War Thunder Sky Odyssey is live: what changed on September 16

The official notes describe several changes that matter before a first session:

• New vehicles include aircraft and tanks connected with Greece, the CA-27, India's Arjun Mk 1 and Indonesia's Harimau [1].
• Darwin Hill is a new Ground Battles map [1].
• Reward handling changes when an enemy abandons a tank or vessel, and bomber survivability has been improved in the published notes [1].
• Nuclear Escalation, Naval Confrontation and Bullet Hell are now permanent modes according to the announcement and changelog [1] [2].

The vehicle preset interface also changed. The live notes describe horizontal scrolling, a dropdown and hover details, with a maximum of 25 presets [1]. That is a useful first check for returning players because an older preset workflow may no longer match the current interface.

The earlier MFD and HMD preview described development work that was still planned on August 21. The live changelog now confirms specific display changes rather than leaving the entire topic at preview status [1] [3].

The confirmed live entries include new Ka-52 MFD pages for flight instruments, the compass, weapons and radar. The notes also describe a maximum 32 kilometre detection range for the ground target radar, modified Mi-28NM flight instrument MFDs and updated HUDs for the Su-25T and Su-39 [1].

For aircraft displays, the notes say that F-4J and F-4S VTAS helmet-sight indications were updated. They also state that aircraft using HMDs hide the HMD display when the pilot looks at a cockpit instrument panel [1].

The evidence has a clear limit. The live page does not reproduce the full aircraft-by-aircraft list from the August preview. It therefore does not let this draft treat every preview mention, including the named RAH-66, JH-7A2, J-11 or every VTAS behavior, as individually confirmed. The release notes confirm the entries above, not an automatic one-to-one completion of the entire preview [1] [3].

If you are returning after the update, start with the part of the changelog that matches your play session.

• Open the vehicle preset interface and check whether the new scrolling and dropdown behavior changes your usual lineup routine.
• If you fly a Ka-52, Mi-28NM, Su-25T, Su-39, F-4J or F-4S, compare the current cockpit display with the exact item named in the notes.
• Treat the permanent modes and Darwin Hill as availability claims from the update notes. They are not a promise about queue times, matchmaking or balance.
• Do not use this article as a performance guide. The official notes do not provide a repeatable FPS or frame-time result for a PC configuration.

The changelog does not establish that every aircraft mentioned in the August preview received every planned display feature. It also does not provide a complete performance profile, a balance verdict or a client-side test result. Those questions need a separate reproducible check.

The MFD and HMD comparison is intentionally narrow. It separates entries the live page names from preview details that the live page does not restate. That keeps the release report current without rewriting the earlier development article as if it had been a final patch note.

The live changelog, the official Sky Odyssey announcement and the August 21 development preview were read again on September 19, 2026. The changelog is the controlling source for what is live. The announcement corroborates the major update scope, while the preview supplies the comparison point. No community report, video or client capture was used as evidence for a feature claim.

• Source 1^[1] War Thunder Sky Odyssey changelog, checked September 19, 2026.
• Source 2^[2] Meet the Sky Odyssey major update, checked September 19, 2026.
• Source 3^[3] Development: new MFDs and HMDs, checked September 19, 2026.