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The Richelieu-class battleships were the swan song of France’s heavy surface fleet and among the most advanced warships of their time. Their story is more than a chronicle of armor, guns, and speed. It is the story of the ordeals faced by a once-great naval power on the eve of the Second World War. French engineers did not try to follow the path taken by the designers of Japan’s Yamato, nor did they chase record-breaking size. Instead, they placed their faith in a carefully judged balance of characteristics. That is why the Richelieu class is still often regarded as perhaps the most successful European battleship design of its generation.

The Hunter AFV is one of the most unusual vehicles introduced in the Heavy Cavalry update. On paper, it’s simply a Singaporean infantry fighting vehicle designed to replace the M113. Its appearance in the Israeli tech tree is no accident, however: the combat module was developed by the Israeli company Rafael. It’s an intriguing international project — so let’s see how it performs in War Thunder.

In the first years after World War II, Soviet aviation found itself in a pretty weird situation. Industry had ramped up production of thousands of modern piston-engine fighters, and the ranks were filled with hundreds of pilots hardened in combat against the Luftwaffe. But at the same time, jets — the German Schwalbes and the British Meteors — were already flying over Europe, while the Soviet Union still had no working jet engine of its own. A promising project by engineer Arkhip Lyulka was scrapped after the German invasion because the engineer had to be evacuated to the Ural mountains. And although Soviet design bureaus conducted experiments with jet and rocket engines from 1942 through 1945, none ever reached serial production.

For decades, the Patton family of tanks became one of NATO’s main armored pillars. But the road to a truly modern main battle tank took time.

Almost everyone with even a passing interest in jet aviation has heard of the MiG-21. It’s one of the most mass-produced and recognizable fighters in history. The MiG 21 2000, however, is far less widely known. And that’s no surprise: it was a fairly rare Israeli deep modernization program, created for countries that wanted to keep a time-tested aircraft in service while bringing its capabilities closer to modern standards. In War Thunder, we can finally see how well that idea worked.

At the height of the Cold War, countries across Africa, Asia, Central America, and South America were swept by a wave of guerrilla movements. Argentina was no exception.

Hungary was one of the first countries in the world to create its own air force. Austro-Hungarian aces — József Kiss, István Féjes, and others — were fighting in the skies over Europe as far back as World War I. But after Austria-Hungary's defeat, the state was forbidden from even having military aviation. Despite this, Hungary began secretly rebuilding its air force under the cover of organizing aviation clubs. By 1938, when the ban was lifted, the forces had long since been formed and consisted of around seventy Italian CR.32 biplane fighters, plus a few German Junkers Ju 86 bombers.

The end of the Cold War and the collapse of the Soviet Union came as an unpleasant surprise for the defense industries of many countries. Former Soviet republics inherited large amounts of outdated military equipment, along with a pile of ambitious projects that were no longer affordable. Western states, meanwhile, entered the new reality with oversized armies. Their arsenals were packed with vehicles built for a global conflict that, fortunately, never happened.

The F-14 Tomcat, an American carrier-based fighter, was rightly considered one of the most advanced aircraft of the Cold War. Even its early variants boasted a powerful radar and long-range Phoenix missiles. At high speeds, the Tomcat’s engines retained tremendous thrust, and combined with its variable-sweep wing, this gave the aircraft outstanding flight performance by the standards of carrier aviation.

The Albatros combat trainer is already familiar to War Thunder players thanks to its premium Czech version. But the summer update adds another modification: the Thai L-39ZA/ART, available to research in the Japanese tech tree. At first glance, it barely differs from the basic L-39. But in reality, the Thai modernization received several very welcome upgrades that make it noticeably more interesting to play.