ST-A1

ST-A1

Chi-Ri II

ST-A2

ST-A1

Chi-Ri II

ST-A2

Japan

IV Rank

Battle rating:

AB	RB	SB
6.3	6.3	6.3

Class:

Medium tank

Research:54 000

Purchase:185 000

Description

The ST-A1 (also known by STA-1) 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".

The ST-A1, similar to most Japanese tanks, is lightly armoured. Although the sloped upper glacis and the rounded turret are capable of bouncing off the occasional shot at BR 6.3, most enemies it faces will not have any problems in penetrating the armour. Combined with the tight placement of crew, modules, and ammo, the ST-A1 is easily taken out in a single shot. The ST-A1 can serve as a sniper or flanker (although it does not have the best speed), however, full utilization of the terrain is essential for survival - due to its powerful gun and low profile, the tank is able to fire off long-range shots without exposing itself. The excellent reverse speed should also be taken advantage of to quickly retreat into cover.

The ST-A1 bears the common Japanese post-war camouflage-schemes - green, bi-colour green and the white spotted winter camouflage, as well as the beige-grey-green and multi-colour camouflage patterns that are purchasable with Golden Eagles. The tank has a distinct silhouette with its rounded turret and long, low chassis, and carries the 90 mm M3A1 cannon found on the M46 Patton tank.

General info

Survivability and armour

Armour type:

• Rolled homogeneous armour
• Cast homogeneous armour (Turret)

Armour	Front	Sides	Rear	Roof
Hull	75 mm (52°) Front glacis 75 mm (47°) Lower glacis	25 mm (45°) Top 25 mm Bottom	15 mm (15-44°) Top 15 mm Bottom	15 mm
Turret	75 mm (5-55°) Turret front 50 mm (8-65°) Gun mantlet	40 mm (16-32°)	25 mm (7-10°)	15 mm
Armour	Sides	Roof
Cupola	40 mm	15 mm

Notes:

• Suspension wheels and tracks are 20 mm thick.

When facing the ST-A1, the left side of the turret holds the gunner and commander, the right side holds ammo, so a well placed shot into the turret will result in a catastrophic explosion, or, at the least, double crew knock out with a solid shot. If unable to shoot the Gunner out, the Breach which is the largest thing in the turret will do as the repair is close to 1 minute (or less depending on the crew) giving enough time to reload and finish off the tank.

However, in AB if all of turret crew members get knocked out, the "last stand" is very forgiving and tank seems to soak damage as if gunner isn't even present in the turret. As long as player doesn't take full ammo load and spends all of their pre-loaded ammunition , the turret can tank pure AP shots and HEAT, likely only losing the gun breech, making tank hard to destroy from a distance, especially from the left side, as long as hull isn't hit, or turret got shot directly with APHE or HESH, though tank performance is decreased drastically, so it cannot fight at close range with more than 1 tank like this.

Mobility

Mobility characteristic
Weight (tons)	Add-on Armour weight (tons)	Max speed (km/h)
34.2	N/A	50 (AB)
		45 (RB/SB)
Engine power (horsepower)
Mode	Stock	Upgraded
Arcade	775	954
Realistic/Simulator	442	500
Power-to-weight ratio (hp/ton)
Mode	Stock	Upgraded
Arcade	22.66	27.89
Realistic/Simulator	12.92	14.62

Armaments

Main armament

While gun perform at acceptable level at it's BR, it requires "Adjustment of fire" upgrade unlocked as soon as possible, as well as ammunition upgrades. This is due to the base ammunition being pure AP and also low quality, so it's unsuited to fight other tanks at long range, and so you have to unlock better shells as soon as possible.

Progression goes as follows:

Stock : Able to fight light tanks and some medium tanks, but generally at about 500m, because gun misses a lot, and even if you hit it may ricochet. Attacking heavy tanks is really not recommended, as it's entirely up to random if they take any damage.

APHE and adjustment of fire: Able to fight Heavy tanks of your own BR like IS-2 or Tiger II (P) by firing at their frontal turret weak spot at relatively close range and snipe certain medium tanks, although anything of higher BR like Centurion Mk 3 should not be attacked directly, as they tank your shots frontally. A lot of tanks will still bounce your long-range shots, because APHE flies at a high angle since 700m, and in up-tier a lot of heavies will pretend you do not exist even up-close. However, you can take flanking snipe routes and use your high level zoom to snipe them from great distance into their sides, as APHE, unlike normal AP, will definitely destroy their entire tank for you, as long as it penetrates.

APCR and elevation mechanism: Many will be puzzled by tank having 2 different APCR, but the idea is that M304 does more damage along the way, but loses a lot of energy due to higher angle of attack, while M332 flies at a more straight angle, allowing to breach heavily armoured tanks at longer distances with lesser probability of lucky ricochets, but has lesser mass (and thus damage). Because of this, they are doing same damage, but M332 is easier to aim and has favorable angle of attack. it may still one-shot crammed tanks, if you shot straight through the middle of them or aim for the crew specifically. Most of enemy heavy SPG and some up-tier superheavies will still ignore your shots and one-shot you back, so you will find yourself constantly using both APHE and APCR, trying to adapt to your current enemy.

HEAT-FS: With M348 unlocked, you can now simply destroy T-44 by firing at left of their tank (right for you if head-on) and IS-2 by firing straight at the middle of their hull. You also can destroy all the enemy SPG and heavy tanks which were bullying you this entire time from any range, for example you can destroy Jagdtiger with two shots by crew knockout, destroy T32E1 which is normally a pain to hit into hull weakspot with APHE even with X16 zoom, and, if playing AB, you can now destroy superior Leopard I without any issues. It's worth remembering though, that certain rare tanks like Centurion Mk.5 AVRE and T95 are highly resistant to HEAT or just damage in general, requiring you to aim very well or retreat, and HEAT often explodes if touches anything on it's flight path, so kinetic shells are still required.

90 mm M3A1
Capacity			Vertical guidance	Horizontal guidance	Stabilizer
40			-10°/+13°	±180°	N/A
Turret rotation speed (°/s)
Mode	Stock	Upgraded	Prior + Full crew	Prior + Expert qualif.	Prior + Ace qualif.
Arcade	14.30	19.76	_.__	_.__	_.__
Realistic	14.30	16.80	_.__	_.__	_.__
Reloading rate (seconds)
Stock	Prior + Full crew	Prior + Expert qualif.	Prior + Ace qualif.
11.8	_.__	_.__	_.__

ST-A1 Optics
Which ones	Default magnification	Maximum magnification
Main Gun optics	x8	x16
Comparable optics	Type 74G

• It is important to remember the earliest your enemy would have x16 scope is at a battle rating of 7.3/7.7 (AB/RB) with German Leopard I while even the SPG class tanks will most likely have an ~x6 or x8 at best.
• Be aware when utilising guns which lack stabilizer, attempting to shoot on the move while viewing through x16 optics is almost a guaranteed miss due to the movement of the vehicle over the terrain. If needed to aim at targets on a move, do not change pace or make sudden changes as the gun will fire less predictably and most likely result in a miss.

Ammunition

Penetration statistics
Ammunition	Type of warhead	Penetration in mm @ 90°
		10m	100m	500m	1000m	1500m	2000m
M318 shot	AP	192	191	179	165	152	139
M71 shell	HE	13	13	13	13	13	13
M82 shot	APCBC	170	169	164	151	138	127
M304 shot	APCR	264	260	245	226	210	191
M332 shot	APCR	271	270	245	217	192	170
M348 shell	HEATFS	305	305	305	305	305	305

Shell details
Ammunition	Type of warhead	Velocity in m/s	Projectile Mass in kg	Fuse delay in m:	Fuse sensitivity in mm:	Explosive Mass in g (TNT equivalent):	Normalization At 30° from horizontal:	Ricochet:
								0%	50%	100%
M318 shot	AP	853	11	N/A	N/A	N/A	+4°	43°	30°	25°
M71 shell	HE	823	11	0.1	0.5	925	+0°	79°	80°	81°
M82 shot	APCBC	853	11	1.2	20	137.2	+4°	48°	63°	71°
M304 shot	APCR	1021	7.6	N/A	N/A	N/A	+1.5°	66°	70°	72°
M332 shot	APCR	1178	5.6	N/A	N/A	N/A	+1.5°	66°	70°	72°
M348 shell	HEATFS	853	6.5	0.0	0.1	926.17	+0°	65°	72°	75°

Smoke characteristic
Ammunition	Velocity in m/s	Projectile Mass in kg	Screen radius in m	Screen time in s	Screen hold time in s:	Explosive Mass in g (TNT equivalent):
M313	821	11	13	5	20	50

Ammo racks

Ammo racks of the ST-A1.

Full ammo	1st rack empty	2nd rack empty	3rd rack empty	Visual discrepancy
40	39 (+1)	30 (+10)	1 (+39)	no

Turret empty: 30 (+10)

Machine guns

Machine guns of ST-A1 can be used to destroy super light SPG like M56 and 12 mm MG is capable of destroying AUBL/74 and similiar vehicles. They also can be used to fire at planes, though the damage is minimal.

Despite of them being useful, it's better to rely on your main gun first, as light vehicles at BR of 6.3 are capable of dishing out unexpected fatal damage and they should be destroyed the very moment you spot them.

12.7 mm M2HB
Pintle mount
Capacity (Belt capacity)				Fire rate (shots/minute)	Vertical guidance	Horizontal guidance
660 (200)				577	-5°/+90°	±30°

7.62 mm M1919A4
Coaxial mount
Capacity (Belt capacity)				Fire rate (shots/minute)	Vertical guidance	Horizontal guidance
4,500 (250)				500	N/A	N/A

Usage in battles

Stay out of sight and find a good, defensible spot on the map and use the gun (preferably the HEAT-FS with 305 mm penetration) and excellent optical zoom. The tank has almost no armour, so do not rush forward - stay behind allies. Take a shot, then use the reverse speed to retreat to cover.

Pros and cons

Pros:

• Vehicle body is thin and low = small front profile
• Adequate gun depression of -10°
• 90 mm gun that allow for combat against contemporary medium tanks
• .50 cal machine gun allow for AA defense
• Good speed, OK mobility
• Very good reverse speed
• Access to HEAT-FS shells
• Has x16 zoom as maximum with competition generally using x8 at best

Cons:

• Elevated engine deck prevents rear gun depression
• Large ammo rack all over the turret, especially left side (Aiming right side), if you take more than 29 shells and don't spend the "first stage" rack fast
• Inadequate hull raw armor of 75 mm at front, relies on slopes and bounces for resistance against shots
• Even more inadequate turret armor of around 40-75 mm overall
• Gun sub-par against the heavy tanks like the Tiger II
• High drop-rate of shells make long-range engagements difficult
• 15 mm of armour on top of the turret and engine deck make it easy to penetrate for Strafing Air and Artillery

History

Describe the history of the creation and combat usage of the ground 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>, as well as adding them at the end of the article. This section may also include the vehicle's dev blog entry (if applicable) and the in-game encyclopedia description (under === Encyclopedia Info ===, 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

• [Devblog] ST-A1: Stepping into a New Era