Welcome to Alpha Strike!

Meet War Thunder’s first major update of 2024! We’ve added several interesting ground vehicles, some of which include five rank VII premiums, the formidable Fox light-tank, to the interesting looking 120S and Zerstörer 45. Hungarian aircraft have now made their way into Italy’s tree, where you’ll be able fly a range of fully-capable aircraft in air and ground battles. The nimble Alpha jet has arrived for Germany and France, plus the warmly welcomed Wessex for Britain. Additionally, IJN Mutsu — featuring the largest guns in the game — is now ready to sail for Japan. North Holland is a new ground forces map, featuring a town and plain terrain, perfect for different combat engagements. And lastly, you can also enjoy several Roadmap additions, one of which is an aircraft fuel slider!

There’s plenty of bug fixes, new vehicles and other features in this update, so be sure to read on!

Ground Vehicles: Several interesting Ground Vehicles for all Nations!

Every nation has received at least one ground vehicle, meaning there’s plenty to choose from: first up, the USSR, Japan, Italy, Sweden and Israel each get a rank VII premium ground vehicle, helping to research faster. Next, the fantastic Fox light tank, capable of being a nuisance for enemies, is ready to research in Great Britain’s ground tree! Check out Germany’s new Zerstörer 45 from WWII, plus the USA’s Frankenstein looking 120S, which combines an M1A1 turret onto an M60A1 hull. Scoot & shoot using China’s capable ZBD-04A light tank that can fire ATGMs from its barrel and APFSDS rounds from its automatic cannon. To round it all off, France can enjoy the VTT DCA SPAA for the lower tiers.

USA

• M60 120S

Great Britain

• FV721 Fox

Japan

• Type 90B “Fuji” (Pack)

China

• ZBD-04

Italy

• Centauro RGO (Pack)

France

• VTT DCA

Sweden

• Strv 121B Christian II (Pack)

Israel

• Merkava Mk.3 Raam Segol (Pack)

Aircraft: Alpha Jets & Hungarian Aircraft take Center Stage!

Meet Alpha Strike in the air! This is the nimble Alpha jet for Germany and and France, capable of providing perfect ground strikes. Hungary’s air force makes an appearance, where you’re going to enjoy aircraft ranging from WWII classics such as the IL-10, to jets such as the MiG-15bis, and to top it all off, the JAS39C. The full list is in the changelog! In addition to this, there’s the formidable rank VIII F-20A Tigershark premium pack for the USA, plus several aircraft for other nations too, including the Martel-capable Buccaneer S.2B, WWII classic Bf 109 C-1, F-5E FCU squadron vehicle, and the solid Su-25SM3. Happy flying!

USA

• F-20A (Pack)

Germany

• Alpha Jet A
• Bf 109 C-1

Great Britain

• Buccaneer S.2B

USSR

• Su-25SM3

Japan

• F-15J — unique detailed cockpit added
• F-5 FCU (Squadron vehicle)

France

• Alpha Jet E

Israel

• BAZ — unique detailed cockpit added

Italy

Hungarian subtree:

• Yak-9P
• Tu-2S-59
• IL-10

• IL-28
• MiG-15bis
• MiG-17PF

• Su-22M3
• MiG-21MF
• MiG-21bis-SAU

• MiG-23MF
• MiG-29 (9-12B)
• JAS39EBS HU C

Helicopters: The wonderful Wessex, plus shiny new Apache Cockpits!

Great Britain now has the interesting looking Wessex HU Mk.5, which can provide good fire support thanks to its AS.11 and 12 missiles. Furthermore, the USA and China has each received the AH-1W, which features plenty of Hellfire missiles for use against tanks! We’ve also given all AH-64 variants a brand-new fully detailed cockpit, and last but not least, Israel now has the AH-60 Battle Hawk that can fire Spike ER missiles!

USA

• AH-1W
• AH-64A, AH-64D, AH-64A Peten, AH-64A (GR), YAH-64 — unique detailed cockpit and helmet-mounted display system has been added

Great Britain

• Wessex HU Mk.5
• AH Mk.1 Apache — unique detailed cockpit and helmet-mounted display system has been added

Japan

• AH-64DJP — unique detailed cockpit and helmet-mounted display system has been added

China

• AH-1W

Sweden

• AHS — unique detailed cockpit and helmet-mounted display system has been added

Israel

• AH-60
• Peten, Saraph, AH-64A Peten — unique detailed cockpit and helmet-mounted display system has been added

Naval Vehicles: A new Record Holder for the Largest Guns!

There’s now a new vehicle with the biggest weapons in the game, and that’s the IJN Mutsu — this battleship features deadly 410 mm guns! 4 other nations have received ships: Great Britain the handy HMS Diamond premium, USA the new end-line USS Dealey Coastal fleet ship, Italy the RN Bolzano Heavy Cruiser, France the Kleber and new the end-line Bretagne Battleship for its Bluewater fleet. Time to set sail!

Locations & Missions: North Holland for Ground Forces!

Meet the North Holland location, which is a new ground forces map that features a stunning city and a large mall that you’re able to drive your vehicle inside of. We’ve based this new location on one of War Thunder’s most popular ground maps according to likes, Eastern Europe. In one area, there’s beautiful red lamps that illuminate the street, additionally there’s plenty of streets and open areas for several types of combat engagements! Besides this, for Air Realistic Battles we’ve added the new Golan Heights mission for top tier, where you’ll spawn in the sky instead of the airfield. Check it out!

Additions from the 2024 Roadmap!

Following on from the Spring to Summer 2024 Roadmap, we’ve implemented several new features as previously planned.

To start, the highly anticipated aircraft fuel slider (within previous constraints) is now here, duplicated stock air-to-air missiles have been resolved, and minimap aircraft detection zones in ground battles have been added. Next, we’d like to share that some time ago we already implemented the improved synchronization of object destruction to production, and have extensively tested it ourselves and have closely watched reports about it. This feature is now completed.

Furthermore, there’s now new tutorial missions for different types of missiles that can be accessed through the “Tutorial” menu from the hangar, and there have been improvements to the replenishment mechanics while at capture zones in ground battles. Oh, you can also change the displayed items in the killfeed to whatever you want!

New Mechanics & Features: Sensor View Mode in Replay and a FCS for Naval Battles!

The amount of guided weapons, sensors and radars has grown, and to help, we’ve added a new sensor view mode when you’re watching a replay. Simply click this button and the visualization of the game world will change: the terrain, vehicles and more. This mode shows the operation of the radar and other interesting data of vehicles all across the map. You’re able to change marker filters, sensor filters and weapon parameters to what’s most interesting to you, so make sure to check it out and play around with it to see what you can learn!

We’ve also implemented a new Fire Control System interface for naval vessels. This is shown in the top left, and displays the heading angle and target speed allowing you to get a more accurate direction and speed of an enemy ship to help with leading when firing. There’s more information about this in the changelog!

There’s plenty more to look through!

Not every new feature can be listed here, so we’ll go through some briefly: some modern tanks have received unique engine sounds, you’re also now able to use a nuclear carrying aircraft when you acquire enough spawn points instead of needing to leave your current vehicle, and we’ve expanded the number of positions that decorations can be placed on ground vehicles. There’s also flight model adjustments for the Mosquito and Javelin! All-in-all, there’s many bug fixes and and other changes, so be sure to check out the full changelog. Have fun in War Thunder’s first 2024 major update!

Download the update and join the battle!

FULL LIST OF CHANGES