ST-A2

ST-A2

ST-A1

Type 61

ST-A2

ST-A1

Type 61

Japan

IV Rank

Battle rating:

AB	RB	SB
6.3	6.3	6.3

Class:

Medium tank

Research:31 000

Purchase:200 000

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This page is about the Japanese medium tank ST-A2. For other variants, see Type 61 (Family).

Description

The ST-A2 is a rank IV Japanese medium tank with a battle rating of 6.3 (AB/RB/SB). It was introduced along with the initial Japanese Ground Forces tree in Update 1.65 "Way of the Samurai".

It is a sidegrade to ST-A1, which takes sniping duty as its main work while neglecting most of the other roles. One can literally treat them as the same tank, but they have some minor quality of life differences, which will be mentioned here.

General info

Survivability and armour

Armour on ST-A2 is about the same as ST-A1, but there are some differences to its weaknesses.

For instance, the hull is now raised to engine deck level and slope goes all the way up the turret, resulting in turret being well above engine deck. The frontal armour is even more angled now, with effective thickness of about 90-100 mm, but it now also connected to engine deck, and in connection spot it's about 80 mm effective thickness like before. Most of tanks can still penetrate entire armour with no issues, so overall on tank's own BR it changes only rear gun depression and ability of certain tanks to just explode the tank with HE when it's hulldown.

Since hull is raised higher, there is less chances that enemy APHE will hit driver optics on accident or will be stopped by transmission and won't destroy the tank. Also, gunner's head is now above gun breech, so random shrapnel has a chance of hitting him, if enemy shell explodes above it, resulting in complete crew knockout, unlike with ST-A1.

For the turret, the commander cupolas was raised a bit and the pintle-mounted machine gun was removed. Overall it makes it harder to destroy tank with HE, but nothing more. However, the turret neck is no longer a weak spot for SPAA to exploit, but tank can still be destroyed by SPAA firing at MG port because their shells still cause spalling or explode and hit ammo rack despite it being rotated away from the weakspot. Still, it will definitely take them longer to deal with the tank that way.

Ammo rack in back of the turret is now facing turret and is much narrower a target, so the gun breech shields it entirely. Because of that, as long as the ST-A2 fires off first two rounds in first-stage rack, the chances of tank exploding due to ammo rack being hit through the turret is reduced. It came at a price, though, as it is now even easier to shoot the tank from the side or back. The block outside of turret's back isn't even modeled, so if HESH hits back of the turret, it's going to explode the entire tank.

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	50	20	34.2	775	954	22.66	27.89
Realistic	45	18		442	500	12.92	14.62

The mobility of the ST-A2 is the same as predecessor, as well as their effective off-road and top speed - about (AB/RB) 40/33 km/h forward and -18/-15 km/h backwards off-road, with top speed being 50/45 forward and -20/-17 backwards .

Armaments

Main armament

The gun and the ammunition themselves are the same as the ones on ST-A1.

As with ST-A1, one must unlock APHE as the very first module and then try to get aim adjustment as soon as possible, leveling it same way as the predecessor, as otherwise it is very hard to defeat opposing tanks and earn research points on this tank.

Due to turret being elevated above engine deck, the gun can now depress enough to fire at tanks behind it, no matter how low their profile is, as long as they stay on even ground.

90 mm M3A1					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	22.85	31.62	38.40	42.47	45.18	9.75	8.63	7.95	7.50
Realistic					14.28	16.80	20.40	22.56	24.00

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
M318 shot	APBC	175	173	161	147	135	123
M71 shell	HE	13	13	13	13	13	13
M82 shot	APCBC	185	182	170	155	142	130
M304 shot	APCR	287	281	259	234	211	191
M332 shot	APCR	291	286	264	240	217	197
M348 shell	HEATFS	305	305	305	305	305	305

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%
M318 shot	APBC	853	10.98	N/A	N/A	N/A	47°	60°	65°
M71 shell	HE	823	10.55	0.1	0.5	925	79°	80°	81°
M82 shot	APCBC	853	10.94	1.2	14.0	137.2	48°	63°	71°
M304 shot	APCR	1,021	7.62	N/A	N/A	N/A	66°	70°	72°
M332 shot	APCR	1,165	5.70	N/A	N/A	N/A	66°	70°	72°
M348 shell	HEATFS	853	6.50	N/A	0.1	926.17	65°	72°	77°

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	__ (+__)	__ (+__)	__ (+__)	__ (+__)	__ (+__)	__ (+__)	__

Optics

ST-A2 Optics
Which ones	Default magnification	Maximum magnification
Main Gun optics	x8	x16
Comparable optics	JPz 4-5

ST-A2 optics are identical to ST-A1. As usual, the user should exploit the superior magnification to target out enemy weaknesses or to snipe unsuspecting opponents from afar.

Machine guns

The 12.7 mm M2HB machine gun was removed, so ST-A2 only has 7.62 mm M1919A4 in its turret. It still can be used to damage open-top SPG, but fighting light tanks with it is not possible. Planes are also harder to engage with it.

On other hand, its trajectory is similiar to APHE shell up to 760 m, so you can use it to check your aim in RB, if necessary, which further confirms sniper specialization of ST-A2.

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 ST-A is Japan's first tank project for a new era of tank development, it shows the same gameplay issues as the Chi-Ha. The weak armour, the slow to mediocre turret rotation speed, quite a long hull and high drop-rate of shells.

But its not just all negatives, the mobility is good for what it is, has adequate gun depression and the ST-A even comes with HEAT like the Chi-Ha, this time in the form of M348 HEAT-FS researchable as tier IV modification.

Other than the similarities to the Chi-Ha, the ST-A2 has its own factors good and bad which should be kept in mind when playing. From the very good reverse speed, great zoom factor and many shell options, the ST-A2 also has an angled front plate unlike the ST-A1, which does place the turret higher, allowing it to shoot over the engine, at the cost of having a higher profile. Also unlike the ST-A1, the .50 has been removed from the ST-A2 which will make it harder to deal with lighter vehicles and planes.

Gameplay

The plan is simple and similar to the Chi-Ha & other early Japanese medium tanks, you want to stay either near or behind your allies and not rush forward, you can't take much damage, but you can deliver a punch. Pre-aim the turret and guide the enemy tanks into the sights as the rotation speed isn't of the fastest.

The further you are from your enemy the better for the inadequate armour, The ST-A comes with an amazing zoom factor and allows for clear sniping, but do keep in mind the shell drop-off are rather high.

Before you have your hands on the HEAT-FS, the safest bet is to exploit the flanks of the enemy, especially when starting with only AP, frontal penetrations won't happen reliable with the tanks the ST-A faces, try aiming for ammo racks, put a solid round into cramped crew members while trying to get the M82 shot and back up into cover or behind corners as the crew reloads the shell.

After unlocking the M82 APHE, placing shots is less important, once it penetrates, it's most likely to blow up good. It will come at the cost of the extra penetration, but when aiming for the sides, extra penetration isn't required. It's still a good idea to bring some AP shells with the tank just in-case you have to fight in a frontal engagement and the APHE fails to penetrate.

With the HEAT-FS finally unlocked, you can fully make use of the punches you can deal and the zoom you have, help your allies out with the toughest of enemies and simply frontally penetrate them.

Modules

Tier	Mobility		Protection	Firepower
I	Tracks		Parts	M82 shot	Horizontal Drive
II	Suspension	Brake System	FPE	M304 shot	Adjustment of Fire
III	Filters		Crew Replenishment	M332 shot	Elevation Mechanism
IV	Transmission	Engine		M348 shell	Artillery Support	M313

Pros and cons

Pros:

• Overall better sniper qualities than ST-A1 (but they only really matter in RB)
• Can defend itself against other tanks in case of a rear flank, unlike ST-A1
• Harder to hit ammo rack in turret from the front, and overall better protection against autocannons, HEAT and pure AP in turret
• Harder to be destroyed by HE shot to the turret, can technically tank some attacker's plane assault with its front
• Harder to destroy by poorly aimed shot in down-tier

Cons:

• Worse against light tanks than predecessor due to lack of 12.7 mm MG
• Still can be destroyed in one shot by nearly anything on battlefield via crew knockout, as long as they have APHE or HESH
• Raised turret still cannot use certain hull down spots, but raises tank's profile
• Hull weak spot is even more relevant now

History

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Media

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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

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• topic on the official game forum;
• encyclopedia page on the tank;
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