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The MBT-52 Kuma is a Main Battle Tank used exclusively by the AAF in ArmA 3.

Overview[]

  • Role:
    • Direct fire and manoeuvre
« The MBT-52 Kuma is the main battle tank used by Altian Armed Forces. A batch of a few dozen tanks and spare turrets were bought underprice from a south-European country facing an economic collapse. Like similar MBTs of the era, the Kuma is armed with a 120 mm cannon, a 7.62 mm coaxial machinegun and a remotely controlled 12.7 mm HMG. The level of protection for the crew is also remarkable, thanks to additional armor layers.
Field Manual
»

Design[]

Designed specifically for use in low-intensity conflicts and urban warfare, the Kuma is an improved variant of its original model that has enhanced protection against a wide range of threats.

Overall, it is less vulnerable to rocket-propelled grenades, anti-tank missiles, landmines, and Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs).

Armament
It is armed with a smoothbore 120 mm cannon that can fire a mixture of armour-piercing and high-explosive shells. In addition, it has a coaxial 7.62 mm medium machine gun that can be used against enemy infantry in lieu of the main gun.

An externally mounted RWS armed with a 12.7 mm heavy machine gun is also fitted to the turret, and can be used by the tank's commander to engage both soft targets and low-flying aircraft.

The standard loadout of the Kuma gives it 20 rounds of armour-piercing fin-stabilised discarding sabot (APFSDS-T), 12 rounds of high-explosive (HE-T), and 12 high-explosive anti-tank multi-purpose (HEAT-MP-T) shells for the main gun.

The coaxial MG is loaded with a single 200-round linked belt and has a further 9 belts in reserve, providing a combined total of 2,000 rounds. Lastly, the externally mounted HMG comes pre-loaded with a 200-round belt box of 12.7 mm ammunition and only has a single box spare to reload from.

Arma3-kuma-00

Clearing out enemy threats in the "Ghost Hotel" at point blank range.

Features
The Kuma strikes a balance between survivability and manoeuvrability; it is not as well armoured as its NATO counterpart but is significantly faster and easier to handle. Likewise, it is slightly slower and has a larger turret profile compared to its CSAT counterpart but is better protected and has less exposed vital components.

Mobility
When it comes to both handling and speed, the Kuma outmatches the Slammer in both aspects. It is also able to perform pinpoint turns just as easily as the T-100 and retains a very high acceleration rate over paved surfaces (almost on par with T-100s).

Notable Traits
Unlike the T-100, the Kuma does not compromise on protection for speed. Although its engine is also located at the rear of the tank which can render it vulnerable to being immobilised in a first strike, the rear of the Kuma's hull can be covered with appliqué armour panels. These extra armour panels provide some resistance against small rockets and explosives.

Crew Capacity
The Kuma has a seating capacity of three personnel for a crew consisting of the driver, gunner and commander. No passengers may be carried either externally or internally.

Camouflage[]

  • Digital Green: Digitised semi-fractal camouflage pattern used by all AAF vehicles and aircraft. Suited to forested and grassy environments, but otherwise useless in arid and desert terrain.
  • Digital Green (Desert Camo Net):* Identical to the standard Digital Green camouflage pattern but changes any applied camo nets to use a two-tone desert camouflage scheme.
  • Digital Green (Jungle Camo Net):* Also identical to the baseline Digital Green camouflage pattern, but changes any applied camo nets to use a two-tone woodland camouflage scheme instead.

(*) Changes are only visible if the Kuma has the Camo Net component attached to it.

Protection[]

The Kuma has a base armour value of 800 and uses Composite Armour-based plating.

It does not have the ability to mount Explosive Reactive Armour blocks/panels, but features a total of six pre-attached slat cages protecting the sides, rear and back of the turret/hull.

The following highlighted positions serve as weak points on the Kuma:

Arma3-kuma-hitpoints

LEGEND
Green = Hull
Orange = Engine
Violet = Fuel tank
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 1,280 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 Slat[]

Arma3-vehiclearmour-kuma-slathull

Slat cages protect both sides of the hull's rear section (the front and centre are not shielded). They can resist up to 200 points of damage before failing.

No damage upon the cages will be shared with the tank's "health" pool. In addition, the cages take 200% increased damage from HE-type munitions. Upon destruction, the cages will no longer protect the engine and must be manually reinstalled by hand or with the help of a logistics vehicle.

Engine[]

Located in the tank's rear. It can only resist up to 480 points of damage, but takes 80% less damage from HE-type munitions.

50% of incoming damage onto the engine is always shared with the Kuma's "health" pool. Destroying the Kuma's engine will not cause a catastrophic kill on its own unless the tank is at critical "health" status.

If damaged: Reduces power output, acceleration is decreased and it may become impossible to climb uphill.
If destroyed: Immobilises the Kuma.

Engine Slat[]

Arma3-vehiclearmour-kuma-hullengine

Slat cages surround rear of the Kuma's engine. It shielding the engine from HE-type munitions and will resist up to 200 points of damage before they break.

Damage upon the cages will not be shared with the Kuma's main "health" pool. Additionally, the cages take 200% extra damage from HE-type munitions. Destroyed cages must be manually reinstalled by hand or with logistics vehicles.

Fuel tank[]

The fuel tank can resist up to 400 points of damage before failing. It takes 40% less damage from HE-type munitions.

At least 30% of incoming damage onto the fuel tank is always shared with the Kuma's "health" pool. A destroyed fuel tank will not cause a catastrophic kill unless the Kuma is critically damaged.

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

Treads[]

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

Destroying either one of the treads will hamper the Kuma's handling but will not prevent it from moving. Destroying both will severely degrade the Kuma's handling and can prevent it from moving while on rough terrain.

Turret[]

The turret can resist up to 640 points worth of damage. No amount of damage incurred is transferred onto the Kuma's "health" pool.

Munition type Damage reduction (%) Velocity reduction (%)
Armour Piercing None 10
High-Explosive None 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 Slat[]

Arma3-vehiclearmour-kuma-slatturret

Slat cages surround both sides and rear of the turret (the frontal section is not covered). They can resist up to 200 points of damage before failing.

Any damage inflicted onto the cages will not be shared with the Kuma's "health" pool. However, the cages will incur a 200% increased damage penalty from HE-type munitions. If destroyed, the cages must be reinstalled manually or with the help of logistical vehicles.

Gun barrel[]

The turret's gun barrel can resist 640 points of damage before failing. No damage inflicted on this component is transferred onto the Kuma'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 80% of incoming damage from HE-type munitions.

Commander HMG[]

The commander's turret can withstand up to 640 points of damage. It is susceptible to small arms fire and has no resistance against explosives. 100% of damage upon this turret will be shared with the Kuma's "health" pool.

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

Components[]

  • Extra Armour (Hull): Appliqué armour panels attached to the rear of the hull where the engine is located. Removing the armour exposes the engine and leaves a grille cage in its place.
  • Extra Armour (Turret): Identical to the Hull's appliqué armour panels but for the rear of the turret instead. Likewise, removing this component only leaves the grille cage.
  • Camo Net (Hull): Drapes most of the hull with camouflage netting. Note that the turret itself is not covered. Partially conceals covered sections from thermal sensors.
  • Camo Net (Turret): Identical to the Hull camo nets but for the turret only. Certain components such as the RWS and the commander's optics are not concealed.

Armament[]

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

The Kuma's gunner controls both the Cannon 120 mm and Coaxial MG 7.62 mm while the commander position operates the RCWS HMG 12.7 mm instead.

For optics, the camera for both the gunner and operator can switch between three fields of view and can toggle a day, night or black-/white-hot thermal vision mode:

Cannon 120 mm[]

Arma3-vehicleweapons-mbt52kuma-cannon120mm

120 mm smoothbore gun. It is functionally identical to the one employed by both the M2A1/M2A4 tanks as well as the Rhino tank destroyer but has slightly increased range and precision due its higher muzzle velocity.

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 5000 m (adjustments are made with increments/decrements of 100 m).

Coaxial MG 7.62 mm[]

Arma3-vehicleweapons-mbt52kuma-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 has a muzzle velocity of 860 m/s, can attain a fire rate of up to 800 RPM, and always has a fixed dispersion of 0.0016 rad regardless of range. It takes 20 seconds to rearm the Coaxial MG with another linked belt or to fully rearm from a logistics vehicle.

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. Unlike the Cannon 120 mm, the Coaxial MG is restricted to a maximum automated and manual zeroing of 1500 m (even the FCS is not able to exceed this limit).

RCWS HMG 12.7 mm[]

Arma3-vehicleweapons-mbt52kuma-rcwshmg127mm
Base damage value Aerodynamic friction Initial velocity (m/s) Penetration depth (mm)
30 -0.00086 910 35.49

General-purpose 12.7 mm heavy machine gun.

The RCWS HMG can attain a fire rate of up to 600 RPM and requires 20 seconds to reload a fresh box or to fully rearm from a logistics vehicle. Accuracy-wise, it has a fixed dispersion of 0.0012 rad regardless of distance.

The FCS is only able to automatically zero on stationary targets and requires 1 second to finish adjusting. Manual zeroing is also possible, though only in increments/decrements of 100 m (up to a maximum of 2000 m).

Achievements[]

  • Arma3-achievement-commander
    Commander
    • Spend at least three hours controlling the Kuma 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 Kuma 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[]

  • The Kuma is based on the real-world "Leopard 2" MBT.
    • More specifically, it is based on the "Revolution" upgrade package made by Rheinmetall Defence AG that is designed to enhance the Leopard 2's capabilities in urban areas and low-intensity warfare.[1]
  • The Kuma was not initially available on ArmA 3's release. It would not be included into the game until Game Update 1.08 was released where it was added as part of the AAF Reinforcements Pack.[2]
  • Before the release of Game Update 1.12, the Kuma shared the same main gun with NATO Slammers even though it was modelled with a longer barrel. This was changed with the patch's release so that the Kuma uses its own unique version of the Cannon 120 mm that has a higher muzzle velocity.[3]
  • Prior to Game Update 1.58, it was possible to depress the Kuma's main gun low enough to clip into the tank's hull. Depression limits for the cannon were subsequently changed so that this is no longer possible.[4]
  • At launch, player-controlled Kuma tanks could trigger a glitch that would enable them to drive underwater depending on the player's speed and what angle they were at when first entering the water. This was eventually fixed after Game Update 1.70.[5]
The information below details unused, pre-release or removed content.
  • An unused text entry can be found within the game's internal files which curiously refers to a so-called "MBT-52 Kuma SLAT" sub-variant (String name: str_a3_cfgvehicles_i_mbt_03_cannon_slat_f0).[6]

Gallery[]

References[]

  1. Rheinmetall AG 2010, MBT Revolution: Rheinmetall's mission-oriented, modular upgrade package for main battle tanks, rheinmetall-defence.com, viewed 22 June 2017, <http://web.archive.org/web/20140720083714/http://www.rheinmetall-defence.com/en/rheinmetall_defence/public_relations/news/detail_1408.php>. (archived link)
  2. van 't Land, J.J. 2013, SPOTREP #00016, Arma 3, viewed 22 June 2017, <https://dev.arma3.com/post/spotrep-00016>.
  3. van 't Land, J.J. 2014, SPOTREP #00019, Arma 3, viewed 10 March 2024, <https://dev.arma3.com/post/spotrep-00019>.
  4. Kovařič, V 2016, SPOTREP #00054, Arma 3, viewed 11 September 2023, <https://dev.arma3.com/post/spotrep-00054>.
  5. Kovařič, V 2017, SPOTREP #00067, Arma 3, viewed 11 September 2023, <https://dev.arma3.com/post/spotrep-00067>.
  6. ARMA 3 2013 [Video Game], Bohemia Interactive a.s., \a3\language_f_epb\stringtable.xml

External links[]

See also[]

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-aaf AAF - Vehicles (ArmA 3)
Wheeled AFV-4 GorgonQuadbikeStriderUGV StomperZamak (MRL)
Tracked AWC NyxED-1D Pelter (ED-1E Roller) • FV-720 MoraMBT-52 Kuma
Rotor-wing AR-2 DarterAL-6 PelicanCH-49 MohawkWY-55 Hellcat
Fixed-wing A-143 BuzzardA-149 GryphonK40 Abalil-3
Aquatic Assault Boat (Rescue) • Speedboat MinigunSDV
Parenthesis denote variants.
Jets DLC | Laws of War DLC | Tanks DLC | Contact DLC
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