WMA301 (105 mm)

This page is about the Chinese WMA301 (105 mm) cannon. For variants, see L7 (105 mm) (Family).

Description

The WMA301's 105 mm gun is a rifled gun with lower recoil based on the earlier ZPL94 105 mm gun, an upgrade over the licensed Royal Ordnance L7 from UK; with its longer barrel length and capacity to fire gun-launched ATGMs, this gun will prove its lethality over all the enemies it might encounter.

Vehicles equipped with this weapon

• WMA301

General info

Tell us about the tactical and technical characteristics of the cannon or machine gun.

Available 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
Type-83 HEAT	HEATFS	400	400	400	400	400	400
DTB-1	HE-VT*	23	23	22	21	21	21
Type-83 HESH	HESH	127	127	127	127	127	127
GP105	ATGM (tandem)	750	750	750	750	750	750
Type-83 APDS	APFSDS	337	335	330	322	314	306

Shell details
Ammunition	Type of warhead	Velocity (m/s)	Projectile mass (kg)	Fuse delay (m)	Fuse sensitivity (mm)	Explosive mass (TNT equivalent) (kg)	Ricochet
							0%	50%	100%
Type-83 HEAT	HEATFS	1,174	11	0.05	0.1	1.27	65°	72°	77°
Type-83 HESH	HESH	732	11.2	0.1	4	4.31	73°	77°	80°
Type-83 APDS	APFSDS	1,455	4.2	-	-	-	78°	80°	81°

Proximity-fused shell details
Ammunition	Type of warhead	Velocity (m/s)	Projectile mass (kg)	Fuse delay (m)	Fuse sensitivity (mm)	Arming distance (m)	Trigger radius (m)	Explosive mass (TNT equivalent) (kg)	Ricochet
									0%	50%	100%
DTB-1	HE-VT*	825	16.2	0.2	0.1	500	15	1.66	79°	80°	81°

Missile details
Ammunition	Type of warhead	Velocity (m/s)	Range (m)	Projectile mass (kg)	Fuse delay (m)	Fuse sensitivity (mm)	Explosive mass (TNT equivalent) (kg)	Ricochet
								0%	50%	100%
GP105	ATGM (tandem)	370	5,000	19.8	0.4	0.01	4.77	80°	82°	90°

Different from its NATO cousins, the WMA301's 105 mm can not only fire both NATO and domestic APFSDS, HESH, and HEATFS, it also gets the unique HE-VT rounds found on the T-69 II G and the only wheeled assault gun that can fire gun-launched ATGM, the GP105 with tandem warhead, making it still lethal even in higher tier battles.

Comparison with analogues

Give a comparative description of cannons/machine guns that have firepower equal to this weapon.

Usage in battles

Having the same ammunition found on T-69 II G, players who had already acquired the tank will find themselves at home using this gun albeit with an even worse depression angle, so keeping this gun in non-hilly terrain is a good way to avoid the problem.

Having a vast variety of ammunition means that this gun can be a jack-of-all-trades: sufficient velocity and penetration APFSDS which can handle most vehicles players may face in battle; HESH and HEATFS for handling light vehicles or fellow wheeled assault guns; HE-VT for a last-ditch option to send aircraft back to their hanger; and the unique tandem, gun-launched ATGM that proves very useful at its tier or even at up-tier, where ERA and composite is becoming common at higher tiers. Bringing APFSDS and ATGM is a must as they are already versatile enough to handle most targets it may face, bringing other types of shells is optional and up to preference, but since having more than 10 rounds increases the chance of detonation, choose what to bring and how many of them wisely.

Pros and cons

Pros:

• Higher velocity thanks to its longer barrel
• Currently the only tank with 105 mm tube-launched ATGM
• Less recoil over his predecessors and PTP86

Cons:

• Subpar reload time to NATO counterparts
• Horrible depressing angle

History

In the 1970s, after encountering the Soviet Border Troops at Zenbao/Damansky Island and capturing a T-62 from them, PLAGF was in dire need of new cannons to handle the possible masses of Soviet armoured brigades rushing into Mainland China. From that T-62 they developed their own version of T-12 anti-tank gun - the PTP73 100 mm smoothbore AT gun, but its ammunition still struggled to handle tanks; eventually after the Cultural Revolution and the start of economic reform, PLAGF decided to introduce cannons from NATO countries thanks to the improved relationships with them.

In 1979, PLAGF finally got their hands on introducing the famous Royal Ordnance L7, in the form L7A3 cannon from Austria and started its chapter of L7's development in Mainland China as a part of the Project 3-7 (三七工程), domestication of L7.

After ZPL79/81/83(A) came the ZPL94, one of the longest barrel and most powerful guns in the L7 family, the exact length of the gun was unknown but the gun was at 62 caliber; specifically for ZTZ88A and ZTZ59D, but due to the longer barrel and subsequently higher recoil, it was not suitable for any lighter vehicles (such as ZTQ62G and ZTS63A). A version of this gun with lower recoil was developed in late 1990s amid the Taiwan Strait Crisis, vastly enhancing the chances of lighter against heavier vehicles albeit their smaller size but packed with equally lethal weapon.

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 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;
• other literature.

China tank cannons
30 mm	ZPL02 · ZPZ02
73 mm	Type 86
76 mm	M32K1
85 mm	Type 56 · Type 63
100 mm	PTP86 · Type 59 · Type 69 · Type 69-II · ZPL04
105 mm	88B-105T · Type 83 · WMA301 · ZPL94 · ZPL98A
120 mm	122TM · PTZ89
125 mm	Type 88C · Type 99A · ZPT98
130 mm	PL59A Gai
152 mm	PL66 Gai
	Foreign:
20 mm	KwK30 (Germany)
37 mm	M6 (USA)
45 mm	20-K (USSR)
47 mm	Type 1 (Japan)
57 mm	Type 97 (Japan) · ZIS-2 (USSR)
75 mm	M2 Howitzer (USA) · M3 (USA) · M6 (USA)
76 mm	D-56T (USSR) · F-34 (USSR) · M1 (USA) · M7 (USA) · ZIS-3 (USSR)
85 mm	ZIS-S-53 (USSR)
90 mm	M3 (USA) · M41 (USA)
100 mm	D-10S (USSR)
105 mm	M68 (USA) · M68A1 (USA)
115 mm	U-5TS (USSR)
122 mm	A-19 (USSR) · D-25T (USSR)
152 mm	ML-20S (USSR)