War Thunder News

Ever heard of an ATGM that doesn’t use a shaped charge? Well meet the American LOSAT tank destroyer — equipped with guided missiles that feature a kinetic penetrator!

[h2]LOSAT, ATGM Carrier, USA, Rank VII. Event Vehicle.[/h2]

Features:

• Unique kinetic ATGMs.
  
• No vertical traverse.
  
• Great mobility.
  
• Ineffective at close range.
  

The main tank prize of the Tokushu Heiki crafting event will be the American experimental LOSAT anti-tank system. Featuring a launcher for 12 ATGMs with kinetic armor-piercing cores on a highly mobile chassis — you've definitely never seen something like this before!



At the heart of the LOSAT project are its unique guided missiles. Instead of the standard shaped-charge warhead regularly found on such weapons, the LOSAT missiles utilize a reinforced core, which is accelerated to hypersonic speeds. The principle of this ammunition is functionally quite similar to tank-fired APFSDS rounds, only the missiles fired by the LOSAT have a significantly greater mass.

In flight, these missiles are conveniently guided by a laser beam, but their launch has certain peculiarities. Firstly, the entire ammunition load of 12 missiles are all ready to go in the launcher, but the launcher itself can only traverse horizontally. Once fired, for the first few seconds the missile tends to dip in its trajectory until its engines provide the required propulsion for steady flight. In combat, this means that it's nearly impossible for the operator to accurately hit close range targets, or even guide the missile if there are obstacles in front of the vehicle. Additionally, due to the kinetic warhead, the missile achieves its optimum armor penetration after its engines fully kick in, so even if the missile does connect at close range it won’t have much power behind it.



The platform of the system itself will be familiar to tankers who have experience with the CCVL. It's a mobile platform with a top speed of up to 70 km/h and a quick turn rate for swift adjustments to positioning. The compromise of this mobility however is, no surprise — the armor, which is only bullet-resistant and made of light alloys, so it doesn't offer any tangible protection.



The unique LOSAT tank destroyer will only be available during the Tokushu Heiki crafting event, which starts on September 26th. This vehicle is certainly a special one, we hope you enjoy adding it to your collection! Make sure to check out all the details of the event and how to take part this Monday on the 25th with the news article — See you then!

On September 22nd, 1970 the Soviet VTOL light strike aircraft Yak-38 performed its maiden flight — it was the first operational carrier-based VTOL fixed-wing aircraft in the Soviet Navy. It was designed especially for Project 1143 heavy aviation cruisers and served almost exclusively on them.

[h2]The Yak-38 is available for Golden Eagles and is here to stay![/h2]

[h3]

When: From September 22nd (10:00 GMT).

[/h3]



[h3]About the aircraft[/h3]

• The Yak-38 is a versatile aircraft that is great at attacking targets both in the air, on the ground, and in the sea, as it has access to powerful S-24B rockets, Kh-23M AGMs and R-60 AAMs. Its ability to perform vertical takeoff and landing opens up new tactical possibilities, and it reaches its max speed very quickly!
  

• The relative control mode for “Yaw axis for aimed weapons” and “Pitch axis for weapons aiming” control settings is set to off for standard control settings.
  
• Wind settings for trees have been adjusted so that they look more natural.
  
• By default, brightness and contrast have been added to the dynamic tone mapping setting for a richer picture.
  
• The modern U.S. flag on stat card images has been corrected.
  
• The progress of Steam achievements is now displayed.
  

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.

[h2]Aircraft[/h2]

• Ju 87D-3 — a bug that made it impossible to go into battle with this aircraft has been fixed. (Report)
  
• F-16C Block 50 — the position of the LITENING II targeting pod camera has been adjusted. (Report)
  
• Tornado IDS ASSTA1 — the glass texture has been fixed. (Report)

[h2]Ground vehicles[/h2]

• A bug where the amount of loaded ammo did not match the amount selected before a match has been fixed. (Report)
  
• The settings for collision damage have been adjusted to reduce speed loss when colliding with concrete, brick and stone fences.
  
• Object 279 — the hull armor has been fixed. (Report)
  
• T30 — the ammo rack position has been corrected. (Report)
  
• Strv m/42 EH — the gunner’s position has been fixed. (Report)
  

[h2]Missions[/h2]

• [Operation] Battle for Vietnam now uses updated base bombing logic, where the location of bases depends on rank of the match. The number of possible base positions has been increased.
  
• For Air RB and Confrontation missions, the required amount of HP for bombing bases at the top ranks has been reduced.
  
• An issue where anti-aircraft guns covering ground vehicles could shoot at aircraft that did not pose a threat to them or other ground vehicles has been fixed.
  
• Excessive accuracy of anti-aircraft guns covering bombing bases in specific Air RB and Confrontation missions has been fixed.
  

[h2]Interface[/h2]

• Now, when the conditions for getting a flag are met or a flag is purchased, a flag icon is displayed in the messages menu, similar to decals.
  
• A bug that could cause the map to not display in [Confrontation] naval missions if it was opened for the first time when the player was in a catapult aircraft has been fixed.
  

[h2]Sound[/h2]

• The volume of allied ground vehicle engines when there is a large concentration of them around the player has been reduced. This does not apply to the volume of enemy ground vehicle engines.
  
• The engine sounds of the Abrams and T-64 series of tanks has been adjusted, with the aim to make them sound more realistic.
  
• Message pauses have been added for the “Limit Angle of Attack” and “Ultimate Overload” speech messages for “Mouse Aiming” and “Simplified Controls” control options.
  
• A bug that could cause crew voice messages to play after the player’s ship had sunk and been destroyed has been fixed.
  
• A bug that caused RWR sounds to remain after an aircraft was destroyed and after respawning in a ground vehicle 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.

Battlecruiser Kurama, the most advanced Ibuki-class ship, will be the grand naval prize of the upcoming Tokushu Heiki event!

[h2]Kurama, battlecruiser, Japan, rank V. Event Vehicle.[/h2]

Features:

• More firepower in the form of auxiliary weapons.
  
• Improved armor protection.
  
• Low speed.
  

Battlecruiser Kurama will arrive at Japan's Bluewater research tree as an event vehicle which can be obtained during the upcoming Tokushu Heiki event that starts on September 26th! Kurama offers 305 mm main battery guns, an excellent selection of auxiliary caliber weapons, and alongside this, good armor protection — but with this, low speed and maneuverability, and a fairly long reload time. Let’s dive into the details!



The closest relative of the upcoming Battlecruiser Kurama is the classic pre-war cruiser Ikoma. Kurama can be seen as the result of development of Tsukuba-class ships, although not all plans to improve these ships came to reality. Let’s compare them — what do these two pre-war ships have in common, and how do they differ? To start, their combat capability is similar in the form of 4 x 305 mm guns in two turrets that have excellent armor for this time period. Next, the hull itself is also well protected, with the Kurama’s armor in general being superior to the Ikoma — and thanks to this extra thicker armor at the bow and stern, the Kurama’s survivability is increased!

The main difference between these two ships lies with their additional weapons. 6 x 152 mm guns in casemates along the sides are replaced with 203 mm guns, with four guns on each side. It’s certainly worth noting that 203 mm guns are typically the main caliber for Heavy Cruisers, but on the Kurama they’re additional auxiliary guns. A large gun on pre-war ships typically means a longer reload, and unfortunately the Kurama is no exception to this, meaning each volley that you fire will require careful aiming.



In addition to the long reload times, we’d also like to mention that the Kurama is slow — coming in with a top speed of just 21.25 Knots (39.3 km/h). The Kurama also lacks fast-firing anti-aircraft guns, as these types of guns were simply not needed around this period of time. Having said this, the Kurama can still hold up against aircraft at medium altitudes, which sets it apart from many ships of the First World War time period.



Want to add the Kurama to your classic pre-war naval collection? If you do, it’s going to be available to obtain in the upcoming Tokushu Heiki event, with the details surrounding this event being released on September 25th. Stay tuned to our news and see you soon!