In version 2.19 “Drone Age”, Gaijin added a new element to the damage model in air battles called “fuel tank explosion”. If the enemy aircraft catches rounds, it explodes like a nuke, as shown in the clip below.
However, It is actually not a new feature at all, it’s just a system that was turned off around 2020, and you can actually see the enemy exploding when they get hit in the old clips on YT and elsewhere.
Although being back in 2022 is very good in itself, it is very different from the pre-2019 fuel tank explosions, which only occur with certain guns (ADEN/DEFA, MK 108, GSh-30). With most 37 mm guns in the game, it is almost impossible to cause that, which is quite ridiculous considering that basically a large caliber gun can do lethal damage with just a few rounds of shots irl.
Of course, there is no need to return to pre-2019 levels because the old ones could happen with some 20mm guns like the MG151/20, but the threshold at which fuel tank explosions occur should be lowered because current large-caliber guns damages are inconsistent as hell.
Maybe. The 20mm Brgr. 44 was in essence a Mineshell with a hydrostatic fuze that would blow up inside the fuel tank to cause sever damage that couldn’t be extinguished.
If you flood the tank with CO2 it should extinguish any fuel tank fire but if a large hole is blown into the tank, the fire is fueled by the surounding air.
Not sure if it the explosive amount would be strong enough to rupture the tank to the extend that it would cause a fuel explosion but the damage would certainly be sever.
The probability of an explosion and fire of fuel tanks on their destruction has been increased. The structural strength of fuel tanks (the amount of damage received before complete destruction) has been increased to compensate for the increased likelihood of explosion and a fire when a tank is destroyed by successive hits from weak weapons. Powerful weapons still can destroy fuel tanks in one hit.
