#War thunder radar update#

The radar and fire rate of the vehicle makes it able to fire a hail of bullets at any aircraft or helicopter accurately, usually destroying them in just a quick short burst. When facing enemy aircraft, the M163 is amazing at destroying any plane it can effectively get a lock onto with its tracking radar.

This is especially easy against the infamous FAB-5000 bomb from the Soviet Pe-8, as the bomb is large and easy to track. The high rate of fire also allows the M163 a sort of CIWS (Close-In Weapon System) type of role, as it can easily spray in the direction of an incoming bomb, thus destroying it and saving nearby allies.

However, the lack of a search radar may make it more difficult to identify threats to you and your team before they have already attacked.Īn M163 firing at a FAB-5000, right before the bomb is hit and destroyed. Against air targets it is even better due to the introduction of the first tracking radar in the US tech tree with the AN/VPS-2. Boasting an immense fire rate of 3000 rounds per minute from its M168 Vulcan cannon, the M163 is best used as a point-defense SPAA and a tag team support vehicle, able to quickly destroy the barrels and tracks of any vehicle it can cleanly get shots at without retaliation. The M163 is a support vehicle through and through. The target must be within a 2° cone from the centre of the crosshair. In order to lock on you must be looking through your sight, position the crosshair over a target (within 7 km) and press the lock on key. The radar is fitted to the side of the turret. The M163 is equipped with an AN/VPS-2 tracking radar, with no search radar. Dangerous to anything in the sky, it will lock on and rip through anything in its path. Used initially during the Vietnam war, the M168 was a 20 mm air-cooled rotary cannon attached to a small turret on the M163. The M168 is a variant of the M61 cannon, which can be found in-game on vehicles such as the Japanese T-2, and the American F-4C Phantom II. The M163 is equipped with a 20 mm M168 VADS, or Vulcan air defence system. However, when the M163 sends out its tracer load of 20 mm towards the target, it can prove an intimidating sight to the enemies. Due to the limitations, M163 players may find themselves driving rather close to the front-lines to provide the protection to allies and hit approaching aircraft, so extra care must be taken to not go too far in that an enemy tank will spot the M163. While not as capable nor able to reach out the distance like the larger systems like Gepard, Chieftain Marksman or ZSU-23-4, the M163 does benefits with a very high rate of fire Vulcan armament.

#War thunder radar update#

Introduced in Update 1.63 'Desert Hunters', the Gun, Air Defence Artillery, Self-Propelled: 20-mm, M163 provides the necessary short-range air defense capability for the US tech tree. The M163 remained in use with the US military until replaced with systems that utilized the FIM-92 Stinger like the Avenger. Installed onto the common M113 chassis with a tracking radar, the design became known as the M163 Vulcan Air Defense System (VADS). To improve on this, the 20 mm Vulcan cannon used on American jets was utilized as the basis of the new short-range air defence gun, modified into the M168 gun. The US short-range air defence in the early stages of the Vietnam War consisted of the M42 Dusters, however the fast-paced nature of fighter jets meant that the low rate of fire the 40 mm Bofors provide was no longer sufficient.