40 Fun Facts About War Thunder

Which British tank's classified papers did a self-described commander post on the War Thunder forum?

Challenger 2 papers went up in 2021 in the hope that Gaijin would correct the in-game tank. The studio refused to touch them, since using still-classified data could have meant prosecution.

A 2013 April Fools' event in War Thunder added a sixth playable faction from which cartoon franchise?

My Little Pony supplied 'The Pony Nation', which made the cartoon land of Equestria a joke faction. Gaijin uses its yearly April gags to try out mechanics before a wider release.

Which animal from a haiku about slowly climbing Mount Fuji appears on War Thunder maker Gaijin's logo?

Snail imagery on the logo comes from a Kobayashi Issa haiku urging the creature up the mountain. The studio leaned into it with 'Gaijilla', a 2014 joke event starring a giant one.

War Thunder studio Gaijin Entertainment takes its name from the Japanese word for what kind of person?

Foreigner is what 'gaijin' means: founder Anton Yudintsev hoped to enter Japan's market while accepting an outsider's place there. The studio got its wish in 2009 with an anime-style action game.

Which German super-heavy tank, the heaviest armoured vehicle ever built, joined War Thunder in 'Big Guns'?

Maus is German for 'mouse', an ironic name for a colossus. Only two hulls and one turret were finished before Soviet troops overran the testing grounds.

War Thunder's 2022 'Danger Zone' update introduced which US Navy fighter, the star jet of Top Gun?

F-14 Tomcat fans had a long wait: Gaijin billed it as the most anticipated aircraft in years. The update shares its title with the Kenny Loggins hit from the Top Gun soundtrack.

War Thunder was first announced in 2011 under which name, later dropped for resembling a Wargaming rival?

World of Planes sat too close to Wargaming's World of Warplanes, so the title changed in January 2012. Gaijin had at first claimed the 2011 reveal was only an April Fools' joke.

War Thunder players protesting 2023 economy changes buried the game in negative reviews on which PC store?

Steam took more than 65,000 negative reviews within days of the changes going live. Gaijin reverted them, apologised and promised a revised economy that summer.

Which class of aircraft first flew in War Thunder with the 2018 update named 'The Valkyries'?

Helicopters arrived first for the USA and USSR, weeks after being revealed at Gamescom 2018. German machines followed a month later in the 'Masters of the Sea' update.

Which premium currency, bought with real money, sits beside earnable Silver Lions in War Thunder's economy?

Golden Eagles are sold in bundles on the Gaijin Store and pay for premium vehicles, premium account time or faster research. They can also be exchanged for Silver Lions.

In War Thunder, what does BR stand for, the number that decides which vehicles can meet in a match?

Battle Rating follows a vehicle's in-game performance, not its real-life introduction date. Lineups are normally matched against others within 1.0 of their own figure.

Which War Thunder mode, beside Arcade and Realistic, gives a crew's-eye view with no enemy markers?

Simulator battles also switch off the virtual instructor, so piloting errors go uncorrected. Its air matches are hours-long 'Enduring Confrontation' missions that players can join at any stage.

War Thunder splits its navy into the big-ship Bluewater fleet and which second fleet of smaller boats?

Coastal fleets cover motor torpedo boats, gunboats, submarine chasers and frigates. Bluewater begins at destroyers and runs up to battlecruisers and battleships.

Gaijin, the War Thunder studio founded in Russia in 2002, is now based in which European capital?

Budapest became home after Gaijin moved its distribution business out of Moscow around 2015, with development following soon after. Its other offices include Karlsruhe, Larnaca, Riga, Dubai and Yerevan.

Which in-house Gaijin game engine, made open source in 2023, runs War Thunder?

Dagor began inside Gaijin in the 2000s and reached version 6.0 with War Thunder's 'New Power' update in 2020. In 2023 the studio published its code under a permissive BSD licence.

Which tech giant behind WeChat published War Thunder's Chinese version until it closed in 2022?

Tencent ran a separate regional edition of the game and announced that it would be discontinued on 17 October 2022.

US Army tankers training under 2020 quarantine reportedly chose War Thunder over which rival tank game?

World of Tanks was among several games the 1st Cavalry Division's crews tried before finding that War Thunder best met their needs. The Republic of Korea's 3rd Armored Brigade later trained with it too.

Which US defense contractor denied in 2023 that its background checks ask applicants about War Thunder?

Raytheon spoke up after media reports claimed its security-clearance vetting screened for the game. The story followed a string of restricted military documents posted on the game's forum.

In War Thunder's higher-tier ground battles, dropping which weapon from the air wins the round instantly?

A nuclear bomb costs a player 2,500 spawn points and is offered only in upper-tier matches. Landing it ends the round on the spot and earns the pilot a 'Doomsday' award.

Which French tank's documents were leaked on the War Thunder forum to settle a row over turret speed?

Leclerc documents appeared in October 2021, three months after a similar British leak. Moderators pulled them within hours and repeated the forum's strict ban on restricted material.

A 2023 War Thunder crossover added vehicles from which shooter set in an alternate-history Soviet Union?

Atomic Heart lent its machines to a July 2023 event that Gaijin called 'Atomic Thunder'. The shooter imagines a 1950s research city collapsing after its robots rise up.

A 2020 War Thunder event had players race tanks past obstacles and targets, modelled on which real contest?

Tank biathlon is a Russian army sport of timed laps, obstacles and live gunnery. The in-game version was made with Russia's defence ministry, and the game's logo was painted on real competing vehicles.

Which post-apocalyptic vehicle combat game from Targem Games shares War Thunder's publisher, Gaijin?

Crossout has players assemble armed vehicles from cabins, wheels, weapons and armour before driving them into combat. Visitors could try it in a closed area of Gaijin's Gamescom booth in 2015.

Which World War II squad shooter from Darkflow Software is published by War Thunder studio Gaijin?

Enlisted puts each player in charge of a squad of AI soldiers, or the crew of a vehicle, rather than a lone trooper. It is built on the same in-house technology as War Thunder.

Which 2009 console flight game by Gaijin gave the studio experience it later used to build War Thunder?

IL-2 Sturmovik: Birds of Prey was one of three earlier Gaijin air combat titles the team leaned on, with Apache: Air Assault and Birds of Steel. Work on the new game began the year it came out.

War Thunder's 2020 'Viking Fury' update launched a full ground forces tree for which Nordic nation?

Sweden arrived with more than thirty tanks and other ground vehicles, three months after its aircraft debuted in the 'Northern wind' update.

Which country became a new playable nation in War Thunder with the 2021 update 'Winged Lions'?

Israel debuted with an air force tree of twenty aircraft in closed testing. Its ground forces followed in the 'Wind of Change' update of March 2022.

Which US ground-attack jet nicknamed the Warthog reached War Thunder in the 2022 update 'Wind of Change'?

A-10 Thunderbolt II is the official name, a tribute to the P-47 of World War II, though it is commonly known by the nickname. The type entered US Air Force service in 1977.

Which battleship, carrying the largest guns ever put on a warship, joined War Thunder in 'Leviathans'?

Yamato carried nine 46 cm guns and, with her sister Musashi, was the heaviest battleship ever built. She entered the game in the same update as two other famous battleships, Bismarck and Iowa.

Which Soviet heavy tank with five turrets became War Thunder's first multi-turreted vehicle in 2014?

T-35 crews manned a so-called 'land battleship', the only five-turreted heavy tank ever to reach production. In real service it proved slow and mechanically unreliable.

Which French fighter joined War Thunder in 2024's 'Storm Warning' update alongside the Eurofighter Typhoon?

Rafale and Typhoon began as one European fighter project, until France withdrew in 1985 to protect its own aircraft industry. The game gave the Typhoon to Germany, Great Britain and Italy.

Which faceted US attack jet brought stealth technology to War Thunder in the 2024 update 'Firebirds'?

F-117 Nighthawk was the first operational aircraft designed around stealth, its flat panels cutting its radar signature. In the game it is unlocked as a squadron vehicle.

In War Thunder, which item bought for a single vehicle gives it a 100% bonus to research points earned?

Talisman bonuses cover research points only, not Silver Lions. A premium account separately adds its own 100% research bonus across every vehicle a player uses.

In War Thunder, which top crew qualification level comes after Basic and Expert?

Ace adds two more levels to every crew skill on top of Expert's three, lifting the total efficiency boost from 30% to 50%.

What does ATGM stand for, the weapon type that reached War Thunder vehicles in 2016's 'Flaming Arrows'?

Anti-tank guided missile carriers debuted with the Soviet IT-1 and West Germany's Raketenjagdpanzer 2. Unlike a shell, the weapon can be steered towards its target after launch.

Which new type of playable force entered beta testing in War Thunder in December 2025?

Infantry battles let a player fight as one soldier while directing a whole squad, with armour and aircraft in support. The first tests equipped the two sides with US and Russian gear.

Which US main battle tank, in Army service since 1980, debuted in War Thunder's 'Advancing Storm' update?

M1 Abrams arrived as one of five new sixth-rank tanks, alongside the T-64B and Leopard 2K. The real machine is named for General Creighton Abrams.

War Thunder's 2021 'Ixwa Strike' update added a line of ground vehicles from which country?

South Africa's Rooikat and Olifant vehicles were listed under Great Britain in the update notes, forming a sub-tree within that nation's ground forces.

Which update took War Thunder out of open beta at its official release in December 2016?

Way of the Samurai marked the official release after four years of open beta and brought Japan's first tanks. In the same update, aircraft that lacked a modelled cockpit were given simplified ones.

Which Soviet-designed fighter arrived beside the F-16 in War Thunder's 2022 'Apex Predators' update?

MiG-29 and its American rival formed a trio with the Tornado, opening a brand-new Rank VIII for fourth-generation aircraft.