Hello everyone! Many of you have questions regarding the new vehicles and changes in the upcoming update. We’re eager to respond to your biggest questions and the feedback topics that you’ve raised.
Challenger 2 Reports
You’ve brought to our attention a number of issues with the British Challenger 2 tanks (and now also the Challenger 3). We’re currently in the process of checking and rechecking your reports. Some of these have already been accepted and we’ll be starting work on them soon, and in addition to this some changes have already been made, which you’ll be able to see after the update. However, some of these reported issues are still quite contentious, and as such we’re not in a position to give a completely thorough reply just yet. We plan to publish a more comprehensive response where we will discuss these reports and changes to the Challenger 2 variants in detail, but this will come after the update when we’ve had time to thoroughly analyze everything.
Anti-fragmentation lining
We also wanted to bring you some news regarding spall liners, this feature is now ready for the following vehicles: the Leopard 2A5, Leopard 2A6 (including the Finnish version), Leopard 2 PSO, Leopard 2A7V, Strv 122A, Strv 122B PLSS, Strv 122B+, Strf 9040C, Challenger 2, Challenger 2 (2F), Challenger 2 TES, Black Night, Challenger 2E, and Challenger 3 (P) — however, it’s only present in the hull for the CR3, as there is no lining in the turret in presentations and videos of the prototype.
Reinforced (DU) hull armor for Abrams tanks
The community has periodically raised questions about reinforced hull armor, and, in particular, Depleted Uranium armor in the hull of Abrams series tanks. We’ve studied the issue in detail, however, due to the sheer volume of the topic we are currently not ready to talk about it quite yet. We will go through the details a little later in a separate devblog on this topic.
Gripen — The “C” version for Great Britain and the “A” for Sweden
As you already know, the long-awaited JAS-39 Gripen will appear in the Air Superiority update in War Thunder, and many of you have questions about the modifications being added to the game.
Along with the JAS39A for Sweden, the South African JAS39C will also be added to Great Britain, and, of course, this will happen before the appearance of the “C” modification in the Swedish tree. We hear and understand your concerns in this regard, but we wanted to explain why we do not share them.
Despite the fact that different sources contain different data, we came to the conclusion that modifications “A” and “C” have almost identical performance characteristics, since they are equipped with the same engine, but the “C” variant is even a little heavier due to for the presence of an auxiliary power unit, as well as a boom and equipment for air refueling. In addition, at the time of introduction into the game, both vehicles will have equivalent weapons which will not make either of them stronger.
Regarding equipping aircraft with the helmet-mounted target designation system — The “A” variant was in service for quite a long time and underwent multiple successive improvements and different variants of HMD were tested on this version. So we decided to equip both aircraft with this system, which will make them even more dangerous opponents in missile combat than how they already were at the beginning of the dev server.
12.7 BR for aircraft and additional weaponry for the Tornado IDS WTD61
Regarding questions about a new Battle Rating increase to 12.7 for aircraft and regarding the weapons of the premium Tornado IDS WTD61, we see your feedback and will discuss these issues further with the team. As soon as we make decisions on these matters, we’ll let you know.
Helicopters — Reducing sight magnification
According to a number of reports, the magnification of helicopter sights was changed to the magnification of the optical channel, however, the capabilities of the optoelectronic channels of these helicopters significantly exceed the capabilities of the optical channel. Coupled with a weapon range of 6-8 km, this significantly reduces the combat capabilities of these helicopters, in comparison with helicopters that exclusively have optoelectronic channels with a high approximation. This change will be canceled, the increase will be set in accordance with the capabilities of the optoelectronic day channel.
Laser guided bombs — reducing the laser target acquisition distance
This update will reduce the acquisition distance of the laser target designator for the homing heads of LGBs.
Many of you have a fair question — why was this done? The answer is in fact that previously, due to CCRP not working correctly, we artificially increased the laser target acquisition range in order to ensure acceptable accuracy of this weapon type. The problem was that the accuracy of the displayed impact point within the CCRP was too low, since it did not take into account the aerodynamics of the aircraft, and, accordingly, could not provide a sufficiently accurate calculation of the impact point. Now, after corrections to the autopilot of LGBs and the correct operation of CCRP, this compensation is no longer required. When reset by CCRP, there will be virtually no difference in the use of such LGBs, except for slightly less energy consumption of the bomb due to a later transition from free fall to controlled flight.
Therefore, the capture ranges of LGBs will be set in accordance with documents and internal passports for each specific weapon.
Stinger and Mistral MANPADS G overload
We’ve seen the questions that you have about changes to the Stinger and Mistral MANPADS and our work with sources regarding these missiles, and we want to explain in detail why we work with them the way we do, and why these changes have been made. However, this material is quite vast and complex, so it requires some time to prepare. We plan to release a devblog on this topic some time after the update is released.
Stay tuned to the news for more on these topics in the future and as always, thank you for your feedback and support!