The message board for the hyper-realistic military sim War Thunder has received increased scrutiny after military documents considered “sensitive” and “export-restricted” were posted on the platform.
The forum is often home to endless debates between military buffs, who often use technical documents and manuals to support their arguments. However, posting any classified or export-restricted materials is strictly forbidden on the forum.
“Classified information or not, you must refrain from disseminating any information which could be reasonably regarded as Export-restricted military-technical data,” the forum's rules read.
The documents appeared on the board last week for a few minutes before being removed by moderators. However, it was enough time for users to make copies of the post, who then shared it with military outlets.
The documents included two pages out of the technical manual for the M2A2 Bradley Armored Infantry Fighting Vehicle, detailing its commander’s hatch, turret assembly and spall liner (inner armor) details.
While the documents were unclassified they were still considered “export-controlled” which means they could be used to damage US national security interests. While the M2A2 Bradley has been retired by the Pentagon, US allies, including Ukraine, still utilize the older Bradley vehicle.
However, the developers of War Thunder, Gaijin Entertainment, say its users are not to blame for the latest leak.
“As far as we know, this particular leak did not appear on War Thunder forums first. It was published online on December 8 or even earlier and has been spreading on various platforms for days until it landed on War Thunder forums,” Gaijin Entertainment founder Anton Yudintsev said. “While we did our part in helping to limit the leak spreading further by deleting that post, we can do nothing with what’s happening on other platforms.”
Reddit and Discord were cited as the other platforms where the documents appeared first.
Still, the user was banned from the site, per Gaijin Entertainment policies.
An Army spokesperson told a military media outlet they are aware of the leaks and will provide more information if it becomes available. It is not known if charges will be pursued against the user.
Violation of the Export Control Reform Act of 2018, which the US Defense Department says leaking export-controlled material would violate, carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.