M41A3 (China)
Contents
Description
The ␗M41A3, officially designated as M41A3戰車 or by its translated nickname 華克猛犬 (Walker Bulldog), was the light tank used by ROCA and ROCMC from 1958 to 2022 as one of their fleet of light tanks. The design concept of M41 series was for improvements on close-quarter self-defense firepower while retaining mobility on battlefield under the T41 program, while the tanks were produced during the Korean War, it was only until the Vietnam War when they were put in service. M41A3 was the modification of older M41A1 with the fuel-injected AOS 895-5 diesel engine which was received by ROCA in 1958 as the military aid to the heated Taiwan Strait frontline; although there were no significant combat records for these tanks, they mostly served as the fire support vehicle for the outer islands and training vehicles for ROCA armored corps. Due to the aging and obsolete performance of Walker Bulldogs, ROCA upgraded 50 of these tanks at better hull condition to the M41D standard, while the remaining ones would still serve until 2020s when a vehicle flip-over accident boosted the decommission of unconverted M41, as well as CM32 series replacing them; the final vehicle was decommissioned at Armor Training Command, ROCA in Hsinchu on 2022/2/25.
Introduced in Update "Sons of Attila" as a GE premium light tank, the overall performance of M41A3 is totally identical to its counterparts in different nations with pleasing mobility and sufficient firepower to take out most WWII tanks from the side; but in M41A3's case, it traded its advanced ammunitions (HVAP and HEAT) for a lower battle rating. Players could still enjoy the Walker Bulldog now at lower tier, flanking enemies will be a piece of cake with caution.
General info
Survivability and armour
As a light tank, expecting the overall protection to be sufficient against enemies is rather irrational - the armor itself can stop .50 cal ammunition up front without problem; but once enemy vehicles with autocannon see M41A3, they can tear down the vehicle rather quickly, let alone full-caliber shells which mostly have more than enough, sometimes overkill penetration to go through the armor. For maximum survivability, finding terrains and hide the hull is a good option as the mantle could sometimes bounce oncoming shots if they landed on extreme angles, it also make sure only the largest autocannons will have the chance to penetrate you in this case.
Armour type:
Armour | Front (Slope angle) | Sides | Rear | Roof |
---|---|---|---|---|
Hull | 28.5 mm (49°) Front glacis 63.5 mm (33-37°) Lower glacis |
28.5 mm | 28.5 mm (46°) Top 25.4 mm (1°) Middle 25.4 mm (20°) Bottom |
12.7 mm |
Turret | 44.4 mm (11-13°) Turret front 50.8 mm (2-43°) Gun mantlet |
31.75 mm (1°) | 31.75 mm (1°) | 12.7 mm |
Notes:
Mobility
Although M41A3 was stated to be upgraded by a new engine, but the only change on the AOS 895-5 engine is fuel injection instead of carburetor on previous 895-3 engines; thus the overall mobility is totally identical to other M41A series in game and enables M41A3 for flanking operations while able to retreat quickly to safety.
Game Mode | Max Speed (km/h) | Weight (tons) | Engine power (horsepower) | Power-to-weight ratio (hp/ton) | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Forward | Reverse | Stock | Upgraded | Stock | Upgraded | ||
Arcade | 81 | 21 | 23.1 | _,___ | 954 | __.__ | 41.3 |
Realistic | 73 | 19 | _,___ | 500 | __.__ | 21.65 |
Modifications and economy
Armaments
Main armament
All production M41 shares the same 76 mm M32 cannon onboard. The ballistics of the gun is quite user-friendly and easy to get on hand to, the internal space and the caliber also make sure the gun can reload faster as enemies with larger guns need more time to reload - by the time they finished the reload (given an injured/knocked-out loader), an aced M41A3 could deliver up to 2 shots.
76 mm M32 | Turret rotation speed (°/s) | Reloading rate (seconds) | |||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Mode | Capacity | Vertical | Horizontal | Stabilizer | Stock | Upgraded | Full | Expert | Aced | Stock | Full | Expert | Aced |
Arcade | 65 | -10°/+20° | ±180° | - | __._ | __._ | __._ | __._ | __._ | _.__ | _.__ | _.__ | _.__ |
Realistic | __._ | __._ | __._ | __._ | __._ |
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 | ||
M339 shot | APBC | 177 | 173 | 159 | 143 | 129 | 116 |
M352 shell | HE | 15 | 15 | 14 | 12 | 12 | 12 |
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% | ||||||||||
M339 shot | APBC | 975 | 6.6 | - | - | - | 47° | 60° | 65° | |||
M352 shell | HE | 732 | 6.8 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 867.22 | 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) |
M361 | 713 | 7.1 | 13 | 5 | 20 | 50 |
Ammo racks
Full ammo |
1st rack empty |
2nd rack empty |
3rd rack empty |
4th rack empty |
5th rack empty |
6th rack empty |
Visual discrepancy |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
65 | __ (+__) | __ (+__) | __ (+__) | __ (+__) | __ (+__) | __ (+__) | __ |
Machine guns
12.7 mm M2HB | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Mount | Capacity (Belt) | Fire rate | Vertical | Horizontal |
___ (___) | ___ | __° | __° |
7.62 mm M1919A4 | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Mount | Capacity (Belt) | Fire rate | Vertical | Horizontal |
___ (___) | ___ | __° | __° |
Usage in battles
Describe the tactics of playing in the vehicle, the features of using vehicles in the team and advice on tactics. Refrain from creating a "guide" - do not impose a single point of view but instead give the reader food for thought. Describe the most dangerous enemies and give recommendations on fighting them. If necessary, note the specifics of the game in different modes (AB, RB, SB).
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Rather high mobility to navigate around the battlefield
- Neutral steering transmission for tighter turns
- Up to 72 km/h forward (at certain terrain) and 19 km/h reverse speed
- Fast reload and gun traverse speed
- .50 cal for gunning down light vehicles or oncoming aircrafts
- Currently the earliest tank to receive commander override for last-ditch retaliation
- Sufficient penetration to take down Panther or IS-1 up-front
Cons:
- Large profile for a light tank
- The armor is thin and more than enough to trigger delay fuse of shells
- Lacks HEAT and APCR (HVAP) from other production M41 in game
- Only solid shots available
- Very cramped combat compartment, all crews are literary sitting on/next to ammunition
History
Describe the history of the creation and combat usage of the 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></ref>
, as well as adding them at the end of the article with <references />
. This section may also include the vehicle's dev blog entry (if applicable) and the in-game encyclopedia description (under === In-game description ===
, 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
Paste links to sources and external resources, such as:
- topic on the official game forum;
- other literature.
China light tanks | |
---|---|
Type 63 | Object 211 · Type 63 · ZTS63 |
Type 62 | Type 62 |
WZ551 | ZSL92 · PTL02 · WMA301 |
ZBL08 | ZLT11 |
Type 86 | ZBD86 |
WZ502 | ZBD04A |
ROC | M41D · M64 |
Type 59 | QN506 |
USA | ␗M8 LAC · ␗M3A3 Stuart · ␗M3A3 (1st PTG) · ␗M5A1 · ␗M24 · ␗M18 GMC · ␗M41A3 |
USSR | ␗T-26 · T-26 No.531 · ␗PT-76 |
China premium ground vehicles | |
---|---|
Light tanks | T-26 No.531 · ␗M3A3 (1st PTG) · ␗M41A3 · M64 · WMA301 |
Medium tanks | ␗M4A4 (1st PTG) · T-34-85 No.215 · Т-62 №545 · ZTZ59A · Type 69-IIa · T-69 II G · ZTZ96A (P) · Al-Khalid-I |
Heavy tanks | IS-2 No.402 |