Armored Warfare News

Commanders!

Today we’ve prepared the following items for you:

• Object 490 Tier 10 Premium Main Battle Tank
• BM Oplot Tier 9 Premium Main Battle Tank
• M-95 Degman Tier 8 Premium Main Battle Tank
• ZUBR PSP Tier 7 Premium Tank Destroyer
• BWP-2000 Tier 7 Premium Armored Fighting Vehicle
• MT-LB S8 Tier 6 Premium Armored Fighting Vehicle
• Iron Crate (this time with ZTQ-15)

Between February 4 and February 11, 2021, the following items will be available:


[h2]Object 490[/h2]


The Object 490 Main Battle Tank was an advanced concept from the waning days of the Soviet Union. Designed in the 1980s, it represented a radical departure from the MBT paradigm. Its distinct wedge-like shape, along with the fact that the crew was located in the back, offered unparalleled levels of protection. But the most interesting part of the design was its double suspension paired with two engines, allowing the vehicle to stay mobile even after suffering significant damage. However, the conclusion of the Cold War put an end to this design, along with many other advanced Soviet projects. You can learn more about this vehicle in our dedicated article.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

In Armored Warfare, the Object 490 Tier 10 Premium MBT is perhaps the best armored vehicle in the game. It’s a true behemoth that is almost impossible to slow down, let alone knock out, and concentrated effort is required to stop one of these things when encountering them on the battlefield. The combination of extremely thick armor and a powerful 152mm gun makes this tank incredibly deadly, even though these advantages are balanced by its mediocre agility and the fact that its gun is only forward facing. This MBT is ideal for you if you prefer slow, methodical advances while dealing massive amounts of damage with each shot. If you keep your flanks secure, you’ll be all but impossible to stop.

The Object 490 MBT is available in our Web Shop via Loot Crates. Collect 100 blueprint pieces from these crates to obtain the vehicle.






[h2]BM Oplot[/h2]


The Oplot is a heavily upgraded T-84 Ukrainian Main Battle Tank, which is based on an older design called T-80UD. It is currently the best tank the Ukrainian military industry can offer. You can read more about its history in our dedicated article.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

In Armored Warfare, the BM Oplot is a Tier 9 Premium Main Battle Tank with a playstyle similar to the T-80U. Power-wise, it’s roughly on par with the T-90MS of the same Tier, but it has a very unique ability. Its advanced Duplet armor consists of several ERA layers, making it able to negate more than one HEAT shell impact. It takes several precise hits aimed at the same location to break through it, making it a very resistant vehicle on the battlefield.






[h2]M-95 Degman[/h2]


The M-95 Degman is an advanced Croatian prototype MBT, developed during the 1990s and 2000s. It is based on the previous Yugoslavian project, the Vihor MBT, which in turn has its roots in the improved T-72M series produced in former Yugoslavia. You can read more about its history in a dedicated article.



In Armored Warfare, the tank is relatively fast and fairly agile while carrying some potent firepower for its Tier. In fact, its owners can choose from two powerful guns:

• 125mm 2A46 Russian-style smoothbore gun, known from many Russian MBTs
• 120mm CTG NATO-style smoothbore gun that you know from the Challenger 1 Falcon MBT

It’s worth noting that the 120mm shells have higher penetration values and the gun can also fire Falarick ATGMs while the 125mm gun has higher damage per shot. Both guns will feature good handling as well as overall performance to offset the vehicle’s weakness, which is its mediocre armor. The Degman must rely on its mobility and firepower to survive, making it an ideal vehicle for aggressive, daring players.






[h2]ZUBR PSP[/h2]


The ZUBR was a Czech privately-funded project by PSP Bohemia from the 1990s to develop a successor platform to the aging Soviet-era BMP-series IFVs and various other obsolete specialized vehicles. Even though it was quite advanced for its time, it was ultimately unsuccessful due to the end of the Cold War and the subsequent cuts in European military budgets, including the Czech one. You can read more about it in our dedicated article.



In Armored Warfare, the ZUBR PSP is a Tier 7 wheeled Premium Tank Destroyer. What makes it fairly unique is the fact that you can choose from two different weapon systems for this vehicle:

• Cockerill CT-CV turret with 105mm gun
• Four-barreled TOW ATGM launcher

Each of these weapons changes the gameplay style of the vehicle considerably and it is up to you, how you configure this powerful machine.






[h2]BWP-2000[/h2]


The BWP-2000 IFV was a Polish attempt from the mid-1990s to develop a replacement for the license-produced BMP-1 in the Polish military, since it was getting obsolete by that point. Its protracted development led to its cancellation at the onset of War on Terror, leaving Poland without a modern tracked IFV to this day. You can read more about it in our dedicated article.



In Armored Warfare, the BWP-2000 is a Tier 7 Premium Armored Fighting Vehicle armed with 60mm cannon as well as a set of ATGM launchers. When it comes to AFV playstyle, the BWP-2000 is definitely more of an infantry carrier and fire support vehicle than a scout due to its large size and powerful armament as well as the ability to deploy Mechanized Infantry. It can take quite a bit of punishment and deal it in equal measure.






[h2]MT-LB S8[/h2]


The MT-LB S8 (also called Strela-10 RSZO) was unveiled only recently as the means for Ukraine to combine two items they did not need by themselves in order to use them effectively during the Civil War. The first one, not quite useful to the Ukrainians by itself, is the Strela-10 self-propelled SAM – its deployment is quite limited due to the fact that the separatist forces do not have any air force. The second item is an aircraft or helicopter rocket pod that is used to fire 80mm S-8 unguided rockets. Together, they form an ad-hoc rocket launcher. You can read more about it in our dedicated article.



In Armored Warfare, the MT-LB S8 is a unique Tier 6 Armored Fighting Vehicle. What makes it stand out? Its armament, of course. This AFV does not have a lot of armor, nor is it incredibly fast, but it can fire its two full rocket pods (each has 20 rockets) within 30 seconds or less. The rockets have HEAT-MP projectiles and are absolutely deadly against practically any target, but especially against those without composite armor. On the downside, the rockets are unguided and quite inaccurate. This vehicle is not for the faint of heart!






[h2]Iron Crate[/h2]


We’ve prepared for you an additional offer this week. Between February 4 and February 11, 2021, the Iron Crate will be available on MY.GAMES Market with 50% discount!



The mechanics are very simple. This crate allows you to win one of the vehicles listed in its description (or its value in Gold if you have it already). The crate contains some very rare vehicles.

For a full list, please visit the MY.GAMES Market Iron Crate page.





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

See you on the battlefield!

On the 4th of February 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!

We’d like to invite you to another round of the Bounty Hunt event, in which you will have the opportunity to hunt down some Armored Warfare members of staff or VIPs and destroy them in battle for amazing prizes! This time, we’ll be focusing on some Battle Path content and prizes.



On Thursday, February 4, 2021, between 18:30 and 19:30 CET, log in to Armored Warfare and play Tier 8 PvP.

We, the staff-members and moderators, will be joining the battles in our 9P157-2 Khrizantema-S Battle Path reward vehicles and if you manage to destroy one of us, you will be awarded with 2.500 Battle Coins and a 14 day temporary version of the Khrizantema-S Tier 8 Premium TD.

The following staff and VIP’s will take part in the event:

• MaciekM4a4
• M3pit
• waidler
• Eisenherz
• Eskobar68
• Silentstalker
• Tenam
• ThePsychocat
• PanzerMarmelade
• WODZU123098
• deathman254
• ONEMANCLAN
• Dayan78
• Max_Insanity
• Noobdown
• Sorenou

They will also identify themselves at the beginning of each battle by a chat message.

The rules of the contest are very simple:

• Team-Killing will not win you a prize, unless you count a ban and contest disqualification
• You don’t need to make a note of who you destroyed (although it doesn’t hurt); we’ll keep track
• You can win as many times as you want, they are no limits per player
• The temporary Khrizantema will only be awarded for your first kill, any further kills will be awarded by Battle Coins only
• Rewards will be distributed after the end of the event

We look forward to seeing you on the battlefield!

Commanders!

This year marks the 30th anniversary of Operation Desert Storm, one of the last great wars of the 20th century, in which a coalition of mostly western powers soundly defeated one of the strongest armies in the Middle East in a record time. The breakneck speed of western armor advances in combination with an effective air campaign left the world stunned with Russia and China realizing that their equipment and tactics were severely outdated. In China, Operation Desert Storm was the initial impulse for a major arms modernization push, which included the development of the current generation of Chinese MBTs.



Highway of Death, one of the most recognizable events of Operation Desert Storm, April 1991

This year, we’ll be running a series of events and contests dedicated to this anniversary and you have a lot to look forward to! But, before we get into the details, let us first talk a bit about what led to the conflict in the first place.

Kuwait and Iraq – the history of conflict between these two countries runs deeper than most realize. Kuwait’s fortunes waxed and waned throughout the centuries. The relevant portion of the story, however, started in 1899 when it came under British influence and became a protectorate, but it wasn’t until the discovery of massive oil deposits that the country became rich, starting a major population and immigration boom. By 1953, less than 200 thousand people lived there. By 1990, Kuwait had a population of over two million people. In 1961, Kuwait gained its independence as a part of the collapse of the former British Empire. The transition was peaceful and one of the milestones of Kuwait’s prosperity.




Al Jahra, a Kuwaiti brigade-strength unit participating in the Yom Kippur War on the Arab side, 1973


In contrast, the situation in Iraq, Kuwait’s neighbor, was all but calm. Iraq had been a kingdom for decades, but the regime was weak and corrupt. It was overthrown in 1958 by a military junta, which led to many years of unrest. As it often happens, the junta needed to at least appear strong and one of the results was that immediately upon Kuwait’s declaration of independence, Iraq laid claims to it as a part of its historical territory. The situation started heating up and only a timely British intervention (along with an influx of fresh troops) defused it.




Iraqi Centurions Mk.5/1, 1957


Of course, the Iraqi had no love for the British. Worries about Iraqi-German collaboration during the Second World War led to the 1941 British military occupation of Iraq. The British then influenced Iraqi politics well until the 1958 coup. After that, the orientation shifted towards the Soviet Union since the Soviets were cleverly playing the card of anti-colonialism. Of course, it was all politics – the Soviets held their Arab allies in low regard, but their position made them ideal to cause some trouble for the British. And so did the Soviets and their satellite countries offer hundreds of armored vehicles, millions of small arms and dozens of airplanes to Iraq, Syria and other countries in the region.




Iraqi T-55, 1984


Despite the typical failures of military regimes combined with the byzantine nature of middle-eastern bureaucracies seasoned with socialist ineffectiveness, Iraq actually did fairly well the next two decades. It profited heavily from the Yom Kippur War and the subsequent oil crisis and, unlike the Syrians, its army did not suffer any major losses during the vicious fighting. The oil profits allowed Iraq to build substantial foreign currency reserves, becoming rich indeed.

But the Middle East is rarely stable with one element playing a major role in the chaos – religion. The 1979 revolution in Iran installed a hostile, religious regime right across the border and it didn’t take long before the cold war between the two countries became a hot one. The resulting Iran-Iraq war absolutely devastated both sides. Due to its distance from Europe and poor information access, the war doesn’t typically occupy a lot of space in our history books, but it had been without any doubts one of the most brutal clashes of the 20th century. Both sides unleashed a whole array of horrors upon each other, including gas attacks, torture and ethnic cleansing.

In this war, both sides were often supplied by the same parties and both sides wanted to buy whatever weapons they could get their hands on. As a result, by the time the conflict ended in 1988, Iraq found itself not only with destroyed industry and infrastructure, but also deep in debt that could not be paid by Iraqi old export – the 1980s oil price drop would have devastated its economy even without the war. Simply put, economically, Iraq was at the end of the rope.




Iranian M47, Iran-Iraq War


But it wasn’t only the oil that caused Iraq trouble – Iraq was short on allies as well due to the traditionally tense relations in the region. During the war, it enjoyed the support of several middle-eastern countries such as Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates because they were more afraid of hostile Iran than they were of Iraq. As soon as the war ended, these countries abandoned Iraq, content that both potential rivals were sufficiently weakened. In fact, especially Saudi Arabia made the situation deliberately worse by steadily pushing the oil prices down in an effort to ingratiate itself into the West.

At that point, Saddam Hussein (Iraq’s de-facto ruler since 1979) was running out of options. The West wouldn’t help because its public was influenced by the reports of the atrocities both sides had committed during the war. The Soviets were effectively on the ropes. There was some trade going with the USA, Britain and France, but the entire yearly volume of the trade with the USA was roughly 3 billion USD per year. The entire yearly oil export of Iraq amounted to roughly 10 billion USD per year. In comparison, the accrued wartime debt of Iraq in 1988 was approximately 100 billion USD with another 100 billion USD required to repair the war damages.




Kuwaiti M-84 MBT, a Yugoslavian variant of the T-72M


In 1990, Saddam Hussein requested the debt to be frozen – one of the biggest creditors was Kuwait with 14 billion USD owed, but other Arab countries lent Iraq money as well and they weren’t about to let it off the hook. The request was not only declined, but Iraq received an insulting counter-offer instead, one that would damage Saddam’s position in the eyes of his own people. They knew he’d never accept – and they were right, he didn’t.

Instead, Saddam accused Kuwait of stealing Iraqi oil and of war profiteering, effectively declaring the debt void. He went even further, accusing Kuwait of sabotaging the Iraqi war effort. These were strong words even for typically aggressive Arab rhetoric and, to hammer his point home, Saddam sent forty thousand of his elite Republican Guard troopers to the borders with Kuwait on July 19, 1990.

Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak attempted to defuse it by leading several rounds of negotiations between the two parties and he seemed to have succeeded at first, but, in reality, the course towards one of the last great wars was already set. Based on the previous accusations, Iraq made a claim that Kuwait owed them 10 billion USD in reparations. Kuwait, at that point terrified of being occupied, agreed on 9 billion USD in order to save its face. This was a strategic mistake – by agreeing, Kuwait effectively validated all the claims made by Iraq, even if the entire demand was not met. This haggling in turn allowed Saddam to interpret this as an insult. The die was cast and, one hour after midnight on August 2, 1990, a hundred thousand troops and more than two thousand tanks moved into Kuwait. There was some fighting and the Iraqi did take some losses, but Kuwait, mostly due to its small size, fell within 12 hours, allowing Iraq to plunder its riches at will.




Raging oil fires in Kuwait, 1991


And here’s where we’ll stop for the day. In the next part of the series, we’ll discuss the Iraqi army of 1990, we’ll touch on the defensive battles in Kuwait and we will even tell you more about the upcoming Armored Warfare events. Stay tuned and, as always:

See you on the battlefield!

Commanders!

The PvE difficulty called Heroic, available only to Battalion players, is the ultimate PvE difficulty level of Armored Warfare that normally requires a full platoon of five players. Previously, a duo of extremely skilled players conquered several of these missions.

But now, the entire community of Armored Warfare must bow to a new king, because player Azdule has accomplished something never seen before and previously thought impossible; Azdule won the fourth Heroic Special Operations chapter alone, without any help, proving the undisputed mastery of European players once and for all.

In the video below, you can see how he did it:

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

For this extraordinary feat, the Azdule will receive an extraordinary reward: a skin unavailable to any other player. Cogratulations and, as they say:

Hail to the king, baby!