War Thunder’s Heavy Cavalry update goes live with new armor, jets, and a bigger download

War Thunder rolled out its Heavy Cavalry major update on June 24, 2026, and the patch brings a long list of new vehicles, air combat tools, naval changes, and map work.

The download is also larger than usual. Gaijin says players should expect about 20 GB more on the standard client, or about 35 GB more if they use ultra-high-quality ground vehicle textures.

On the ground side, Heavy Cavalry adds new Abrams variants for the U.S. and Britain, plus vehicles like the Palmaria, Hunter AFV, Puma u14, PGZ88, Hummel, and Leopard 2RI (Indonesia). In the air, the update brings the F-101C Voodoo, M-346FA, Yak-130, Washington B.Mk.I, and the IA.58A Pucara, while the new anti-radiation missile and ESM tools give strike aircraft a cleaner way to pressure radar-heavy defenses. That side of the update has its own breakdown in a separate Heavy Cavalry post.

Gaijin also reworked Ash River and Winter Ardennes visually, added arrestor cables to ground airfields, improved projectile tracking on the tactical map, and added a crash reward rule so nearby players can still get credit when an enemy aircraft goes down without taking damage.

Here are the showcase clips that went with the announcement:

Patch Notes

The biggest changes in Heavy Cavalry focus on map layout, air-to-ground weapons, rewards, texture quality, and a wave of vehicle-specific tuning.

Location and mission updates

• Arrestor cables (with corresponding runway markers) have been installed on ground airfields. This allows all aircraft equipped with a tailhook to perform rapid, carrier-style arrested landings.
• Winter Ardennes — the location has been visually reworked, all used assets and landscape textures have been replaced, and the mini-map has been brought up to date.
• Ash River — the location has been visually reworked. All existing assets have been replaced with new ones, including: rocks with minor geometry adjustments, ground textures, fortress models, and vegetation. The landscape has been refined and made more detailed. The tank minimap has been updated.

Game mechanics

• A ‘crash reward’ mechanic has been added: if an aircraft crashes without taking damage, the nearest enemy player within a 3 km radius of the crash site is credited with a destruction. The reward is 50% of the standard reward and includes Silver Lions, Research Points, and Mission Points.
• A multiple aiming points mechanic with the corresponding keybinds has been added. The abilities to add the points, remove them, correct the aiming points, link and unlink the weapons to the specific points, as well as salvo dropping the weapons onto the points have been added.
• Projectile tracking has been improved — when you click on a weapon you’ve fired on the tactical map (default key: M), the HUD will now show both the weapon’s name and its current speed, making it easier to track.

Graphics

• The compression format of all ground vehicles textures has been changed from DXT5 to BC7 to improve their quality.
• The ambient occlusion (AO) maps of all ground vehicles have been updated to be more physically-correctly rendered in the game.

Other

• The ability to connect the tactical map to the WT Assistant mobile app via a QR code has been added.

Heavy Cavalry also packs a long list of vehicle, weapon, cockpit, and naval adjustments across every major branch, so there is plenty for players to dig through after the initial download.

Tell us what you think in the comments, and follow us on X, Bluesky, YouTube, Instagram.

Source: Steam

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
• Age Rating: PEGI 12 / USK 12 / CERO B / ACB PG / GRAC 12+ / ESRB T
• IGDB Rating: 74.2/100

PlayStation Store Xbox Store Steam Official Site