Category: War Thunder

[War Thunder] Development – Swedish Ground Vehicles: U-SH 405

~ Sebastianul

The U-SH 405 is an experimental tank destroyer, developed by the Swedish Landsverk company in cooperation with Daimler-Benz in the late 1950’s. Soon, tankers will have the chance to meet this highly interesting machine on the War Thunder battlefields in update 1.97 ‘Viking Fury’!

Briefly: An experimental Swedish armored car, armed with two deadly anti-tank rocket launchers.

U-SH 405, tank destroyer, Sweden, IV rank.

Pros

  • Devastating AT rocket launchers
  • Small profile

Cons

  • Only anti-shrapnel armor protection
  • Limited ammo count
History

Development of the U-SH 405 began in the late 1950’s, after Landsverk and Daimler-Benz formed a cooperation to further develop the Unimog 404 truck into a family of different military vehicles, ranging from APCs to dedicated tank hunters. Development was initially headed by the Germans, but in 1958, Landsverk took over the lead role in its development.

As part of the ongoing development, Landsverk came up with a dedicated tank hunter variant of the vehicle in 1960, fitted with a pair of Oerlikon 81mm rocket launchers, originally developed for aircraft and helicopter use. A single prototype of the machine was built and trialed, but no production orders were issued.

However, the APC version of the U-SH 405 saw more success, being ordered by the Belgian armed forces in limited numbers. Despite placing an order for around two dozen vehicles, due to various geopolitical reasons, Belgium only received fewer than half of the machines initially ordered. The remainder of the machines built, but not shipped to Belgium were later on sold to the Irish military in the early 1970’s, which used the vehicle until 1978 before retiring it.

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[War Thunder] ZTZ96A: Can take a punch!

~ Sebastianul

The ZTZ96A is a further development of the Chinese ZTZ96 MBT, which made its first public appearance in the late 2000’s. Also coming as one of many new interesting additions with update 1.97, the ZTZ96A will offer Chinese tank commanders in War Thunder a more advanced version of their existing top tier MBT!

Briefly: An upgraded version of the ZTZ96 MBT, featuring improved protection and mobility, thanks to the addition of ERA packs and a more powerful engine.

ZTZ96A, main battle tank, China, VI rank.

Pros

  • Strengthened armor
  • Improved mobility
  • Thermal imaging

Cons

  • Increase in weight
  • Poor gun depression angle
  • Low reverse speed
History

Development of the ZTZ96A began in the early 2000s, once it became clear that the introduction of the ZTZ99 MBT would be delayed due to issues surrounding its development. As a result, Chinese engineers developed an improved version of the existing ZTZ96, in order to counter the threat of the most advanced fighting vehicles of other nations, such as the USA, Russia, Japan, Korea or India.

Continue reading “[War Thunder] ZTZ96A: Can take a punch!” →

War Thunder: L-62 ANTI II: Finnish Choice

~ Sebastianul

Check our  historical article on this vehicle here: https://thearmoredpatrol.com/2015/03/07/luftvarnskanonvagn-l-62-anti-ii-finnish-aa-spg/

The L-62 ANTI II is a Swedish SPAA design, developed in the early 1930’s by the AB Landsverk company based on their L-60 light tank. Despite being built in only small numbers and used primarily by foreign nations, the L-62 ANTI II will be one of many interesting units awaiting tankers in the Swedish ground forces tree, coming to War Thunder as part of update 1.97!

Briefly: An early 1940’s Swedish SPAA design, developed on the basis of the Landsverk L-60 light tank, featuring a single 40mm Bofors cannon mounted in an open-top turret.

Continue reading “War Thunder: L-62 ANTI II: Finnish Choice” →

War Thunder: Stridsvagn m/31

~ Sebastianul ~ 1 Comment

We’re launching a series of devblogs about Sweden’s ground vehicles, which will be entering closed testing in the nearest future. So, let’s kick things off with the Strv m/31 reserve tank.

Strv m/31, light tank, Sweden, “reserve”

Pros

  • Excellent armour on the frontal projection

Cons

  • Limited choice of shell types

History

Swedish tanks aren’t very well known even by many enthusiastic historians or fans of military vehicles. However, many of the design and technological solutions conceived by Swedish tank designers were unique and rather practical. Sweden’s armoured vehicles are truly fascinating, and the Swedish ground vehicle line in War Thunder will present to you some highly original tanks with one-of-a-kind features and gameplay finer points. We’ll start our overview of the Swedish tech tree by looking at the first tank starting the progress of all the Swedish ground vehicles. Meet the reserve Strv m/31 (from “Stridsvagn”, Swedish for “tank”), a 1935 light tank. According to some experts, this little tank came close to being the most high-tech tank of its time!

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[WT Development] Pyörremyrsky: The Nordic Whirlwind

~ Sebastianul

https://static.warthunder.com/upload/image/!%202019%20NEWS/10%20October/Pyorremyrsky/news_pyorremyrsky_com_36fbe661f5cf82c832720c93f9a5d606.jpg

The VL Pyörremyrsky is a Finnish late war prototype fighter aircraft, developed in an attempt to secure Finland’s independent domestic fighter production in the face of the worsening war situation. Despite never making it out of the prototype stage, pilots will soon have the chance to take to the skies in the highly interesting VL Pyörremyrsky in War Thunder’s upcoming update 1.93!

In War Thunder, the Pyörremyrsky will not only be a highly interesting, unique and no less powerful aircraft in itself, but it will also be among the first vehicles available in the game as premium aircraft part of the new Swedish tree, coming to the game in the next major update. Additionally, being a premium machine available as part of a special pack in our online store, the Pyörremyrsky will offer its prospective owners full access to the Swedish aviation tree for the duration of its initial closed beta testing period in update 1.95!

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War Thunder: Answers from the developers

~ Sebastianul

Another round of questions and answers, with War Thunder producer Vyacheslav Bulannikov!

Armored Vehicles

Q. Would it be possible for the well known Bob Semple Tank to be added into the game on a tech tree, or perhaps as an event vehicle?  It is a vehicle that many members of the community would be very happy to see added to the game in some form.

A.    At the moment we have no plans for this tank.

Q. It’s been some time since we heard any news on further Japanese Heavy tanks. Are there still plans to add more? Is there a lack of info? What about the O-I being added as a rare event machine?

A.    Yes, we still do not have enough information on these machines, and as far as is possible to judge, it is impossible to find the missing info. There will be too much room for guesswork and paper design, which we would like to avoid.

Q. You mentioned plans for the C1 preserie for Italy, does this mean a prototype/early series of the Leclerc is also possible soon for France? As they will really fall behind.

A.    We have already said that we have more sophisticated and modern French tanks than the AMX-40 in development. When? Look forward to the publication of future development blogs.

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WT: April Fools Event

~ Sebastianul

Source: Rock Paper Shotgun
https://assets.rockpapershotgun.com/images/2019/04/Earth-Thunder.jpg
Ordinarily straight-laced free-to-play WW2 combat sim War Thunder is well known for its silly April Fools events. This year, it’s an impressively well fleshed-out UFO combat scenario named Earth Thunder. With a HUD full of incomprehensible alien text and instructions that aren’t much more helpful, two teams of UFOs clash above a besieged modern-day city. Being advanced alien craft, they’re capable of operating on the land, in the air or even underwater, each with different attack modes, making for an arcadey but very unusual fight. The event runs until April 5th, and Below: A trailer FROM BEYOND.
The Earth Thunder scenario is pretty simple stuff. A capture-and-hold mission with two teams, and five respawns per player. The UFOs themselves are impossibly agile compared to War Thunder’s planes, able to turn on a dime and hit targets with pinpoint accuracy with their beam lasers. Of course, as you’re shooting at tiny UFOs in the distance it’s hard to land a killing shot unless you manage to catch an enemy from above or below. Your UFO’s powers change when you’re close to the ground or underwater, too, making for an unpredictable rhythm to fights.

When you’re near-landed (you can’t crash), your UFO moves slower but with more agility, and is protected by a shield. You also get a railgun cannon to try your hand at sniping. While underwater, you can’t use your main beam cannon, but you can fire a shotgun-blaster, although its shots are only short range. You can also fire homing torpedoes underwater to catch enemies unawares, although they can just as easily hit the ‘fly up’ button (R and F on the keyboard control height by default) to get them out of the water, where neither shotgun blasts nor torpedoes can follow.
I feel there’s a bit more subtlety to the UFO fights than there were in some of War Thunder’s past joke-modes, like the mech-battles they’ve had previously, or the My Little Pony rainbow-powered dogfights even further back. It’s a fresh, fun mode and worth playing a round or two. You launch an Earth Thunder match by clicking the logo in the top-right of the hangar screen.
The Earth Thunder event runs until April 5th. War Thunder is free-to-play and can be found on its official page here or on Steam.