Gaijin Entertainment released War Thunder's "Sky Odyssey" major update on September 16, 2026, adding a full Greek vehicle roster folded into the Israel tech tree, a new Falklands-themed Ground Battles map called Darwin Hill, and a ground-up rework of how bombers take damage. The update also converts three former limited-time event modes into permanent additions to the game's mode rotation.
The headline addition is Greece, which enters the game as a sub-tree under Israel rather than as a standalone nation. The lineup spans multiple eras, from the piston-engined SB2C-5 and F-84G-16-RE jet fighter through Cold War-era F-102A and F-86E(M) airframes, up to modern hardware like the A-7H attack jet, the Mirage F1CG, and the Rafale EG. On the ground, Greek armor includes a Leopard 2HEL main battle tank. Alongside the Greek content, Sky Odyssey brings in vehicles representing other nations already in development, including India's Arjun Mk 1 tank and Indonesia's Harimau, both integrated into existing trees rather than new ones of their own.
Darwin Hill, the update's new Ground Battles map, draws its terrain directly from the Falkland Islands: open grassland broken up by scattered buildings, an airfield, and enough elevation change to give both armor and infantry-scale positions real sightline options. Gaijin paired the new map with a visual overhaul of the existing Falkland Islands air battle location, adding higher-resolution terrain textures and additional ground detail to bring it in line with newer map work.
On the mode side, three modes that had previously run only as timed community events — Naval Enduring Confrontation, Bullet Hell, and a nuclear-scenario ground mode — are now selectable at any time through the mode dropdown menu rather than waiting for their next scheduled return. This follows a pattern Gaijin has used with other popular event modes, promoting them to permanent status once player interest proves durable.
The most consequential systems change is a full rework of bomber survivability. Gaijin rebuilt hit zones and damage thresholds across piston and jet bombers, adjusting how engine damage, structural failures, and crew injuries interact so that heavier aircraft don't drop out of a fight from a single lucky hit. Ground and naval battles also got a balance adjustment: when a player abandons a vehicle rather than fighting to the end, the eventual kill credit and rewards now go to the nearest enemy within range at a reduced value, closing off a minor exploit where abandoning a doomed vehicle denied opponents their full reward.
Rounding out the patch, the hangar's preset menu was redesigned with a dropdown layout and a higher preset cap, up from 18 to 25, while players can now choose between War Thunder's default map markers, NATO symbology, or Soviet-style icons. Sky Odyssey is available now on PC, PlayStation, and Xbox.