- Yes
- No
DESCLAMER!
The name STC was used by the the Japanese media to refer to the ST-A series and STB series. However they later on changed the program title to NTK for the Type 90 meaning New Tank. The individual tanks were named TK-X-000#, TK-X-001#, TK-X-002# and so on.
But to make it easier for everyone to follow along, i be refering to the prototype as STC-2 witch was the media name used for the prototype.
The Mitsubishi Company was tasked by the SDF to develope a new MBT for Japan to replace the aging Type 74s. A task that will give way to multitude of tank prototypes and test beds, the Tank X program (what it was called) went through a series of different designs for their Main Battle Tank candidates. One of the most iconic of the four prototypes which is the STC-2, is Japans scound MBT prototypes. Reliying on the new adoption of composite armor techniques that made progress in the early 90’s and a Japanese made Steel Works 120mm smoothbore cannon.
The STC-2 is also equipped with the same 120mm smoothbore gun made by Japan Steel Works as the STC-1 was, but the STC-2 was equipped with an automatic loader.
The key diffrences between the STC-2 and the Type 90 is the following:
There are some things on the STC-2 front part of the body that are diffreant from the Type 90 front part. In the STC-2 front part of the body exists blackout lights on the right and left hand side, it is unkown what functions they had or what they were used for. In addition the driver seat has been moved to the left side of the tank as seen in the images below.
The design for the commander sight (CITV) is very different from that of the Type 90, and the sight for the gunner also has a unique cover, as seen in the images below.
The composite armor design for the STC-2 may looks closley the same as the Type 90. But that is not the entirely the case, becouse the composite armor on the STC-2 covers only turret front and does not extend to the sides like the Type 90 does. The STC-2 composite armor does not conform to the “60 degrees forward” that is the basis of the composite armor seen on Type 90.
STC-1 was Japans most ambitious prototype in that time packed with the latest technology available at the time of production. It had Technologys such as the commander’s IR and rubber skirt etc. But the STC-2 on the other hand is a relatively orthodox prototype, with the only exception of it having the first autoloader for a 120mm cannon.
The STC-2 prototype was equipped and using the 120mm smothbore gun made by Japan Steel. And it also fired a new APFSDS prototype that was made by Daikin Industries. It had the ability to penetrate 500mm of armor at a distance of 2000m (2km), and it had an ideal bullet core with a L/D ratio (core length/diameter ratio) of 17.5, Rockwell hardness of 39, and elongation of 12.4%.
Komatsu Ltd also produced a new prototype HEAT-MP round, that achived 600mm penetration and an initial speed of 1200m/s during testing.
VEHICLE SPECIFICATION:
*Hull length: 7.5m.
*Hull width: 3.05m.
*Height: 2.34m.
*Crew: 3.
*Ground Clearance: 0.45m (adjustable between 0.2 to 0.6m
front and back)
*Weight: 50,000kg (combat)
*Ground pressure: 0.89kg/sq.cm
*Max speed: 70km/h.
*Max range (internal fuel): 400km on road.
*Armament: 120mm smothbore gun built by Japan Steel
Works and Daikin Industries
*machine gun mounted coaxially, 1 x 12.7mm (0.5) machine
gun on turret roof.
Japan is suffering the lack of vehicles in some of it’s BR’s. The STC-2 can be a good addition to the Japanese tech tree, boosting the options of vehicles in the tech tree. How it will be implemented into the game (as squadron, tech tree or premiume) is up to the developers and community.
SOURCES:
90式戦車の第1次試作車まとめ - Togetter
Reddit - Dive into anything
90式戦車 - Wikipedia
90式戦車 - Wikipedia
Type 90 tank - Wikipedia
http://obiekt.seesaa.net/article/143537641.html
TKX-0002: the Second Prototype of the Type 90 (with a different gun and armor!) - Passed for Consideration - War Thunder - Official Forum
TKX-0002: the Second Prototype of the Type 90 (with a different gun and armor!) - Passed for Consideration - War Thunder - Official Forum
“Journal of Defense Technology” March 2010 No.348, page 58
https://www.amazon.com/Great-Book-Tanks-Important-Present/dp/0760314756
STC-1 - Page 2 - Ask the experts - War Thunder - Official Forum
https://web.archive.org/web/20100218072903/http://www15.tok2.com/home/lttom/military-powers_jgsdf/90/military-powers_90tankframe.html
Reddit - Dive into anything
Reddit - Dive into anything
Reddit - Dive into anything
Army Guide
Galileo Publishing “Ground Power”
March 2006 issue Miharu Koze
Argonaut “PANZER”
January 1991 issue Keiichi Nogi
November 2009 issue Yusuke Tsuge
September 2016 Issue Written by Taro Kagaya
/ April 2019 issue Written by Taku Esaka
Ushio Shobo
Kojin Shinsha “Koujinsha NF Bunko” / History of tank development in postwar Japan Written by Iwao Hayashi