ST-A1

ST-A1

Chi-Ri II

ST-A2

ST-A1

Chi-Ri II

ST-A2

Japan

IV Rank

Battle rating:

AB	RB	SB
6.3	6.3	6.3

Class:

Medium tank

Research:54 000

Purchase:185 000

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This page is about the Japanese medium tank ST-A1. For other variants, see Type 61 (Family).

Description

The ST-A1 (also known by STA-1) is a Rank IV Japanese medium tank with a battle rating of 6.3 (AB/RB/SB). It was introduced along with the initial Japanese Ground Forces tree in Update 1.65 "Way of the Samurai".

The ST-A1, similar to most Japanese tanks, is lightly armoured. Although the sloped upper glacis and the rounded turret are capable of bouncing off the occasional shot at BR 6.3, most enemies it faces will not have any problems in penetrating the armour. Combined with the tight placement of crew, modules, and ammo, the ST-A1 is easily taken out in a single shot. The ST-A1 can serve as a sniper or flanker (although it does not have the best speed), however, full utilization of the terrain is essential for survival - due to its powerful gun and low profile, the tank is able to fire off long-range shots without exposing itself. The excellent reverse speed should also be taken advantage of to quickly retreat into cover.

The ST-A1 bears the common Japanese post-war camouflage-schemes - green, bi-colour green and the white spotted winter camouflage, as well as the beige-grey-green and multi-colour camouflage patterns that are purchasable with Golden Eagles. The tank has a distinct silhouette with its rounded turret and long, low chassis, and carries the 90 mm M3A1 cannon found on the M46 Patton tank.

General info

Survivability and armour

Armour type:

• Rolled homogeneous armour
• Cast homogeneous armour (Turret)

Armour	Front	Sides	Rear	Roof
Hull	75 mm (52°) Front glacis 75 mm (47°) Lower glacis	25 mm (45°) Top 25 mm Bottom	15 mm (15-44°) Top 15 mm Bottom	15 mm
Turret	75 mm (5-55°) Turret front 50 mm (8-65°) Gun mantlet	40 mm (16-32°)	25 mm (7-10°)	15 mm
Armour	Sides	Roof
Cupola	40 mm	15 mm

Notes:

• Suspension wheels and tracks are 20 mm thick.

When facing the ST-A1, the left side of the turret holds the gunner and commander whereas the right side holds the ammunition. A well-placed shot into the turret will result in a catastrophic explosion or a possible double crew knock out with a solid shot. If unable to disable the gunner, the breech which is the largest thing in the turret will do as a target due to the repair time is close to one minute (or less depending on the crew skills) giving enough time for the attacker to reload and finish off the tank.

However, in arcade battles, if all of turret crew members knocked out, the "last stand" is very forgiving and the tank seems to soak up damage as if gunner is not even present in the turret. As long as the vehicle doesn't take full ammunition load and spends all of their pre-loaded ammunition, the turret can tank AP and HEAT shots while only likely to lose the gun breech. This makes the tank extremely hard to destroy from a distance, especially from the left side as long as the hull is not hit. Caution must be taken with the turret to avoid being shot directly with APHE or HESH. Close range combat with multiple tanks should be avoided.

Mobility

Game Mode	Max Speed (km/h)		Weight (tons)	Engine power (horsepower)		Power-to-weight ratio (hp/ton)
	Forward	Reverse		Stock	Upgraded	Stock	Upgraded
Arcade	50	20	34.2	775	1,049	22.66	30.67
Realistic	45	18		442	550	12.92	16.08

Its offroad speed is about (AB/RB) 40/33 km/h forward and -18/-15 km/h backwards, and its top speed is 50/45 forward and -20/-17 backwards, reached by driving in one direction for a long time.

Suspension of ST-A1 allows it to stay on rather high hills, but without mobility upgrades it will still slide off them eventually. It also cannot rush steep hills even in Arcade mode, even at maximum speed, unless you researched everything (And even then it may slide back down at the last moment).

Armaments

Main armament

90 mm M3A1
Capacity			Vertical guidance	Horizontal guidance	Stabilizer
40			-10°/+13°	±180°	N/A
Turret rotation speed (°/s)
Mode	Stock	Upgraded	Prior + Full crew	Prior + Expert qualif.	Prior + Ace qualif.
Arcade	22.85	31.62	38.40	42.47	45.18
Realistic	14.28	16.8	20.40	22.56	24.0
Reloading rate (seconds)
Stock	Prior + Full crew	Prior + Expert qualif.	Prior + Ace qualif.
9.75	8.63	7.95	7.5

While gun performs at an acceptable level at its battle rating, the module "Adjustment of fire" should be the first module upgraded as well as the available ammunition upgrades. The base ammunition is solely armour-piercing and low quality at that, so it is unsuited to fight other tanks from long range, unlocking other shells will provide the tank operator harder hitting shells.

Progression goes as follows:

Stock

• Able to fight light tanks and some medium tanks within about 500 m. Without upgrades, the main gun tends to miss a lot and even if you hit the target the round may ricochet. Attacking heavy tanks is really not recommended with the default ammunition due to the poor quality and low damage.

APHE and adjustment of fire

• Able to fight heavy tanks of your own battle rating like the IS-2 or Tiger II (P) by firing at their frontal turret weak spot at relatively close range and snipe certain medium tanks, although anything of higher battle rating like Centurion Mk 3 should not be attacked directly due to their protective armour. Many of tanks will still bounce your long-range shots, because APHE flies at a high angle since 700 m, and in up-tier, the rounds will not affect any of the heavy tanks. However, you can take flanking snipe routes and use your high-level zoom to snipe them from great distance into their sides where the armour is weaker and with APHE, unlike normal AP, will definitely destroy their entire tank for you as long as it penetrates.

APCR and elevation mechanism

• Many will be puzzled by a tank which carries into battle two different APCR rounds. Though the M304 and M332 rounds have different masses, they effectively do the same amount of damage. The larger M304 is a blunt force shell and due to its weight, the main gun must be angled up to ensure the heavy shell reaches its target. Unfortunately, with the higher angle of attaching, the shell does lose some penetration power. The M332, on the other hand, is a smaller mass round, however, it can be fired more like a rifle round almost level at the target. This smaller round impacts its targets at a higher velocity breaching heavily armoured tanks from longer distances with a minimal chance of ricochet. With the smaller mass comes smaller damage, but because of this, the M304 and M332 are doing roughly the same damage. It may still one-shot cramped-quarter tanks if you shoot straight through the middle of them or aim for the crew specifically. Most of enemy heavy SPG and some up-tier superheavies will still ignore your shots and attempt to one-shot you back so you will find yourself constantly using both APHE and APCR, trying to adapt to your current enemy.

HEAT-FS

• With M348 unlocked, you can now simply destroy T-44 by firing at the left of their tank (right for you if head-on) and IS-2 by firing straight at the middle of their hull. You also can destroy all the enemy SPG and heavy tanks which were bullying you this entire time from any range, for example, you can destroy Jagdtiger with two shots by crew knockout, destroy T32E1 which is normally a pain to hit into hull weak spot with APHE even with X16 zoom, and, if playing AB, you can now destroy superior Leopard I without any issues. It's worth remembering though, that certain rare tanks like Centurion Mk.5 AVRE and T95 are highly resistant to HEAT or just damage in general, requiring you to aim very well or retreat, and HEAT often explodes if touches anything on it's flight path, so kinetic shells are still required.

At all progression stages it is important to remember that your engine deck blocks your gun from depressing to -10 degrees and any tank with low profile can exploit this weakness, if they have to.

Ammunition

Penetration statistics
Ammunition	Type of warhead	Penetration in mm @ 0°
		10m	100m	500m	1000m	1500m	2000m
M318 shot	AP	174	171	159	149	133	122
M71 shell	HE	13	13	13	13	13	13
M82 shot	APCBC	182	180	168	153	140	128
M304 shot	APCR	264	260	245	226	210	191
M332 shot	APCR	271	270	245	217	192	170
M348 shell	HEATFS	305	305	305	305	305	305

Shell details
Ammunition	Type of warhead	Velocity in m/s	Projectile Mass in kg	Fuse delay in m:	Fuse sensitivity in mm:	Explosive Mass in g (TNT equivalent):	Normalization At 30° from horizontal:	Ricochet:
								0%	50%	100%
M318 shot	AP	853	11	N/A	N/A	N/A	+4°	47°	60°	65°
M71 shell	HE	823	11	0.1	0.5	925	+0°	79°	80°	81°
M82 shot	APCBC	853	11	1.2	14	137.2	+4°	48°	63°	71°
M304 shot	APCR	1021	7.6	N/A	N/A	N/A	+1.5°	66°	70°	72°
M332 shot	APCR	1178	5.6	N/A	N/A	N/A	+1.5°	66°	70°	72°
M348 shell	HEATFS	853	6.5	0.0	0.1	926.17	+0°	65°	72°	75°

Smoke characteristic
Ammunition	Velocity in m/s	Projectile Mass in kg	Screen radius in m	Screen time in s	Screen hold time in s:	Explosive Mass in g (TNT equivalent):
M313	821	11	13	5	20	50

Ammo racks

Ammo racks of the ST-A1.

Full ammo	1st rack empty	2nd rack empty	3rd rack empty	Visual discrepancy
40	39 (+1)	30 (+10)	1 (+39)	no

Turret empty: 30 (+10)

Optics

ST-A1 Optics
Which ones	Default magnification	Maximum magnification
Main Gun optics	x8	x16
Comparable optics	JPz 4-5

• It is important to remember the earliest your common enemy would have x16 scope is at a battle rating of 7.3/7.7 (AB/RB) with German Leopard I while even the SPG class tanks will most likely have an ~x6 or x8 at best with very rare JPz 4-5 being the only exception.
• Be aware when utilising guns which lack stabilizer, attempting to shoot on the move while viewing through x16 optics is almost a guaranteed miss due to the movement of the vehicle over the terrain. If needed to aim at targets on a move, do not change pace or make sudden changes as the gun will fire less predictably and most likely result in a miss.

Machine guns

The machine guns of ST-A1 can be used to destroy super light SPG like M56 and 12 mm MG is capable of destroying AUBL/74 and similar vehicles. They also can be used to fire at planes, though the damage is minimal.

Despite of them being useful, it's better to rely on your main gun first, as light vehicles at BR of 6.3 are capable of dishing out unexpected fatal damage and they should be destroyed the very moment you spot them.

12.7 mm M2HB
Pintle mount
Capacity (Belt capacity)				Fire rate (shots/minute)	Vertical guidance	Horizontal guidance
660 (200)				577	-5°/+90°	±30°

7.62 mm M1919A4
Coaxial mount
Capacity (Belt capacity)				Fire rate (shots/minute)	Vertical guidance	Horizontal guidance
4,500 (250)				500	N/A	N/A

Usage in battles

As the ST-A1 is Japan's first tank for a new era of tank development, it shows the same gameplay issues as the Chi-Ha. The weak armor, the slow to mediocre turret rotation speed, quite a long hull and high drop-rate of shells.

But its not just all negatives, the mobility is good for what it is, has adequate gun depression and the ST-A1 even comes with HEAT like the Chi-Ha, this time in the form of M348 HEAT-FS researchable as tier IV modification.

Other than the similarities to the Chi-Ha, the ST-A has its own factors good and bad which should be kept in mind when playing. From the very good reverse speed, great zoom factor, the additional .50 cal as roof mount and many shell options to large ammo racks that are bound to be set off, the elevated engine deck not allowing to shoot behind the tank.

Gameplay

The plan is simple and similar to the Chi-Ha & other early Japanese medium tanks, you want to stay either near or behind your allies and not rush forward, you can't take much damage, but you can deliver a punch. Pre-aim the turret and guide the enemy tanks into the sights as the rotation speed isn't of the fastest.

The further you are from your enemy the better for the inadequate armor, The ST-A comes with an amazing zoom factor and allows for clear sniping, but do keep in mind the shell drop-off are rather high.

Before you have your hands on the HEAT-FS, the safest bet is to exploit the flanks of the enemy, especially when starting with only AP, frontal penetrations won't happen reliable with the tanks the ST-A faces, try aiming for ammo racks, put a solid round into cramped crew members while trying to get the M82 shot and back up into cover or behind corners as the crew reloads the shell.

After unlocking the M82 APHE, placing shots is less important, once it penetrates, it's most likely to blow up good. It will come at the cost of the extra penetration, but when aiming for the sides, extra penetration isn't required. It's still a good idea to bring some AP shells with the tank just in-case you have to fight in a frontal engagement and the APHE fails to penetrate.

With the HEAT-FS finally unlocked, you can fully make use of the punches you can deal and the zoom you have, help your allies out with the toughest of enemies and simply frontally penetrate them.

Modules

After unlocking the HEAT-FS: M348 shell; The remainder of the modifications should come with ease.

Tier	Mobility		Protection	Firepower
I	Tracks		Parts	M82 shot	Horizontal Drive
II	Suspension	Brake System	FPE	M304 shot	Adjustment of Fire
III	Filters		Crew Replenishment	M332 shot	Elevation Mechanism
IV	Transmission	Engine		M348 shell	Artillery Support	M313

Pros and cons

Pros:

• Vehicle body is thin and low = small front profile
• Adequate gun depression of -10°
• 90 mm gun that allows for combat against contemporary medium tanks
• .50 cal machine gun allows for AA defence
• Good speed, OK mobility
• Very good reverse speed
• Access to HEAT-FS shells
• Has x16 zoom as maximum with competition generally using x8 at best

Cons:

• Elevated engine deck prevents rear gun depression
• Large ammo rack all over the turret, especially left side (Aiming right side), if you take more than 29 shells and don't spend the "first stage" rack fast
• Inadequate hull raw armour of 75 mm at the front, relies on slopes and bounces for resistance against shots
• Even more inadequate turret armour of around 40-75 mm overall
• Gun sub-par against the heavy tanks like the Tiger II
• High drop-rate of shells make long-range engagements difficult
• 15 mm of armour on top of the turret and engine deck make it easy to penetrate for Strafing Air and Artillery

History

Describe the history of the creation and combat usage of the ground vehicle in more detail than in the introduction. If the historical reference turns out to be too long, take it to a separate article, taking a link to the article about the vehicle and adding a block "/ History" (example: https://wiki.warthunder.com/(Vehicle-name)/History) and add a link to it here using the main template. Be sure to reference text and sources by using <ref>, as well as adding them at the end of the article. This section may also include the vehicle's dev blog entry (if applicable) and the in-game encyclopedia description (under === Encyclopedia Info ===, also if applicable).

Media

Excellent additions to the article would be video guides, screenshots from the game, and photos.

See also

Links to the articles on the War Thunder Wiki that you think will be useful for the reader, for example:

• reference to the series of the vehicles;
• links to approximate analogues of other nations and research trees.

External links

• [Devblog] ST-A1: Stepping into a New Era