ZT3A2

ZT3A2

ZT3A2

Description

The ZT3A2 Ratel is a rank British tank destroyer with a battle rating of (AB), (RB), and (SB). It was introduced in Update "Ixwa Strike".

General info

Survivability and armour

Describe armour protection. Note the most well protected and key weak areas. Appreciate the layout of modules as well as the number and location of crew members. Is the level of armour protection sufficient, is the placement of modules helpful for survival in combat? If necessary use a visual template to indicate the most secure and weak zones of the armour.

Armour type:

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:

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				401			__.__
Realistic				249			__.__

Armaments

Main armament

ZT3 missile					Turret rotation speed (°/s)					Reloading rate (seconds)
Mode	Capacity (Belt)	Vertical	Horizontal	Stabilizer	Stock	Upgraded	Full	Expert	Aced	Stock	Full	Expert	Aced
Arcade	12 (3)	-5°/+15°	N/A	Two-plane	35.2	48.8	59.2	65.5	69.7	19.50	17.25	15.90	15.00
Realistic					23.8	28.0	34.0	37.6	40.0

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
ZT3A1	ATGM	650	650	650	650	650	650
ZT3A2	ATGM (tandem)	800	800	800	800	800	800

Shell details
Ammunition	Type of warhead	Velocity (m/s)	Range (m)	Projectile Mass (kg)	Fuse delay (m)	Fuse sensitivity (mm)	Explosive Mass (TNT equivalent) (g)	Ricochet
								0%	50%	100%
ZT3A1	ATGM	240	4,000	26	0	0.01	3,580	80°	82°	90°
ZT3A2	ATGM (tandem)	220	5,000	28.5	0.4	0.01	3,580	80°	82°	90°

Ammo racks

Full ammo	1st rack empty	2nd rack empty	3rd rack empty	4th rack empty	5th rack empty	6th rack empty	Visual discrepancy
4	__ (+__)	__ (+__)	__ (+__)	__ (+__)	__ (+__)	__ (+__)	__

Machine guns

7.62 mm Browning MG4
Mount	Capacity (Belt)	Fire rate	Vertical	Horizontal
Pintle	2,000 (250)	500	-10°/+20°	±180°

Usage in battles

Describe the tactics of playing in the vehicle, the features of using vehicles in the team and advice on tactics. Refrain from creating a "guide" - do not impose a single point of view but instead give the reader food for thought. Describe the most dangerous enemies and give recommendations on fighting them. If necessary, note the specifics of the game in different modes (AB, RB, SB).

Pros and cons

Pros:

• Is able to use tandem missiles, which penetrate ERA regardless of angle of attack
• Has three shot launcher, which is a step down from Striker, but still one more shot when compared to type 89 and similar tanks
• Can relocate very fast on maps with a lot of sealed roads

Cons:

• Missiles are very unresponsive and it's better to launch them properly to begin with
• Camera placement is imperfect, requires to make corrections on first shot if using cover
• Vertical depression is non-existent on the launcher and the huge hull is not easy to angle to compensate, which, combined with missile low mobility, is hard to deal with
• Hull must be exposed to make a shot and almost any shot to the launcher on top of the hull will destroy enough crew to count as crew knockout, even a single glancing hit from ZSU-57-2 may be enough
• Missiles are only 20-40 m/s faster than Swingfires and hostile ATGM tanks generally use missiles that are 2 to 5 times faster, SAM tanks can even make a very late response and still win the duel (however, as of now, it can only meet most of them in RB/SB)
• Reloads only after spending all three shots (but reloads all three at once)

History

Devblog

In the early 1960s, the South African military already identified the need for anti-tank missile capabilities. Subsequently, this led to South Africa procuring the MILAN ATGM in the early to mid 1970s. However, early use experience with the MILAN highlighted the weapon's unsuitability for the African tropical conditions.

Being a wire-guided missile, the MILAN's control wire had a tendency to get caught up in the thick African bush and get severed, causing the missile to go off target and making engaging moving targets even more challenging. As a result, the decision was made to procure a laser-guided missile. However, as international arms embargoes were imposed on South Africa, simply acquiring an existing weapon off the export market wasn't possible. Therefore, South African engineers at the Kentron company went about designing their own laser-guided ATGM in the late 1970s.

The result of this undertaking was the creation of the ZT3 missile system. By the time the ZT3 system had been ready for production in 1986, plans were being drawn up for a modified Ratel 20 housing the newly developed ZT3 missile launcher in a modified Ratel 60 turret. The modified Ratel with the ZT3 missile system was developed in order to supplement the Ratel 90s in anti-tank operations as the latter often struggled to engage heavy armour in direct combat.

The Ratel ZT3-A1 entered production in 1987 and around 90vehicles of the type had been built by 1993. The ZT3-A2 was introduced in 2008 and continues its successful operation with SANDF units till the present day.

Media

Skins

• Skins and camouflages for the ZT3A2 from live.warthunder.com.

Images

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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

• [Devblog] Ratel ZT3-A2 - The Sharpshooting Honey Badger

Britain tank destroyers
Infantry tank derivatives	Archer · Gun Carrier (3-in)
Light tank derivatives	Alecto I
M10 Achilles	Achilles · Achilles (65 Rg.)
Centurion derivatives	FV4005 · Conway
ATGM	Swingfire · Striker
Other	Tortoise · ▄M109A1
Canada	QF 3.7 Ram
South Africa	G6 · ZT3A2