Strv 81
Contents
Description
The Stridsvagn 81 is a rank V Swedish medium tank
with a battle rating of 7.7 (AB/RB/SB). It was introduced in Update 1.97 "Viking Fury".
General info
Survivability and armour
Armour type:
- Rolled homogeneous armour (Hull, Turret roof)
- Cast homogeneous armour (Turret)
Armour | Front | Sides | Roof |
---|---|---|---|
Hull | 76.2 mm (58°) Front glacis
76.2 mm (47-48°) Lower glacis |
50.8 (12°) + 6 mm | 29 mm
8-14 mm Engine deck |
Turret | 152 mm (6-27°) Turret front
152 mm Gun mantlet |
89 mm (5-12°) | 50.8 mm Border of turret
29 mm Center of turret |
Armour | Front | Sides and Rear | |
Cupola | 152 mm | 90 mm |
Mobility
Write about the mobility of the ground vehicle. Estimate the specific power and manoeuvrability, as well as the maximum speed forwards and backwards.
Game Mode | Max Speed (km/h) | Weight (tons) | Engine power (horsepower) | Power-to-weight ratio (hp/ton) | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Forward | Reverse | Stock | Upgraded | Stock | Upgraded | ||
Arcade | 39 | 14 | 50.8 | 1007 | 1,240 | 19.82 | 24.41 |
Realistic | 35 | 12 | 575 | 650 | 11.32 | 12.8 |
Armaments
Main armament
84 mm Kan Strv 81 | 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° | Two-plane | 19.0 | __._ | __._ | __._ | __._ | 8.1 | _._ | _._ | _._ |
Realistic | 11.9 | __._ | __._ | __._ | __._ |
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 | ||
slpprj | APCBC | 232 | 229 | 216 | 201 | 187 | 173 |
slpprj m/54 | APDS | 285 | 283 | 262 | 239 | 218 | 198 |
slsgr m/53 | HE | 15 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 15 |
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% | |||||||
slpprj | APCBC | 1,000 | 9.1 | N/A | N/A | N/A | 48° | 63° | 71° |
slpprj m/54 | APDS | 1,400 | 3.2 | N/A | N/A | N/A | 75° | 78° | 80° |
slsgr m/53 | HE | 600 | 7.5 | 0.4 | 0.5 | 1,130 | 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) |
rökgr m/53 | 250 | 9.3 | 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 | 59 (+6) | 57 (+8) | 55 (+10) | 53 (+12) | 33 (+32) | 17 (+48) | yes |
Optics
Strv 81 Optics | ||
---|---|---|
Default magnification | Maximum magnification | |
Main Gun optics | X4.9 | X6.0 |
Comparable optics | ___ |
Machine guns
8 mm Ksp m/39B | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Mount | Capacity (Belt capacity) |
Rate of fire (shots/minute) |
Vertical guidance |
Horizontal guidance |
Coaxial | 3,600 (250) | 648 | N/A | N/A |
Usage in battles
The Strv 81 is an effective medium tank if played to its strengths. If one wants to keep it simple, just use the powerful gun to snipe from distance. More advanced tankers can utilize the not too impressive max speed (35 km/h (22mph)) to move with this medium tank into the flanks of enemy tanks (close to the border of a map) and search for positions like hills and ridges where one can make use of the amazing -10° gun depression to hide the vulnerable lower plate of this tank. Once in such a position, one should use the binoculars to scout for enemies without exposing the turret. If an enemy tank is spotted that could be a potential threat (dangerous tank / faced towards you) pop out a little bit and start to take out the enemies gunner/cannon barrel/cannon breech to prevent him from returning fire. Now utilize the quick reload to take out one crew member after the other to finish your opponent. If an enemy is spotted who is exposing their side or even the rear while not aiming towards you, shoot the engine first to immobilize and possibly even ignite the enemy tank, preventing him to take cover. The next shots should again disable the gun of the enemy, now finish your prey by shooting all crew members or if you feel lucky shoot an ammo rack.
The best choice to pierce enemy tanks is obviously the slpprj m/54 (APDS) although it is quite expensive in terms of Silver Lions. The slpprj (APCBC) works in most situation as well but lacks penetration compared to the slpprj m/54 APDS shot. The amazing penetration characteristics of this APDS shot enables this gun to pierce front plates of all Panther models (apart from the Panther II) to ranges up to 2000 m. T-44s and Panther IIs front plates can be penetrated to ranges up to almost 1000 m. Keep in mind though that the front plate of the T-44 is angled at 60°, so it bounces even this powerful APDS shot quite often. Even the front plate of the mighty Tiger II is not able to stop this APDS shot if not angled and the range is shorter than 100 m.
In a head to head situation with an enemy tank approaching try to angle the centurion not more than 5° degrees to either side since the side armour is quite weak (50.8 mm), try to hide your lower front plate which is a massive weak spot, while reloading turn the turret 10° to the right to maximize chances of bouncing shots (right side of the turret front has some extra armour) and keeping the gunner alive.
Modules
Tier | Mobility | Protection | Firepower | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
I | Tracks | Parts | Horizontal Drive | ||
II | Suspension | Brake System | FPE | Adjustment of Fire | slpprj m/54 |
III | Filters | Crew Replenishment | Elevation Mechanism | Smoke grenade | |
IV | Transmission | Engine | Artillery Support | rökgr m/53 |
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Powerful and high penetrating gun, stock round is adequate and APDS can punch through anything it will face.
- Has a base reload time of 8.1 seconds, which can be lowered further into around 7.4 seconds (which is on average 2 seconds faster than its competitors).
- Excellent gun depression and elevation.
- Extremely strong gun mantlet.
- Somewhat bouncy armour.
- Gunner is on the right side of the tank.
- Neutral steering, can turn on the spot without having to switch into gear 1.
- Good maneuverability.
- Good reverse speed.
- Gun stabilizer.
Cons:
- Low top speed.
- Ammo rack in the front, penetration through the lower glacis will likely ends up destroying or detonating the ammo rack.
- Top armor covering the engine compartments is 8mm
- APDS shot causes only punctual damage (aim carefully).
- No explosive filler on any AP shells.
- Weak side armour, do not angle the hull to much.
- high repair cost
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;
- encyclopedia page on the tank;
- other literature.
Sweden medium tanks | |
---|---|
Strv m/42 | Lago I · Strv m/42 EH · Ikv 73 · Strv m/42 DT · Pvkv IV |
Centurion derivatives | Strv 81 · Strv 81 (RB 52) · Strv 101 · Strv 104 · Strv 105 |
Strv 103 | Strv 103-0 · Strv 103A · Strv 103С |
Strv 121/122 | Strv 121 · Christian II · Strv 122A · Strv 122B PLSS · Strv 122B+ |
Other | Sherman III/IV · T 80 U |
Finland | |
WWII | ▄T-28 · ▄T-34 · ▄Pz.IV · ▄T-34-85 |
Post War | ▄Comet I · ▄Charioteer Mk VII · ▄T-54 · ▄T-55M · ▄T-72M1 · ▄Leopard 2A4 · ▄Leopard 2A6 |
Norway | Leopard 1A5NO2 |