L7A3 (105 mm)

Description

Write an introduction to the article in 2-3 small paragraphs. Briefly tell us about the history of the development and combat using the weaponry and also about its features. Compile a list of air, ground, or naval vehicles that feature this weapon system in the game.

Vehicles equipped with this weapon

• M48A2 G A2
• M48 Super
• Leopard I
• Leopard A1A1
• C2A1
• Radkampfwagen 90
• STB-2
• Type 74 (E)
• Type 74 (F)
• Type 74 (G)

General info

The L7A3 shares many of its properties with the L7A1 on British tanks, although it has access to a wider range of ammunition. Aside from the standard APDS and HESH rounds, the L7A3 is found to use HEATFS as well as a smoke shell. The L7A3 can be found either unstabilized or fully stabilized depending on the vehicle. Giving accurate fire at long ranges that can punch through even heavily armoured vehicles, the L7A3 is a highly capable weapon for the vehicles it is found on and will often face.

Available ammunition

Not all ammunition listed is available on all vehicles equipped with this weapon.

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
DM12	HEATFS	400	400	400	400	400	400
DM13	APDS	303	302	296	277	257	252
DM23	APFSDS	337	335	330	322	314	306
DM33	APFSDS	408	405	398	389	379	370
DM502	HESH	127	127	127	127	127	127
M392A2	APDS	303	302	296	277	257	252
M393A2	HESH	127	127	127	127	127	127
M456	HEATFS	400	400	400	400	400	400
M735	APFSDS	353	350	342	333	322	312
Type 75	HESH	127	127	127	127	127	127
Type 91	HEATFS	400	400	400	400	400	400
Type 93	APFSDS	405	403	396	388	378	370

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%
DM12	HEATFS	1,173	10.5	N/A	0.1	1,271	65°	72°	77°
DM13	APDS	1,478	4.0	N/A	N/A	N/A	75°	78°	80°
DM23	APFSDS	1,455	3.79	N/A	N/A	N/A	78°	80°	81°
DM33	APFSDS	1,455	3.79	N/A	N/A	N/A	78°	80°	81°
DM502	HESH	732	14.85	0.4	0.1	4,306	73°	77°	80°
M392A2	APDS	1,478	4.0	N/A	N/A	N/A	75°	78°	80°
M393A2	HESH	732	14.85	0.4	0.1	4,306	73°	77°	80°
M456	HEATFS	1,173	10.5	N/A	0.1	1,271	65°	72°	77°
M735	APFSDS	1,501	3.7	N/A	N/A	N/A	76°	77°	80°
Type 75	HESH	760	10.8	0.4	0.1	2,700	73°	77°	80°
Type 91	HEATFS	1,150	10.5	N/A	0.1	1,271	65°	72°	77°
Type 93	APFSDS	1,501	3.4	N/A	N/A	N/A	78°	80°	81°

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)
M416	730	11.4	20	5	25	50

Comparison with analogues

• L7A1 (105 mm): The L7A1 is the British original version of the L7A3, and has identical performance with the exception that no HEATFS shell is available for the L7A1.
• M68 (105 mm): The M68 is the American production version of the L7, and so also shares identical performance for matching shells, although the Americans have added a smoke shell in the place of having smoke grenades on vehicles.
• D-10T2S (100 mm): Unlike the standard D-10T found on the T-54, the D-10T2S uses a full stabilizer and has access to ammunition such as the 3BM25 which performs similarly to DM23 and M735 on the L7A3. However, the vehicles using the L7A3 reload faster than the T-55A (which uses the D-10T2S), although the T-55AM-1 does have a gun-launched ATGM which is not a feature found on the L7A3.
• OTO Melara 105/52 (105 mm): The OTO Melara 105/52 shares ammunition with the L7A3, and Italian vehicles using it such as the Centauro and OF-40 can reload as fast as the German and Japanese vehicles with the L7A3.
• CN-105-F1 (105 mm): The CN-105-F1 has drastically limited ammunition available with only a single shell of each major type present, but the ammunition is just as good or better than that found on the L7A3 as the OFL 105 F1 has the edge in penetration over DM23, although the Japanese Type 93 is still the top ammunition choice.

Usage in battles

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Pros and cons

Summarise and briefly evaluate the weaponry in terms of its characteristics and combat effectiveness. Mark pros and cons as a list.

Pros:

Cons:

History

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Media

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See also

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• reference to the article about the variant of the cannon/machine gun;
• references to approximate analogues by other nations and research trees.

External links

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

Japan tank cannons
37 mm	Type 94 · Type 100 · Type 1
47 mm	Type 1
57 mm	Type 90 · Type 97
70 mm	Type 94
75 mm	Type 90 · Type 99 · Type 3 · Type 5 (Type I Model II · Type II Model I · Type II Model II)
90 mm	Type 61
105 mm	Type 5 (Experimental · Production) · JSW L/52
106 mm	Type 60 (B)
120 mm	Taishō Type 10 · Navy short gun · Type 90 L/44 · Type 10 L/44
150 mm	Type 38
155 mm	NSJ L/30 · JSW L/52
	Foreign:
25 mm	Oerlikon KBA B02 (Switzerland)
30 mm	Bushmaster 2 Mk.44 (USA)
35 mm	Oerlikon KDE (Switzerland)
75 mm	M6 (USA)
76 mm	M1 (USA) · M32 (USA)
88 mm	KwK36 (Germany)
90 mm	M3A1 (USA) · M36 (USA)
105 mm	L7A3 (Germany)
120 mm	Schneider-Canet 1898 (France)