WA318 (57 mm)

Description

WA318, based on the Type 59 (PG59) 57 mm anti-aircraft cannon (59式57毫米高射炮) is the twin-barrel version of the PG59, sharing many similarities to its Soviet equivalent S-68 (AZP S-60).

An attempt to built a Chinese version of ZSU-57-2, WA318 retains all the traits of S-68 with devastating firepower when facing lightly-armored targets or low-flying aircrafts; while WA318 has a domestic VT shell which vastly boost its capability to keep the sky clear.

Vehicles equipped with this weapon

• WZ305

General info

The base gun, Type 59(PG59) is a licensed copy of AZP S-60 (S-68 for twin-barrel version), both guns share the very same ballistic characteristics and dimensions.

Available ammunition

• Default: HE* · APCBC - 50% of this belt are useless against tanks or planes. However, against other SPAA this belt can reliably take out crew, armament, ammo and engine. Having one belt in reserve does not hurt.
• BR-281: APCBC - For use against ground vehicles. With around 150 mm of penetration at point blank, this belt can go through side armour and take out lightly armoured targets. Actual MBTs can typically resist it from the front. It does not contain much explosive filler per round, but since the WZ305 has two cannons (each with a clip of 4 rounds) multiple penetrations have a high chance of knocking out the target.
• OR-281U: HE* - For use against planes. One or two hits usually get the job done. However, heavy armoured attackers and bombers may require several hits.
• BR-281U: APCBC · HE* - For use against ground vehicles. A solid shot projectile, it currently has the same penetration as the ordinary BR-281 APCBC and there is thus no real reason to use it.
• DKY-1: HE-VT* - For use against planes. The huge explosive mass will blow most aircraft out of the sky with a fairly close hit, 15 m trigger radius means that one can be much more lenient with aiming. However, the proximity fuse requires 500 meters of arming distance and within this distance it acts only like a powerful HE round.

Penetration statistics
Belt	Penetration @ 0° Angle of Attack (mm)
	10 m	100 m	500 m	1,000 m	1,500 m	2,000 m
Default	151	147	132	114	100	87
BR-281	151	147	132	114	100	87
OR-281U	5	5	5	5	5	5
BR-281U	151	147	132	114	100	87
DKY-1	8	8	8	8	8	8

Comparison with analogues

S-68: its Soviet mirrored self; sharing most of the performance while his Chinese cousin has DKY-1 HE-VT shell at its disposal, making S-68 worse at anti-aircraft operations; but the turret traverse speed is slower than S-68 so the reaction time for WA318 will be longer.

Usage in battles

Indeed, both WA318 and S-68 share most of the performance: sufficient rate of fire to annihilate lightly-armored targets or those who showed their sides, BR-281APHE also has the required explosive mass to make sure a confirmed kill to enemies; while the sheer explosive content of its HE shells is enough to blow up aircrafts with ease if they land on the target. But keep in mind that WA318 has a worse traverse speed than its Soviet cousin, so plan ahead and turn your gun before engaging.

But there's one trait that makes WA318 (and its weapon platform, WZ305) stand out among all his analogues at similar tier- DKY-1 HE-VT; thanks to its straight ballistic and 2 shells per salvo, any aircrafts that are 500m away (safety) and within 6 m radius of either shell will meet their miserable end very quickly. This also applies to helicopters at even 5 km away, as long as it triggers the built-in radio in the projectile, it can sometimes earn a long shot kill, literary.

Pros and cons

Pros:

• High penetration APHE round
• High rate of fire (2 seconds per reload when aced)
• Access to HE-VT shell
• Long range even at higher tiers (up to 5 km)

Cons:

• Huge, making concealment a major problem
• Slower traverse speed than its Soviet cousin
• Only has protection for up to rifle caliber ammunitions; HE or HMG can disable the gun with ease

History

In 1955, Mainland China purchased 64 S-60 AA gun from Soviet Union and these were equipped to some anti-aircraft battalion of PLAGF, this gun was then licensed as Type 59 57 mm anti-aircraft gun, but it would be in commission almost 5 years later in 1965. With variants of tow guns and shipborne guns; while the overall anti-aircraft capability was unknown, its twin-barrel naval variant did exceptionally well during conflicts with Nationalist forces and South Vietnamese Navy, where the rate of fire shone over the caliber advantage of South Vietnamese destroyer escorts.

Later in 1980s, as Chinese acquired some ZSU-57-2 from Iraq, they decided to reverse-engineer it with a WZ321 (the chassis of PTZ89), then on a Type 69-II chassis; later known as its industrial code WZ305 (or PGZ80, if it was ever put into commission) with VT shell available. But due to the already outdated technology of a twin 57 mm gun against supersonic jets or even later long-range weapons, this project was dropped eventually.

While the twin-barrel WA318 bit the dust, its single-barrel base model is still kept with some quantities in second-line PLAGF anti-aircraft troops or militia.

Media

An excellent addition to the article would be a video guide, as well as 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

Paste links to sources and external resources, such as:

• topic on the official game forum;
• encyclopedia page on the weapon;
• other literature.

China anti-aircraft guns
25 mm	PG87
35 mm	PG99-35-2
37 mm	Type 65
57 mm	WA318
	Foreign:
12.7 mm	M2HB (USA)
20 mm	KwK30 (Germany)
40 mm	Dual Automatic Gun M2 (USA)