In a forum of the free MMO War Thunder, a player has allegedly leaked secret military documents from the US government.
What is War Thunder?
- War Thunder is a free-to-play MMO that was released on November 1, 2012, and is playable on PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo Switch, Windows PCs via Steam, as well as on Linux and macOS.
- Players engage in large-scale battles in War Thunder on air, sea, and land.
- In War Thunder, military vehicles such as tanks and planes play an important role.
- The MMO is known for its realistic depiction of various vehicles.
Player Posts Secret Documents About a Fighter Jet
What did the player do? The “War Thunder” player spacenavy90 has allegedly posted four military documents in the official forum of the game. He was participating in a discussion there and shared the information with the sentence: “In my research, I came across something interesting.”
He then goes on to detail the information the documents provide and shares the materials with the rest of the forum. The documents contain information about an American fighter jet, the F-16 Fighting Falcon, which was also the subject of the forum discussion.
However, the information is not intended for public disclosure and has been deleted in the official “War Thunder” forum in the meantime. It was accessible there on Monday around 9 PM.
Who has access to the documents? Some screenshots of the documents show indications of who is allowed to access them.
For example, two of the four documents state “DoD only” (DoD stands for “U.S. Department of Defense”). Thus, only employees of the U.S. Department of Defense are permitted to see the content of the documents.
Another document is labeled as follows: “Distribution authorized to U.S. Gov’t, agencies only”.
Not the First “War Thunder” Leak of Secret Information
These incidents have occurred in the past: Although it may be hard to believe, this is not the first time a “War Thunder” player has publicly shared secret military information.
In October 2021, a player leaked information about the French tank “Leclerc 2”. He claimed that the tank’s turning speed in the game was too fast, and subsequently shared the actual turning speed. He supported his information by stating that he drives this tank in real life. He also reportedly posted parts of the manual.
Additionally, an alleged tank commander had already published secret documents regarding the British tank “Challenger 2” in July 2021.
