War Thunder's Eagle's Shadow Is Live: F-15EX, Trophy APS, and What Units Should Train

War Thunder's newest major update went live on November 11, and it plays like a gift to the units that treat this game as a team sport. Eagle's Shadow, officially Update 2.61, is not just a vehicle drop. Gaijin packed it with tools that change how air and ground work together: two Rank IX Eagles with serious payload, a Leopard 2A8 that arrives with the Trophy active protection system, Battle Ratings that follow the loadout you actually take, and new tank modules that punish sloppy shots and reward crews who talk to each other.

If you run a War Thunder night, this is the patch you brief before you queue.

The Eagles are the headline, and they have the payload to match

The update takes its name from the F-15EX, which lands in the U.S. tree at Rank IX. Israel gets the F-15IA Ra'am II at the same rank. Officially, both can carry up to 12 active radar-homing missiles, including the AIM-120D, or up to 22 precision-guided munitions in a single sortie. That is a lot of weight to bring to a coordinated strike package, and Gaijin is not shy about it. In the development post, the studio calls the F-15EX the most heavily armed fighter in the game, and one of the best fourth-generation fighters in the hangar.

The jet also brings the kind of cockpit and sensor work units actually train around: an AESA radar, a helmet-mounted display, a radar warning receiver, and a voice warning system, plus more powerful engines that, Gaijin says, keep their flight performance even under a heavy load. The air-to-ground menu is not just dumb iron, either. The F-15EX adds SLAM-ER missiles with man-in-the-loop guidance, along with anti-ship and anti-radiation options. The Israeli Ra'am II is identical in air-to-air combat, per the developers, and differs slightly on the air-to-ground side, with SPICE precision-guided munitions and Derby active radar-homing missiles in the mix.

For an organized squad, that is a role question as much as a research grind. One flight can play air superiority with a full radar-missile load. Another can show up as a bomb truck. The same airframe can do both, but probably not in the same sortie if you want the jet to do either job well. It is worth writing that into a briefing: who is carrying what, who is talking to the tanks, and who is covering the egress.

The patch also adds the Su-15TM, which arrives with the new R-98MR and R-98MT missiles. It is a different era and a different fight, but it is another reason for intercept and escort groups to schedule a training night instead of learning the missiles in a public queue.

Trophy, and a damage model that cares about the crew

On the ground, the star is Germany's Leopard 2A8, a Rank VIII medium tank fitted with the Trophy active protection system to fend off incoming missiles. Sweden's tree gets a Norwegian cousin, the Leopard 2A8NO. Trophy is the system a lot of armor crews have been waiting to train against and with. It will change how you close with a modern main battle tank, and it will change how your close-air-support pilots pick their shots. If your unit runs combined-arms custom battles or regular top-tier Realistic sessions, this is the vehicle to put on the calendar first.

The quieter change may matter even more over a full unit night. Eagle's Shadow adds three new ground-vehicle modules.

A fire-control system can now be damaged or destroyed, which knocks out night-vision devices, thermal imagers, and the rangefinder. Remotely operated machine-gun or cannon turrets that have no manual aiming option go down with it. A new electrical system module, if disabled, shuts down the fire-control system, the gun stabilizer, radars, optoelectronic targeting, the threat-warning system, and even the autoloader. An auxiliary power unit gives many vehicles a second source of power, so electronics can keep running after the engine is gone.

Gaijin also added a manual reload for autoloaders. When the automatic loader is empty or disabled, the crew can keep the gun fed by hand. If the loader is busy putting a round in the breech, though, the autoloader rack will not refill until you stop firing and let them get back to it.

That is a lot of new reasons to call out shots and system damage. "He's dark" or "thermals are down" becomes useful information, not flavor. Units that already practice target handoff between tanks and aircraft will feel this immediately. Units that have been treating a knockout as a binary alive-or-dead check will want a short classroom session on what to shoot, and what to say when a module goes down.

Loadouts now decide the fight you get

A selection of aircraft, and some helicopters, now carry more than one possible Battle Rating, tied to the weapons you take. Researching a stronger missile or a better guided bomb does not automatically push you into a harder match. You pick the Battle Rating in the hangar before you spawn, and the modifications and weaponry available depend on that choice.

Gaijin is clear that this will roll out to more vehicles over time, and that not every aircraft will get it, only the ones where the gap in weapon power is significant. For a unit, that is a planning tool. You can keep a lighter load and stay in a bracket your newer pilots can handle, or you can take the full kit and accept the harder room. Just agree on it before you hit battle, so one player is not dragging the rest of the squad into a different fight.

The other quality-of-life win for close-air-support pilots is the CCRP bombing rework. Automatic release no longer fights the normal drop command, the indicator sits in the battlefield view without blocking as much of the sight picture, and you can still pickle the bombs yourself even when a point of interest is active. It works in level flight, in a dive, and in a toss, with the indicator holding at the bottom of the screen so you can keep your heading in a pull-up. If your squadron has been fighting the old bombing interface, this is the night to take everyone back to the range.

The maps look new, even if you already know the routes

Sun City and American Desert have had a visual pass. Officially, they keep their familiar layouts, with a full visual overhaul of assets, textures, and buildings, plus updated tank mini-maps. If your unit has standard attack routes on those maps, the geometry should still make sense, but do not be surprised if landmarks look different enough that a quick recon run is worth it.

On the graphics side, the changelog also adds DLSS 5 integration through DLSS Neural Rendering. That option lives under Settings, Graphics, Display, and it is for players with RTX 50-series GPUs. It will not change how you write an SOP, but it may let more of your PC players run the new dirt, smoke, fire, and weather effects at a framerate they can actually fight with.

Go find your people

War Thunder already has a home on MilSim Units, and there are units listed for it. If you are looking for a combined-arms group that will actually brief the new Eagles and train around Trophy, start at the War Thunder units page. If you already run a squadron or an armor company and you have not listed it yet, this is a good week to put your name up. The patch is live. The fun is in showing up together.

The official Eagle's Shadow announcement and the full changelog are the places to send your members for the complete vehicle list.