‘War Thunder' continues to live up to its reputation for OPSEC violations
For the past few weeks, the news cycle has — to borrow a term from 'Spaceballs' — gone to plaid, and now someone has yet again posted restricted information about military hardware on a 'War Thunder' forum.
Developed by Gaijin Entertainment, 'War Thunder' is a multiplayer video game that provides players with realistic simulations using U.S. and foreign military equipment. The problem has been that users have frequently shared sensitive information about military equipment on the game's forums. In at least one case, a video gamer posted classified information about a British tank as part of an argument that 'War Thunder' had not accurately depicted its capabilities.
Recently, information from the Naval Air Training and Operating Procedures Standardization manual for the AV-8B Harrier and its two-seat trainer, the TAV-8B, was shared on a forum before being removed, Konstantin Govorun, head of public relations for Gaijin Entertainment, confirmed.
'It took us a few minutes to take it down,' Govorun told Task & Purpose on Tuesday. 'The user is now banned permanently.'
The information shared in the June 21 post appears to include a cover page for the AV-8B and TAV-8B's flight manual. Gaijin Entertainment does not know how many pages were posted because 'we do not look inside the documents,' Govorun said.
The document shared had the following disclaimer: 'Distribution is authorized to U.S. Government Agencies and their contractors to protect publications required for official use or for administrative or operational purposes only.'
A community manager posted that the 'War Thunder' user had violated the forum's rules by sharing information that is not cleared for public use.
'No source material that is restricted, export restricted or classified will ever be tolerated, handled or used in any way on any of our platforms,' the community manager wrote.
News about the latest 'War Thunder' OPSEC fail was first reported by the UK Defence Journal.
Gaijin Entertainment has tracked roughly 20 security leaks like this in total, but in some cases different users posted the same information, Govorun said.
Other sensitive information shared on the game's forums includes images from the flight manual for the F-117 Nighthawk, also known as the stealth fighter; the technical manual for the AH-64D Apache Longbow helicopter; operational flight manuals for the F-15E Strike Eagle; and documents about the M2A2 Bradley fighting vehicle.
But in this case, any potential damage from the post about the AV8-B Harrier could be limited because the Marine Corps is replacing the plane with the F-35B Joint Strike Fighter. The last Marine squadron still flying AV-8B Harriers is expected to retire its aircraft in September 2026.
The Marine Corps has flown AV-8B Harriers since January 1985. Prior to that, the British flew Harriers during the 1982 Falklands War, during which the Argentinian pilots nicknamed the plane 'La Muerta Negra' or the black death.
Informally referred to as a jump jet, the AV-8B Harrier is designed for short takeoffs and vertical landings. And, oddly enough, Pepsi once ran into legal trouble after it jokingly offered a Harrier as prize during a 1995 promotion, and a 21-year-old man from Seattle purchased enough 'Pepsi Points' to earn the prize. The man took Pepsi to court in the hopes of getting his own Harrier, but ultimately lost.
During its decades of service, the Harrier has allowed the Marines to distribute airpower to amphibious assault ships and smaller operating bases, said Richard Aboulafia, managing director of AeroDynamic Advisory, a consulting firm for the aerospace industry.
'It's an impressive capability,' Aboulafia wrote in an email. 'If World War Three had been fought against the USSR [Soviet Union], it would have allowed the U.S. to punch in different directions. It certainly played a role in USMC operations in both Gulf Wars and Afghanistan, although it's debatable to what extent that made a big difference.'
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