Hi everyone! Today we’re back with another Community Update, which goes into what you can expect to arrive in the upcoming major update and further into the future. So sit back and relax, and read on!
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 even cancelled. 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!
Free Decal Code
We are bringing back the “Student Pilot” decal, so if you didn’t manage to get it before, now is your chance!
Simply enter code STUDENTPILOT here!
- Once you’ve logged in, the decal can be found under Decals > Special > Other.
The decal code will remain active from the publish date of this news until October 30th (10:00 GMT).
Nuclear Escalation and Bomber Damage Model Comments from BVV_d
If you missed the Nuclear Escalation and bomber damage model update from Game Director BVV_d, make sure to give it a read here! About Nuclear Escalation and the Bomber Damage Model by BVV_d
Plans for the Next Major Update
Freezing Your Login Streak
Login streaks provide players with rewards for consecutively logging in, including different trophies and special decals for logging in consecutively for a long time. However, login streaks can be lost if players don’t login even for a couple days, maybe due to internet outage, vacation or real life commitments. We understand losing your login streaks can be demotivating, so we’ve worked on a feature to help you with this.
We’re now making it possible for the game to freeze your login streak automatically if you don’t login. To do this you need to collect “Freezes”, where one can obtained per 12 days of logging in. You can earn up to a maximum of 30 per account.
For example, if you login daily for a 6 months period, you’ll have collected 15 “Freezes”, meaning you now have some for the game to freeze the login streak for quite some time. You decide to take a 2 week summer vacation in July, where you’ll be away from your device.
The “Freezes” that you collected will be automatically used to freeze the login streak while you’re away. When you log back in after vacation after not logging, the Freezes will be consumed. Your login streak will continue where it left off.
You will have to accumulate more to get more freeze days. This feature is available to everyone by default.
New Vehicles
We wanted to talk a bit about the vehicles coming in the next major update! While we can reveal some here, the rest you’ll be able to see through the trailer and dev server, so keep an eye on those! 👀
Right, let’s dive into some of the ground vehicles you can expect. China will be receiving the ZBD04 IFV, and the Dutch Cheetah PRTL will be arriving to France to support the SPAA line.
A Thai Firefly Mk 1 and an Indonesian Avia B-33 will be introduced for Japan, providing more flexible ground attack options.
Cockpits
As always, the new major update will come with some new and updated cockpit models. One we can show you today, is the French SE.203 Aquilon 203’s cockpit. The aircraft was introduced in the last major update and will be getting its fully updated cockpit model now. It has several key differences between it and its Sea Venom cousin, so check out some of the work in progress images below:
New and Updated Weaponry in the next major update
GCS-1: Coming to Japan in the next major update will be the GCS-1. This is a self-guided bomb that can lock onto large targets emitting heat within the IR range (for example, ships), which cross into the view of their homing head. This is an entirely new type of guidance that isn’t quite the same as anything else in game bomb wise: it is released like a free-fall bomb, but in flight, it activates a search mode and locks onto the target autonomously. So a unique one for sure! You can look forward to this one on Japanese platforms that carried it soon.
Sea Venom: The Wildcat HMA.2 introduced in the last major update will have its available arsenal expanded with the addition of its Sea Venom anti-ship missile. These are work in progress for a future major update (perhaps not this one, but if not this one, the one after). A total of 4 can be carried using its maximum capacity in place of the Martlet and SPIKE missiles. Much like the AJ.168 Martel missile, this is an Anti-Ship missile that can also hit ground targets. The main difference being in the seeker, as the Sea Venom uses an IR seeker compared to a TV one. As well as the seeker difference, the Sea Venom has datalink, enabling Man-In-The-Loop guidance. Let’s cover that in some more detail next!
Man-in-the-Loop for Helicopters : When we introduced the Man-in-the-Loop mechanic for aircraft weapons in the Heavy Cavalry major update, we mentioned the mechanic would be coming later on for helicopters, as we first wanted to expand the range of available MITL capable weaponry open to nations across their respective helicopters. With the addition of some of the new helicopters and weaponry for them last major update, we’re now ready to move forward with this plan and introduce Man-in-the-Loop guidance for helicopters in this major update. We would also like to note, we are considering increasing the BR of all helicopters that will have this feature. All of the AH-64E Apache variants (USA, Britain, Japan, France, China) and AH-64D-I Seraph in the in game will have this feature via the SPIKE NLOS, as well as the EC-665 Tiger HAD Block 2 (France), AH-129D, H145M and Israeli AH-60 via SPIKE ER. The Wildcat HMA.2 will have both SPIKE NLOS as well as its new Sea Venom missile in a future major update that also features MITL guidance, as well as the LMUR on the Mi-28NM and the CM-502KG on the Z-10ME.
For MITL generally (both helicopters and aircraft), we are also planning on refining the aiming feature to allow you to adjust the point of aiming on the target mid flight, which is useful when targeting tanks and larger targets like ships!
WE177A: For Nuclear Escalation, a brand new nuclear bomb will be joining the game. The British WE177A is a standard free-fall nuclear bomb that can be carried by Tornado GR.1 in game. This was the last Nuclear Bomb used by the RAF, with the Tornado being the last aircraft to carry it. You can put this new nuke to the test in Nuclear Escalation!
Aster-30 PIF-PAF: In a future update this year (perhaps not this one, but if not this one, the one after), the Aster-30 missile will receive a new feature known as the “PIF-PAF” steering system. In short, this allows the missile to utilize its side directional thrusters, which expel gas to the sides of the missile to allow it to have enhanced manoeuvrability during the terminal phase against an aggressively manoeuvring target. This will enhance the effectiveness of the missile during the later stages of its flight course, as it gets close to the target. Due to the inertialess application of control forces, this type of control allows for almost instantaneous corrections to the G-force during multidirectional manoeuvrers, making it more difficult for the target to evade such a missile with a sharp manoeuvrer.
Since the force applied to the missile is generated by the rocket engine, the missile receives additional lateral acceleration 1 second before impact, regardless of its own available G-force, which can be useful when attacking targets at high altitudes or distances, where the missile’s own available G-force is no longer sufficient to successfully engage the target. This additional method of control at the end of the missiles trajectory improves the missile’s target guidance accuracy, resulting in a higher probability of intercepting small, high-speed targets such as ballistic or anti-radiation missiles. Keep an eye out for this one on the SAMP/T systems!
Cluster Bombs: That’s right! An entirely new type of weapon will be coming to the game. It’s too soon to go into the details fully just yet, as we have more to reveal on this later. However this new type of bomb will be perfect for Nuclear Escalation and taking out columns or groups of armoured vehicles. These are specialist anti-tank bombs generally designed to cover an area rather than a specific point or target. We should note, these bombs won’t be available in standard Ground Battles. But it will be a weapon unique to Air Battles, primarily for Nuclear Escalation. Stay tuned to the news for more ahead!
Mosquito wing bomb racks and Martlet Rockets: Major updates always feature lots of new weaponry choices and expansions for existing vehicles of all ranks. This one won’t be any exception to that. The fighter bomber series of Mosquitos will be receiving a new wing mounted bomb rack, allowing for the installation of 250lb and 500lb bombs. This is a different rack to that found on the Mosquito B Mk XVI currently and required a new visual pylon model. Additionally the Martlet Mk IV, the British version of the Wildcat will receive its RP-3 rocket racks, allowing for enhanced CAS possibilities with these aircraft!
Map Reworks for Sun City and American Desert
We’ve worked on making visual upgrades to the Sun City and American Desert ground maps.
Events
We’re into the final three months of the year now, which is typically the busiest time for War Thunder! Today, we’re letting you know some planned events that you can expect from now leading up to the end of December.
Please keep in mind that plans can change, meaning events might move around, be postponed, or new events not mentioned here may be added. Thanks for your understanding!
October
Right, let’s first off start with what you can expect for the remainder of this month. As you may be aware, the next Battle Pass will be beginning on October 21st, and with it are two German Second World War premium vehicles! There will be one tank destroyer that you may be familiar with, and a coastal boat! As we always do, the Battle Pass news will be announced before the start of it, so please keep an eye out for that so you know what’s coming!
Next up, at the end of October you can expect our traditional Dreams Come true event with one vehicle reward for War Thunder’s birthday. We’ll be doing our birthday discounts like we do yearly as well.
November
War Thunder’s birthday celebrations will continue from October into November as you may expect! However, that’s not everything we have planned, as we also have plans for another event. This event is one that we ran last year and can be seen as a little “extra” event that will start at the beginning of mid-November.
And lastly, after War Thunder’s birthday Dreams Come True event concludes, we’ll be starting a naval event for a US coastal vessel.
December
December, the month of holidays and celebrations! This month will be packed with festive events. First off, when the naval event concludes, we’ll be running a tank vehicle event for a Chinese mid-tier tank, which will start in early December.
That’s not the only event though! Save up your Silver Lions, as a fan favourite, the Silver Lion trophy will be making a return in mid-December!
And last but not least, we’ll be running a winter vehicle event in December, with four vehicle rewards instead of just one. This event will run into January 2027 as it usually does. More details will be revealed in time!
Snail Plushie
A friend will soon™ be deployed…
Until the next one
That’s it for this one, we hope you enjoyed reading it and gaining insights into our future plans. Stick around, as in December we’ll be releasing the final Community Update news of 2026. Thanks guys!
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Hang on…
…here’s one more thing lurking at the bottom…
