Aural Warning Systems are used in many aircraft as a way of quickly conveying important information to the pilot in high stress situations.
Currently in War Thunder there are 4 distinct types of aural warning sounds you will hear in the cockpit:
The Radar Warning Receiver:
This is a universal sound for every aircraft fitted with an RWR. Whether the aircraft is Russian, Chinese, Swedish, or American they all have the same sounds.
The Missile Approach Warning System:
Like the RWR sounds the MAWS sounds are universal across all aircraft that feature it.
The Voice Warning System:
The VWS has 3 distinct versions, an America, a Russian, and a Chinese system.
"Bitchin" Betty - US
RI-65 "Rita" - Russia
Xiao906 - China
All Russian and Chinese aircraft each use their respective VWS for all aircraft with VWS enabled. All US planes with VWS use “Bitchin” Betty along with all Western / NATO aircraft too such as for British, French, Italian, and Swedish aircraft with VWS.
AoA Warnings:
This type of sound is the least used as it is only present on some aircraft with AoA limiter toggles (F/A-18’s for example:
(Note the rapid high pitch beeping amongst the RWR and VWS sounds.)
And also on some aircraft such as the A-10C:
Currently the 3 types of full VWS each fit their respective nations:
- Rita is found on all Russian/Soviet aircraft that feature VWS (MiG-23/25/29, Su-25/27/30/33/39 etc)
- Xiao906 is found on all Chinese aircraft with VWS (J-10/11/15 etc)
- Betty is found on all US and Western aircraft with VWS (F-15/16/18, Rafale, Typhoon, Gripen etc)
The Russian and Chinese VWS are fine as they are however the VWS for the US and other Western aircraft needs some improving. For a start Betty (voiced by Leslie Shook) is only used on the F/A-18 series of aircraft as the F-15’s, F-16’s, and others use their own system.
Here’s a few examples of what some aircraft should have instead:
(Note that some of these examples used are videos taken from DCS as real life recordings aren’t able to be found, I found these suitable replacements due to the high level of accuracy found in DCS and as they are just audio warnings they should be suitable)
F-15's (Specifically F-15E) - Voiced by Kim Crow
F-16 - Voiced by Erica Lane
A-10
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bLTgv5IwPY
Best heard at -
- 5:34 - Pull up
- 6:57 - Low Speed / Slow
- 7:28 - Altitude
- 8:05 - Speed brake
- 10:20 - AoA
JAS39 Gripen
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUVsyEiACx4&t=211s
Heard at
- 3:38 - Pull up
- 4:42 - AoA
And
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXaPfUs6sQw&t=288s
- 1:29 - Over G beeping
Eurofighter Typhoon "Nagging Nora" - Voiced by Sue Milne
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Io1RGVthK4M
https://www.youtube.com/watch?si=oAUus5vJc7lmlUuA&t=692&v=o1APkbuNvDU&feature=youtu.be
- 11:35 - Wing tank empty
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XmYEUVxwfYQ&t=2159s
- 35:59 - Speed low recover
There’s also non spoken warnings used to also convey information. These are mostly found on older aircraft without dedicated Voice Warning Systems, some examples are:
F-4E Phantom II - Stall/AoA
F-14 - Stall
F-15 - Stall
There’s also the warnings of the Missile Approach Warning Systems, these can be found on various modern aircraft, some examples that I could find:
A very easy way I believe this could be implemented is by allowing sound modders the ability to enable VWS on any aircraft and then add their own sounds for each. This way it would be less work for Gaijin devs and let the sound modders do what they do best. An issue with this though is that it would only work for PC players as console players have no access to sound mods.
I believe that the addition of more accurate aural warning systems would be a great benefit to players, specifically those that play simulator battles or in VR as it makes flying them feel much more immersive. It would also help to make each aircraft feel more unique whilst overall being a benefit to the player.
If anyone has any examples of VWS, MAWS, or other aural warnings then please feel free to reply with them.
- Yes
- No
