War Thunder 1.89 "Imperial Navy" goes live with Japanese ships, two new locations, and more

Gaijin Entertainment is back with a new massive update to War Thunder, and this time it is all about ships. Back in March, War Thunder 1.87 landed with French helicopters and top-tier ground vehicles, supersonic jets, and radar systems. This time, there are a few new planes and vehicles, but the most important part is the brand-new Japanese tech tree for naval battles.

In addition to the two ships that were available for pre-order — the PG 02 hydrofoil and Kiyoshimo, the last Yugumo-class destroyer ever built — the Japanese Imperial Navy tech tree consists of ten first-rank ships, and only four for each rank after that, up to rank IV. The Japanese air fleet receives a rank IV twin-engine fighter, the J5N1. Japan's only new ground vehicle is the Type 16 wheeled tank destroyer. Lastly, there is also a first Japanese helicopter, namely the premium AH-1S Kisarazu — nothing else but a local American AH-1S Cobra that was manufactured under license by Fuji Heavy Industries between 1984 and 2000.

The list of airplanes and vehicles added to the other nations is not too long, but it comes with a few major highlights, such as the top-tier French Leclerc S1 tank, the US air defence anti-tank system ADATS, the German Me-264 heavy bomber, and so on.

The two new locations added to War Thunder by today's update are Smolensk (for aircraft battles, based on the local environment in the autumn of 1941, when the Battle of Smolensk took place) and Volcanic Island (a naval map inspired by the landscapes around New Zealand).

Sadly, those who want access to the Japanese naval forces need to purchase a Japanese Naval pack since this part of the game is currently in a Closed Beta stage. However, those who are not willing to pay should get to enjoy the Japanese ships in a month or so, as soon as Gaijin will decide to push them into Open Beta.

As usual, feel free to share your thoughts about this War Thunder update in the comments section. Is there any War Thunder 1.89 highlight that I forgot to mention? For the geeks who might want to check it out, this is the official changelog — including the awesome reworked clouds in air battles, of course.