Battlefield 6 REDSEC: guide to the USS Grant Aircraft Carrier Wreck and the Survival: Air Raid mode, live August 18

Battlefield 6 update 1.4.2.0 arrives on Tuesday, August 18, and on the REDSEC side, it comes down to two additions: a new point of interest, the Carrier Wreck of the USS Grant off the coast of Fort Lyndon, and a brand-new mode, Survival: Air Raid, which is played exclusively in a plane, with two players in the cockpit.

EA's schedule is precise: download available at 10:00 AM CEST, new content unlockable at 2:00 PM CEST. These times "may vary and are subject to change," the publisher warns: plan for some leeway.

A useful clarification: none of this is live at the time you're reading these lines. This Saturday, August 15, REDSEC is still running in its current configuration. This guide is preparing you for Tuesday; it doesn't describe a match you could launch tonight.

The USS Grant is a wreck, not a playable carrier

EA's official wording leaves no room for doubt: "The USS Grant is a downed American aircraft carrier off the coast of Fort Lyndon, which forms a brand-new point of interest for the Battle Royale mode." The key word is downed: you're not getting an operational ship, but a wrecked hulk run aground at sea, turned into a combat space.

This nuance heads off a disappointment that's bound to circulate come Tuesday: full aircraft carrier gameplay remains exclusive to Top Gun: Carrier Offensive on the multiplayer side — see our August 5 guide on Wake Island and the Interdictor precision rifle. In both Conquest and Breakthrough, aircraft carriers are only environmental elements.

Priority Zone: high loot paid for with a contested landing

This is the section that determines your drop point. EA writes: "Drop into this Carrier Wreck to contest a new, high-value combat space. This new zone offers higher-value loot than the map's standard points of interest and will be labeled Priority Zone for the first few weeks, making it easier to identify when deploying."

Two pieces of information overlap here, pulling in opposite directions:

• The loot there is superior to that of standard points of interest. That's the argument for landing there.
• Everyone can see it. Priority Zone isn't a discreet bonus reserved for those who know the map by heart: it's a marker displayed on the deployment screen, even for squads discovering REDSEC for the first time.

Should you land there in your very first match? Yes if you're playing in a full, coordinated squad, no if your main goal is to scout the area first. A point of interest flagged for everyone concentrates landings in the opening minutes, and the wreck sits out at sea: falling back doesn't mean simply running to the next building over. EA hasn't detailed either the ways to get back out or the number of crates on board — the first thing to check on Tuesday afternoon.

Note that the label is only announced for "the first few weeks," while the superior loot isn't presented as temporary: it's the signage that's meant to disappear, not the value of the content. The zone will therefore become much more playable once the marker is removed.

Survival: Air Raid, a mode where the co-pilot is half the crew

The second addition is a full mode. Official text: "Survival: Air Raid: Take to the skies with your co-pilot in a Survival experience exclusive to aircraft, focused on high-intensity aerial combat. Fly the new two-seater aircraft, take down rival squadrons, dodge incoming anti-aircraft fire, and bring down the enemy team to secure victory."

• Aircraft only: no infantry, no ground vehicles, you never leave the cockpit.
• Two players per aircraft, pilot and co-pilot. The back seat is a combat position, not a passenger seat.
• Anti-aircraft fire to dodge: the threat also comes from the ground.
• Victory by elimination: bring down the enemy team.

The practical consequence is immediate: find your duo partner before Tuesday. A mode where one pilots and the other shoots doesn't play the same way with a stranger as it does with someone whose reflexes you know. In a typical REDSEC squad, the question to settle isn't which weapon to bring, but who flies.

Super Spectre or Seacat: two two-seaters, two flight profiles

• F/A-81F Super Spectre — "designed for air superiority and precision strikes", it lets "pilots and co-pilots work together to dominate the skies and attack ground targets". It's the more versatile of the two.
• F-74A Seacat — its "variable-geometry wings" "adjust in flight", geared toward "speed, maneuverability and aerial combat". A more specialized profile: a dogfighting aircraft.

In a mode exclusively focused on aircraft, this difference in role is the first trade-off awaiting you. EA has not published any numerical stats comparing the two aircraft: we'll stick to the announced roles.

Aircraft control assistance opens up flying to non-pilots

A discreet but structural addition: aircraft control assistance is making its appearance. It guides the aircraft toward the center of the camera view and handles pitch, roll and yaw. In plain terms, you look where you want to go and the plane follows, instead of you managing three axes by hand.

The timing is no coincidence: releasing a fully air-based mode on the very same day that piloting becomes assisted amounts to acknowledging that flying was a barrier to entry. The pilot's seat is thus opening up to players with no experience, and the first evenings will mix manual-flight veterans with assisted beginners.

The free trial from August 18 to 25 will fill lobbies all week

A free trial runs from August 18 to 25: six modes across four maps — Tsuru Reef, Wake Island, Cairo Bazaar and Hagental Base. Any unlocks earned are kept afterward, and REDSEC remains free to play.

Expect fuller lobbies, with an unusual proportion of players discovering the game: a good week to attempt an aggressive landing on the Carrier Wreck, a more mixed-bag week if you're playing in a randomly formed squad.

The event challenges also earn elite medals, "a limited-time currency" to spend "on Top Gun-themed cosmetic items in the Event menu". EA has said nothing about what happens to any unspent balance: convert them as you go.

The REDSEC patches to know before jumping back in

Update 1.4.2.0 also brings fixes specific to the battle royale:

• Supply drops: their orientation has been revised.
• Golf Course: the weapon cache has been moved, because it was trapping players. If you used to go there, your route will change.
• Survival: Rodeo: points are now correctly awarded for tank destructions.
• Solo battle royale: new tutorials now appear.
• AI: it now supports the new planes and boats in REDSEC.

Key dates to remember

• Tuesday, August 18, 10:00 AM CEST: download of update 1.4.2.0.
• Tuesday, August 18, 2:00 PM CEST: unlocking of new content, including the Carrier Wreck and Survival: Air Raid.
• August 18 to 25: free trial, six modes across four maps.
• The first weeks after August 18: the Carrier Wreck remains labeled a Priority Zone.

We'll revisit REDSEC once 1.4.2.0 has rolled out, to document the actual content of the wreck and the behavior of the two two-seater aircraft.