ST-A2

This page is about the Japanese medium tank ST-A2. For other variants, see Type 61 (Family).

ST-A2

ST-A1

Type 61

ST-A2

ST-A1

Type 61

Japan

IV Rank

Battle rating:

AB	RB	SB
6.3	6.3	6.3

Class:

Medium tank

Research:31 000

Purchase:200 000

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Description

The ST-A2 is the 2nd prototype towards the Type 61, starting to resemble the tank more and more with the main difference over the ST-A1 being the design of the hull. Offering the same engine, overall weight, and cannon, other than design differences, there's little noteworthy special about the ST-A2.

It was introduced along with the initial Japanese Ground Forces tree in Update 1.65 "Way of the Samurai". While it is a sidegrade to ST-A1, which takes sniping duty as its main work while neglecting most of the other roles. One can literally treat them as the same tank, but they have some minor quality of life differences, which will be mentioned here.

General info

Survivability and armour

Armourfront / side / back

Hull45 / 35 / 20

Turret75 / 60 / 35

Crew4 people

Visibility96 %

Armour type:

• Rolled homogeneous armour (hull, turret hatches)
• Cast homogeneous armour (turret, cupola, front roof section)

Armour	Front (Slope angle)	Sides	Rear	Roof
Hull	45 mm (62°) Upper glacis 50 mm (54°) Lower glacis 30 mm (57°) Track overhang	30 mm (42°) Top 35 mm Bottom	10 mm (43°) Top 20 mm (21°) Bottom 20 mm (2°) Track overhang	30 mm (15°) Front roof section 12 mm 5 mm Engine vents
Turret	75 mm (spherical) Turret front 35-75 mm (spherical) Gun mantlet 35 mm (54°) Roof glacis 60 mm Turret ring	60 mm (spherical) Front 35 mm (spherical) Front 60 mm Turret ring	35 mm (3°) 25 mm (19-90°) Turret overhang	18 mm (0-8°)
Cupola	35 mm (cylindrical) Commander cupola - top 60 mm (cylindrical) Commander cupola - base 35 mm (cylindrical) Loader cupola			18 mm (2°)

Notes:

• Suspension wheels and tracks are 20 mm thick.

Armour on the ST-A2 is about the same as ST-A1, but there are some differences to its weaknesses.

For instance, the hull is now raised to engine deck level and slope goes all the way up the turret, resulting in turret being well above engine deck. The frontal armour is even more angled now, with effective thickness of about 90-100 mm, but it now also connected to engine deck, and in connection spot it's about 80 mm effective thickness like before. Most of tanks can still penetrate entire armour with no issues, so overall on tank's own BR it changes only rear gun depression and ability of certain tanks to just explode the tank with HE when it's hulldown.

Since hull is raised higher, there is less chances that enemy APHE will hit driver optics on accident or will be stopped by transmission and won't destroy the tank. Also, gunner's head is now above gun breech, so random shrapnel has a chance of hitting him, if enemy shell explodes above it, resulting in complete crew knock-out, unlike with ST-A1.

For the turret, the commander cupolas was raised a bit and the pintle-mounted machine gun was removed. Overall it makes it harder to destroy tank with HE, but nothing more. However, the turret neck is no longer a weak spot for SPAA to exploit, but tank can still be destroyed by SPAA firing at MG port because their shells still cause spalling or explode and hit ammo rack despite it being rotated away from the weak spot. Still, it will definitely take them longer to deal with the tank that way.

Ammo rack in back of the turret is now facing turret and is much narrower a target, so the gun breech shields it entirely. Because of that, as long as the ST-A2 fires off first two rounds in first-stage rack, the chances of tank exploding due to ammo rack being hit through the turret is reduced. It came at a price, though, as it is now even easier to shoot the tank from the side or back. The block outside of turret's back isn't even modeled, so if HESH hits back of the turret, it's going to explode the entire tank.

Mobility

Speedforward / back

AB50 / 20 km/h

RB and SB45 / 18 km/h

Number of gears7 forward

2 back

Weight34.2 t

Engine power

AB1 049 hp

RB and SB550 hp

Power-to-weight ratio

AB30.7 hp/t

RB and SB16.1 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	50	20	34.2	775	1,049	22.66	30.67
Realistic	45	18		442	550	12.92	16.08

The mobility of the ST-A2 is the same as predecessor, as well as their effective off-road and top speed - about (AB/RB) 40/33 km/h forward and -18/-15 km/h backwards off-road, with top speed being 50/45 forward and -20/-17 backwards.

Modifications and economy

Repair costBasic → Reference

AB3 225 → 4 150

RB3 870 → 4 980

SB4 954 → 6 375

Total cost of modifications52 600

90 800

Talisman cost1 700

Crew training57 000

Experts200 000

Aces800

Research Aces520 000

Reward for battleAB / RB / SB

120 / 180 / 210 %

172 / 172 / 172 %

Modifications

Mobility	Protection	Firepower
Tracks Research: 2 600 Cost: 4 500 165 Suspension Research: 2 400 Cost: 4 100 150 Brake System Research: 2 400 Cost: 4 100 150 Filters Research: 3 300 Cost: 5 700 210 Transmission Research: 3 400 Cost: 5 900 220 Engine Research: 3 400 Cost: 5 900 220	Improved Parts Research: 2 600 Cost: 4 500 165 Improved FPE Research: 2 400 Cost: 4 100 150 Crew Replenishment Research: 3 300 Cost: 5 700 210	Horizontal Drive Research: 2 600 Cost: 4 500 165 90mm_us_M82_APCBC_ammo_pack Research: 2 600 Cost: 4 500 165 Adjustment of Fire Research: 2 400 Cost: 4 100 150 90mm_us_M304_APCR_ammo_pack Research: 2 400 Cost: 4 100 150 Elevation Mechanism Research: 3 300 Cost: 5 700 210 90mm_us_M332_APCR_ammo_pack Research: 3 300 Cost: 5 700 210 Artillery Support Research: 3 400 Cost: 5 900 220 90mm_us_T108_HEAT_ammo_pack Research: 3 400 Cost: 5 900 220 90mm_us_M313_Smoke_ammo_pack Research: 3 400 Cost: 5 900 220

Armaments

Main armament

90 mm M3A1 cannon

Ammunition40 rounds

First-order11 rounds

Reloadbasic crew → aces

9.7 → 7.5 s

Vertical guidance-10° / 13°

The gun and the ammunition themselves are the same as the ones on ST-A1.

As with ST-A1, one must unlock APHE as the very first module and then try to get aim adjustment as soon as possible, leveling it same way as the predecessor, as otherwise it is very hard to defeat opposing tanks and earn research points on this tank.

Due to turret being elevated above engine deck, the gun can now depress enough to fire at tanks behind it, no matter how low their profile is, as long as they stay on even ground.

90 mm M3A1					Turret rotation speed (°/s)					Reloading rate (seconds)
Mode	Capacity	Vertical	Horizontal	Stabilizer	Stock	Upgraded	Full	Expert	Aced	Stock	Full	Expert	Aced
Arcade	40	-10°/+13°	±180°	N/A	22.85	31.62	38.40	42.47	45.18	9.75	8.63	7.95	7.50
Realistic					14.28	16.80	20.40	22.56	24.00

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
M318 shot	APBC	175	173	161	147	135	123
M82 shot	APCBC	185	182	169	155	142	130
M304 shot	APCR	287	281	259	234	211	191
M332 shot	APCR	291	286	264	240	217	197
M348 shell	HEATFS	305	305	305	305	305	305
M71 shell	HE	20	20	18	17	16	16

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%
M318 shot	APBC	853	10.98	-	-	-	47°	60°	65°
M82 shot	APCBC	853	10.91	1.2	14	137.2	48°	63°	71°
M304 shot	APCR	1,021	7.62	-	-	-	66°	70°	72°
M332 shot	APCR	1,165	5.7	-	-	-	66°	70°	72°
M348 shell	HEATFS	853	6.5	0.05	0.1	926.17	65°	72°	77°
M71 shell	HE	823	10.55	0.2	0.1	1,210	79°	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)
M313	821	10.7	9	5	20	50

Ammo racks

Ammo racks of the ST-A2

Full ammo	1st rack empty	2nd rack empty	3rd rack empty	Visual discrepancy
40	12 (+28)	10 (+30)	1 (+39)	No

Notes:

• Shells are modeled individually and disappear after having been shot or loaded.
• Racks 2* and 3* are first stage ammo racks. They total 11 shells.
• These racks get filled first when loading up the tank and are also emptied first.
• The depletion order at full capacity is: 2 - 3 - 1.
• Rack 1 depletes from rear to front.

Optics

ST-A2 Optics
Which ones	Default magnification	Maximum magnification
Main Gun optics	x8	x16
Comparable optics	JPz 4-5

ST-A2 optics are identical to ST-A1. As usual, the user should exploit the superior magnification to target out enemy weaknesses or to snipe unsuspecting opponents from afar.

Machine guns

7.62 mm M1919A4 machine gun (coaxial)

Ammunition4 500 rounds

Belt capacity250 rounds

Reloadbasic crew → aces

10.4 → 8.0 s

Fire rate500 shots/min

The 12.7 mm M2HB machine gun was removed, so ST-A2 only has a coaxial 7.62 mm M1919A4 in its turret. It still can be used to damage open-top SPGs, but fighting light tanks with it is not possible. Planes are also harder to engage with it.

On other hand, its trajectory is similar to its APHE and HEAT-FS shells up to 760 m, so you can use it to check your aim in RB, if necessary.

7.62 mm M1919A4
Mount	Capacity (Belt)	Fire rate	Vertical	Horizontal
Coaxial	4,500 (250)	500	N/A	N/A

Usage in battles

As the ST-A is Japan's first tank project for a new era of tank development, it shows the same gameplay issues as the Chi-Ha. The weak armour, 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-A even comes with HEAT like the Chi-Ha, this time in the form of M348 HEATFS researchable as tier IV modification.

Other than the similarities to the Chi-Ha, the ST-A2 has its own factors good and bad which should be kept in mind when playing. From the very good reverse speed, great zoom factor and many shell options, the ST-A2 also has an angled front plate unlike the ST-A1, which does place the turret higher, allowing it to shoot over the engine, at the cost of having a higher profile. Also unlike the ST-A1, the .50 has been removed from the ST-A2 which will make it harder to deal with lighter vehicles and planes.

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 armour, 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 HEATFS, 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 HEATFS 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.

Pros and cons

Pros:

• Overall better sniper qualities than ST-A1 (but they only really matter in RB)
• Can defend itself against other tanks in case of a rear flank, unlike ST-A1
• Harder to hit ammo rack in turret from the front, and overall better protection against autocannons, HEAT and pure AP in turret
• Harder to be destroyed by HE shot to the turret, can technically tank some attacker's plane assault with its front
• Harder to destroy by poorly aimed shot in down-tier

Cons:

• Worse against light tanks than predecessor due to lack of 12.7 mm MG
• Still can be destroyed in one shot by nearly anything on battlefield via crew knockout, as long as they have APHE or HESH
• Raised turret still cannot use certain hull down spots, but raises tank's profile
• Hull weak spot is even more relevant now

History

The ST-A2 is an experimental medium Japanese tank, one of the first vehicles developed by Japan after the war. When the question of the need to develop new military vehicles came to the fore, Japanese experts with previous experience from the war got to work. The ST-A1 was the first step, and was intended to lack the main drawbacks of the American vehicles in service with the Japan Self-Defense Forces, more specifically their weight, size and their controls, unsuitable to Japanese tankers for physiological reasons. The development of ST-A1 began in 1954 and was ready by December 1956. The next stage on the path to the series-produced Type 61 was the new ST-A2, put into development in 1956.

The ST-A2 medium tank was finished by February 1957, and differed from the ST-A1 in a range of characteristics. The vehicle was made 20 centimetres taller and half a metre shorter in length. This reduction in length also allowed for a reduced number of lower track rollers and supporting wheels. The new vehicle had an altered turret shape which had been made longer, and its rear contained a compartment for a radio. With the aim of increasing the tank's survivability, the upper frontal hull received characteristic side angles which increased the chance of a ricochet off the hull. The ST-A2's tracks were also redesigned and equipped with more advanced cleats designed to raise the vehicle's mobility and road characteristics. Other than this, its composition remained identical to that of the ST-A1. The diesel engine was housed in the rear of the hull, while the transmission remained in the front. The armament on this Japanese tank was American through and through. The 90 mm M3A1 cannon was borrowed from the M46 tank, and it was accompanied by two different calibre Browning machine guns.

Only two experimental prototypes of the ST-A2 were built. They underwent testing, but were never accepted into service.

- From Devblog

Media

Skins

• Skins and camouflages for the ST-A2 from live.warthunder.com.

Videos

ST-A2 - First Impressions - Below Average - Napalmratte

See also

Vehicles equipped with the same chassis

• ST-A1
• Type 61

Other vehicles of similar configuration and role

• Type 62 / Type 62 (USSR)

External links

• [Devblog] ST-A2: One Step Closer to the Goal