks to its halftrack design. On the other hand, being just a simple APC by design means that the Zahlam can’t boast about its protection. In fact, the vehicle is only sufficiently protected to withstand rifle-caliber fire and shrapnel damage. On the other hand, unlike the base model found in other nations’, the Zachlam’s crew is better protected from air attack as they’re all situated in the armored driver’s cabin in the front portion of the vehicle.



The Zachlam M3 (Tager) will be arriving in War Thunder as part of the upcoming Israeli ground forces tree with the release of the next major update. In the meantime, make sure to keep scanning the horizon for more news as we continue showcasing what else the upcoming update has in store for you. Until then, happy hunting tankers!

In this digest we would like to tell you about our continuing work on improvements and fixes in the game. You can find information about all updates that have been released in War Thunder on the website special section.



Just recently we tested with you, improvements in the sound picture of a battle where distance to the source of the sound event began to play a more important role. In short: distant sounds are now better matched to their distance and as a bonus you get a better sense of sound events near you.

You liked this change and it has already been released for all players this week where you might definitely notice it, especially in combined battles. We continue to gather feedback on this specific update from all players including in the comments to this news article.



Battle tasks for memorable dates are of interest to many of you and we continue to make participation in these events more convenient. Tags displayed on participating vehicles are great but now you can see literally all of the vehicles suitable for the active tasks in a single window.

Open the task card by clicking on your nickname → Achievements → Name of the memorable date and click on the “Show Vehicle” button. In the opened window you will see all vehicles on which you can perform the task with a convenient sorting by nation and vehicle type.


We want to please the commanders of warships with several fixes at once.

If you are lucky and have two hydroplanes on your ship, now the launch direction marker for the second catapult will disappear after the first aircraft has been launched, just like you asked for in the comments to one of the previous digests.

We also fixed a bug that was showing up for example when your scouting aircraft nosed in when landing. The catapult wouldn’t start preparing the vehicle for the next flight even if it was intact and battle-ready. Now the reload will operate correctly in such cases.

Another noticeable fix will be the “fixed” hit camera which suddenly began to show damage by modules and not total damage after one of the recent updates. Now it works as it should!


[h2]Ground vehicles[/h2]

• Bkan 1C, DF105, Leopard 2K — sight range reset has been corrected after the rangefinder is applied.
  
• XM-8 — suspension damping has been increased.
  
• OF-40 Mk.2A, OF-40 (MTCA) — AA machine gun is now controlled by the loader.
  
• Range enter ability has been added when measuring range from the commander’s sight with fire control disabled.
  
• A bug has been fixed where dust and mud from the tracks of the player’s vehicle from the front were displayed incorrectly while observed in sniper mode.
  

[h2]Aviation[/h2]

• MiG-27K - a bug has been fixed that prevented IRST to lock on a ground area from the cockpit view.
  
• SBU2 (all versions), V-156 (all versions) - targeting angles of the turret have been adjusted.
  
• F-8E(FN) - launch G-limit has been removed for the Matra R550 Magic missile.
  
• Fw 190A-4 - guns have been divided into groups: low-calibre, high-calibre, and auxiliary.
  

[h2]Naval[/h2]

• A bug has been fixed where after crash landing, the catapults did not start reloading for the next launch .
  
• On ships with several hydroplanes, the launch marker no longer lights up when the hydroplane is launched.
  
• A bug with hull damage displayed in the hit camera has been fixed.
  

[h2]Other changes[/h2]

• A bug has been fixed where an artillery strike request prevented the correct execution of the nuclear blast scenario.
  
• “Show vehicles” button has been added to the terms of the regular event in order to display required vehicles in a separate window.
  

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.

Albatros is the lead ship from a class of 10 corvettes built for the Italian and other navies in the early days of the Cold War. Being the first domestically produced Italian warship of the post-war period, the Albatros will soon reinforce the top rank of the Italian coastal fleet tree, arriving in War Thunder as part of the next major update!

Albatros, gunboat, Italy, rank V
Features:

• Fast-firing 76mm cannons
  
• Compact size
  
• Up-to-date fire control system
  
• Radar
  
• Light protection
  

In War Thunder, the Albatros sub-chaser will become a new top vessel awaiting seasoned captains at rank V of the Italian coastal fleet tree in the next major update. Thanks to its powerful and highly versatile weapons, the Albatros sub-chaser can be employed in several different roles in War Thunder naval battles and as such, makes for a worthy vessel for captains to take command of after climbing to the top rank!

Having mentioned the Albatros’ weapons arsenal, it consists of several weapon systems of which the most prominent one is the ship’s primary weapon, namely the two 76mm SMP 3 automatic cannons. Possessing a high fire rate of roughly 60 rounds/min, the cannons can quickly engage and inflict serious damage to both lightly protected surface targets as well as airborne threats thanks to the availability of proximity fuze rounds. Furthermore, the Albatros’ arsenal also includes a pair of 40mm Bofors cannons, paired together in a twin mounting on the aft end of the vessel’s superstructure. Rounding off the ship’s weapons arsenal is a pair of forward-facing hedgehog launchers as well as two pairs of pneumatic depth charge launchers on the ship’s stern, which can help resolve an intense close-quarter engagement.



Albatros is powered by two 2,000 horsepower diesel engines and is therefore able to attain a top speed of roughly 20 kts (39 km/h). While this may not always match up to comparable vessels of other nations, it does enable the ship to confidently keep up with its allies and provide valuable second-line fire support. Furthermore, being a comparably small vessel allows the Albatros to easily enter more confined battlegrounds and bring its deadly firepower to bear on lighter surface targets.

However, being a relatively compact vessel means that little space is left to include any substantial protection for the vessel’s systems and 117 crew members. As a result, the ship’s hull and 76mm turrets feature only thin anti-fragmentation armour. Therefore, aspiring captains of the Albatros sub-chaser are well-advised to avoid prolonged gun engagements with enemies, particularly those that are also equipped with automatic high-calibre weapons or larger vessels such as destroyers or cruisers.



The Albatros sub-chaser will await all captains at the top rank of the Italian coastal fleet tree in the next major update coming soon. In the meantime, keep scanning the horizon for more news as we continue posting about all the interesting new additions and features awaiting players in the upcoming update. Until then, happy hunting and calm seas captains!

You can greatly speed up the research on this vehicle with Sparviero