We swear we’re not just recycling this piece of news again and again – War Thunder players just keep leaking military secrets on the game’s forum to win arguments with each other.
Previously, players had used restricted or classified information to win balancing discussions regarding the British Challenger 2 main battle tank, the French Leclerc main battle tank, the European Tiger attack helicopter, and Chinese DTC10-125 anti-armor shells. Yes, it’s a dedicated community.
This time, users were talking about the F-16 Fighting Falcon, a versatile multi-role fighter jet. Over 4,500 planes of this type have been built since 1974 with almost 30 nations actively using the jets to this day. A debate about the F-16 had been raging for over half a year on the War Thunder forum, when a user named spacenavy90 posted a document detailing some equipment tests on the F-16A earlier this week.
While the document, which by now has been deleted by the moderators (they must’ve gotten used to it at this point), is no longer classified, it was at one point. Though that is no longer the case, the document’s distribution is still restricted according to US law, since it contains some export-restricted data about the AIM-120 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile (AMRAAM) and its use on the F-16. Gaijin Entertainment, the developer of War Thunder, has confirmed this to AeroTime.
Gaijin has already asked players to refrain from using military documents in order to prove their points in forum discussions in the past, but this seems to have fallen on deaf ears. Hardcore players of the multiplayer military simulation seem quite prepared to face legal punishment for leaking military secrets in return for influencing the developers’ game balancing decisions.
War Thunder is a free-to-play game available on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S.