AMX-13 DCA 40
Contents
| This page is about the self-propelled anti-air vehicle AMX-13 DCA 40. For other uses, see AMX-13 (Family). |
Description
The AMX-13 DCA 40 (Atelier de Construction d'Issy-les-Moulineaux, char de 13 t, défense contre avions, canon de 40 mm: Issy-les-Moulineaux construction bureau, 13 ton tank, anti-air defense, 40 mm gun) is a Rank III French self-propelled anti-aircraft gun
with a battle rating of 4.7 (AB) and 5.0 (RB/SB). It was introduced in Update 1.75 "La Résistance". It is a clear improvement to its predecessor in all domains, combining two good things to make them even better: the AMX-13's chassis and an improved Bofors cannon (The 40 mm Mle 51 T1 cannon is a French version of the usual 40mm Bofors AA gun).
An AMX-13 chassis, a classic of French post-war technology has been modified to fit SPAA role. This specific chassis has some variants over the usual ones : an enlarged turret ring and with it some extra storage boxes, both extend sideways over the tracks. This tank is quite recognizable for its large box-shaped turret over its chassis.
General info
Survivability and armour
This tank has 20 mm of armour, all around, barely angled but for the UFP, this won't protect it from antitank rounds nor from autocannon fire but it can certainly deflect poorly-aimed HMG bursts, but not for too long. If taking too long bursts (or if the enemy gets too close), some bullets may find their way through the two large holes in the turret front, near the gun area (there is also two smaller holes in the turret's back). In sum, this tank's armour is not to be trusted with, but it will save you from stray bullets and medium to long range MG/HMG fire.
| Armour | Front (Slope angle) | Sides | Rear | Roof |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hull | 20 mm (50-66°) Upper Glacis 40 mm (5-32°) Central Front 20 mm (51°) Lower Glacis |
20 mm (0-15°) | 15 mm (1-58°) | 10 mm (90°) Main 5mm (90°) Vents |
| Turret | 20 mm (24-54°) | 20 mm (0-15°) | 20 mm (1-65°) | N/A |
Notes:
Turret:
- Turret frontal armour is split in two for gun clearance.
- Round hole below gun hole in front of the turret.
- Two small holes in the turret's back armour
- Turret ring is 10 mm thick.
- Gun breech is 300 mm thick.
- Turret basket is 5 mm thick.
- Gun barrel is 20 mm thick.
Hull:
- Hull has extra 4 mm boxes in some places.
- Extra 15 mm from tracks and wheel on the upper front plate.
- Tracks are 15 mm thick.
Mobility
French ground forces commanders should be used to the AMX-13 chassis as it is also the basis for the only rank III French light tank. With its turret being a little bit heavier and its engine 31 hp less powerful, this tank is slower than the usual AMX-13. It can still carry its user wherever it wants, as long as the situation does not require fast escape maneuvers: with only -6 km/h backwards, it is hard to retreat fast enough.
| Mobility characteristic | ||
|---|---|---|
| Weight (tons) | Add-on Armor weight (tons) |
Max speed (km/h) |
| 15.5 | N/A | 65 (AB) |
| 60 (RB/SB) | ||
| Engine power (horsepower) | ||
| Mode | Stock | Upgraded |
| Arcade | 302 | 386 |
| Realistic/Simulator | 239 | 270 |
| Power-to-weight ratio (hp/ton) | ||
| Mode | Stock | Upgraded |
| Arcade | 19.48 | 24.83 |
| Realistic/Simulator | 15.42 | 17.42 |
Armaments
The gun is this vehicle's main appeal. Being twice as fast-firing as its predecessor makes it easier to get planes down, but you will still have to aim. As for engaging tanks, with up to 93 mm max penetration, you will start to struggle firing at most enemies since their frontal armour is strong enough to block most incoming 40 mm rounds, though with some precision, medium tanks and even heavy tanks can fall victim to your gun. The real fun with this autocannon lies in shredding light tanks and SPAAs with 4-rounds bursts.
| 40 mm Mle51 T1 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Capacity (Belt capacity) | Fire rate (shots/minute) |
Vertical guidance |
Horizontal guidance |
Stabilizer | |
| 404 (4) | 240 | -5°/+85° | ±180° | N/A | |
| Turret rotation speed (°/s) | |||||
| Mode | Stock | Upgraded | Prior + Full crew | Prior + Expert qualif. | Prior + Ace qualif. |
| Arcade | 26.42 | 36.56 | 44.40 | 49.10 | 52.24 |
| Realistic | 17.85 | 21.0 | 25.5 | 28.2 | 30.0 |
| Reloading rate (seconds) | |||||
| Stock | Prior + Full crew | Prior + Expert qualif. | Prior + Ace qualif. | ||
| 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.5 | ||
Ammunition
| Penetration statistics | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ammunition | Belt | Penetration in mm @ 90° | |||||
| 10m | 100m | 500m | 1000m | 1500m | 2000m | ||
| Default | AP-T, HE-T (4x) | 93 | 90 | 76 | 62 | 50 | 41 |
| 40mm HE-T | 3 x AP-T, HE-T | 93 | 90 | 76 | 62 | 50 | 41 |
| 40mm AP-T | 3 x HE-T, AP-T | 93 | 90 | 76 | 62 | 50 | 41 |
| Shell details | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ammunition | Belt | 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% | ||||||||
| Default | AP-T, HE-T (4x) | 1025, 1005 | 0,86 | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | |
| 40mm HE-T | 3 x AP-T, HE-T | 1025, 1005 | 0.86 | 0.2 | 0.1 | +0° | 62° | 69° | 73° | |
| 40mm AP-T | 3 x HE-T, AP-T | AP-T, HEFI-T | 1025, 1005 | 0.88 | N/A | N/A | -1° | 47° | 60° | 65° |
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 |
Recommendations | Visual discrepancy |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 101 | 92 (+9) | 84 (+17) | 76 (+25) | 56 (+45) | 40 (+61) | 20 (+81) | 12 (+89) | 8 (+93) | 0 (+101) | Turret empty: () | no |
Usage in battles
This SPAA is quite versatile as it can take down both tanks and planes with mitigated efficiency. It has an auto-cannon that does not fires fast enough to engage planes efficiently nor does it penetrates enough to shred tanks. As it is, this SPAA is good for front line use: providing cover for incoming ground attackers to its allies while also securing flanks from fast-movers.
Good at engaging both tanks and planes, its versatile belts allows this vehicle to switch roles in a split second. In the right hands, in a downtier, this SPAA is an absolute monster, easily capable of ace matches against tanks.
SPAA use:
Pre-aim your gun in the predicted direction of your target: the DCA-40 has a bit of a slow turret traverse for an SPAA. It is easier to aim at targets coming towards you: stay with your team and fire when the plane is ~500 m away: an hitting round will shred it in no time. Any other SPAA tactics apply normally to this vehicle.
Front-line use:
Do not engage tanks frontally: prefer lateral engagements, surprise your foes. If it happens that the enemy team is composed of medium/light tanks, there is a great chance that you can knock some of them out, but be sure to have an escape route as any tank noticing you counters those flanking maneuvers. Heavy tanks at this BR are usually very hard to get trough, even from the side, engage only at risk.
With that in mind, at close range, you can penetrate all American tanks up to 6.7 BR through the lower side armor, and all German tanks up to 6.0 through the side armor (Tiger IIs can be penetrated through very specific weakspots (rear turret ring), but not reliably). Tiger Is are difficult to face, and require you to be within knife-fighting range, but can be penetrated reliably through unangled side/rear shots to the hull or turret. All Sherman and Panther variants are easy pickings from the side, even at range, with early Shermans easily penetrated through the front as well. Russian tanks are a bit problematic due to the sloped armor. Against T-34s, aim at the turret sides or turret ring and against KVs, aim at the lower side hull. The IS series is unfortunately only penetrable through the rear engine deck, but are the only ground vehicles in the entire 3.7-5.7 BR spread that cannot be easily destroyed.
It's worth mentioning that in a downtier against axis powers, you can penetrate every vehicle you see from the front except for some German casemates. In an uptier, if you must engage a heavily armored tank from the front, several well placed shots to the cannon barrel will knock it out, and enable you to flank at your leisure and feast on their side armor. A more conservative way to play is to stay a few meters behind the front-line and spot flanking tanks while also watching the skies.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Good top speed, and decent agility
- Fast reload (unnoticeable reload)
- Fires twice as fast as its predecessor (240 rpm)
- Shells have a higher velocity compared to the standard Bofors 40mm, making it easier to find hits
- Shells have amazing penetration
- Fast elevation speed
- +85° elevation angle
- Wide tracks for such a light chassis
- UFP sloped at 67° may bounce some shots
- 5 mm thick turret basket act as leg protection for the crew (from HMG fire)
- Often one-shots planes
- Each belt has both HE-T and AP-T ammo inside (great for multipurpose roles)
- Decent reverse speed
- Gun is hard to overheat
- If only loading approximately 50% ammo, shots to the right side of the turret will knock out one crew member and do no other damage
Cons:
- Turret is literally an ammo rack
- Bad gun depression
- Loader is exposed to MG fire
- No coaxial armament
- Struggles to reach its top speed
- Vulnerable to HMG fire
- Fairly low fire rate, making it difficult to hit planes
- Most enemies that it faces are no longer vulnerable to side shots
- Slow turret rotation
- Turret prone to ammo-racking from strafing planes
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 big, 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
| France anti-aircraft vehicles | |
|---|---|
| Wheeled/Half-tracked | P.7.T AA · CCKW 353 AA · TPK 6.41 |
| AMX-13 Derivatives | VTT DCA · AMX-13 DCA 40 |
| Radar SPAAG | AMX-30 S DCA |
| Missile SPAA | SANTAL · Roland 1 · ▄ItO 90M |
| Other | AMX-10P |
