At a glance

  • Adds nuclear-capable F-16, F-2A, and MiG-29SMT variants to high-BR Ground Battles.
  • Reworks guided-weapon targeting and Nuclear Escalation anti-air, eras, tickets, rewards, and presets.
  • Adds a 12.0-13.0 early-era bracket and radar or IRST and ESM buttons.
  • Adjusts aircraft payloads, Scimitar Mk.2 BR, FIAT 6616UB ammunition, and multiple vehicle defects.

Player impact

High-tier air and ground players receive revised nuclear-carrier access, payloads, countermeasures, and matchmaking. Nuclear Escalation battles also change in target priority, anti-air response, ticket economy, rewards, and available brackets.

Quick facts

  • Game: War Thunder
  • Official publication time: July 24, 2026 at 6:50:11 PM CST
  • Last checked: July 28, 2026 at 11:02:47 AM CST
  • Platform scope: Not stated in the four official posts
  • Version: 2.57.1.48
  • Source: Update 2.57.1.48 on Steam

What changed

Version 2.57.1.33 added nuclear-armed F-16A ADF variants for six nations, F-16A MLU for China, F-16D Barak II for Israel, F-2A for Japan, and MiG-29SMT for the USSR to Ground Battles at session BR 13.0 and above. It also revised guided-munition targeting against ships, updated RIM-24 physics, and restored keyboard-arrow bindings.

Version 2.57.1.38 increased maximum AGM-154A1 loads on several F/A-18 variants and corrected nuclear-aircraft bomb or ballistic-computer behavior. Nuclear Escalation anti-air units gain threat priorities, ARM defense, radar activation logic, size and detectability rules, and several fixes. The mode’s eras, brackets, nation presets, tickets, rewards, ship anti-air, markers, weather, and tactical-map behavior also change.

Convoy SAMs now slow down while firing and guiding missiles, short-range systems activate search radar under stated spotting or defensive conditions, and some radar-equipped defenses can shut down in response to a long-range anti-radiation missile. Gun SPAAs prioritize threats rather than simply choosing the nearest target. Long-range systems also use target altitude, direction, radar detectability, and munition size in their engagement logic.

The event economy changes alongside those defenses. Team ticket pools rise from 9,000 to 10,000; escalation-stage losses increase; aircraft-destruction Silver Lion rewards fall by 8%; and ground-unit rewards double. Aircraft carriers, destroyers, radar and launcher components, airfield defenses, and player aircraft receive different ticket costs. Target markers linger for ten seconds after spotting ends, and firing can make AI SAM markers visible from farther away.

Version 2.57.1.43 moves Scimitar Mk.2 from BR 8.0 to 8.3 in all modes and fixes its muzzle flash and optics. It adds early-era nation presets and fixes Project 956 ignoring air targets.

The same version adds early-era combinations that let Great Britain, Sweden, or France appear with USSR and China in selected brackets, plus an 11.7-12.7 preset matching USA and Germany against the other nations. These additions are explicitly described as queue-balancing changes.

The latest 2.57.1.48 adds a 12.0-13.0 early-era bracket, two controls to the minimal radar indicator, DM63 APDS for FIAT 6616UB, and fixes F/A-18C MLU 2 pylons, I-16 landing gear, Csaba textures, PGZ88 armor and artifacts, and an incorrect Nuclear Escalation award.

Key changes

Aircraft and payloads

  • New nuclear carriers join high-BR sessions.
  • JSOW capacity, ballistic computers, chaff, pylons, and several aircraft defects are corrected.

Nuclear Escalation

  • Anti-air logic, ticket costs, rewards, presets, brackets, markers, ships, and weather change.
  • A 12.0-13.0 early-era bracket is present in the latest state.
  • Early and late eras, nation presets, tickets, rewards, weather, markers, and ship defenses are revised.

Ground and interface

  • Scimitar Mk.2 moves to BR 8.3.
  • FIAT 6616UB gains DM63 APDS.
  • Minimal radar controls expose radar or IRST and ESM switching.

What this means for players

The sequence materially changes how nuclear aircraft enter and operate in top-tier battles and how Nuclear Escalation anti-air evaluates threats. Vehicle lineups and interfaces also receive smaller but directly usable changes.

Players should expect the mode’s pace to change through both combat logic and ticket valuation: higher-value strategic units cost more when lost, ground targets pay more Silver Lions, and anti-air units consider a wider set of threats. Those changes are official rules, but their net effect on match length is not predicted here.

Who is affected

High-BR Ground Battle and Nuclear Escalation players, users of the named aircraft and vehicles, and players using compact radar controls are explicitly affected.

Rollout and known limitations

Gaijin states that its notes show key changes and may not list every improvement. This article does not infer unlisted fixes.

Editorial context

Steam Update Radar assessment: four consecutive versions are combined because each builds on the same Nuclear Escalation and vehicle state, with 2.57.1.48 serving as the current endpoint.

Verification record