BA-11
Contents
Description
The BA-11 was a Soviet armoured vehicle designed with the intent of serving as a replacement for its predecessor, the BA-10. It was the first and only Soviet heavy armoured car produced, and it saw very limited service due to production ceasing after the Nazi Germany invasion in 1941. Compared to the BA-10, the BA-11 featured a sophisticated armour design, providing better protection for its crew, and a more powerful engine, which was said to be more reliable. Despite this, it was considered a disappointment as a result of numerous design flaws and technical issues, and its performance in battle was subpar. Further attempts at improvement were made with the replacement of the petrol engine with a diesel ZIS-D-7, but these efforts were ultimately unsuccessful due to the vehicle's poor reputation. In the end, all 17 vehicles built were lost in combat, and the project was abandoned.
The BA-11 was introduced during Update 1.95 "Northern Wind" as a reward for Season 2: Attack from the Sea. It is an excellent flanker and plays essentially the same as the BT-5. Surprisingly, its crew layout allows it to tank some shots, as long as it's not hit in the flat parts of the armour. However, it is important to keep a low profile, as the BA-11 can't survive even a single strafing run by an aircraft due to its thin roof armour.
General info
Survivability and armour
Armour on the BA-11 is unfortunately inadequate against most tank armaments that it can encounter. It's only thick enough to resist rifle-calibre machine gun fire, whereas heavy machine gun rounds have more than enough power to shred the car's body apart. In terms of surviving a frontal encounter with a tank shell, the only hope is that the engine and fuel tank modules will stop the shell from reaching the crew compartment. However, the BA-11 is vulnerable to overpressure so an HE shell will at best immobilize the BA-11 if not outright destroy it.
If shot, the front compartment with engine and transmission module can immobilise the vehicle. The center driving compartment containing the driver and another crew member, with the transmission right underneath to, again, cripple the vehicle's mobility. The fighting compartment in the rear with the turret is fully stowed with ammunition with the gun crew, and so a shot there can cause an ammunition detonation that would make short work of the BA-11's life.
Finally, the roof armour on the BA-11 is not sufficient against most type of strafing attacks either, so enemy aircraft going for a gun run will be dangerous to a BA-11 user.
Armour type:
- Rolled homogeneous armour (hull, turret)
- Cast homogeneous armour (turret front, gun mantlet)
| Armour | Front (Slope angle) | Sides | Rear | Roof |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hull | 13 mm (27°) Windshield glacis 13 mm (28°) Engine hood glacis 8 mm (28°) Radiator vent 13 mm (57°) Lower glacis |
10 mm (22-27°) Engine hood 13 mm (22-27°) Crew compartment 6 mm Rear wheels arch |
13 mm (24°) Crew compartment 8 mm (7°) Central mudguard |
13 mm (17°) Engine hood 8 mm (3-18°) Crew compartment |
| Turret | 13 mm (cylindrical) Gun mantlet 13 mm (cylindrical) Turret front |
13 mm (21-25°) | 13 mm (24°) | 6 mm |
Notes:
- Wheels are 10 mm thick, add-on tracks are 15 mm thick and mudguards 4 mm thick.
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 | 72 | 65 | 8.1 | 139 | 172 | 17.16 | 21.23 |
| Realistic | 65 | 58 | 80 | 90 | 9.88 | 11.11 | |
Modifications and economy
2 × 20 / 20 / 20 % 2 × 100 / 100 / 100 % | Mobility | Protection | Firepower | ||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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|
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Armaments
Main armament
| 45 mm 20-K | Turret rotation speed (°/s) | Reloading rate (seconds) | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mode | Capacity | Vertical | Horizontal | Stabilizer | Stock | Upgraded | Full | Expert | Aced | Stock | Full | Expert | Aced |
| Arcade | 114 | -8°/+25° | ±180° | N/A | 15.23 | 21.08 | 25.60 | 28.31 | 30.12 | 3.77 | 3.33 | 3.07 | 2.90 |
| Realistic | 9.52 | 11.20 | 13.60 | 15.04 | 16.00 | ||||||||
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 | ||
| BR-240 | APHEBC | 70 | 67 | 58 | 47 | 39 | 32 |
| BR-240SP | APBC | 73 | 70 | 60 | 50 | 41 | 34 |
| 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% | ||||||||||
| BR-240 | APHEBC | 760 | 1.43 | 1.2 | 9 | 29.26 | 48° | 63° | 71° | |||
| BR-240SP | APBC | 757 | 1.43 | - | - | - | 47° | 60° | 65° | |||
Ammo racks
| Full ammo |
1st rack empty |
2nd rack empty |
3rd rack empty |
4th rack empty |
5th rack empty |
6th rack empty |
7th rack empty |
8th rack empty |
Visual discrepancy |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 114 | 108 (+6) | 101 (+13) | 85 (+29) | 69 (+45) | 53 (+61) | 37 (+77) | 21 (+93) | 1 (+113) | No |
Notes:
- Shells in racks 1 and 2 (turret) are modeled individually and disappear after having been shot or loaded.
- Shells in racks 3 to 8 (flanks) are modeled by sets of 4 and disappear after all shells in the set having been loaded or shot.
- Racks 3 to 8 deplete symmetrically by sets of 4 shells, starting with the left side.
- Pack 21 (+93) shells (racks 1 to 7 emptied) to go into battle with the turret and the flanks empty of ammo.
Machine guns
| 7.62 mm DT | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mount | Capacity (Belt) | Fire rate | Vertical | Horizontal |
| Coaxial | 1,890 (63) | 600 | N/A | N/A |
The small calibre of the DT machine gun makes it largely ineffective against all armoured vehicles but the ones with an open compartment. It still can be used to ping targets as a rangefinding help. The clip capacity of the machine gun is quite poor, as it relies on a magazine of 63 bullets instead of a belt like similar machine guns from other nations.
Usage in battles
The Ba-11 is one of the only armoured cars in the Soviet Tech Tree and as an armoured car it suffers from a few issues, like poor mobility off-road and a very weak armour. However it still has some advantages going for him, like its armament and crew placement.
When used in ground realistic or arcade battles, it is important to have a low profile. Since this vehicle is not well-armoured, it wont be able to survive even strafing runs from aircrafts, specially those who are equipped with 12.7mm MGs. This also means that going in flanking manoeuvres against enemy SPAA is not recommended, because you lack HE projectiles or a roof mounted HMG like the one present in American tanks, it is hard to destroy quickly open top vehicles since its very possible that the fuse in your APHE projectiles wont set off.
Talking about that, the best thing going for the Ba-11 is its armament, the Soviet 45mm D-20K cannon is more than enough to destroy a target. At low BRs, most tanks are small and very cramped, and the APHE projectile of this gun, with almost 30G of TNT explosive, it's enough to one-shot most opponents, specially small tanks like the M22 and the Panzer III. Its penetration values are also very good, being capable of dealing with the armour of pretty much every low BR tank at short ranges.
It is not recommended going flanking in the Ba-11, the wheeled design makes it so that it's very easy getting stuck in holes, rocks or any terrain irregularity, however it's also not recommended since off-road mobility is severely reduced when wheels are used instead of tracks, meanwhile the wheels allow for higher speeds as long as you are travelling on asphalt roads.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Good gun depression of 8 degrees
- Car forward mobility is quite good off and on-road, so long as it can pick up speed
- Front profile rather small due to its long body
- Very good firepower, APHE round can one shot most tanks
Cons:
- Armour is only sufficient against rifle-calibre machine guns, anything more will shred the car apart
- Roof armour above the crew at its thickest is 8 mm, which allows most aircraft to penetrate with a strafing run
- Interior layout allows any penetrating shot to deal critical damage to something
- Vehicle length means it can present a large target if driving perpendicular to an enemy gun
- Reverse speed is disappointing, restricting ability to withdraw into cover easily
History
Armoured cars were one of the most popular world trends in the development of armoured vehicles in the pre-war period. The Soviet heavy armoured vehicle BA-11 was one of the typical examples of this type of vehicle. It was created on the basis of a shortened chassis from the military ZIS-6 - a three-axle off-road truck designed on a scheme of 6x4 (rear wheel drive). The new chassis designed by engineers of the Moscow Automobile Plant was supposed to provide the armoured car greater payload and a better cross-country ability which allows improvements in the armour and a better off-road performance in the vehicle.
Compared to the armoured vehicles of the B-6 and B-10 series which had been designed on the basis of the GAZ-AAA truck, the armour of the BA-11 has been increased by 1.5-2 times and in some places, the BA-11 was slightly better armoured than the T-26 and BT-7 tanks. With the increased weight up to 8 tons, the vehicle maintained good driving characteristics: a speed of up to 64 km/h on the highway and 26 km/h over terrain. As well as in the BA-10 the designers also provided overall tracks which were able to help the armoured car to overcome particularly difficult areas. The gun and the turret of the vehicle also receives a 45 mm 20-K cannon from the BA-10 in the turret.
The heavy BA-11 armoured vehicle was produced in limited edition in 1939 and participated in battles at the early stages of WWII. In 1942 it was withdrawn from service.
- From Devblog
Media
- Skins
- Images
Bicolor summer camouflage, reward during the WWM Season 2: Attack from the Sea
- Videos
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
| USSR light tanks | |
|---|---|
| T-26 | T-26 · T-26 (1st Gv.T.Br.) · T-26-4 · T-26E |
| BT | BT-5 · RBT-5 · BT-7 · BT-7 TD · BT-7M · BT-7A (F-32) |
| T-50 | T-126 · T-50 |
| T-70 | T-70 · T-80 |
| PT-76 | PT-76B · PT-76-57 · Object 906 |
| BMP | BMP-1 · BMP-2 · BMP-2M · BMP-3 |
| BMD | BMD-4 |
| 2S25 | 2S25 · 2S25M |
| Wheeled | BA-11 · BTR-80A |
| Other | T-60 · Object 685 · 2S38 |
| China | ▂Type 62 |
| USSR premium ground vehicles | |
|---|---|
| Light tanks | BA-11 · RBT-5 · BT-7A (F-32) · T-26 (1st Gv.T.Br.) · T-26E · T-126 · PT-76-57 · 2S38 |
| Medium tanks | T-34 (Prototype) · T-34 (1st Gv.T.Br.) · T-34E · T-34-57 (1943) · T-34-85E · T-34-100 · T-44-122 · TO-55 · T-55AM-1 · T-72AV (TURMS-T) · T-80UD · Т-80U-Е1 |
| ▂M3 Medium · ▂M4A2 · ▂T-III · ▂T-V · ▂МК-IX "Valentine" | |
| Heavy tanks | SMK · T-35 · ▂MK-II "Matilda" · KV-1E · KV-2 (1940) · KV-2 (ZiS-6) · KV-122 · KV-220 · IS-2 "Revenge" · Object 248 · IS-6 · T-10A |
| Tank destroyers | BM-8-24 · BM-13N · BM-31-12 |
| SU-57 · SU-76D · SU-76M (5th Gv.Kav.Corps) · SU-85A · SU-100Y · SU-122P · Object 120 | |
| SPAA | ▂Phòng không T-34 · ZUT-37 |
