Gamers Just Leaked Eurofighter Secrets on War Thunder Forum

During the holidays, gamers spend no shortage of time “gaming,” but in recent years, some die-hard video game enthusiasts have also been too quick to divulge military secrets. Just before the Christmas holidays, military secrets related to the Eurofighter Typhoon have been shared on the forums of the popular free-to-play War Thunder simulation.

As in past incidents, the leaked documents came about after multiple players contested key systems and the accuracy of the digital recreation in War Thunder game. This time the secrets revealed included Eurofighter Typhoona multi-role 4+ generation aircraft currently in service with the air forces of the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy and Spain.

Hungarian Gaijin Entertainment, the publisher of the game, has repeatedly asked fans of the game not divulge military secrets on forums.

“[We] will take this opportunity to remind everyone here again, please do not under any circumstances attempt to post, share any sources unless you are 100% sure they are legally declassified and publicly safe to use. We will never handle or use them, and all they do is actively harm possible future changes by trying to use them. Don’t do it. Nothing good will come of it for you or the vehicle you’re trying to advertise for,” the company said in a statement, as first reported per PC gamer.

Secrets revealed

National interest won’t disclose what content has been posted online, but will note that the discussion between players—which has become heated—has led to the reported capabilities of scanning the CAPTOR radar system. According to Simple flyingaround 600 aircraft are equipped with CAPTOR-E, an active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar operating in the X-band.

“Discussions centered on comparisons between the mechanically scanned (CAPTOR-M) and electronically scanned (CAPTOR-E) variants, particularly the latter’s ability to significantly reduce scan time. Players disagreed on the exact technical capabilities, leading to ill-advised sharing limited data”, the UK Defense Journal explained.

Popular game—popular with a leak

War Thunder was first released in 2013 and is widely regarded as the “most realistic” combat simulation currently available to the general public. It simulates more than 1,900 vehicles, and according to the company, has a base of approx 60,000 active players from all over the world.

The most serious players have been known to spend thousands of dollars on advanced controls that better simulate the flying experience, while some players have also gone to great lengths to create an immersive experience for tanks and other vehicles. The hardcore that followed the game in turn resulted in very heated discussions about the “confidential” details.

in the past few yearsplayers shared secrets related to McDonnell Douglas F-15E Strike Eagle and General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon. The leaked data for the F-15E came from Operational Flight Program (OFP) software manuals, including those for flight controls, navigation, targeting and even weapons systems. However, the documents were apparently published between 1998 and 2000 and related to OFP package 3, which has been upgraded many times over the past two decades. Other information released was from the F-16 flight manual, which details the use of the AIM-120 advanced medium-range air-to-air missile (AMRAAM).

Other classified information is published on War Thunder forums involving the British military Challenger 2 main battle tank (MBT) of the French Army Leclerc Series 2 MBT. In June 2022, a player from China shared information about the DTC10-125, an anti-tank round used by modern Chinese tanks. Although many of the details were already well known, it was still the first time any authentication documentation had been seen outside of China.

Author experience and expertise: Peter Suciu

Peter Suciu is a writer from Michigan. He has contributed more than four dozen magazines, newspapers and websites with more than 3,200 published articles during a twenty-year career in journalism. He writes regularly on military equipment, firearms history, cyber security, politics and international affairs. Peter is also a Contributing writer for Forbes and Cleaning jobs. You can follow him on Twitter: @PeterSuciu. You can send an e-mail to the author: [email protected].

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