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TL;DR: An additional armor package for the WMA301.
History:
With the collapse of the USSR in the early 1990s, China’s focus could finally switch from heavily guarding its northern border to other matters. One of these matters was the development of lighter, faster, and easier to maintain military vehicles. This need would lead to NORINCO developing a new multi-role wheeled platform, which would be designated as WZ551. In its basic form, this new vehicle would be a an APC, however, as it was designed to be multi-role, ways to expand its capabilities were being developed alongside the vehicle itself. One of these developments would be called PTL87, a variant equipped with a 100mm cannon, which would be improved upon and enter Chinese service in 2002 as the PTL02. As with the majority of their products, NORINCO was immediately looking to release their new domestically successful vehicle to the export market, however, very few countries were still using the outdated 100mm caliber and had long since switched over to the NATO standard 105mm caliber as it was not only more powerful but much more available. As such, it was eventually decided to modify the PTL02 to house a NATO standard 105mm cannon, which would be fitted in a newly designed turret. The new vehicle would debut on the export market as the WMA301 and would very quickly find success. It is currently in service with Cameroon, Chad, Djibouti, Myanmar, and Senegal. In many respects, the WMA301 was a fantastic wheeled tank destroyer, especially for poorer countries. It’s relatively cheap, has a powerful cannon, is logistically easy to supply, and can get from point A to point B very quickly. All that being said, the WMA301 had a very glaring weakness. It’s armor was only 10mms at the front and 8mm at the side. It may as well be made of soggy tissues. This poor armor profile made the vehicle very vulnerable to close range heavy machinegun fire and near useless when faced with any sort of autocannon. This weakness eventually led to NORINCO debuting an upgrade package for the WMA301 in 2017, which covered the vehicle’s front and sides in additional armor plates at least 10mm thick. In addition to the armor plates, the vehicle’s headlight system would be reworked with the preexisting headlights being enclosed in more robust protective cages and two new headlights being added to the lower glacis. As of yet, there do not appear to have been any buyers.
Place In War Thunder:
The WMA301 has become a topic of heated discussion as of relatively recent, with its BR being called into question. Some argue it is too low at 8.3 as it has very good forward mobility, a stabilizer, and a powerful cannon, which makes the vehicle equal to Radkampfwagen 90 and M1128. On the contrary, some argue that its current BR is adequate as its reverse speed is terrible, its high forward mobility has a tendency to negate the benefits of its stabilizer, and its armor is far too thin for the vehicle to be viable at a 9.0+. What I’m suggesting here is a solution that could potentially make almost everyone happy. One of the main reasons why the WMA301 would not be as viable as other wheeled tank destroyers at ~9.0 is, again, its poor armor. If this issue were to simply just be fixed it would make a rise in BR much more warranted as it would but the WMA301 on the same armor level as other wheeled tank destroyers. To clarify, I am suggesting this armor package as a modification for the WMA301.
Specifications:
Armament: 105mm WMA301 cannon, 1x 12.7mm HMG, and 1x 7.62mm MG
Dimensions: 6.63m, 2.80m, 3.00~m (L,W,H)
Weight: 21000~kg
Armor: Same as WMA301 in-game plus at least 10mm everywhere the package covers
Crew: 4
Ammunition: Same as WMA301 in-game
Speed: 80~kph
Horsepower: 320hp
Picture:
Side View:
Sources:
http://www.military-today.com/artillery/wma_301.htm
日本周辺国の軍事兵器: 90式/92式装輪装甲車（WZ-551/WZ-551A）
The Second Norinco Armor Day - MilitaryLeak.COM
https://inf.news/military/b32f619e9a3dde4cc1d978be461e180f.html