🔫Nuclear Escalation: The Fight Continues!

We’re starting to test the updated Nuclear Escalation Mode!

The Nuclear Escalation event has launched in the Heavy Cavalry major update’s dev server! We’ve refined and improved the large-scale nuclear conflict that you experienced back in April. We’ve made numerous changes, but the main ones include:

Players can now fly their own aircraft from any nation

✅An AI-controlled fleet has been added to the mission
✅The overall front line has been increased
✅There’s also changes to game mechanics, various tweaks, improvements and new features. Let’s take a look at them below!

⚡️The Tension is Mounting!

All in-game nations can now participate in this version of Nuclear Escalation! Battle Ratings now range from 13.0 to 14.7, and the matchmaking system utilizes Battle Rating brackets within this range as needed, ensuring balanced encounters in every battle.

We’ve also expanded the front line: the line of contact has been extended to the mountains, increasing the map’s tactical depth. Carrier strike groups, supported by missile ships, have been added to control the coastal zone. More modern AI-controlled ground vehicles have been introduced for higher-rank battles in the mode as well.

🆕New Opportunities

We’ve made some major changes to the general event mechanics. The escalation system has been reworked, removing the need for strategic bombers with megaton bombs. Nuclear strikes will now be carried out with bombs of 5 and 30 kiloton yields, carried by the same aircraft that carry nuclear bombs in Ground Battles, depending on the Battle Rating bracket. The behemoths from the April event, the B-52H and Tu-95M bombers, may return as a separate Nuclear Escalation event in the future.

The match completion conditions have also changed. The main base is now easier to destroy, but destroying it no longer grants instant victory. Victory is now determined by the total number of points earned for destroying any target: enemy aircraft, AI-controlled vehicles, and airfields.

In addition, the marker system has been improved when viewing from an aircraft. Markers for ground and surface targets are now displayed depending on the angular size of the target, meaning that markers for buildings are visible 3-5 times further than markers for ground vehicles.

A new respawn mechanic has been introduced. Aircraft are now temporarily locked from respawing on the airfields from which they departed from. Respawning with the same aircraft from other airfields is possible immediately. This change is intended to prevent players from instantly returning to combat in the same position and encourage more cautious, tactical behavior.

And finally, the minimap now features tooltips for respawn bases. Hovering over them provides information about the airfield’s status. This new feature simplifies navigation and improves situational awareness for the team.

The fire control system for air defense vehicles has undergone significant changes here too. Target filters have been implemented, meaning that air defense systems will now engage guided missiles (especially air-to-air missiles and surface-to-air missiles) significantly less frequently. This will only occur if there are no aircraft in the firing range and the air defense system considers the missile an immediate threat.

Testing of the updated Nuclear Escalation mode has begun on the dev server! Please be sure to give it a try, and report any issues that you encounter. We’d also like to hear your suggestions for improving the mode. We’re planning to launch Nuclear Escalation on the main War Thunder servers as a game event soon. Until then, have fun!

🐸Yak-130 and M-346FA: A Common Beginning

The Russian Yak-130 and the Italian Aermacchi M-346 are two combat-trainer aircraft that emerged from the same project.

🇷🇺Yak-130: An Attack Aircraft for the USSR at Rank VI
🇮🇹M-346FA: An Attack Aircraft for Italy at Rank VIII

At a glance:

▪️Subsonic
▪️Radar, HMD, countermeasures and air-to-air missiles (on M-346FA)
▪️Compact dimensions
▪️Impressive arsenal
▪️Excellent controllability and high thrust-to-weight ratio

👋Introducing the Yak-130 and M-346FA!
In the Heavy Cavalry major update, we’ll be introducing two combat-trainer aircraft, created through a collaboration between Russian and Italian aircraft manufacturers. Meet the Yak-130 and M-346FA!

❗️The Yak-130 is featured in the game in its early production variant, which lacked countermeasures. Because of this, we’ve decided not to add the R-73 missiles that this aircraft could actually use to avoid placing it at an excessively high Battle Rating. We do plan to add a more advanced Yak modification in future updates, but for now at rank VI, the Yak-130 acts as a pure attack aircraft, without air-to-air missiles and countermeasures, which is why its Battle Rating is lower than the M-346FA.

On the other hand, the M-346FA features all of the bells and whistles needed for full-fledged air combat (including longe-range!). Together with a wide arsenal of air-to-surface guided weapons, the M-346FA is set to become a very versatile force at rank VIII for Italy.

🔼You can greatly speed up the research of the Yak-130 and M-346FA with these packs:

🔹Su-25K Pack
🔹MiG-29 Sniper Pack

⭐️Monthly Decals for June!

Hey again everyone! We’re happy to be back with some new unlockable decals for June! We have a handful of new inscriptions this time around, all three of which were suggested by you! So as always keep the suggestions coming, if the decal is fitting and interesting we try and work them into future plans where possible.

We’re happy to reintroduce Foxy Few and the Finnish bat which were previous monthly favorites, and we hope you like the new La Surprise emblem as well. We’ll add a few more French ship badges to the game permanently in the next major update, so look out for those too!

🏪The following decals are available from June 11th (11:00 GMT) until July 9th (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.

That’s all from us today, thanks for your interest as always, and make sure to keep leaving your own decal suggestions on the forum! We’re closing in on the major update now, so hopefully these monthly side-quests will keep you occupied in the meantime. Have fun and see you soon!

🏆The Pro League Major II has Concluded — The Challenger League Awaits!

Last weekend marked the conclusion of the WTCS Pro League Major II, the second pro major event of the War Thunder Championships Series.
In the end, Team Invictus secured first place and strengthened their position in the standings with 130 points. Close behind, Team Fivesticks claimed second place with 87 points, while Team LEGION completed the podium in third place with 82 points.
This second Major has further shaped the race for the championship, with Invictus delivering a dominant performance, taking 1st place on the overall leaderboard, and Fivesticks and LEGION proving they remain strong contenders as the season progresses, getting respectively 3rd and 7th place on the overall standings.

🥇Congratulations to Team Invictus on their victory in Major II!

A huge congratulations to Leozander from Invictus for being named MVP of the WTCS Pro League Major II!
With a standout performance throughout the tournament, Leozander left a lasting impression on fans and competitors alike. His most memorable moment came during the final weekend, when he secured a spectacular kill using an air-to-ground Kh-38MT missile fired from his Su-30SM, a decisive play that helped secure victory for Invictus and cemented his place as the tournament’s MVP.

A special shoutout also goes to OpsBan65_ from FiveSticks, who finished 2nd in the MVP voting after consistently delivering strong performances throughout the event.

Rounding out the Top 3 is C0COJAMBO, also representing FiveSticks, whose impact and reliability across the Major earned him 3rd place in the MVP rankings.
The WTCS Pro League Major II showcased some exceptional individual talent, and these three players undoubtedly stood out as some of the competition’s brightest stars.

📝Register Now For The Qualification Stage of WTCS Challenger League Major II!

As the season moves forward, with the Pro League now behind us, it’s time to shift our focus to this year’s new format: the Challenger League.

After each Open Qualifier, four teams will advance to the Playoff stage. For full details about the competitive structure and what to expect this season, make sure to read the War Thunder Championship Series 2026 Plans news, which breaks everything down.

Open Qualifier I: June 20th to 21st
Open Qualifier II: June 27th to 28th
Playoffs: July 4th to 5th and July 11th to 12th

Open Qualifier I Stream: June 20th to 21st
Open Qualifier II Stream: June 27th to 28th

Matches will be broadcast in multiple languages to ensure the best viewing experience, including English, Russian Channel
All matches will be broadcast live also on YouTube, so make sure to tune in and follow the action in real time!

🌐🌐💬Stay Connected

Make sure to follow us on our social media channels to stay updated with match schedules, highlights, exclusive content, and future events on X and Instagram.

Join the Discord community, participate in some giveways, support your favorite team, and be part of the action throughout the entire 2026 season!

🛍Esports Bundle - 2026 Season

▪️Esports Veteran Pack - Season 2026
▪️Winter Warrior Esports Pack - Season 2026

🖼New Camouflage Management Features and New Decals!

Today we’re taking a look at new unlockable decals, updated logic for automatic tank camouflage application, and a “Favorites” category for decals and decorations!

💅Camouflage Management

Recently we’ve been working on refining the process of automatic camouflage selection in battle, and these changes have come right from your suggestions. You suggested that we account for marketplace camouflages, to be able to edit the auto-selection list, and to exclude unwanted skins from it entirely.

Today we’d like to cover another improvement. We’re sure that each of you have your favorite camouflages, whether they were earned from in-game events or tournament streams and drops. Everyone wants to see it in battle as much as possible (without turning into a brightly-colored target on winter maps though!). Previously you could switch to a different camouflage by selecting it before spawning, but in the heat of battle, this was easy to forget.

At your request, we’ve refined the automatic camouflage system: you can now designate any available camouflage as your default. Let’s go through a quick example. Let’s say you have 3 camouflages, “Forest 1” is the regular default, but you also have “Forest 2” and “Winter 1”. If you change your default to Forest 2, whenever you load into a forest map, Forest 2 will be automatically applied each time. But, if you load into a winter map, Winter 1 will be automatically applied instead.

So effectively, if your new default is a suitable camouflage for any given map, it will always be applied, but if it is not suitable and you have a more suitable alternative, this alternative will instead be used. No more losing precious seconds swapping around camouflages! Thank you for this suggestion, keep sending in more and we’ll keep working on improving your favorite features.

⭐️Add to Favorites!

Over the years, a truly enormous number of decals have been added into the game. Around a thousand are available at any given time, and we routinely add more through Monthly Historical Decal events and various specials. Understandably, you’ve probably amassed quite the collection of decals too, and likely have favorites that you like to use more than the rest. You’ve asked us for a way to separate your favorite decals and decorations, and in the Heavy Cavalry update we’ll add this as a feature! There will be a new “Favorites” menu for both decals and decorations, simply click the favorite icon and build your own personal list of special markings and 3D decorators.

🔫Decals and Decorations on Composite SAM Systems

Composite SAM systems are an integral part of high-rank ground battles, and as such you’ll want to be able to customize them too. Previously you could only apply decals and decorations to the main vehicle, the auxiliary vehicle would mirror your camouflage but nothing else. In the major update, you’ll be able to fully customize these additional vehicles! Give them a fresh coat of paint and your favorite markings, and thank you for suggesting this feature!

🆕New Decals!

It’s been a while since we’ve routinely added new decals to the game on a permanent basis, but in the Heavy Cavalry major update we’ll start to add decals for nations that currently don’t have any, or have very few. Below are some examples of what we’ve been working on.

✅French Navy
✅Japanese Navy
✅Hungarian Aircraft

That’s not all though, among examples listed above, the update will include more decals for the Italian Army and Navy, the Chinese Army and Air Forces, and the Indonesian Air Forces! In future major updates we’ll steadily add more decals for nations that are missing some options as well.

That’s all from us for today, customization is an integral part of War Thunder, so we hope you like these new features and be sure to check out all the new decals when the Heavy Cavalry update releases!