Strv 103A

This page is about the Swedish medium tank Strv 103A. For other versions, see Strv 103 (Family).

Strv 103A

Strv 101

Strv 104

Strv 103A

Strv 101

Strv 104

Sweden

V Rank

Battle rating:

AB	RB	SB
8.0	8.0	8.0

Class:

Medium tank

Research:61 000

Purchase:340 000

Show in game

Description

The Stridsvagn 103A is a rank V Swedish medium tank with a battle rating of 8.0 (AB/RB/SB). It was introduced in Update 1.97 "Viking Fury". It is a first unique tank in the Swedish tree which is a MBT, although by its appearance it would seem to instead be a tank destroyer. It is also known as S-Tank or Door Stop.

General info

Survivability and armour

Smoke grenades

Creation of a smoke screen in front of the vehicle

Armourfront / side / back

Hull40 / 30 / 30

Turret0 / 0 / 0

Crew3 people

Visibility73 %

With a superbly sloped front hull armour, incoming kinetic rounds are prone to harmlessly bounce off, though chemical rounds will typically do some damage. Side, rear and top armour of the vehicle are weak, most aircraft can penetrate the roof, especially if they have 20 mm rounds or larger. With a total of three crew members, survivability after taking hits tend to be slim. However, the Strv 103 series are the only tanks that can operate with only one crew member! A major drawback is without transmission/engine you can no longer manoeuvre the hull to aim left or right.

Armour type:

• Rolled homogeneous armour
• Structural steel - Storage boxes
• Gun steel - Main gun, machine guns
• Tracks
• Structural steel of chassis - Suspension

Armour	Front (Slope angle)	Sides	Rear	Roof
Hull	40 mm (77°) Upper Glacis 40 mm (74°) Lower Glacis	30 mm +10 mm Upper 30 mm Lower	30 mm	20 mm
Cupola	35 mm	35 mm	35 mm	20 mm

Notes:

• Main gun - 25 mm
• Machine guns - 5 mm
• Tracks - 20 mm
• Suspension - 15 mm
• The crew compartment is lined with 10 mm RHA
• Storage boxes - 4 mm

Mobility

 

Controlled suspension

It is possible to adjust the ground clearance or more complex suspension positions

Speedforward / back

AB56 / 49 km/h

RB and SB50 / 44 km/h

Number of gears7 forward

6 back

Weight36.9 t

Engine power

AB1 030 hp

RB and SB540 hp

Power-to-weight ratio

AB27.9 hp/t

RB and SB14.6 hp/t

Game Mode	Max Speed (km/h)		Weight (tons)	Engine power (horsepower)		Power-to-weight ratio (hp/ton)
	Forward	Reverse		Stock	Upgraded	Stock	Upgraded
Arcade	56	49	36.9	732	1,030	19.84	27.91
Realistic	50	44		478	540	12.95	14.63

Modifications and economy

Repair costBasic → Reference

AB4 374 → 5 769

RB4 873 → 6 427

SB6 909 → 9 112

Total cost of modifications96 400

163 800

Talisman cost2 200

Crew training98 000

Experts340 000

Aces1 300

Research Aces780 000

Reward for battleAB / RB / SB

140 / 200 / 240 %

202 / 202 / 202 %

Modifications

Mobility	Protection	Firepower
Tracks Research: 10 000 Cost: 16 000 380 Suspension Research: 4 600 Cost: 7 400 175 Brake System Research: 4 600 Cost: 7 400 175 Filters Research: 8 500 Cost: 14 000 320 Transmission Research: 5 500 Cost: 8 800 210 Engine Research: 5 500 Cost: 8 800 210	Improved Parts Research: 6 500 Cost: 16 000 380 Improved FPE Research: 3 000 Cost: 7 400 175 Crew Replenishment Research: 8 500 Cost: 14 000 320 Smoke grenade Research: 5 500 Cost: 8 800 210	Adjustment of Fire Research: 4 600 Cost: 7 400 175 105mm_usa_HESH_ammo_pack Research: 4 600 Cost: 7 400 175 105mm_us_M416_Smoke_ammo_pack Research: 8 500 Cost: 14 000 320 Laser rangefinder Research: 5 500 Cost: 8 800 210 Artillery Support Research: 5 500 Cost: 8 800 210 105mm_sweden_APDS_ammo_pack Research: 5 500 Cost: 8 800 210

Armaments

Laser rangefinder

Reduces the error and increases the maximum measurable distance of the rangefinder

Main armament

105 mm L74 cannon

Autoloader

Automatically feeds projectiles into the breech. The speed does not depend on the skills of the loader

Ammunition50 rounds

Reload4.0 s

Vertical guidance-10° / 12°

105 mm L74					Turret rotation speed (°/s)					Reloading rate (seconds)
Mode	Capacity	Vertical	Horizontal	Stabilizer	Stock	Upgraded	Full	Expert	Aced	Stock	Full	Expert	Aced
Arcade	50	-10°/+12°	N/A	N/A	67.2	67.2	81.6	90.2	96.0	4.0	4.0	4.0	4.0
Realistic					42.0	42.0	51.0	56.4	60.0

Ammunition

Penetration statistics
Ammunition	Type of warhead	Penetration @ 0° Angle of Attack (mm)
		10 m	100 m	500 m	1,000 m	1,500 m	2,000 m
slpprj m/61	APDS	303	302	296	277	257	252
slpprj m/62	APDS	260	258	250	240	231	222
slsgr m/61A	HE	23	23	23	23	23	23
slspgr m/61	HESH	127	127	127	127	127	127

Shell details
Ammunition	Type of warhead	Velocity (m/s)	Projectile Mass (kg)	Fuse delay (m)	Fuse sensitivity (mm)	Explosive Mass (TNT equivalent) (g)	Ricochet
							0%	50%	100%
slpprj m/61	APDS	1,500	4	N/A	N/A	N/A	75°	78°	80°
slpprj m/62	APDS	1,450	4.5	N/A	N/A	N/A	75°	78°	80°
slsgr m/61A	HE	680	14.4	0	0.1	1,830	79°	80°	81°
slspgr m/61	HESH	760	14.85	0.05	0.1	4,780	73°	77°	80°

Smoke shell characteristics
Ammunition	Velocity (m/s)	Projectile Mass (kg)	Screen radius (m)	Screen deploy time (s)	Screen hold time (s)	Explosive Mass (TNT equivalent) (g)
rökgr m/61	330	18.7	20	5	25	50

Ammo racks

Full ammo	1st rack empty	2nd rack empty	3rd rack empty	4th rack empty	5th rack empty	6th rack empty	7th rack empty	8th rack empty	9th rack empty	10th rack empty	Visual discrepancy
50	46 (+4)	41 (+9)	36 (+14)	31 (+19)	26 (+24)	21 (+29)	16 (+34)	11 (+39)	6 (+44)	1 (+49)	No

Ammo racks of the Strv 103A

Machine guns

2 x 7.62 mm ksp 58 machine gun (coaxial)

Ammunition1 000 rounds

Belt capacity250 rounds

Reload8.0 s

Fire rate600 shots/min

7.62 mm ksp 58 machine gun

Ammunition1 500 rounds

Belt capacity250 rounds

Reload8.0 s

Fire rate600 shots/min

The Strv 103A has 3 x 7.62 mm ksp 58 machine guns, 2 on the left side in their own mount and one on top of the commander's cupola. All 3 machine guns are fixed to the hull with no traverse.

7.62 mm ksp 58
Mount	Capacity (Belt)	Fire rate	Vertical	Horizontal
Hull	1,375 (250)	600	N/A	N/A
Hull	1,375 (250)	600	N/A	N/A
Pintle	1,375 (250)	600	N/A	N/A

Usage in battles

The Strv 103A is an amazing tank to take in defensive positions and snipe with. Although it's mainly used for the sniping role, it can also do close quarters combat quite well if one needs to push out to a capture point. Due to the armour design of the Strv 103, surviving conventional shells that can be found on the early Cold War-era Soviet tanks is easy. The only challenges with the tank is to learn key positions to lock down with the rapid firing 105 mm L7-derived cannon and learning the shooting mechanics of hull-aim. It is important to stay on flat ground when playing this tank, as slopes can cause issues with the hull-aim.

While the Strv 103 can easily hold its own against conventional shells, against chemical and more modern kinetic rounds it starts to lose its points. HEAT-FS shells can easily penetrate the frontal armour, going through both the armour and engine, knocking out the crew behind it (this gets remedied with the later 103C, which has slat armour at the front to prematurely detonate the shell). In full uptiers, it's also highly likely to get shot at by APFSDS shells, which ignore the armour completely. That's why when facing these vehicles, one should take full utility of the smoke launchers and smoke rounds to create a quick escape out and avoid getting shot at.

If the tank does get shot at, the survivability is quite high due to the crew all being located behind the transmission and the engine. And since the tank can be operated by only one crew member, the tank is mostly only destroyed by being set afire by the fuel tank and engine in the front of the tank.

Pros and cons

Pros:

• Low profile
• Fast reload
• Effectively sloped front armour
• Can be controlled by one crew member
• Extremely survivable
• Gunner and Commander perform the same roles, so there is no crew switch if either is knocked out

Cons:

• Slow aiming
• Vulnerable to flanking
• Only three crew members
• Gun is prone to damage
• Catches fire often when shot from the side and sometimes from the front

History

After 6 months of trial with the Strv 103-0 and the goal settings for requirements that the tank needed to pass were done in 1963 it was not till Autumn 1964 that the first order for the Strv 103 came in to AB Bofors. 1967 the Strv 103A started to deliver to the army, a total of 70 Strv 103As were ordered to the army as the first series production. Strv 103A had a 300hk powered gasturbine that during delivery proved to be not quite effective and would be required a change in the upcoming version of the Strv 103. Directly when the S tank got delivered instructor courses began and it was not till 1968 that the first conscripts go the education on the Strv 103 "S" systems.

Devblog

In the immediate postwar years, Sweden began looking for a replacement to the Centurion tanks, then in service with its army. The most straightforward solution was to once again look into the export market for potential candidates, although engineers were already working on a domestic design - the Kranvagn. While this process was ongoing, an engineer by the name of Sven Berge came up with a radical new tank design in 1956.

This new vehicle featured a turretless design with a cannon fixed to the hull, which would be trained onto its targets with the precise use of an adjustable suspension system. The design was based on results from a study on tank crew casualties during WWII and the Korean War, which showed a correlation between tank height and hit probability. As such, the 'S-Tank' was kept very small in dimensions and low in profile, while also utilizing some innovative new engineering solutions, such as a mixed power plant consisting of a diesel engine and a gas turbine.

In 1959, the Swedish government approved the construction and testing of two prototypes. In 1960, a pre-production batch of 10 vehicles of the '0-serie' was ordered for field trials, which went on into the mid '60s. Generating more than favorable test results, the vehicle was formally ordered into production and procured as the 'Stridsvagn 103'.

Despite its original purpose being to replace the Centurion tanks in the Swedish Army, the Strv 103 ended up serving alongside it for a number of decades, until it was ultimately decommissioned in the late 1990s. By that time, 290 Strv 103s were built, spanning over five variants.

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

Paste links to sources and external resources, such as:

• topic on the official game forum;
• encyclopedia page on the tank;
• other literature.