‼️ Scheduled Maintenance on 22.04.25

On April 22nd at 07:00 GMT, we plan to conduct a brief update of the matchmaking infrastructure. As a result, the game servers may be unavailable for about 10 minutes.

The rules for calculating the average Battle Rating in Air Arcade Battles have been simplified. Previously, the rounding of the rating could depend on the number of aircraft in the crewslots when a player used fewer than three aircraft. For more details on matchmaking based on average Battle Rating, please check out the article on the Wiki.

Thank you for your understanding!

⚔️Try out “Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses”, An Asymmetrical Battle for Air Supremacy!

Get your pilot helmets on, it’s time for a new challenge! Today, we’re presenting the “Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses” (SEAD) event — a new asymmetrical game mode where one team takes on the role of the attackers, and the other team defends strategically important S-75 SAM positions.

Take part in this two day event and test out some new mechanics that we’re working on!

🏪When: From April 22nd (11:00 GMT) until April 24th (11:00 GMT).
You can access the event from the hangar through: Events & Tournaments -> Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses

❓How the event works

The defending team in this event must protect AI controlled Soviet S-75 surface-to-air missile systems. Helping to defend these systems are AI controlled ZSU-23-4 “Shilka” anti-air vehicles. Both of these potent air defense systems pose a deadly threat to the attacking team — they’ll need to learn the terrain, come up with approach tactics and use the right selection of weaponry to be successful.

🎯Roles and Objectives

Attacking Team

Your mission is to destroy all S-75 SAM positions at all costs! Not only do the attackers have aircraft, they also have helicopters, opening up new possibilities for stealthy attacks and pinpoint missile strikes. The F-4E Phantom II serves as the primary strike force, equipped with rockets and bombs for ground targets, along with air-to-air missiles for engaging enemy aircraft. The AH-1F is armed with ATGMs and rockets, capable of providing more precise air-to-ground fire to take out the air defense missile systems.

Defending Team

Your mission is to defend the S-75 positions from the attacking enemy! Coordinate your actions with other players and build a layered defense to counter the attacking team. You’ll be equipped with the MiG-21bis, armed with air-to-air missiles to repel the enemy.

❗️Event Features

Here are some key event features that are useful to know:

▪️The gameplay in this event is asymmetrical. One team attacks and the other defends. This requires you to adapt to different roles and strategies.
▪️There’s no markers in this mode, so you’ll not see enemy markers on the map. Use your aircraft’s systems and piloting skills to find and destroy the enemy.
▪️Each player has 3 respawns, giving both teams the flexibility to experiment with tactics, and giving the attacking players the ability to use different types of vehicles.
▪️For the first time in an air mode, the attacking team has access to both helicopters and planes, offering unique opportunities in coordinating attacks to take enemies out from afar and support friendly planes.
▪️All players that have an aircraft of rank V or higher in their hangar can participate in the event.
▪️The vehicles that you’ll use in the event are automatically assigned and don’t need to be purchased.
▪️Vehicles have the spawn cost in SL, which will be refunded if the plane is not destroyed when the mission ends or if you exit the plane in the safe exit zones. The amount of refunded SL depends on the condition of the aircraft.
▪️Safe exit zones become available for aircraft once all the weapons of a certain type have been expended. If you have spawned in with air-to-ground weaponry, you will need to use all of it, air-to-air missiles are not taken into account, however, if you have spawned in with just air-to-air missiles, you will need to use all of them.
▪️You’ll be able to earn research points and Silver Lions by taking part in the event.

➡️LEARN MORE

🛠It’s fixed! №104

Today, we’ve rounded up and will be going over some of the bug fixes and improvements that we’ve made to the game today and over the past few weeks. If you’d like to catch up on every fixed bug, then be sure to check out the changelog section on our website.

✅Full synchronization

After a small update, a desynchronization issue that caused a difference in what the player saw and how the server assessed the situation, was discovered in the game. This problem affected ground vehicles, and the faster vehicles moved the more noticeably the server and client readings had discrepancies. We received several reports detailing this problem and want to thank everyone who submitted one! This issue was fixed shortly after it was discovered.

✅Interface Improvements

We’re always working on improving the user interface to make it a better experience for all players. We’ve now increased the number of players that you can add as friends and to your blacklist to 300.

In the chat menu in the hangar, the message delay is now separate for each chat, and the inactive “send” button displays a timer showing how long it will take until the next message can be sent. If your message is marked as spam by the system and not sent, you’ll now be notified about it and a timer will start until you can send it again.

Now let’s talk about some changes to the achievement menu in the player profile. First up is the names of operations in the Pages of History and other similar sections. We’ve made some visual improvements to them, long titles now fit on one line instead of being wrapped. We’ve also made it so that for events, you can now click on the Mark of distinction task from the main event section to go straight to the corresponding task.

We’ve also fixed a bug that prevented you from sending chat messages in the Custom Battles lobby screen, and made a ton of other UI fixes and improvements. Be sure to check out the full changelog for them all!

✅Faster Replenishment of Scout vehicles

Capturing points not only brings your team closer to victory, but also allows you to replenish your ammunition right in the heat of battle. You can also replenish reconnaissance vehicles that were used too, such as Scout UAVs in ground battles and scout Hydroplanes in naval battles. To ensure that players don’t have to wait too long for scout vehicles to return to service, we’ve halved the time it takes to replenish them in Realistic Battles to 45 seconds (was 90 seconds).

✅Small objects that caused bumps

There was an issue where ground vehicles might behave weirdly when driving over small destructible objects like tables, chairs and fences. These objects should have turned into dust when run over and not affect a ground vehicle’s movement in any way — but instead, vehicles would sometimes ‘bump’ upwards. This has been fixed.

✅Issues when minimizing the game

There was a bug for PC players who minimized the game but left their ground vehicle driving in battle. If the game was minimized for a longer period of time while the vehicle was moving in battle, the turret rotated backwards, where upon tabbing back in, the turret was aimed in the wrong direction. This bug has now been fixed!

That’s not all
You’ll find the full list of improvements in separate update notes. Here’s some more: the sound of the nuclear siren no longer lags significantly behind the spawning of the nuclear weapon carrier, the principle of unconditional detection of enemies in ground vehicles has been reworked, and the hint about the enabled cyclic switching of radar targets no longer appears when using the horizontal targeting axis of the radar.

➡️Update 2.45.1.65
➡️Update 2.45.1.61
➡️Update 2.45.1.58
➡️Update 17.04.2025

✈️The FFA P-16 is Now Available on the Anniversary of its First Flight!

The Swiss FFA P-16 prototype attack aircraft first took to the skies on April 25th, 1955. A year later, the second prototype broke the sound barrier. Due to one of the test aircraft crashing, the Swiss government canceled the order for the P-16 and today only one example exists, located at the museum in Dübendorf

🇨🇭🇩🇪The FFA P-16 is now available for Golden Eagles and is here to stay!

This jet is available for 9,090 Golden Eagles.
When: From April 25th (10:00 GMT).
Where: Germany > Aviation > Premium vehicles.

About this aircraft
▪️The FFA P-16 features two powerful 30 mm Hispano HS 825 cannons and hardpoints that can carry 200 to 1000 kg bombs, incendiary bombs, Type R80 rockets and Flz Lwf 63 air-to-air missiles (AIM-9B).

🇮🇹A Decal for the 80th Anniversary of the Liberation of Italy!

The Italian Partisan Liberation Committee declared the beginning of an uprising against German troops occupying northern Italy and the remnants of Mussolini’s fascist regime on April 25th, 1945. Four days later the Germans agreed to capitulate, causing the unrecognized Italian Social Republic to cease to exist. The date of the beginning of the uprising was chosen as Italy’s Liberation Day — and today is the 80th anniversary.

⭐️Get the “Italy Liberation Day 2025” decal!

You’re able to earn this themed decal in honor of this day.

When: From April 25th (12:00 GMT) until April 28th (12:00 GMT).
Task: Play 3 battles using Italian vehicles at rank III or higher to receive the “Italy Liberation Day 2025” decal!

Additional details:
▪️Your activity must not be below 70%.
▪️You can complete the task in random battles, except for Enduring Confrontation missions, and [Assault] mode.
▪️Track your progress in the hangar by clicking Nickname → Achievements → Holidays → Italian Liberation Day.
▪️You can find the decal in the “Holidays” tab in the customization menu.

🛠Update 2.45.1.76

Battle Ratings
❗️The planned Battle Rating changes have come into effect.

Aircraft
▪️UH-1D (Germany), UH-1B, UH-1C, Mi-8TB (Germany), Mi-8TV, Mi-24A, SA.342L Gazelle, Mi-24D (Italy) — modification to unlock ATGMs has been moved to Tier I in the modification research.
▪️UH-1B (Japan) — the number of rocket pods with 19 x FFAR Mighty Mouse rockets has been increased from 2 to 4.
▪️XP-50 — air respawn ability has been removed.

Ground Vehicles
▪️Vextra 105 — OFL 105 G2 shell and the modification to unlock it has been added.
▪️E.B.R. (1954) — PCOT-51P shell has been added.

Naval Vessels
▪️A bug that caused the “Camera Shake” option to not affect camera shake intensity on ships has been fixed.
▪️A bug that caused turrets to sometimes still not adjust fire to the crosshair in Naval Arcade Battles and instead fire at the wrong location has been fixed.

⛩A Tokyo Tower Decal for Golden Week in Japan!

Four holidays in Japan are celebrated within the same week. Showa Day, Constitution Day, Greenery Day and Children’s Day are celebrated from April 29th to May 5th. This is a long vacation and a reason to relax and have fun. We’re joining the celebrations with a new decal in War Thunder!

⭐️Get the “Tokyo Tower” decal!

Play some Japanese vehicles to get yourself this new decal!

When: From April 29th (10:00 GMT) until May 2nd (10:00 GMT).
Task: Play 3 battles using Japanese vehicles at rank III or higher to receive the “Tokyo Tower” decal!

📜Pages of History (May): Road to the Reichstag

In this month’s Pages of History, you will find yourself in the midst of key historical events across different theaters of war. Indonesia and Madagascar, Italy and Berlin — take part in battles using vehicles corresponding to these historic conflicts and earn rewards!

🏪From May 1st until May 31st, you’ll have access to 8 tasks consecutively. Completing each task will grant you a trophy with a reward, completing all of the tasks will earn you a unique player icon!

👨🏻‍🦰Stepan Andreevich Neustroyev
was a Soviet officer who commanded the 1st Rifle Battalion of the 756th Rifle Regiment in the 150th Rifle Division from 1943 in the Baltic, Vistula-Oder, East Pomeranian and Berlin. In Berlin, his regiment stormed the main entrance to the Reichstag — both Mikhail Yegorov and Meliton Kantaria, who raised the Soviet banner over the building, served under Neustroyev. Neustroyev was supposed to carry the Victory Banner at the parade on Red Square on June 24th, 1945, but was unable to do so due to a leg wound. Later, the Victory Banner was donated to a museum.

❗️You can immediately purchase this profile icon for Golden Eagles until June 3rd (11:30 GMT) without completing tasks. To find it, go to your Nickname → Achievements → Pages of History.

🎁Trophy reward for each task

Completing each individual task will give you a 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 backups;
▪️Premium account for 1 day;
▪️A random camouflage for ground vehicles (out of the selection of camouflages currently obtainable in game for completing tasks, or purchasing with Golden Eagles).

Other terms
▪️Tasks are available from 11:00 GMT until 11:30 GMT on the final day of each task.
▪️Tasks can be completed in random battles except for “Assault” mode.

You can read a detailed description of which task is for which day and your overall progress by going to your Nickname → Achievements → Pages of History.

❓Does anybody know what this thing on F-111 is for?

🔥🔥🔥The Big May Sale in War Thunder!

It’s time for some sweet deals! Buy vehicles and their modifications, backups, talismans and Premium Account time during the next week with a big discount. In a week, be sure to visit the Gaijin.net store to check out pack discounts as well!

🏪When: From April 30th (11:00 GMT) until May 7th (11:00 GMT)

🛍Discounts on vehicles

▪️30% discount on vehicles from all nations when purchasing with Golden Eagles and Silver lions. The discount is valid on all vehicles throughout the entire sale period.
▪️Discounts don’t apply to the purchase and upgrade of Squadron vehicles and vehicles that were released in the Storm Warning and Hornet's Sting major updates.

⭐️Discounts on upgrades

▪️30% discount on modifications
▪️30% discount on talismans
▪️30% discount on backups

🛍Discounts on Premium Accounts

▪️50% discount on Premium accounts for 90 and 365 days for Golden Eagles in the hangar.
▪️50% discount on Premium accounts for 180 days in the Gaijin.net Store.

🛍Discounts in the Gaijin.net store

🏪When: From May 7th until May 14th

Packs with rare vehicles at good prices await you. We’ll tell you about the contents of these packs, as well as the size of the discounts soon. Keep an eye on the news!

🛠Server Update 30.04.2025

▪️R2Y2 Kai (all variants) — these aircraft have been removed from research today as announced and planned. Players who owned them or who put at least 1 RP into them keep them in their research tree. For more information, please visit the news post from February here.
▪️A bug that caused the AN/ALR-46(V)3 and AN/APR(V)1 RWRs to not recognize the S-75 SAM radar has been fixed.
▪️F-15E — a bug that caused the AGM-65D camera to lack the IR channel has been fixed.

⭐️Legend of Victory: T-34-85 “Partisan”

80 years have passed since May 1945, when the Second World War in Europe ended. It’s time to celebrate Victory Day! In this event, you’ll be able to get a decorated Soviet T-34-85 that was used in ‘45, decals dedicated to the capture of Berlin, and a profile icon of Grigory Brazhnikov.

🏪From May 8th (11:00 GMT) until May 20th (11:00 GMT), earn mission points in Ground Battles, unlock stages and receive rewards!

🚩T-34-85 “Partisan” — A Premium Medium Tank for the USSR at Rank III

The T-34-85 was a symbol of victory for the USSR over Nazi Germany. This medium tank is generally an all-rounder, featuring good mobility, decent protection and good firepower. In honor of Victory Day, a decorated version of the T-34-85 tank with a classic 85 mm ZIS-S-53 gun, decorated with a red banner and special identification marks is available in this event. The T-34-85 “Partisan” has a new, highly detailed model, and in the next War Thunder major update we plan to update the other older T-34-85 models as well.

In 1945, Lieutenant Grigory Brazhnikov took part in street battles in Berlin in a T-34-85. The tank company under his command cleared 32 city blocks, with Brazhnikov himself claiming to have destroyed an enemy medium tank and a Ferdinand. In total, Brazhnikov achieved 16 victories during the war.

🎁Rewards are given when you complete a specific number of stages
▪️For 1 Stage: trophy with a random reward
▪️For 2 Stages: one of the decal rewards
▪️For 3 Stages: trophy with a random reward
▪️For 4 Stages: one of the decal rewards
▪️For 5 Stages: “Grigory Brazhnikov” profile icon
▪️For 6 Stages: non-tradable coupon for the T-34-85 “Partisan”

➡️LEARN MORE

🕵️‍♂️Community Update No.6: Updating You On Some Things You Can Expect in the Near Future!

Today we’re back with some updates on what you can expect from the game in the near future. We’ve got some sneak peeks and interesting information to share with you today, so sit back, grab your favorite drink and read on! We’ve also changed the title of this series to better reflect the content.

❗️Disclaimer: While we’re excited to be able to share work-in-progress information before dev blogs, the dev server and the full release, please bear in mind that new features, vehicles and maps mentioned in this news are subject to change, be delayed or be canceled. War Thunder is constantly being developed, and as with all game development, unexpected delays or other unforeseen circumstances may occur. Thank you for your interest!

✅Reflecting on the SEAD event test
✅Next Event Vehicles
✅World War Mode
✅The Upcoming Major Update

▪️Vehicles
▪️Talking about a top-tier French premium tank
▪️Map Visual Upgrades
▪️Falklands Island map for air battles
▪️Tooltip Improvements
▪️VFX Updates
▪️Fuel Dumping

➡️LEARN MORE

There is of course more things in the works coming in the major update, we haven’t mentioned everything in this news. We’d like to thank everyone for their continued comments and interest in War Thunder. See you next time!

🚀Try Out “Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses” Again This Weekend!

Last week, we introduced a short test for a new mode called “Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses” (SEAD). We saw your enthusiasm, and today we’re happy to be bringing it back for the weekend with some changes and additions mainly based on feedback!

🏪When: From May 2nd (14:00 GMT) until May 5th (04:00 GMT)

You can access the event from the hangar through: Events & Tournaments -> Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses

If you missed the first test and would like to catch up on everything regarding this mode, then be sure to check out the original news post below.

🔼Changes from the first test

▪️Players are distributed a bit more randomly at the front when spawning in at a random spawn point
▪️Enemy planes near allied spawn points are highlighted on the map (like in Ground Realistic Battles)
▪️Afghanistan has been removed, and the following maps have been added: Sinai, Spain, Rocky Canyon, and Southeastern City
▪️There are now 12 players on the defending team instead of 16 (this was changed near the end of the first test, where the win percentage for the Attackers then raised to a far more reasonable level)
▪️The reward in Silver Lions and research points for destroying the SNR-75 tracking radar has been doubled
▪️Mission score for destroying the SNR-75 tracking radar has been tripled to 270
▪️Mission score for destroying launchers, Shilkas and detecting radars (P-12) has been unified for the Cobra and Phantom and increased to 135

🏆Watch the WTCS TITAN Major Play-Off and Get Yourself Awesome Twitch Drops!

The War Thunder Championships Series has begun! The last two Qualifying weekends have been intense, with amazing action and great tactical plays. With almost 800 players registered, 8 teams have emerged from the crowd to secure their ticket for the play-off phases. They will now face each other in a double elimination bracket and BO5 matches. Their objective you ask? To finish in the best position to earn maximum points and get a head start on the season!

Everything is all to play for, two majors remain to secure a place in the Grand Final in November 2025!

📱Live streams with Twitch Drops!

During each weekend, you'll have the opportunity to acquire amazing camouflages while watching the matches live.

🏪When: May 3rd-4th and May 10th-11th from 14:40 GMT

Watch WTCS TITAN only on the official English, German, French, Polish and Russian War Thunder Esport channels

1st weekend, May 3rd-4th
🔹50% RP Booster for 10 battles
🔹50% SL Booster for 10 battles
🔹1 Day of premium
🔹Infantry Backpack
🔹“TITAN” decal
🔹2S19M1 “Rapid Response” camouflage

2nd weekend, May 10th-11th
🔹50% RP Booster for 10 battles
🔹50% SL Booster for 10 battles
🔹1 Day of premium
🔹“Titanomachy” title
🔹“Fresh paint” profile icon frame
🔹F-18C late “BlueBird” camouflage

Login to your Twitch account → link your Gaijin account → click “Allow” to be able to receive Twitch Drops!

⭐️31 New Skins Now Available in the ‘WTCS Trophy I’!

The new WTCS Trophy is now complete, with camouflages created by authors on WT.Live! This new wave of additions includes 31 camouflages for different vehicles: 17 aircraft, 12 ground, 1 helicopter and 1 ship. We’re continuing to showcase vehicles with unique creations by our artists.

Like the previous Esports trophy, the new trophy can be obtained by simply playing regular War Thunder battles. In the future, it’ll also be possible to obtain with an increased chance by participating in Esports events in War Thunder tournaments! PlayStation and Xbox players can purchase the trophy in the Item Shop for Golden Eagles.

To open it, you’ll need to purchase a key on the Market (income is shared with the authors of the camouflages). You can either activate the coupon on your account, or trade it on the Market to get Gaijin Coins (GJN). A trophy can be sold as well!

➡️TO THE MARKET

🛍Don’t miss the Thunder Tactiks Pack

The Kit Includes:
🔹Unique decal: "Thunder Tactiks"
🔹Unique camouflage: Bf 109 F-4 "Thunder Tactics"
🔹Unique camouflage: Sd.Kfz.234/2 "Thunder Tactics"
🔹300 Golden Eagles

⭐️Monthly Decals for May!

Hello again! We’re back with a new selection of historical decals and markings for you all to unlock and customize your vehicles with. We hope you liked the selection for April and hope you enjoy the picks for May as well!

Thank you to those of you who have posted your decal suggestions, we’ll be adding a few of them over the next few months, so keep them coming! Also, feel free to let us know what previous decals you’d like to see return for future months — “Scottie” for example was included this month as it was requested. We cycle these decals equally, so for example as America got a new ground decal last month, they have an old air decal this month and so on, so we’ll try and work in suggestions based on the plan.

🏪The following decals will be available from May 7th (11:00 GMT) until June 6th (09:00 GMT).

❗️All tasks can be completed using vehicles that are rank III or higher.

All of the emblems will come with a detailed description. This will generally consist of the history of the marking, its design, which vehicles used it, and where it was often placed on vehicles historically if applicable (some emblems are taken from badges, which weren’t always applied). This way you can more easily recreate the original positioning if you’d like.

We hope you like May’s selection! Thank you for all of your feedback and suggestions, we’ll see you in June!