On Thursday (28 May), the developers behind the vehicular combat game War Thunder announced that they are currently in the process of adding the Hunter AFV from Singapore into their game.
Because of the game’s reputation for its players leaking military secrets over arguments, commenters online are already cracking jokes about military lawyers working overtime.
Source: Reddit
In a blog post on their website, Gaijin Entertainment described the Hunter AFV as an “exotic combat vehicle from Singapore”. It then goes on to describe the various specifications of the vehicle, including weapons like its 30mm Bushmaster II cannon.
Like its real-world counterpart, the Hunter AFV has a top speed of 70km/h, which gives it a “good power-to-weight ratio”, allowing it to dash and engage in combat from cover.
Source: War Thunder
The vehicle was placed into the Israeli ground forces tech tree.
In another developer post, which also hinted at the additions of even more Singaporean military vehicles, they stated that they are “looking to place Singaporean vehicles in a number of trees“.
Where the Singaporean vehicles end up will depend on both gameplay and technical considerations.
For the Hunter AFV specifically, they said that because the vehicle’s weapon modules are Israeli-made and that the faction has “virtually no variety of light support combat vehicles”, the developers opted to place the aforementioned vehicle in the Israeli tree.
While War Thunder ultimately makes several sacrifices to realism for a better gaming experience, its depiction of the Hunter AFV is very close to reality.
A comparison between the descriptions provided by the developer’s post and a fact sheet published by the Singaporean Ministry of Defence (MINDEF) shows many similarities.
Source: ST Engineering
In addition to the aforementioned maximum speed, the weapons featured in the game version match the ones listed on MINDEF’s site.
While the developer’s post does not mention a smoke launcher, the other weapons are.
The model image on MINDEF’s site also resembles the ones from the game.
The vehicle was jointly developed by the Defence Science and Technology Agency (DSTA) in collaboration with the Singapore Army and ST Engineering.
As the Singapore Army’s first digitalised platform, it replaces the fleet of Ultra M113 AFVs, which have been in service since the 1970s.
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Featured image adapted from ST Engineering.