ST-A3

ST-A3

Type 61

▅M47

ST-A3

Type 61

▅M47

Japan

IV Rank

Battle rating:

AB	RB	SB
6.7	6.7	6.7

Class:

Medium tank

Research:35 000

Purchase:210 000

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This page is about the Japanese medium tank ST-A3. For other variants, see Type 61 (Family).

Description

The ST-A3 is a rank IV Japanese medium tank with a battle rating of 6.7 (AB/RB/SB). It was introduced in Update "Hot Tracks".

General info

Survivability and armour

Armour type:

• Rolled homogeneous armour
• Cast homogeneous armour (Turret)

Armour	Front (Slope angle)	Sides	Rear	Roof
Hull	___ mm	___ mm Top ___ mm Bottom	___ mm	___ - ___ mm
Turret	___ - ___ mm Turret front ___ mm Gun mantlet	___ - ___ mm	___ - ___ mm	___ - ___ mm
Cupola	___ mm	___ mm	___ mm	___ mm

Notes:

• Suspension wheels are 15 mm thick while tracks are 20 mm thick.

Due to its weak armour nearly every tank is a serious threat to the ST-A3, as well as a number of SPAA vehicles, however fast medium tanks such as the T-44, M46/M47 Patton or Panther II which can match its mobility are a painful to avoid, while anything with heavy armour (T29, T32, T34 and Tiger IIs) forces the reliance on the M431 shell HEAT-FS to punch through frontally, requiring multiple shots to overcome.

Mobility

Game Mode	Max Speed (km/h)		Weight (tons)	Engine power (horsepower)		Power-to-weight ratio (hp/ton)
	Forward	Reverse		Stock	Upgraded	Stock	Upgraded
Arcade	51	9	35	883	1,240	25.23	35.43
Realistic	46	9		504	650	14.4	18.57

Armaments

Main armament

90 mm Type 61					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	__._	__._	__._	__._	__._	6.00	6.00	6.00	6.00
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
M318A1 shot	AP	192	189	176	161	147	135
M82 shot	APCBC	185	182	170	155	142	130
M431 shell	HEATFS	320	320	320	320	320	320
M71 shell	HE	13	13	13	13	13	13

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%
M318A1 shot	AP	912	10.91	N/A	N/A	N/A	47°	60°	65°
M82 shot	APCBC	853	10.94	1.2	14	137.2	48°	63°	71°
M431 shell	HEATFS	1,216	5.8	0.05	0.1	712.64	65°	72°	77°
M71 shell	HE	823	10.55	0	0.1	925	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	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
40	__ (+__)	__ (+__)	__ (+__)	__ (+__)	__ (+__)	__ (+__)	__

Machine guns

12.7 mm M2HB
Mount	Capacity (Belt)	Fire rate	Vertical	Horizontal
Pintle	660 (200)	577	-5°/+90°	±180°

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 last built ST-A project (ST-A4 was completed earlier) before it resolved into the Type 61, the ST-A3 shouldn't come as a surprise as to how similar it is to its end-product. While the turret has a different commander cupola, a .50 gun shield and slightly weaker hull armour; the main surprise of this prototype lies in its auto-loader. Ramming shells into the breach with a 6-second reload, it achieves a faster reload rate compared to all its other brothers in pursuit to become the Type 61 and even overcome the Type 61 as it would adopt from the ST-A4 which would have more ammo load and be a less expensive tank to produce.

Because of this addition of an auto-loader, it still plays very similar to a Type 61 with a constant reload rate of 6 seconds, regardless of crew status unless the auto-loader rack of 11 rounds is empty. The ST-A3 has excellent horizontal traverse and gun depression combined with a fairly mobile chassis, making it a good choice for progressing from turret down, to hull down and firing at the opposition before retreating back to turret down cover.

Its mobility is quite good at getting it to position, where it can ambush tanks early in the game or change position when required, particularly when disengaging when its position is discovered.

Its lack of armour and the decent but not overwhelmingly powerful gun means it is not a wonderful frontline tank to hold a defensive position when the opposition knows its position, as its armour is unlike to prevent any opposition rounds from penetrating and dealing damage, leaving the user to more often than not, rely on luck when engaging opposition frontally.

The biggest issue with the Type 61 (Family) is shot selection; Should one choose the M431 shell HEAT-FS which will punch through most opposition tanks, but do little damage? Or use the M318A1 AP round, M82 shot APHE rounds for more damage, but will struggle to penetrate opposition frontally at times?

Modules

Tier	Mobility		Protection	Firepower
I	Tracks		Parts	Horizontal Drive	M82 shot
II	Suspension	Brake System	FPE	Adjustment of Fire	M431 shell
III	Filters		Crew Replenishment	Elevation Mechanism	Rangefinder
IV	Transmission	Engine		Artillery Support	M313

Pros and cons

Pros:

• 6 second autoloader, compared to the 7.5 second ace reload on any other ST-A or Type 61
• Fast turret rotation
• Excellent gun depression
• Good forward speed and mobility
• Good acceleration
• Shell choice:
  • Great post-penetration damage on the M82 APCBC shell
  • High penetration M431 HEAT-FS shell for tougher targets
• Smaller cupola profile in exchange for a slightly more noticeable .50 gunshield compared to the Type 61 tank

Cons:

• 90 mm Type 61 cannon can struggle to overcome certain opposing tanks frontally without relying on M431 HEAT-FS shell
• Very thin overall armour, any tank gun will make short work of the ST-A3, and even certain SPAAs can give the tank trouble
  • Slightly less frontal armour compared to the Type 61 tank
• The reverse speed of -8 km/h can hinder the tank at times
• Outer rear part of the engine deck prevent the gun from depressing

History

Following Japan's remilitarization in the wake of the outbreak of the Korean War, Japanese engineers began working on the first domestic postwar tank designs. Taking on board the experience of working with American WWII tanks in service at the time, as well as incorporating some of the lessons learned from the Korean conflict, Japanese tank designers came up with a series of prototypes in the late 1950s.

The ST-A3 was created as one of the later prototypes and was based on the previous design - the ST-A2. Featuring a 90 mm cannon coupled with an autoloading mechanism in the rear of the turret, the design was considered successful, but ultimately wasn't ordered into production due to concerns over its cost. As a result, the ST-A3 was modified into the ST-A4 by having its autoloading mechanism removed and eventually entered production as the Type 61 medium tank in 1961.

Only two ST-A3 prototypes were constructed and closely resembled the later production model Type 61 visually.

- From Devblog

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

• [Devblog] ST-A3: The Fastest Gunslinger in the East