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The M2A4 Slammer UP is a variant of NATO's M2A1 Slammer Main Battle Tank in ArmA 3.

Overview[]

  • Roles:
    • Direct fire and manoeuvre
    • Troop transport
« The M2A4 Slammer UP is the urban purpose variant of the M2A1 Slammer. Compared to the basic version, it features heavier armor with reinforced rear of the tank and a remote-controlled turret fitted with 12.7 mm heavy machine gun.
Field Manual
»

Design[]

Deployed specifically for use in supporting combat personnel operating in urban environments, the Urban Purpose variant of the Slammer is armed with a smoothbore 120 mm cannon that can fire a mixture of armour-piercing and anti-personnel shells.

Armament
It has a coaxially mounted 7.62 mm medium machine gun and a 12.7 mm heavy machine gun fitted externally to the top of the turret, both of which can be used against both soft targets and low-flying aircraft in lieu of the main gun.

The standard loadout of the Slammer UP gives it 24 rounds of armour-piercing fin-stabilised discarding sabot (APFSDS-T), 12 high-explosive (HE-T), and 12 high-explosive anti-tank multi-purpose (HEAT-MP-T) shells for the main gun.

The coaxial MMG is pre-loaded with a single 200-round belt, and has a further 19 belts in reserve for a combined amount of 4,000 rounds. The externally mounted 12.7 mm HMG on the other hand, feeds from a 200-round belt box and has another three boxes worth to spare.

Features
Just like its baseline variant, the Slammer UP is the slowest and least manoeuvrable of the four Main Battle Tank designs. However, this lack of mobility is compensated by the Slammer UP possessing additional Explosive Reactive Armour (ERA) panels that are installed on the armour skirts, frontal armour, and the turret's front/sides.

Arma3-slammerup-01

The Slammer UP's HMG turret allows the commander to independently engage infantry in built-up areas without the need for the gunner to assist.

Combined with the Slammer's already high level of protection, this renders the Slammer UP even tougher to take down compared to standard M2A1s, and greatly enhances its survivability against anti-tank missiles and rockets.

Altogether, this takes the Slammer's already excellent level of base protection to a whole new level. With a skilled crew, a toolkit, and a good commander who knows when to fight and when to retreat, it becomes an extremely difficult threat to take out even with heavy ATGMs like the 9M135.

Unlike standard M2A1s, the Slammer UP does not lack a turret-mounted machine gun, which means that the commander can engage their own targets separately from the gunner, and potentially use it against low-flying aircraft as well. And as with the baseline variant, the Slammer UP also has the ability to carry half a squad's worth of infantry in its rear storage compartment.

Crew Capacity
The Slammer UP has a seating capacity of nine personnel including the crew. The crew includes the driver, gunner and commander, as well as up to six passengers.

Camouflage[]

  • Sand: Standard pattern-less dark tan paint scheme used by all NATO ground vehicles and certain aircraft. This can be universally employed in all types of terrain, but is more suited to arid and forested environments. Any camo nets applied on the Slammer's hull or turret will use a three-tone desert camouflage pattern scheme.
  • Olive: Tropical olive green paint scheme. Only useful for jungle or woodland environments. Camo nets attached to the Slammer use a three-tone woodland camouflage pattern when this scheme is used.

Protection[]

The Slammer UP has a base armour value of 900. It uses a combination of Composite Armour plating and Explosive Reactive Armour addon panels. It does not support being fitted with slat cages.

It has a total of twelve ERA panels shielding the glacis plate along with the front and sides of the turret. The remainder of the ERA panels are attached onto the armour skirts on both sides of the hull.

The following highlighted positions serve as weak points on the Slammer UP:

Arma3-slammerup-hitpoints

LEGEND
Green = Hull
Orange = Engine
Violet = Fuel tanks
Light blue = Treads
Maroon = Turret
Gold = Gun barrel

Note that in order to inflict actual damage, a munition must first penetrate through the surrounding armour plates and directly hit the component's weak point. Any strikes on non-highlighted parts will cause little (if any) noticeable damage.


Hull[]

The hull can resist up to 1,620 points of damage. Will cause a catastrophic kill if fully depleted.

Munition type Damage reduction (%) Velocity reduction (%)
Armour Piercing None 10
High-Explosive 80* 50
High-Explosive Anti-Tank 80* 80
Tandem High-Explosive Anti-Tank 80* 10

(*) Reductions only apply to the explosive component of the munition i.e. Tandem HEAT explosive charge

If the hull has been compromised, no reductions will be applied to the velocity/raw damage of incoming projectiles.

Hull ERA[]

Arma3-vehiclearmour-slammerup-erahull

Located on the front and sides of the hull (rear compartment bay is not protected). The panels can only withstand up to 100 points of damage.

Munition type Damage reduction (%) Velocity reduction (%)
Armour Piercing N/A* 10
High-Explosive None None
High-Explosive Anti-Tank N/A* 95
Tandem High-Explosive Anti-Tank N/A* 10

(*) Damage reductions are not listed here as the ERA panel instantly destroys the projectile upon contact which automatically negates all damage

ERA panels incur a 200% increased damage penalty from high-explosive (HE) type munitions. However, no damage upon them will be shared with the tank's main "health" pool.

Once detonated, the ERA panels must be manually replaced by hand or via logistical vehicles.

Engine[]

Located in the front of the hull. It can only resist 360 points of damage, but takes 80% reduced damage from HE-type munitions.

Up to 20% of incoming damage onto the engine will be shared with the Slammer UP's "health" pool. However, destruction of the engine will not cause a catastrophic kill unless the Slammer UP is already critically damaged.

If damaged: Reduces power output, acceleration is decreased and it may become impossible to climb uphill.
If destroyed: Instantly immobilises the Slammer UP.

Fuel tanks[]

The Slammer UP's fuel tanks are only able to takea maximum of 270 points of damage. They reduce up to 40% of damage from HE-type munitions.

At least 10% of incoming damage will be shared with the Slammer UP's main "health" pool. A destroyed fuel tank will not cause a catastrophic kill on its own unless the tank is at critical "health" status.

If damaged: Gradually leak fuel over time, but it will stop at a threshold of 70% of the Slammer UP's total fuel capacity.
If destroyed: Rapidly deplete all remaining fuel over the course of several few seconds.

Treads[]

Both treads can resist 650 points worth of damage. No amount of damage inflicted on them is transferred onto the Slammer UP's "health" pool. They reduce only 20% of damage from HE-type munitions.

Destroying either one of the treads will hamper the Slammer UP's handling but will not prevent it from moving. Destroying both will severely degrade the Slammer UP's handling and can prevent it from moving altogether while driving over rough terrain.

Turret[]

The turret can resist up to 270 points worth of damage. No amount of damage incurred is transferred onto the Slammer UP's "health" pool.

Munition type Damage reduction (%) Velocity reduction (%)
Armour Piercing None 10
High-Explosive 80* 50
High-Explosive Anti-Tank 80* 80
Tandem High-Explosive Anti-Tank 80* 10

(*) Reductions only apply to the explosive component of the munition i.e. Tandem HEAT explosive charge

If the turret's armour has been compromised, no reductions will be applied to the velocity/raw damage of incoming projectiles.

Turret ERA[]

Arma3-vehiclearmour-slammerup-eraturret

Located on the side and parts of the front of the turret (the rear is not shielded).

Munition type Damage reduction (%) Velocity reduction (%)
Armour Piercing N/A* 10
High-Explosive None None
High-Explosive Anti-Tank N/A* 95
Tandem High-Explosive Anti-Tank N/A* 10

(*) Damage reductions are not listed here as the ERA panel instantly destroys the projectile upon contact which automatically negates all damage

ERA panels incur a 200% increased damage penalty from HE-type munitions. Damage inflicted upon them will not be shared with the Slammer UP's "health" pool. Detonated panels must be reinstalled by hand or with the assistance of logistics vehicles.

Gun barrel[]

The turret's gun barrel can resist 540 points of damage before failing. No damage inflicted on this component is transferred onto the Slammer UP's "health" pool.

Destroying this component will lock the barrel and prevent the gunner position from adjusting its elevation/depression. It should also be noted that unlike the turret, the barrel is only capable of reducing 60% of incoming damage from HE-type munitions.

Commander HMG[]

The commander's RCWS HMG turret can survive up to 720 points of damage. However, it is susceptible to small arms fire and has no resistance to HE-type munitions. Destroying the turret will transfer all of its damage onto the Slammer UP's "health" pool.

If disabled by enemy fire, the commander will no longer be able to rotate or adjust the HMG's elevation/depression.

Components[]

NOTE: Cosmetic-only component modules with no gameplay effects are deliberately excluded from this section.

  • Camo Net (Hull): Drapes the entire hull with camouflage netting. Partially conceals covered sections from thermal sensors.
  • Camo Net (Turret): Identical to the Hull camouflage netting, but for the turret instead. The barrel and most of the turret is concealed, though certain components such as the pintle mount and commander optics are not covered.

Armament[]

NOTE: For specifics on the Cannon 120 mm's munitions, see its related section listed here.

The Slammer UP's gunner has access to both the Cannon 120 mm and Coaxial MG 7.62 mm, while the commander position operates the RCWS HMG 12.7 mm instead:

Cannon 120 mm[]

Arma3-vehicleweapons-m2a4slammerup-cannon120mm

120 mm smoothbore gun.

It can load HE, HEAT or AP-type shells. Swapping between shell types takes 6 seconds to complete. Accuracy-wise, it has a dispersion of 0.00057 rad.

The Fire Control System can automatically adjust zeroing/lead on targets moving at speeds of 90 km/h or less. There is an imposed delay of 1 second before the FCS can finish calculating. The gunner can manually zero the gun starting from a minimum of 100 m up to a maximum of 4000 m (adjustments are made with increments/decrements of 100 m).

The gunner's optics feature three fields of view and can toggle between either day, night or black-hot/green-hot thermal vision modes.

Coaxial MG 7.62 mm[]

Arma3-vehicleweapons-m2a4slammerup-coaxialmg762mm
Base damage value Aerodynamic friction Initial velocity (m/s) Penetration depth (mm)
11.6 -0.001 860 20.64

Coaxial 7.62 mm medium machine gun.

It can attain a fire rate of 800 RPM and takes 10 seconds to reload a fresh belt. The Coaxial MG always has a fixed dispersion of 0.0016 rad regardless of distance. The Coaxial MG's FCS can only zero against targets moving at speeds of up to ~ 110 km/h. It has an imposed delay of 1 second before it can finish adjusting.

For optics, the gunner has access to the same fields of view and vision modes as the Cannon 120 mm.

RCWS HMG 12.7 mm[]

Arma3-vehicleweapons-m2a4slammerup-rcwshmg127mm
Base damage value Aerodynamic friction Initial velocity (m/s) Penetration depth (mm)
30 -0.00086 910 35.49

Remote-controlled 12.7 mm heavy machine gun. It is mounted above the Slammer UP's turret.

It can attain a fire rate of up to 600 RPM and requires 20 seconds to reload a fresh belt box. Accuracy-wise, it has a fixed dispersion of 0.0012 rad. The FCS is only able to automatically zero on stationary targets and requires 1 second to finish calculating.

The commander's optics can switch between three fields of view and can toggle either a day or green-/black-hot thermal vision mode.

FFV[]

Main article: Firing from vehicles (mechanic)#M2A4 Slammer UP

Achievements[]

  • Arma3-achievement-commander
    Commander
    • Spend at least three hours controlling the Slammer UP from the commander's seat.
    • Can be earned in either singleplayer or multiplayer scenarios. It does not have to be accumulated in a single playthrough and can be earned over multiple sessions.
  • Arma3-achievement-inittogether
    In It Together
    • Spend a total of twenty four hours of playtime inside the Slammer UP with a team of human players seated (in real-world time).
    • The driver, gunner and commander seats must be occupied by humans and not AI.
    • This time can be earned over multiple sessions. There is no need for the same group of players to participate for the hours to accumulate.
  • Arma3-achievement-steelsniper
    Steel Sniper
    • Must land a hit on another Main Battle Tank that is on the move at a minimum distance of 3.5 kilometres or more. Destroying the vehicle is not necessary; you only need to inflict damage on any part of the vehicle.
    • This can be earned in the editor or in singleplayer/multiplayer scenarios.

Trivia[]

  • Like its base counterpart, the M2A4 is based on the real-world "Merkava Mark IV" MBT.
  • The Slammer UP uses the same bolt-on composite armour skirts as the M2A1 but has ERA (Explosive Reactive Armour) panels installed which - prior to the release of the Tanks DLC, were purely cosmetic.
  • Screenshots shown during ArmA 3's development indicated that the M2A4 was originally intended to be included on release of the final version of ArmA 3.[1][2]
    • However, the M2A4 would not actually become available until it was added as part of Game Update 1.12 for the first anniversary of the Alpha's release.[3]
  • The main gun was refactored to a 120 mm cannon after the release of Game Update 1.82.[4] Prior to this patch, the Slammer UP was armed with a smaller 105 mm cannon instead.[5]
    • Its coaxial machine gun was also up-gunned from the original 6.5 mm-chambered MG to a 7.62 mm MG instead.[4]
  • Following an overhaul to ArmA 3's thermal imaging systems in Game Update 2.10, the commander's terminal now properly renders its display in green-/black-hot thermal vision when either mode is activated and the user isn't "looking" through it (previously the display could only render in white- and black-hot).[6]

Gallery[]

References[]

  1. East, O 2012, Bohemia Interactive Release New Screenshots Of ARMA III, JustPushStart, viewed 10 March 2023, <https://www.justpushstart.com/2012/02/bohemia-interactive-release-new-screenshots-of-arma-iii/>.
  2. Papadopoulos, J 2012, ArmA 3 – Community Alpha coming after E3, mod support confirmed, backward compatible with ArmA 2, DSOGaming.com, viewed 21 August 2023, <https://www.dsogaming.com/news/arma-3-community-alpha-coming-after-e3-mod-support-confirmed-backward-compatible-with-arma-2/>.
  3. van 't Land, J.J. 2014, SPOTREP #00019, Arma 3, viewed 21 June 2017, <https://dev.arma3.com/post/spotrep-00019>.
  4. 4.0 4.1 Kovařič, V 2018, SPOTREP #00079, Arma 3, viewed 12 April 2018, <https://dev.arma3.com/post/spotrep-00079>.
  5. van 't Land, J.J. 2014, SITREP #00046, Arma 3, viewed 9 April 2023, <https://dev.arma3.com/post/sitrep-00046>.
  6. van 't Land, J.J. 2022, SPOTREP #00105, Arma 3, viewed 23 August 2022, <https://dev.arma3.com/post/spotrep-00105>.

External links[]

See also[]

Variants[]

Vehicles of comparable role and configuration[]

Vehicles of ArmA 3
Wheeled AFV-4 GorgonAMV-7 MarshallHatchbackHEMTTHunterIfritKartMB 4WDMSE-3 MaridOffroadProwlerQilinRhino MGS (UP) • StriderSUVTempestTractorTruckQuadbikeUGV StomperVanZamak (MRL)
Tracked 2S9 SochorAWC NyxBTR-K KamyshCRV-6e BobcatED-1D Mini UGV (ED-1E) • IFV-6a CheetahIFV-6c PantherFV-720 MoraM2A1 Slammer (A4 UP) • M4 ScorcherM5 SandstormMBT-52 KumaT-100 Varsuk (X Futura) • T-140 Angara (T-140K) • ZSU-39 Tigris
Rotor-wing AH-9 PawneeAH-99 BlackfootAR-2 DarterCH-49 MohawkCH-67 HuronDemining DroneMH-9 Hummingbird (M900) • Mi-48 KajmanMi-290 TaruMQ-12 FalconPO-30 OrcaUH-80 Ghost HawkUtility DroneWY-55 Hellcat
Fixed-wing A-143 BuzzardA-149 GryphonA-164 WipeoutCaesar BTTF/A-181 Black Wasp IIKH-3A FenghuangMQ-4A GreyhawkTo-199 NeophronTo-201 ShikraUCAV SentinelV-44X BlackfishY-32 Xi'an
Aquatic Assault BoatMotorboatRHIBSpeedboatSDVWater Scooter
(Parenthesis) denote variants.
Karts DLC | Helicopters DLC | Apex DLC | Jets DLC | Laws of War DLC | Tanks DLC | Contact DLC
Arma3-factionicon-nato NATO - Vehicles (ArmA 3)
Wheeled AMV-7 MarshallHEMTTHunterProwlerQuadbikeRhino MGS (UP) • UGV Stomper
Tracked CRV-6e BobcatED-1D Pelter (ED-1E Roller) • IFV-6a CheetahIFV-6c PantherM2A1 Slammer (A4 UP) • M4 ScorcherM5 Sandstorm
Rotor-wing AH-9 PawneeAH-99 BlackfootAL-6 PelicanAR-2 DarterCH-67 HuronMH-9 HummingbirdMQ-12 FalconUH-80 Ghost Hawk
Fixed-wing A-164 WipeoutF/A-181 Black Wasp IIMQ-4A GreyhawkUCAV SentinelV-44X Blackfish
Aquatic Assault Boat (Rescue) • Speedboat MinigunSDV
(Parenthesis) denote variants.
Helicopters DLC | Apex DLC | Jets DLC | Laws of War DLC | Tanks DLC | Contact DLC
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