▶️How Aircraft Stay Connected to Their Weapons

War Thunder features guided weapons with all kinds of different guidance systems. Today, instead of focusing on any one type of missile or bomb, we’re going to look at how aircraft communicate with their weapons after they’ve already been launched or released.

🌌🌌🌌Meet the “Sky Odyssey” Major Update!

Welcome to Sky Odyssey! This major update introduces a diverse selection of new vehicles, including aircraft and tanks from Greece, the CA-27, the Indian Arjun Mk 1, and the Indonesian Harimau. Additionally, Darwin Hill, set within the landscapes of the Falkland Islands, has been added as a new map for Ground Battles. Beyond new vehicles and maps, enhancements include updated reward mechanics for instances when enemy players abandon a tank or vessel and improved overall survivability for bomber aircraft. There’s also multiple user interface refinements in the hangar, notably to the preset functionality and submodes appearing under the “To Battle!” button, including Nuclear Escalation, Naval Confrontation and Bullet Hell, which are now permanent modes.

‼️Be sure to check out the changelog to see all the improvements, vehicles and other features that we’ve included in this major update.

▶️Lightly Armored Sharpshooters: Modern Light Tanks

In the second half of the 20th century, the traditional weight-based classification of tanks became a thing of the past. Today, the focus is more often on highly-versatile main battle tanks, or MBTs, and combat support vehicles. Different countries interpret the latter category in different ways. Sometimes it includes tracked vehicles with powerful guns — that are a bit like spiritual successors to classic light tanks. Today, we’ll look at the most interesting vehicles in this category in War Thunder, from Rank 6 onward.

😄Thunder Show: 10,000 KICKS

Welcome to Thunder Show and the most delicious moments of the past week!

▶️F-16XL: The Space Falcon

Some vehicles in War Thunder are especially long-awaited by players. A perfect example is this experimental General Dynamics project, which has finally made its way into the game as the main reward of the Space Program event. We’re talking, of course, about the F-16XL. Be honest, were you waiting for this one? Then welcome aboard!

🍂Autumn Contest for Camouflage Creators on WT Live

We are launching the Autumn Contest for custom camouflage creators on WT Live — participate from September 18th to November 1st.

We received a lot of fantastic camouflages during the previous contest, so this time the prize pool has been expanded: there are now 15 prize places! Newcomers have an equal chance of winning as the veterans of the portal.

We will pay special attention to the camouflages submitted for this contest when selecting content for future Camouflage Trophies — this is your chance to see your camouflage in the game and join the Revenue Share program.

❓Creating a camouflage for the first time? In our Wiki article, we’ve covered the entire process in detail — from setting up your tools to final publication on WT Live.

📜List of vehicles for the Autumn Contest

This season, we invite you to create camouflages for the following vehicles:

🇺🇸USA: M36B2, F4U-4B
🚩USSR: T-54 (1947), Su-9
🇩🇪Germany: Leopard 2A4M CAN, Fw 190 F-8
🇬🇧Great Britain: Churchill VII (1944), F-4J(UK) Phantom II
🇯🇵Japan: M4A3 (76) W, MiG-29 (mig_29n)
🇫🇷France: AMX-50 (TOA100), F8F-1B (France)
🇨🇳China: ZTZ88B, J-10C
🇸🇪Sweden: SAV fm/48, JAS39D Gripen
🇮🇹Italy: T-72M1 (Hungary), Tu-2 (Hungary)
🇮🇱Israel: Magach 1, Kurnass

🏆Prize Pool

Instead of traditional placements, we have divided the winners into three groups (5 creators in each). We have prepared excellent rewards for the top fifteen authors:

1️⃣ st Group (5 winners): A Store pack worth up to 70€
2️⃣nd Group (5 winners): A Store pack worth up to 50€
3️⃣rd Group (5 winners): 5,000 Golden Eagles

‼️Rules and Conditions
▪️Platform — WT Live https://live.warthunder.com/
▪️Theme — historical and semi-historical camouflages only.
▪️Deadline — submissions open on September 18th and close on November 1st at 20:59 GMT.
▪️Number of entries — unlimited, but one author can only win one prize.
▪️Hashtag — you must add the #autumn_camo_contest_1 tag to your post, otherwise your entry will not be considered.
▪️References — each submission must include historical photographs and/or a text description indicating the real camouflage or source of inspiration. Submissions without this will not be considered.
▪️New and reworked submissions — we accept camouflages created after the start of the contest, as well as older works that have been significantly reworked specifically for it. Re-uploading camouflages to old posts created before the start of the contest is not allowed — please publish your reworked skin as a brand-new post.
▪️Judging criteria — judges will evaluate texture quality, historical accuracy, and attention to detail.
▪️Community rules — submissions must comply with the community guidelines. Entries that violate these rules will not be eligible.
▪️Jury — platform moderators and the UGC Trophy curator.

▶️Cruiser Chervona Ukraina: A Ship of Two Eras

One of the most important and painful events in the history of the Russian Navy in the early 20th century was its defeat in the Russo-Japanese War. After the losses suffered by the Pacific squadrons, the naval command began seriously considering a major modernization of the fleet. The war had exposed numerous shortcomings: from logistics, reconnaissance, and communications to the armor and armament of the ships themselves.

▶️Explosive Reactive Armor Types

These days, explosive reactive armor on a tank is hardly surprising. Boxes and plates of every imaginable shape and size have long become a familiar part of armored protection. But how do the different types of ERA actually work? Get comfortable, and we’ll explain.

▶️War Thunder CDK Update (18 September 2026)

Patch Notes

▪️Support for the new heightmap storage system on levels
▪️Support for new 3ds Max versions, including 2027
▪️UI improvements in daEditor and Asset Viewer, including the daBuild window
▪️Added support for mathematical expressions in numeric input fields
▪️The application now restores its last used window position and size on startup

➡️Download Current Version