War Thunder: research helicopters with tanks

To research helicopters with tanks in War Thunder, enable the helicopter-research switch in your nation's vehicle tree before entering a ground battle. The vehicle Research Points then go towards your selected helicopter.

This covers the main game on Windows, macOS, Linux, PS4, PS5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S in Sky Odyssey, released on 16 September 2026. The switch arrived on 16 August 2023; the steps below use its English interface labels.

Unlock your nation's helicopter tree

For the normal progression route, own at least one Rank V ground vehicle or aircraft in the same nation. That opens access to its helicopter tree. Check the Roman-numeral rank rather than confusing it with the vehicle's Battle Rating. A Rank V aircraft can meet the access requirement; the research switch itself uses ground vehicles.

Choose an available helicopter as your research target. Keep the nation consistent: use that nation's ground vehicles to work towards its helicopter. Decide whether you want your next unlock to be a helicopter or a tank before changing the switch.

Enable helicopter research before battle

1. Open your nation's ground vehicle or Helicopters research tree.
2. Find Research of helicopters by playing ground vehicles along the bottom.
3. Tick the box before entering battle, then play ground vehicles.

Budget your progression around the trade-off: this diverts vehicle research away from the ground tree. It is an either-or choice, rather than a percentage slider that splits the reward between a tank and a helicopter.

Check the target and restore tank research

After the battle, check the helicopter you selected for progress. If it has not advanced, recheck the selected target, nation and switch before another match. Keep a screenshot of those choices and the battle result if you need to report a persistent problem through community.gaijin.net.

To return to researching tanks, untick the same box before your next battle. Check your ground research target as well. Use the helicopter switch as the first check when your tank's research seems to have stopped while helicopter progress keeps increasing.

For a green squadron helicopter, follow the separate squadron vehicle research route. That system uses squadron activity and a three-day award cycle. Check which kind of helicopter you have selected before treating a squadron counter as ordinary tech-tree research.