Rust – Airborne update brings combat helicopter and homing missile launcher

The “Airborne” update for Rust in September brings the survival title an attack helicopter, a homing missile launcher and armor for the hot air balloon, among other things.

Attack helicopter

The newest vehicle in the game is the Attack Helicopter. You can buy this vehicle now in the Bandit Camp for 2250 scrap.
The helicopter has two seats, a gunner and a pilot.

Gunner

The gunner has control over two possible weapons of the helicopter. A turret and missiles.
The turret is similar to the one you can build in your base – you can equip it with a weapon and ammo, and then fire it via an interface.

The missiles on the side of the helicopter are located on the side of the vehicle and must also be equipped.
High-speed and fire missiles are possible.

Once the Gunner is in the interface, the left mouse button fires the turret’s weapon, the right mouse button fires the missiles.
Additionally, you can keep flares in your quick access bar and use them while flying to deflect missiles fired at you.
(This feature can now be used on all helicopters).

Pilot

The pilot controls the helicopter and can also fire missiles (left mouse button). However, unlike the gunner, he does not have an exact indication of where the missiles will hit.
The right mouse button can also be used to fire flares if they have been loaded into the missile supply.

Homing Missile Launcher

The homing missile launcher is a new craftable weapon that can be used effectively against flying targets.
When you load a homing missile into the launcher and aim it at a flying target, you will see a homing bar.
Once this is filled, you can shoot the missile, but you must continue to follow the target with the launcher.

How to make the missile launcher

To craft the homing missile launcher you need a level 2 workbench.
Then you can craft it from 20 High Quality Metal, 1 Metal Pipe, 1 Tech Scrap and 1 CCTV Camera.

For the missiles themselves, you will also need a level 2 workbench and 3 Metal Pipes, 200 Gunpowder and 1 Tech Scrap.

Countermeasures

If you are in a helicopter, a sound will warn you when this missile launcher is targeting you.
Then you are left with several countermeasures:

• Break line of sight to the launcher (“LoS”)
• Use decoys (see above)
• Shoot the shooter before the aiming process is finished.

By the way, the NPC helicopters have also been equipped with decoys to defend themselves against the new weapon.

Parachutes

With the fight in the air, of course, you need a way to get safely back towards the ground without a vehicle.
That’s why there are now parachutes in the game.

These can be equipped in a new backpack slot, and when you press the space bar while falling, the parachute opens.
With the movement keys you can control your flight and speed up or slow down.

The flight ends when you hit a solid object or cut your lines.

After the fall, the parachute lies spread out on the ground and can be picked up and reused, but loses 20% of its durability with each use.

Note: Parachute jumpers can be caught by SAM launchers and automatic turrets.

To make a parachute you will need a level 2 workbench and 2 Tarps, 2 sewing kits and 50 cloth each.

Armored hot air balloon

The hot air balloon is probably more of a gimmick in the game than a valid combat option for aerial battles, but it will become a bit more effective with the Airborne update.
This is because you can now equip the balloon’s basket with an armor basket, which generally increases the balloon’s health and provides protection and cover.

The balloon itself can be purchased in the Bandit Camp for 150 scrap, and you can get the armor upgrade from the vehicle parts vendor.

Weapon Stands (Item Store)

In the Rust Item Store you can now buy weapon racks to display and store your weapons.
There are three sizes in total.

Problems with the End of the World

Until now, it was theoretically possible to get outside the map area of Rust with vehicles and the vehicles were then simply destroyed, killing the players.
However, there was no feedback on this and so there is now an innovation here.

Vehicles can now no longer leave the map boundaries and hit an invisible wall there.

In addition, boats are now automatically pushed back towards the coast after 2 hours without use.

Minor fixes and improvements

Some minor fixes and improvements – short and compact:

• Pump Tower & Mine: Both the pump tower and the mine have received a new model.
• Hot Air Balloon Fuel: The hot air balloon now uses slightly less fuel.
• Hot Air Balloon Decay: When hot air balloons get stuck somewhere they now decay faster.
• Glowing Furnaces: The furnaces should now glow properly again.
• Fluid Switch and Pump: Both devices can now be stacked in inventory.
• Unlearnable Blueprints: The UI has been improved to more clearly indicate that some blueprints cannot be learned.

Airborne Update Trailer

You are currently viewing a placeholder content from Youtube. To access the actual content, click the button below. Please note that doing so will share data with third-party providers.

More Information

Unblock content Accept required service and unblock content