Source: The Nerd Stash
Reportedly, classified documents related to the Chinese military were leaked by a fan of the video game War Thunder on its online forum. The video game War Thunder is a free to play vehicle combat simulator. As stated by defense analysts, this is a first when authenticating documentation of the weapon has been viewed outside the country. However, they noted, the details of this anti-tank weapon in reference were previously known.
Moreover, documents appeared authentic owing to the fact that were pictured right next to the weapon. This weapon is the DTC10-125, an anti-tank round which is fielded by the modern-day military of China. Mainly, it does the work of punching through metal and breaching internal compartments of a tank, knocking it out of action. It is also called a ‘kinetic energy penetrator’ and its powers were kept secret from the world all this while.
Though the data was quickly removed from the War Thunder forums, it is still available online. Reports suggest that the available pictures are rather comprehensive, and include an annotated figure of the munition itself, along with its casing which is called a sabot.
UK Defense Journal reported that though the specification of the weapon was disclosed online in various locations earlier, this particular leak apparently confirms them with the official government documents. The journal is a volunteer organisation that covers stories connected to militaries all around the world. Additionally, they claimed that the images include a zoomed depiction of the weapon, providing additional reliance to its authenticity.
Clearly, this is not the first instance that classified data on systems of modern day weapons was leaked on the forums of the video game War Thunder. Last year, in July, details of Challenger 2 main battle tank of the United Kingdom were leaked on the same forum. Additionally, particulars of the main battle tank of the French Leclerc were seen to end up online in December last year.
Moreover, War Thunder is clearly not the sole simulation video game to fall victim to these kinds of incidents related to data leakage. In the year 2019, an employee of Eagle Dynamic, a flight simulation developer, was indicted on the charges of smuggling and that of conspiracy. Allegedly, this was as he was trying to have someone inside the US purchase manuals for the F-16 on eBay and, subsequently send them overseas for further analysis.
