Gaijin Entertainment released Update 2.53.0.26 on Steam on December 23, 2025. The patch adjusts how avionic systems are affected by damage on high-rank aircraft, fixes a wing-tearing bug and several location and mission issues, and updates interception scoring for munitions. For context on recent fixes in this patch lineage, see our earlier coverage of update 2.49.0.73.
Patch Notes
Below are the update notes as posted by the developer. They list key fixes and adjustments included in 2.53.0.26.
Update 2.53.0.26
Aircraft
- A bug on some aircraft that caused hits to some parts of the fuselage to never lead to the wings tearing off has been fixed.
- For rank VII – VIII aircraft without the detailed avionics damage model (no new electronics modules), on direct hits the following changes were made:
- Avionics and fire-control equipment can no longer be disabled by fragmentation or kinetic damage.
- Avionics and fire-control equipment can no longer be disabled by relatively small HE damage (i.e., less than from a hit by a small‑warhead AAM such as Stinger, or equivalent munitions of other types).
- It is no longer possible to disable all weapons at once.
- HE damage to the fuselage from a hit by a large‑warhead AAM (e.g., AIM‑9 or larger) or equivalent munitions of other types now always disables the use of guided weapons, as well as the radar electronics and the RWR.
- Blast damage from a hit by a small‑warhead AAM or equivalent munitions of other types has a chance greater than 50% to disable the use of guided weapons, and a separate chance greater than 50% to disable the radar electronics and RWR.
- The chance to disable other systems from blast damage caused by hits from any AAM or equivalent munitions of other types has been reduced (down to 30%).
- F/A-18E – a bug that caused the 500 lb LDGP Mk 82 bombs and 1000 lb LDGP Mk 83 bombs to incorrectly display on some hardpoints has been fixed.
- JAS39E – the height of the extended landing gear struts have been corrected to make overall height correct and to fix the bug with the part of the frontal strut piston clipping into the walls of the other half.
Ground Vehicles
- In the test drive mission for high-rank Chinese vehicles the M1A1 HC tank and Leopard 2A5 tank have been switched places, so that the electro-optical APS of the M1A1 HC would not interfere with the ATGM guidance when shooting at other targets.
Locations and Missions
- Pradesh – the altitude of clouds has been increased.
- Ash River – a bug with the ground textures appearance has been fixed. All temporarily disabled missions on this location have been brought back to the rotation.
Game mechanics
- A bug that caused the intecepted (shot down) munition to not deal damage to the player and their allies has been fixed
- The mechanics of crediting the destruction by the intercepted munitions has been corrected. If the intercepting player and the player who has launched the munition are in the different teams, then only the destruction of their enemies are credited to each one. If they are in the same team, the player who has launched the munition gets credit for the enemies, and the player who has intercepted it gets credit for the destruction of their teammates.
- A bug that caused the destruction of the munition by the explosion of intercepted munition to be also counted as an interception has been fixed. This fix only affects the chain-destroyed munitions, so if one of the munitions destroyed by the explosion of the intercepted munition (or an explosion of any munition in the chain) will destroy an enemy, the destruction will be credited to the player that has intercepted the first munition in the chain.
Other
- The content needed for the infantry CBT has been added to the game.
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War Thunder
Developed by Gaijin Entertainment
War Thunder is the most comprehensive free-to-play, cross-platform, MMO military game dedicated to aviation, armored vehicles, and naval craft, from the early 20th century to the most advanced modern combat units. Join now and take part in major battles on land, in the air, and at sea.
- Genre: Shooter, Simulator, Tactical
- Platforms: Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 4, Linux, PC (Microsoft Windows), PlayStation 5, Mac, Xbox One
- Modes: Single player, Multiplayer, Co-operative, Massively Multiplayer Online (MMO)
- Release: 2013-01-28
- Publisher: Gaijin Entertainment
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Age Rating:
PEGI 12 / USK 12 / CERO B / ACB PG / GRAC 12+ / ESRB T
- IGDB Rating: 74.2/100
