🚀HQ11: Instrument Combat!

Today we’re happy to unveil a new frontrunner for advanced SAM systems. Say hello to the HQ11, currently in service with the PLA!

🇨🇳HQ11: A SAM System (SPAA) for China at Rank VIII

At a glance:
▪️Radar and launcher on one vehicle
▪️8 vertical launch missiles
▪️Phased array radar
▪️No optical sight
▪️Large size

👋Introducing the HQ11!
This new top-of-the-line SAM system will soon be the pinnacle of the Chinese anti-aircraft line when it arrives to War Thunder in the Line of Contact major update. Let’s take a look at this anti-air titan in more detail!

🔼You can greatly speed up the research of the HQ11 with this pack⤵️

🛍Al-Khalid-I Pack

🎸Christmas and New Year’s Gifts Await You in the Winter Concert Event!

Wrap up warm and head over to the concert! The Santa troupe will be performing a set in a wide variety of genres, something for everyone! Decorate your vehicles with a decal of your favorite musician, hang up some lights, and make New Year’s battles even more festive!

And, of course, it wouldn’t be complete without some excellent gifts! Four vehicles will be available to unlock, three of which are Rank VI-VII machines. That’s not all though, you’ll be able to win a huge number of prizes with the Festive Cupcake chest too!

📆From December 19th (11:00 GMT) until January 8th (11:00 GMT), complete tasks and get rewards!

Participate and get Rewards!

🚩MiG-25PD — A Rank VII Event Vehicle for the USSR

The MiG-25 series of aircraft set dozens of speed and altitude records, and the family is still considered among the fastest production fighters in all of history. The “PD” (interceptor-modified) variant will be the first aircraft in War Thunder capable of reaching speeds of approximately 3,000 km/h at high altitudes! The MiG-25 has no guns and relies purely on air-to-air missiles in combat. It’ll have two types of missiles with all-aspect IR seekers, the R-40TD for medium-range combat and the R-60M for short-range air combat plus the R-40RD with a SARH seeker.

🇨🇳H-75M — A Rank I Premium for China

Curtiss Hawk fighters were not only in demand in the United States, but were also widely exported to its allies. A stellar example were the Chinese-built H-75M variants with fixed landing gear, which proved their worth against the Japanese Empire in the early stages of the war. In War Thunder, the Chinese H-75M is a rank I premium fighter with heavy and light machine guns, featuring decent speed and agility for its rank.

🇯🇵IJN Tosa — A Rank VI Event Vehicle for Japan

Tosa-class battleships were conceived as the pinnacle of Japanese dreadnought development, armed with ten powerful 410 mm guns in five turrets, and featuring advanced sloped armor. However, their construction was interrupted by the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922. In War Thunder, Tosa will be a classic heavy battleship with outstanding firepower and solid armor protection. These advantages are complemented further by a wide array of secondary guns and powerful 610 mm torpedoes. Despite its impressive size, Tosa still maintains decent maneuverability, allowing this versatile leviathan to fill any role necessary!

🇬🇧CRV Block — 2 A Rank VII Event Vehicle for Great Britain

The wheeled Boxer CRV was supplied by the Rheinmetall Group under the LAND 400 rearmament program, and is currently the most modern vehicle of its class in service with the Australian Army. In War Thunder, this Boxer will make its way to the British ground forces tree. This fast infantry fighting vehicle is armed with a powerful 30 mm automatic cannon with versatile anti-air and anti-armor shells. It also comes equipped with SPIKE anti-tank guided missiles, which are capable of engaging both tanks and helicopters at significant ranges.

🥮Take a bite of the Festive Cupcake!

The Festive Cupcake is coming next week, we’ll tell you more about it soon!

The Festive Cupcake will reward you with vehicles, camouflages, decals, decorations and profile icons from previous winter events. Useful consumables will also drop of course, including boosters, universal backups, wagers and orders. Some items will be available in coupon form for the first time, meaning you’ll be able to sell them on the Marketplace!

The Festive Cupcake can be purchased for 60,000 Silver Lions.

🎯Tasks

To earn one Mark of Distinction for each category, you’ll need to earn 40,000 mission points in random battles of rank III or higher (or from rank I while using event vehicles) in each corresponding game mode. There are also point multipliers based on the rank and mode you play as well, these specifics can be found in the task description. Each Mark of Distinction task is the same, and a new task will begin every two days at 11:00 GMT.

➡️LEARN MORE

🇲🇾The Royal Malaysian Air Force Subtree is Coming to War Thunder!

A new Royal Malaysian Air Force subtree is coming to the Japanese aircraft tree, with three amazing aircraft arriving in the Line of Contact major update!

👋Introducing the Royal Malaysian Air Force Subtree!

In War Thunder, Royal Malaysian Air Force combat aircraft will join the Japanese aircraft tree, offering new capabilities and exciting aircraft combinations across all game modes. We’ll be introducing three Malaysian jet aircraft at the top ranks for Japan, so let’s take a look at what they are!

✈️MiG-29N (9-12SD)

Russian MiG-29s that were modified to meet Malaysian military requirements were designated as the MiG-29N. In War Thunder this multirole fighter, although carrying a substantial arsenal of unguided weapons for engaging ground targets, is primarily focused on air combat. You’ll have access to a helmet-mounted targeting system, jam-resistant R-27 missiles (including those with a SARH seeker) for engaging enemy aircraft beyond visual range, and maneuverable all-aspect R-73E missiles for close-in air combat. With the MiG-29N, the signature speed and maneuverability of the MiG-29 family are at your disposal!

✈️F/A-18D

Meet a two-seat multirole Hornet! This aircraft is comparable in combat effectiveness to the American F/A-18C Late, having excellent maneuverability, up to 10 ARH missiles for long-range air-to-air combat, maneuverable AIM-9L and M missiles for close-range combat, and an impressive arsenal of advanced guided weapons for CAS!

✈️Su-30MKM

The Su-30MKM is a special export modification of the Russian Su-30 for the Royal Malaysian Air Force, featuring canards. This versatile fighter-attack aircraft boasts advanced electronics, thrust vectoring, a high speed, and a wide range of weapons. Among the new features, we’d like to highlight the updated onboard defense suite, which includes laser and missile detection systems, a wide-angle DAMOCLES targeting pod, and a new HUD. The armament includes air-to-air missiles with ARH, SARH, and IR seekers, the highly effective Kh-38MTE combined-guidance air-to-ground missile, the impressive Kh-59 ground-attack missile with TV guidance and inertial correction, the Kh-29 series of laser and TV missiles, guided bombs, and a large arsenal of unguided ordnance.

That’s it for this one! These three aircraft will be coming to the game in the Line of Contact major update, which is coming very soon. Until then!

‼️Planned Technical Works on 16.12.2025

Hey everyone, on December 16th from 08:00 GMT, the War Thunder game servers may be unavailable due to the release of the Line of Contact major update!

Be sure to catch up on what content is coming in this update by looking at our dev blogs while you wait for your game to download. The major update announcement and full major changelog will be published when the update is released and ready to play.

Thank you for your understanding.

🔫🔫🔫Meet the “Line of Contact” Major Update!

👋Meet Line of Contact, War Thunder’s winter 2025 update!

We’re excited to release Line of Contact, and we’re kicking things off with a Closed Beta Test for a brand-new gamemode: Infantry, which you can play soon! On top of that, we’ve got the usual awesome vehicle additions, with armored vehicles and SAM systems rolling out to several nations, including the Ajax, Terminator, M10 Booker, plus the Chū-SAM, NASAMS 3, and HQ11! We’ve also got three Typhoon variants sporting the AESA radar for multiple nations, two cool Second World War aircraft, the FR-1 Fireball and the quirky DB-LK, and a fresh new cockpit for the B-25 and its variants. Some huge ships are joining the fun too, including Stalingrad and HMS Prince of Wales, plus the winter version of Poland has received a beautiful update. To wrap things up, we’ve added some neat features to the hangar, ground battle lineups at 9.3 and above get an additional vehicle in the lineup, and the Severe Damage mechanic has now come to naval battles.

🆕Check out the changelog to see all the improvements, vehicles and other features that we’ve included in this major update.

🧁 The Festive Cupcake for Silver Lions!

A Festive Cupcake with a Christmas tree is perfect this time of year to go with your cup of hot chocolate, tea or coffee. It is also magical in War Thunder, as it can be opened for Silver Lions to get some cool items. Ho Ho Ho!

The Festive Cupcake can be purchased in the in-game Item Shop for Silver Lions from December 17th (11:00 GMT) until January 13th (11:00 GMT). It can only be purchased by players who have at least one researchable vehicle at rank II or higher on their account.

🎉 The Festive Cupcake will reward you with vehicles, camouflages, decals, decorations and player profile icons from previous winter events, plus useful consumables, including boosters, universal backups, wagers and orders. Some items are here for the first time as coupons, meaning you’ll be able to sell them on the Market!

The Festive Cupcake can be purchased for 60,000 Silver Lions.

🛠 Update 2.53.0.12

Aircraft
▪️JAS39C, JAS39EBS HU C — a bug that prevented the radar page on the MFD from showing up has been fixed.
▪️FA-18E — excessive bank angle after tight turns while using mouse aim control has been fixed.
▪️JAS39E — a restriction on the combined use of the under-fuselage SPICE 250s with the LITENING III targeting pod has been added. The Battle Rating in Ground Realistic Battles has been changed from 12.7 to 13.0.
▪️CCRP has been removed from all nuclear bomb carrying aircraft, as it wasn’t of any meaningful use on them and could instead interfere with the bomb drop if the point of interest was activated accidentally.
▪️OS2U-3 — engine name has been corrected from R-985-48 to R-985-AN-2. (Report).

Ground Vehicles
▪️A bug that caused the penetration and damage of 76–105 mm HE shells to be slightly overestimated compared to 120–155 mm HE shells has been fixed. This was due to using a linear, rather than quadratic, approximation for how shock wave parameters vary with distance.
▪️BMPT, BMPT-72 — a bug where destroying the ATGMs and/or automatic grenade launcher’s ammo pack would result in the loss of the vehicle has been fixed. A bug where, when switching between gun belts, the sight, fire control system, and rangefinder would take into account the ballistics of the first belt, not the currently selected one has been fixed.
▪️Ajax — a bug that caused the Scout UAV to lack thermal vision has been fixed. (Report).
Type 03 — a bug where the launcher vehicle was not located next to the TDS vehicle when viewing it in the hangar has been fixed.
▪️TOG II — a bug that prevented the 76 mm howitzer from working has been fixed. (Report).

Naval Vessels
▪️USS South Dakota — full name in the stat card has been corrected. (Report).

Interface
▪️A bug that caused the key icons in the Controls menu to be stretched vertically has been fixed.
▪️Khrizantema-S — a bug where the radar indicator fill was greatly stretched horizontally has been fixed. (Report).
▪️An issue where markers would be missing in replays in the sensor view when watching the player’s view while the player was controlling a ship has been fixed.

Customization
▪️F/A-18E, FR-1 Fireball, J-10C, MB-326B, Rafale M F3-R — additional camouflages have been added.

Xbox
▪️A bug that caused the game to frequently crash has been fixed.

Other
▪️A bug where battles may end early with no rewards being given has been fixed.

➡️LEARN MORE

▶️ Matilda: Iron Lady

The British Matilda rarely takes center stage in wartime chronicles. Yet crews across the Commonwealth fought in these slow, peculiar tanks from the early years of World War II to its very end. When Vickers engineers designed it, they drew heavily on lessons from the long-gone First World War. Yet remarkably, they still nailed it. The Matilda turned out to be relevant even as the nature of warfare evolved dramatically.

📱 YOUTUBE

🛍 The Winter Sale in War Thunder!

The temps are dropping, it’s frosty and cold outside, and snow is starting to fall (unless you’re in Australia!), so now’s the time for some winter discounts in War Thunder! This weather makes it the perfect time to start researching a new nation or get some high-tier vehicles that you’ve been missing.

🕖 When: From December 18th (11:00 GMT) until December 24th (11:00 GMT).

🔍50% discount on all vehicles for Silver Lions and Golden Eagles
🔍50% discount on all modifications, talismans and backups
🔍50% discount on a Premium Account in-game for 90 and 365 days and in the Gaijin.net store for 180 days.
🔍50% discount all starter packs in the Gaijin Store

Please note! Discounts do not apply to:
Vehicles released in the Line of Contact, Spearhead and Tusk Force major updates and their modifications, talismans and backups
All Squadron Vehicles and their modifications, talismans and backups

❗Please note that the premium AH-1S Kisarazu helicopter (Japan, Rank VI) will be removed from the store on December 24th (11:00 GMT).

After this sale ends, discounts on vehicle packs in the Gaijin Store will start. We’ll tell you more in a separate news post on December 24th!

▶️ INFANTRY CBT PREVIEW

Get an early look at the brand-new infantry CBT coming to War Thunder! Sign up to the beta on our website.

📱 YOUTUBE

🧑‍🚀Winter Concert: MiG-25PD

Today, we’re taking a look at the main aircraft reward in the Winter Concert event that started today: the record-breaking MiG-25PD jet fighter!

MiG-25PD: An Event Vehicle Jet Fighter for the USSR at Rank VII

At a glance:
✅The fastest aircraft in the game!
✅Air-to-air missiles for long-range and short-range dogfights
✅Most effective at very high altitudes
❌No guns
❌Mediocre maneuverability

In addition to being the fastest production fighter in history, the MiG-25 is also the holder of the absolute altitude record for a jet aircraft of 37,650 meters!

You can get the record-breaking MiG-25PD, along with other unique vehicles and a large number of other rewards in our Christmas vehicle event called Winter Concert, which started today. Go and get it!

🏆Team DODEC is the Champion of WTCS 2025!

Last Sunday officially marked the end of the WTCS 2025 season, closing the book on a year that truly redefined competitive War Thunder esports. From the very first qualifiers to the final, decisive clashes, the 2025 circuit delivered non-stop action, deep strategic play, and high-stakes combined arms warfare at every stage.

Throughout the season, teams battled across several WTCS flagship formats: Titan, Armored Apex, and Air Superiority, each demanding a unique skill set, constant adaptability, and flawless coordination across air and ground under intense pressure. Only the most consistent and versatile teams were able to remain at the top over the course of the entire year.

In the end, DODEC emerged as the best team of WTCS 2025, securing 1st place overall with 356 points on the global leaderboard. Their season was defined by exceptional consistency, strong results in every major event, and the ability to deliver when it mattered most. Rather than relying on a single standout victory, DODEC built their dominance step by step, proving themselves to be the most complete and reliable team of the season.

Congratulations to all teams who competed throughout the season! WTCS 2025 showcased the very best of War Thunder Esports and laid a powerful foundation for what’s to come in future seasons.

🛠 Update 2.53.0.19

Aircraft
▪️R-77-1 air-to-air missile — a bug that caused the missile autopilot to sometimes guide the missile to the incorrect trajectory which lead to the loss of tracking has been fixed.
▪️J-10C — additional LS-6(IR) 250 guided bombs have been added, bringing the total amount to 10 max.
▪️A bug in the operation of the phased array radars, which led to distortions of track parameters and loss of tracking of air targets in TWS mode has been fixed.
▪️JAS39E — the restriction on the combined use of the under-fuselage SPICE 250 and LITENING III pod has been removed.
▪️Su-30MKK (China) — a bug that caused the names of PL-8 and PL-12 air-to-air missiles to display as a text key on the MFD has been fixed.
▪️A21A-3, A21RB — a bug that caused the maximum mass of the suspended armament to be underestimated has been fixed.

Ground Vehicles
▪️BMPT-72 — a bug that made it impossible to change the belt of the right cannon in the modifications window has been fixed.

Naval Vessels
▪️A bug that caused the lack of sounds when playing vessel animations in hangar has been fixed.

Locations and missions
▪️Ardennes, Ardennes (winter) (all missions) — a bug that caused the vehicles to spawn inside the buildings or facing them has been fixed.
▪️Ash River, Arctic — temporarily removed from rotation until bugs are fixed.

Interface
▪️A bug where the text and price on the new crew slot were displayed with an offset has been fixed.
▪️A bug where, when selecting shells or countermeasures, only the ammunition of one weapon, launcher, or countermeasure pod was taken into account and selected has been fixed.
▪️In sensor view in replay mode, a bug that caused Multi-Vehicle SAM systems that were not currently under the player’s control to not display as the player’s vehicles has been fixed.
▪️A bug that caused the rank of the player’s vehicle preset to be incorrectly displayed in the queue window has been fixed.
▪️An issue where achievements on PlayStation would display a text key instead of the title of one of the chapters has been fixed.

Graphics
▪️A bug that caused the shadows from the weapons around aircraft in the hangar to not render in if the weapons were not on the screen has been fixed.
Customization and Achievements
▪️A bug that caused the number of dropped nuclear bombs on the “Atomic Ace” profile showcase to not increase has been fixed.

Other
▪️The Holiday hangar has arrived!
▪️The ability to select the hangar has been enabled.
▪️A bug that made it impossible to play the vehicle animations in hangar when playing from a controller has been fixed.

➡️LEARN MORE

▶️ Thunder Show: GUEST FROM THE PAST

This video is available with voiceovers and subtitles in multiple languages. You can find and enable them in the settings menu.

📱 YOUTUBE

▶️ How It Works: Turbojet Engines

Turbojet engines have long been a cornerstone of modern aviation. Today, let’s dive into how these powerplants work.

📱 YOUTUBE

🎄 Celebrate the Winter Holidays and the New Year in War Thunder!

The holiday season is upon us! It’s that time of year where the snow is falling, the Christmas tree is decorated, good food will be had, presents will be unwrapped, and fireworks will light up the night’s sky at the New Year. Exciting things also await you in War Thunder, and today we’re going over all of the activities that are going on this holiday season! Get high-rank vehicles, trophies with rewards, decorations, a collection of decals, and treat yourself to discounts during sales. There’s also a Tank Snowball event, coming this week!

When: From December 22nd (12:00 GMT) until January 5th (12:00 GMT).
🍊“Warrior Horse” decal — earn a total of 2,000 mission points while using Rank III or higher vehicles.
🍊“Garden Gnome Deer” decoration for ground vehicles — earn a total of 20,000 mission points while using Rank III or higher vehicles in Ground Battles.
🍊“Christmas Gazebo” decoration for ships — earn a total of 20,000 mission points while using Rank III or higher vehicles in Naval Battles.

🎁 More details on our website

Use code “NEWYEAR26” in our store here to get yourself the free “Elf helper” decal! The key is available until February 1st 2026. This decal can be found under “Special > Other” in the decal customization menu.