L7A3 (105 mm)

The 105 mm L7A3 on the Leopard 1A5 gun mantlet.

Description

Write an introduction to the article in 2-3 small paragraphs. Briefly tell us about the history of the development and combat using the weaponry and also about its features. Compile a list of air, ground, or naval vehicles that feature this weapon system in the game.

Vehicles equipped with this weapon

General info

The L7A3 shares many of its properties with the L7A1 on British tanks, although it has access to a wider range of ammunition. Aside from the standard APDS and HESH rounds, the L7A3 is found to use HEATFS as well as a smoke shell. The L7A3 can be found either unstabilized or fully stabilized depending on the vehicle. Giving accurate fire at long ranges that can punch through even heavily armoured vehicles, the L7A3 is a highly capable weapon for the vehicles it is found on and will often face.

Available ammunition

Not all ammunition listed is available on all vehicles equipped with this weapon.

Comparison with analogues

• L7A1 (105 mm): The L7A1 is the British original version of the L7A3, and has identical performance with the exception that no HEATFS shell is available for the L7A1.
• M68 (105 mm): The M68 is the American licensed-produced version of the L7, and so also shares identical performance for matching shells, although the Americans have added a smoke shell in the place of having smoke grenades on vehicles.
• D-10T2S (100 mm): Unlike the standard D-10T found on the T-54, the D-10T2S uses a full stabilizer and has access to ammunition such as the 3BM25 which performs similarly to DM23 and M735 on the L7A3. However, the vehicles using the L7A3 reload faster than the T-55A (which uses the D-10T2S), although the T-55AM-1 does have a gun-launched ATGM which is not a feature found on the L7A3.
• OTO Melara 105/52 (105 mm): The OTO Melara 105/52 shares ammunition with the L7A3, and Italian vehicles using it such as the Centauro and OF-40 can reload as fast as the German and Japanese vehicles with the L7A3.
• CN-105-F1 (105 mm): The CN-105-F1 has drastically limited ammunition available with only a single shell of each major type present, but the ammunition is just as good or better than that found on the L7A3 as the OFL 105 F1 has the edge in penetration over DM23, although the Japanese Type 93 is still the top ammunition choice.
• Type 83 (105 mm): The Type 83 is a Chinese produced variant of the famous British L7 gun. Its ammunition performs the same as every other L7 gun in game, however the ammunition has a different name in Chinese use. It is capable of firing all standard 105mm NATO rounds, and is very powerful, the Type 83 (DM23 equivalent) APFSDS round is capable of knocking out nearly anything it may go up against.
• ZPL94 (105 mm): The ZPL94 is a Chinese variant of the L7, but is slightly longer, resulting in increased penetration.

Usage in battles

Describe the cannon/machine gun in the game - its distinctive features, tactics of usage against notable opponents. Please don't write a "guide" - do not impose a single point of view, but give the reader food for thought.

Pros and cons

Pros:

• Wide selection of potent ammunition
• Excellent ballistic properties
• Quick reload
• many nations in the game use the L7, ensuring familiarity

Cons:

• APDS, APFSDS HESH and HEAT-FS lose their potency when facing vehicles equipped with ERA or composite armour

History

Examine the history of the creation and combat usage of the weapon 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 weapon and adding a block "/History" (example: https://wiki.warthunder.com/(Weapon-name)/History) and add a link to it here using the main template. Be sure to reference text and sources by using <ref></ref>, as well as adding them at the end of the article with <references />.

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 article about the variant of the cannon/machine gun;
• references to approximate analogues by other nations and research trees.

External links

Paste links to sources and external resources, such as:

• topic on the official game forum;
• other literature.