I Bought a War Thunder Premium Jet for the First Time, It Changed My Whole Experience

But if you want to work your way up War Thunder's tech tiers at a non-geological time scale, there's a not-so-cheap but ultimately the very effective way to speed things up. That'd be purchasing one of any of War Thunder's dozens of premium vehicles. For the longest time, I swore I'd never buy a premium jet in War Thunder. I assumed the people who did were pay-to-win hacks with too much time and money on their hands.

Having a change of heart

That was until all my friends started buying them. Be it Grumman A6 Intruder TRAMs, MiG-23MLs, heck, even the premium early A-10 variant before it was removed from the American section. This same group of friends has been coaxing me into playing more air-realistic battles (Air RB) recently instead of more laid-back, air-arcade battles (Air AB). When one friend offered to buy a premium jet of my own to fly, I could only sheepishly and meekly thank him and accept.

The jet in question? Well, that took some time to think over. Although I must admit, unironically window shopping premium War Thunder jets with the intention of buying something for once was a total kid in a candy store moment. Did I want a point-and-shoot style big interceptor like the MiG-23ML? Or maybe something that's good at ground-pound operations, like an A6 TRAM or a Panavia Tornado IDS? Ultimately, my choice of the Finnish Air Force Saab 35FS is one I don't regret.

As the flagship jet in the newly christened Finland section of the Swedish tech tree, this unique Saab J35 Draken variant was introduced in December of last year with the "Apex Predators" update. The same update also introduced range-topping tier-VII jets as the new aspiration for every War Thunder player. With an air-realistic battle rating of 10.7, the Finnish Saab 35FS can tussle with just about any jet in the game.

As a special export variant of a once-flagship Swedish jet fighter, the Saab 35FS began life as a Swedish Air Force J-35F1 Draken interceptor. At least 24 were sold to the Finns and deployed in a more straightforward medium-altitude fighter jet rather than a high-altitude interceptor. With a single Svenska Flygmotor RM 6C engine with 8,030 kg (17,703 lbs) of thrust to play with, this Draken variant can keep up with all but the fastest jets in its battle ranking.

Armed to the teeth

As for weaponry, this Saab jet makes use of a single Akan m/55 30 mm autocannon. No A-10's GAU-8 gun by any means. But you'd be surprised how effective a well-aimed burst can be when an enemy jet reverses its turn right through my crosshairs. The star of the show has to be the six RB24J air-to-air missiles this jet can take into battle. Being direct re-manufactures of American AIM-9P Sidewinders, these missiles have the goods to do some major damage. Be warned; they aren't all-aspect missiles, so now head-on shots with this warbird.

That is, assuming you bothered to set up the controls properly. Believe it or not, this was the biggest headache of the whole ordeal. As someone who's used the W and S keys to control the throttle and the brakes in flight for years, being told my whole control scheme needed to be changed wasn't what I wanted to hear. But my friend was having none of it, saying that these changes were non-negotiable if I wanted to play with the group's Air RB squad.

Through spiked blood pressure and gritted teeth, he advised me how to change each Air RB flight control setting to his exact specifications. Not only did my throttle buttons get swapped for left shift and control, by my spacebar to drop bombs arrangement was replaced by the N key instead. Said spacebar now controlled my chaff and flair dispensers. At the same time, W and S now managed turning both elevators in unison up or down to help cut into turns with more ferocity.

Meanwhile, my missile-lock and missile-fire buttons migrated over to the two side buttons on my gaming mouse. When I tell you it took north of 25 minutes to fine-tune every last aircraft control in the game, I'm not joking even slightly. But after just a single Air RB match with this control scheme, I had to concede my friend was one thousand percent right. A blow to my ego, perhaps. But you just can't argue with not blacking out in almost every tight turn. Then again, that has a lot to do with how marvelous an airplane I was flying.

A fun and capable premium jet

I tend to avoid flying with my radar active most of the time. Lest some goober out there uses my radar signature to track and fire radar-guided missiles at me. But in times when only me and a couple of enemies are the only planes still flying, I found the Draken's PS-011/A71H IRST radar to be less than satisfactory at finding targets. There were a few occasions when I could make out glints of metal on the horizon before my radar picked up so much as a single ping.

It's a single downside in a serving of Swedish meatballs that otherwise goes down easily. After a solid hour and a half of stick time with 13 victories and eight enemies shot down, I'd say my skills are pretty sub-par. But in terms of the most fun I've ever had playing War Thunder, I can say buying a premium vehicle takes an already fun game and puts it on steroids. The added 2500 golden eagles in in-game currency plus 20 days of premium account time with extra battle bonuses is nothing short of the gravy on top.

A lot of praise for sure, but we've put off the 800-lb gorilla in the room, the price of this premium airplane. What is that price, you may ask? Well, there's no way to sugarcoat this one; it's $70. That's not at all a typo folks. This DLC add-on to a free-to-play video game will run you the price of your average brand-new Triple-A game title these days. With that in mind, you can't help but feel that negates the experience somewhat. I know, for a fact, I wouldn't have bothered buying this jet had I needed to pay for it all myself.

Granted, DLC jets from games like DCS World also tend to run that amount of money. But DCS World is an entirely different animal than War Thunder. The level of technical detail and intricacy in every switch and dial DCS means that it can take months, if not years, to get everything right. Not to say the cockpit detail in War Thunder can't be fantastic. It's just when every switch in the cockpit is useable; things tend to be much more complicated. In the end, we can't recommend curious first-time War Thunder players shell out that much money for a top-tier premium jet.

It costs... how much???

Jumping right into supersonic jets when you haven't flown so much as a biplane is bound to be like driving a Dodge Viper when the most powerful thing you've ever driven is a Mitsubishi Mirage. Most players flying jets with such a high battle ranking are bound to be scrappy veterans who know all the tips and tricks. Against that kind of competition, newbies are bound to straight up not have a good time.

So then, if you're considering buying a high-tier War Thunder jet, consider this. We hope you're a very avid fan of military aviation who respects the particulars of how to play the game. Otherwise, you're probably better off buying a Triple-A title for the same money. But what do you think? Is the Finnish Draken cool enough to be worth it? Let us know in the comments down below.