War Thunder Squadrons Explained

A squadron in War Thunder is a player organization — a clan with a name, a tag, a member list, and its own reward structure. Playing in an active squadron is one of the few straightforward upgrades available to a free account, and the game’s own data shows most experienced players figured that out long ago.

What a squadron is

Squadrons are created by players and joined by application. Once you are a member, your battles contribute to the squadron’s activity, and the squadron’s status feeds back into what members earn. The structure has four moving parts:

Part	What it does
Activity	Members playing battles keeps the squadron’s reward level up
Reward level	Higher activity unlocks stronger squadron bonuses for members
Size	Squadrons have member limits that scale with the squadron’s development
Squadron battles	Organized squadron-vs-squadron vehicle battles for active groups

Why activity is the whole game

A squadron’s bonus is not a permanent property; it is earned continuously by members playing. An inactive squadron slides down its reward levels, and its members lose the bonus until activity recovers. This is why the single most important question about any squadron is not its name or its size — it is whether its members play at the hours you play.

The scale of this effect is visible in Gaijin’s own data analysis from 2024, which reported roughly a quarter of accounts sitting in squadrons at full reward level. Treat that figure as a 2024 snapshot rather than a current number, but the takeaway holds: the reward system is designed so that active squadrons dominate, and a large share of the player base is captured by them.

What membership gets you

• Squadron bonuses. Reward multipliers or boosts that apply to members while the squadron holds its activity level. Exact values and thresholds vary — check the squadron interface in-game for current numbers.
• Squadron vehicles. Some vehicles are only obtainable through squadron play and research; whether one is worth pursuing is covered in squadron vehicle worth it.
• Organization. A pool of teammates for squadron battles and coordinated sessions, which matters more than any multiplier if you play with others.

The practical advice

Join one. The bonus is free, the application is free, and the downside of a bad squadron is leaving and applying elsewhere. Choosing well — activity, time zone, size, discipline — is its own skill, covered in how to choose a squadron. If you are weighing the opposite direction and thinking about running your own, the cost comparison in squadron creation cost lays out what that takes.

The one-sentence version

Squadrons convert playing time you were going to spend anyway into bonus rewards — as long as the squadron you join is actually active when you are.