War Thunder adds frontline infantry after 14 years of vehicles
After 14 years of planes, tanks and warships, War Thunder is putting soldiers on the ground.
The free-to-play vehicle combat game, developed by Gaijin Entertainment, began as an aerial combat sim and later expanded to tanks and battleships. It reached its 1.0 release a decade ago, according to an anniversary feature published on 16 September 2026 by Video Games Chronicle.
Soldiers are next. The Line of Contact update adds infantry gameplay after more than a decade of purely vehicle-based play. Gaijin told the outlet that players have constantly asked for infantry, but adding it meant building a separate game within a game.
That infantry mode was in early testing at the time of the interview. It is being built by a separate in-house team of industry veterans with experience making shooter games, a genre centred on on-foot gun combat. Gaijin said the work did not draw resources from the developers updating the existing vehicle modes.
The studio’s producer and other key War Thunder staff oversee the new mode to keep it fitted to the brand and style. Gaijin said armoured personnel carriers and infantry fighting vehicles, troop transports designed to fight close to soldiers, are built to operate alongside infantry.
Testing will run in several stages. The first closed beta session, a limited test before full release, was planned to begin after the release of the December 2025 major update, a large free content drop, according to a development post published on 5 December 2025 by War Thunder. Infantry from other playable nations will be added gradually over time.
The official ‘Welcome to Infantry!’ page describes the mode as tactical building clearouts, sniper duels and firefights on city streets.
The infantry arrival sits beside fresh vehicles. The Sky Odyssey major update was announced on 16 September 2026. It introduces Greek aircraft and tanks, alongside the CA-27, the Indian Arjun Mk 1 and the Indonesian Harimau.
A Space Program aircraft event offers the F-16XL with a special camouflage, a loading screen and themed decals. The F-16XL is an F-16 variant with a delta wing, increased fuel capacity and more hardpoints, the mounting points for weapons and fuel tanks. It lost a 1981 competition to the F-15E Strike Eagle. The two prototypes built were transferred to NASA in 1988 and used during the 1990s for supersonic laminar flow research, work on keeping air smooth over wings at faster-than-sound speeds.
Battle Pass Season 24 is titled “Do It Yourself”. A Battle Pass is a seasonal reward track where play unlocks items. Vehicle rewards include a Romanian IAR-81 fighter fitted with a Bf 109G engine and a Somali-modified FIAT 6616 armoured car equipped with a 57 mm rocket pod.
For players, this means a familiar game with a new way to fight. Vehicles remain the core. Infantry now shares the same streets, buildings and firing lines.
