ledrobi
Posts: 108
Joined: 11/8/2019 Status: offline
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Red Storm, the third and last DLC in the Soviet Trilogy for Order of Battle: World War II, will release on September 17th. Red Storm covers the battles of the Red Army from 1943 to 1945 and features 15 new scenarios. The campaign begins with the massive tank battle near Prokhorovka during Operation Citadel, the last grand German summer offensive on the Eastern Front in mid-1943, and ends in Germany, where you will have to defeat the Third Reich in the Battle of Berlin in 1945. Red Storm features 15 new scenarios and many new units for the Soviet, German and Hungarian factions. Eager to know more? Here's a sneak peek of the new air units. Yakovlev Yak-9 T The Yak-9 fighter was based on the robust Yak-7 and entered service in late 1942, during the battle of Stalingrad. It soon became available in ever-growing numbers, which helped the Soviet Air Force immensely to battle the increasingly stretched Luftwaffe in 1943-44. Several variants were developed for specific purposes, like the Yak-9 B fighter-bomber, the D and DD versions for long-range escort missions, or the Yak-9 T equipped with a heavy 37mm gun able to destroy heavy bombers or even small naval vessels with just a few shots. The gun was so large that the cockpit had to be moved back to make room for the weapon. Of the nearly 17000 Yak-9 fighters produced ca. 2700 were built in the Yak-9 T variant. Yakovlev Yak-3 The Yak-3 was a fighter aircraft developed from the earlier Yak-1 with the goal to create a dedicated air superiority fighter that was highly agile, robust and easy to fly. The plane turned out to be one of the smallest and lightest combat fighters fielded by any nation during the war. When the aircraft entered service in summer 1944 it quickly demonstrated that it was a deadly dogfighter. With German air losses mounting the Luftwaffe issued specific orders to avoid air combat vs. the Yak-3 below altitudes of 5000 metres, where the Yak was most formidable. Between spring 1944 and summer 1946 over 4800 Yak-3 fighters were produced. Tupolev Tu-2 S The Tu-2 was a modern twin-engined frontline bomber, developed since 1937 by the famous Soviet engineer Andrei Tupolev. He was imprisoned during Stalin's Great Purge, then allowed to continue work, and released again in summer 1941 due to his important role for the Soviet military. The Tu-2 entered service in late 1942, and proved to be fast, agile, and able to absorb serious damage. But it was also complicated to produce under war-time conditions. As only limited numbers of this type reached the front lines in 1943 the design was reworked into the Tu-2 S to greatly simplify production. The new variant was built from December 1943 and proved to be an outstanding bomber aircraft which played a key role in the Red Army's final offensives. Heinkel He-162 The He-162 Volksjäger ("People's Fighter") was a result of the German Emergency Fighter Program which called for a simple jetfighter that could be built quickly to counter Allied air power in late 1944. At this point, the superior Me-262 jet had already entered service, but it was complicated, expensive and not always reliable. Out of many advanced late-war designs the futuristic-looking He-162 was chosen for cheap and rapid mass production. While it was plagued by initial problems, and needed experienced pilots, its short service and post-war tests revealed it was a capable fighter indeed. But with only 120 pieces delivered by May 1945 the plane came too late to make a bigger impact. It remains a rare sight in OOB, but nonetheless a dangerous opponent. Join the Red Storm Release - Eastern Front Tournament To celebrate the release of Red Storm and the completion of the Soviet Trilogy, we're opening recruitment for the Eastern Front Tournament, that will start on September 22nd. Make sure to sign up and have a look at the forum to find out more. Don't miss the Preview Stream If you want to see the new units in action, don't miss the preview stream later today: see you on Twitch at 6 PM BST.
< Message edited by ledrobi -- 9/10/2020 1:11:02 PM >
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