Armored Warfare News

Commanders!

This week, we’ve prepared another set of attractive items for you:

• Elite Commanders
• AFT-10 Tier 10 Premium Tank Destroyer
• Stryker ADATS Tier 9 Premium Tank Destroyer
• BMPT Mod.2000 Tier 8 Premium Tank Destroyer
• AMX 10 RCR Tier 8 Premium Tank Destroyer
• PTZ-89 Tier 7 Premium Tank Destroyer
• Commander Loot Crate

Between March 18 and March 25, 2021, the following items will be available:


[h2]Elite Commanders[/h2]


Some of the most popular and requested commanders are making a comeback in bundles together with Insignia and Boost tokens chosen specifically to allow for their faster training.



The commanders available are:

• Alexander Cortez
• Alisa Korhonen
• Erin O’Connell
• Austin Harper
• Ophelia Kitescu

Please note that these bundles come with special Platinum Armored Warfare boost tokens, the best progress boosters available in the game. You can read more about them in our dedicated article.

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As for the commanders themselves, this guide will provide you with useful tips on how to configure their skills.






[h2]AFT-10[/h2]


The AFT-10 is a tracked ATGM carrier based on a ZBD-04 IFV hull that carries eight massive Red Arrow-10 guided missiles. In their latest version, these modern ATGMs are capable of devastating even the most modern MBTs at extreme distances and the AFT-10 was designed to do just that – to stop enemy assaults dead in their tracks. You can read more about it in our dedicated article.

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In Armored Warfare, the AFT-10 is a Tier 10 Premium Tank Destroyer. Its massive ATGM launcher immediately draws comparison with another Tier 10 vehicle, the Kornet-EM. But where Kornet-EM is all about speed, stealth and missile ambushes, the AFT-10 is about one thing and one thing only – uncompromising firepower. It is capable of unleashing devastating missile salvos that can knock out even Tier 10 MBTs in seconds. Additionally, its missiles have a very high penetration value, which means that no matter the angle, no target is truly safe from its reach.

The AFT-10 Tier 10 Premium TD is available in our Web Shop via Loot Crates. Collect 100 blueprint pieces from these crates to obtain the vehicle.






[h2]Stryker ADATS[/h2]


ADATS stands for “Air Defense Anti-Tank System,” describing its purpose very well. The system is intended to engage both air and ground armored targets. It was developed in the 1980s by a Swiss company called Oerlikon-Contraves and was offered as an interesting hybrid that would be able to deal with both Soviet tanks and helicopters or attack planes. Unfortunately for it, it came too late – only Canada would actually accept it in service and the end of the Cold War meant the end to all attempts at its large-scale introduction. The ADATS missiles were quite large but, more importantly, extremely fast and were certain to be extremely destructive to any Soviet armored targets, even though this thankfully never had to be tested in real combat. The ADATS turret was offered for a wide variety of platforms and was actively installed on a vehicle that is kind of like a cousin to the Stryker, the Canadian LAV-III. In this configuration, the vehicle was called MMEV.



In Armored Warfare, Stryker ADATS is a Tier 9 Premium Tank Destroyer. It is a wheeled vehicle armed with two weapon systems – powerful long-range guided missiles and short-range unguided rockets, offering it some survivability in short range combat as well as the ability to deal tremendous damage if left to its devices.






[h2]BMPT Mod.2000[/h2]


The BMPT Mod.2000 is, as its name suggests, one of the earliest models of the famous Russian BMPT series, also known under the name “Terminator.” The word BMPT stands for “tank support combat vehicle,” which is exactly what the machine was designed for – to accompany tanks to battle and support them (predominantly in urban environments) against enemy infantry. It consists of a MBT-class hull (a modified T-90 one) and an unmanned turret, armed with a single 30mm automatic cannon and a single four-tube launcher for Kornet-E ATGMs. This particular model was shown to general public in 2000, but didn’t get much attention. It was overhauled almost immediately to the iconic twin-autocannon configuration that’s being used to this day.

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In Armored Warfare, the BMPT Mod.2000 is a Tier 8 Premium Tank Destroyer. It’s a heavy duty vehicle with its hull offering excellent protection for its class. The turret, albeit lightly armored, only takes reduced damage. Even though this vehicle only features a single 30mm autocannon (unlike all the other BMPT series vehicles in the game), this is compensated by the presence of powerful ATGMs that make the BMPT Mod.2000 an extremely potent tank killer.






[h2]AMX-10 RCR[/h2]


The AMX 10 RCR is the updated variant of the French AMX 10 RC fire support vehicle by GIAT, originally developed in the early 1980s. This light and nimble wheeled 6x6 AFV was armed with a 105mm gun, allowing it to knock out even armored targets at considerable distances. Over 200 of these aging vehicles were upgraded by Nexter in 2010 with improved armor and electronics, enabling them to fulfill modern battlefield tasks until their eventual replacement by the Jaguar. You can learn more about its history in our dedicated article!



In Armored Warfare, the AMX 10 RCR is a Tier 8 wheeled Premium Tank Destroyer. It’s incredibly agile with its wheeled chassis allowing it to outrun pretty much any enemy on the battlefield save for the fastest AFVs. Its gun accuracy is also top notch, making this vehicle perfect for sniper-style gameplay as its thin armor can’t protect it against enemy shells at close distances. This vehicle also comes with the Hydraulic Suspension active ability.






[h2]PTZ-89[/h2]


Lacking any advanced main battle tanks in the 1980s as well as proper funding, China resorted to more creative means to destroy enemy MBTs, including gun-equipped tank destroyers. The PTZ-89, or Type 89, is one such vehicle. It was developed in the 1980s, but was only ever produced in small numbers. It was armed with an indigenous 120mm smoothbore gun with loading assistant. Its firepower was judged to be inferior to the Soviet 125mm smoothbore and the caliber was discontinued in the 1990s along with the production of this vehicle.



In Armored Warfare, the PTZ-89 Tier 7 Premium Tank Destroyer is an excellent tracked sniper. What it lacks in armor, it more than makes up for in its firepower, delivering lethal blows at long distances. It is quite mobile and easy to operate, a perfect addition for any vehicle collection.






[h2]Commander Loot Crate[/h2]


This week, we’ve prepared another special offer for you in the form of a brand new Commander Loot Crate, featuring, amongst other things, some of the rarest commanders in the game!



This Loot Crate gives you the opportunity to obtain the following items:

• Commander Ofelia Kitescu
• Commander Austin Harper
• Commander Alexander Cortez
• Commander Alisa Korhonen
• Commander Erin O’Connell
• Commander Jorge Alvarez
• Commander Joshua Seagrove
• Commander Fyodor Sokolov
• Platinum Commander XP Insignia tokens
• Gold Commander XP Insignia tokens

The mechanics are very simple. Each crate allows you to win one of the listed items (or its value in Gold if you have it already, in this case 1.000 Gold per commander).

To learn more about what's in a chest simply click on it, this will launch a small pop up window to show you what’s inside!

Please note:

After opening the crate, you will immediately roll on one of the items that are inside this Loot Crate and will see what you receive before you have to actually pay anything. No more random chances – you immediately see what you get and what you don’t. You can then opt to purchase the item you rolled on for the Loot Crate’s price. Until you do so, you will be unable to buy any other Loot Crate of the same type.





We hope that you will enjoy the offer and, as always:

See you on the battlefield!

Commanders!

For the upcoming Desert Storm Raid, we have already unveiled the T-72M1 used by Iraq, the British Challenger Mk.3 ODS skin and the French ERC-90 F4 skin. Now, we’d like to unveil the American reward of the event – the U.S. Marine Corps skin for the M60A1 Tier 4 Main Battle Tank.



First and foremost, let’s discuss the tank for a bit. We did not want to make an Abrams skin because we have one already (not exactly from the Desert Storm operation, but similar) and we also have the M1A1 Storm as a separate vehicle. The next obvious choice would be the Bradley, but the model we have is based on a later version. It would unfortunately be impossible to make a historically accurate Desert Storm skin for it. So, we went with the Marine version of the venerable M60A1 MBT.

For the M60A1, Operation Desert Storm was the last hurrah. The tank had been around since the early 1960s, having entered service as early as in 1961, and stayed with the U.S. Marine Corps until the 1990s (by 1991, it was, however, supposed to be phased out). By that time, it was completely obsolete, much like a standard T-54/55.

The reason why it stayed in the USMC service for so long was pretty much connected to the whole concept of the M60 series being interim tanks. When it came to tanks, the Marines were more or less at the bottom of the food chain with the coolest new toys generally going to the Army. What that meant was that by the time a vehicle was available to the Marines, it had often been generally obsolete.



Of course, this wasn’t a desirable state of things, constantly waiting for a new vehicle. In the 1980s, the USMC was offered a new tank – the Abrams – in the M1 version (with a 105mm gun). Not considering it as that big of an upgrade and being fully aware of the plans to upgrade it to 120mm in the foreseeable future, the Marines refused the early Abrams tank and decided to wait for the M1A1, which represented a major upgrade.

That is not to say there haven’t been any upgrades to the M60A1 available. The M60A1 fleet underwent a retrofitting program in the 1970s in order to improve its reliability. A gun stabilizer was added as well, as were plenty of other components. The series of upgrades eventually led to a version called M60A3 and the Marines had a few of those as well (useful for night fighting thanks to their thermal imagers), but by 1991, the mainstay of the USMC tank forces was still the M60A1 models.

At the beginning of the operation, the Marines were offered a switch to the Abrams, but this was, once again, refused due to a lack of training – the USMC preferred the vehicles its crews were familiar with. Compared to the M60A3 model, the M60A1 also featured superior protection in the form of an appliqué kit, which became available around 1988. This kit did improve the survivability of the vehicle, but it did have its own set of problems:

• It added two tons of weight to the vehicle (which created some suspension overload problems)
• It also wasn’t cheap and therefore it wasn’t available in large amounts

The U.S. Army was ditching the Pattons at that time, so all these kits eventually went to the Marines.

During Operation Desert Storm, the old Pattons performed admirably a knocked out a large amount of enemy tanks (including the T-72s), even though their performance was overshadowed by the Abrams.



On February 24 at 4 AM local time, the USMC forces were used on the eastern flank of the ground operation with the goal of liberating Kuwait City. Marine tanks fitted with bulldozer kits pushed through the minefields and right into Iraqi positions. The initial fighting was short and brutal and resulted in the surrender of thousands of Iraqi soldiers hours after the beginning of hostilities. In one instance, a Marine M60A1 shot an enemy T-72M at a very close distance right through with the APFSDS penetrator punching through the entire hull and exiting in the back. In another stunning case of success, the 2nd Marine Division captured the entire Iraqi 9th Tank Battalion with its 35 tanks intact with another three thousand prisoners taken.

In the end, the goal of liberating Kuwait City was accomplished in three days. The remaining Iraqi forces fleeing Kuwait were decimated in the famous Highway of Death incident that left the road west littered with hundreds of destroyed vehicles. The photo of it remains one of the iconic images and symbols of the Gulf War to this day.

After the end of the conflict, the phasing-out of the Patton series accelerated and the last U.S. Army unit to do so did it in 1997.



Unlike the Daguet skin, the USMC M60A1 skin does not represent one particular historical vehicle, but consists of elements of multiple USMC M60A1 tanks. The reason for this is that, in real life, the tanks were mostly rushed to the theater of war and repainted by hand, including the tactical chevron insignia.

The base paint is obviously a sand color and existed in a number of different shades, so there is no one “right” color for this vehicle. The chevrons on the hull and the turret do not signify specific tactical unit markings – they are there for various Coalition forces so that they can identify Coalition vehicles. They are mostly aiming down, but on some vehicles they also aim up, there were even cases on both up- and down-facing chevrons on one vehicle at the same time – it varies, as does their execution. Most were spray-can-painted, but some were made using brushes and paint, or even scotch tape.



The surface of the model looks appropriately worn-out with the paint chipping off and the engine grills blackened and rusty. These are old tanks and they have to look the part.

As you might have noticed, the vehicle does not feature the M9 bulldozer kit that the Marines used in real life to clear various obstacles and to traverse minefields. The reason for that is that such an upgrade goes well beyond the boundaries of what’s possible to implement as a skin. Removing it, on the other hand, makes the model no less realistic. Not all USMC tanks had this kit installed.



The vehicle is fitted with a lot of boxes and extra canisters for water and fuel. Both can represent life and death in the desert and the marines knew it well. The rear of the turret features a spare roadwheel.



On the right side of the tank, you can also find a spare camouflage net. We have also overhauled the fabric gun mantlet covers for the main gun and the cupola machinegun.



And last but not least, there’s the barrel. There’s a black barrel ring at the end of it, which was seen on more than one of these tanks. But more important is the name. This tank is called “Saddamizer” and yes, that’s a real tank name that existed, because of course it did. The text is complemented by an image of a sparsely dressed lady because of course it is. But that’s soldiers for you.



We hope that you’ll enjoy this skin as well as the others we are preparing for you. There’s one more skin remaining and we promise it looks epic. But that is a story for another time. For now:

See you on the battlefield!

On the 18th of March 2021, starting from 8:00 CET, the server will not be available for two hours due to a planned server maintenance.



Please note that the maintenance can be extended beyond the abovementioned timeframe. We apologize for the inconvenience.

Commanders!

For this year’s St. Patrick’s Day, we have prepared a number of interesting items for you. They include:

• Irish-themed Clover skin for FV721 Fox
• Challenger 1 Fionn Tier 7 Premium MBT
• Irish Green color for all vehicles
• Irish Green camouflage for all vehicles

The following special bundles are available for the next 24 hours only (until March 18, 11:00 CET)!


[h2]Clover skin for FV721 Fox[/h2]


This is a special St. Patrick-themed skin for the FV721 Fox. Please note that in order to apply it, you need to own the progression version of the FV721 Fox. Upon its application, the vehicle’s name will change from Fox to Clover Fox.



In Armored Warfare, the FV721 Fox is a Tier 6 Armored Fighting Vehicle. The FV721 Fox is one of the fastest and nimblest vehicles of Armored Warfare. It can dance around its opponents, unloading round after round of 30mm ammunition into their soft, rear areas, or destroy them from distance using guided missiles. It’s also one of the best spotters in the game, making it extremely valuable to any team it finds itself in.






[h2]Challenger 1 Fionn[/h2]


The Challenger 1 Main Battle Tank has always been a rather unique vehicle amongst the NATO forces. For one, it kept a rifled 120mm cannon when the rest of NATO switched to 120mm smoothbore shells. On the battlefield, however, it has proven to be a tough vehicle, completely outclassing its Soviet era opponents during Operation Desert Storm.



In Armored Warfare, the Challenger 1 Fionn is a Tier 7 Premium Main Battle Tank. It is one of the toughest vehicles of its tier. Its thick armor allows it to shrug off most hits while the 120mm rifled cannon is more than capable of dealing punishment on its own. The Challenger 1 is ideal for players who like to enter the thickest fights head on, advancing relentlessly through hailstorms of shells.






[h2]St. Patrick’s Day Visual Customization[/h2]


Last but not least, we’ve prepared the following customization options, available to all vehicles in the game.



The Irish Green color (St. Patrick’s) color is a dark green Base Color, applicable to all vehicles. Its rich hue comes out especially well with some other types of camouflages that change their colors depending on which base color you use. Please note, however, that this color is only available for the Armored Warfare summer maps.



The beautiful Clover camouflage (featuring, as its name suggests, clover shapes) is , on the other hand, available for every single environment and can be also applied to any vehicle that allows the use of camouflages.





We hope that you will enjoy the offer and, as always:

See you on the battlefield!

Commanders!

Today, we have a special offer for you. A veritable treasure trove of 10.000 Gold awaits you at a discounted price. You can find it until March 17, 23:00 CET, at the MY.GAMES Market.



Please note that this item can only be purchased once per user. You can find out more about Gold and its uses in our dedicated article.



See you on the battlefield!