War Thunder 2.57.1.81 Patch Notes (11th August 2026)

Update 2.57.1.81 addresses three distinct missile guidance problems that have been causing unpredictable detonation behaviour in air combat. The most significant fix concerns ARH and SARH missile radio proximity fuzes, which malfunctioned when pilots switched to INS+DL mode. The practical consequence of this bug was severe: missiles would either pass straight through their targets without detonating or explode only after overshooting, rendering them tactically useless at the moment of impact. This affected any player using advanced guided weapons in modes where mode-switching occurs mid-engagement, particularly in higher-tier matches where such weapons form the backbone of aircraft armament.

A second guidance fix targets SARH missiles on ESM-equipped aircraft. Previously, guidance was artificially constrained to the sector covered by the ESM sensors themselves, meaning pilots with incomplete sensor coverage lost lock or guidance outside those bounds. This was a significant handicap for aircraft whose ESM suite did not provide 360-degree coverage, effectively crippling their ability to engage targets in certain directions despite having the weapons to do so. Removing this artificial limitation restores the intended functionality of SARH missiles independent of sensor geometry.

The third aircraft fix addresses a weapons release bug where simultaneously-released ordnance from both wings would deploy in pairs even when mounted on only one wing. This created phantom weapons that never existed, wasting payload slots and introducing unpredictable mass distribution during flight. Players relying on precise weapon counts for tactical planning would have encountered serious issues here.

On the naval side, Prinz Eugen receives a damage model correction. The turret rings on its first, second, and third main battery turrets were rotating incorrectly during turret traverse, causing the damage model to shift away from the ship's actual structure. This meant hits registered in the wrong places or failed to register at all, undermining the ship's survivability calculations and making it harder to predict where incoming fire would land.

The interface fix corrects the armament side indicator, which was displaying inverted left-right designations. This is a quality-of-life issue rather than a gameplay-breaking one, but it directly affects loadout planning and weapon management, particularly for pilots managing asymmetrical loadouts or trying to verify which wing carries which ordnance.

These fixes are predominantly bug corrections rather than balance changes, meaning they restore intended functionality rather than alter the meta. However, the missile guidance fixes will tangibly improve the reliability of advanced air-to-air weapons, which should increase their viability in matches where they have previously underperformed due to these bugs rather than balance.