War Thunder Update 2.57.1.48 Fixes Pylon Display, PGZ88 Armor Bug, Adds BR 12.0–13.0 Nuclear Escalation Bracket

War Thunder's Update 2.57.1.48, published July 24, 2026, is a targeted patch addressing visual errors, a meaningful balance correction, and a structural change to the Nuclear Escalation game mode.

What changed

Aircraft

• F/A-18C MLU 2 (Sweden): pylons carrying 2× AGM-154A1 JSOW were invisibly missing from the model — now fixed.
• I-16 type 5: landing gear incorrectly appeared deployed when spawning airborne — now fixed.

Ground Vehicles

• FIAT 6616UB: DM63 APDS ammunition has been added.
• Csaba: incorrectly displayed textures corrected.
• PGZ88: the mantlet was granting substantially more protection than intended — this has been corrected.
• PGZ88: graphical artifacts appearing around the vehicle at certain viewing angles have been resolved.

Interface

• The minimal radar indicator now includes two additional buttons: one to toggle between radar and IRST, and one to switch to ESM mode.

Nuclear Escalation

• A new Battle Rating bracket of 12.0–13.0 has been added to early era battles, meaning aircraft at BR 13.0 can now be matched into both early and late era battles.
• A bug incorrectly awarding the "Peaceful Atom" Ground Battle award within the mode has been fixed.

The PGZ88 armor correction is the most consequential change for competitive play, removing an unintended survivability advantage, while the expanded Nuclear Escalation bracket meaningfully widens matchmaking options for high-tier aircraft.