Chinese MBT

[Ayoshi]

The Evolution Of Modern Chinese Tanks | 21stcenturyasianarmsrace.com

The development of Chinese MBTs in the last 25 years is nothing short of incredible. When the Communist Party cracked down on the Tiananmen Square protesters in 1989, the PLA deployed scores of Type 69’s, an obsolescent model compared to the third-generation MBTs used by NATO and the ailing Soviet Union.

The ensuing quarter century would be a game of catch up. The PLA together with powerful state-owned enterprises copied and adapted their way to near-equal status with Western technology.

The irony is, despite a rising defense budget, the PLA still maintains unknown numbers of its older tanks even if their armament and electronics have been upgraded. When tank inventories around the world are shrinking, the PLA continue to field new variants for its combat brigades.

https://21stcenturyasianarmsrace.com/2015/03/16/the-evolution-of-modern-chinese-tanks/

[Ayoshi]

From Military-Today

Type 96

The Type 96 main battle tank was developed from the Type 85-III with minor modifications. Sometimes it is referred as the the Type 88C or ZTZ96. Its predecessor was mainly aimed at the export market. The Type 96 entered service with Chinese army in 1997. It replaced in production the previous Type 88 MBT. Production of the original Type 96 ceased in 2005. It is estimated that over 1 500 of these main battle tanks were built. Other sources claim, that 2 000-2 500 of these tanks were produced. The only export customer of this MBT is Sudan.

   The Type 96 MBT is armed with a fully-stabilized 125 mm smoothbore gun, fitted with an autoloader. Both the gun and autoloader were copied from the Soviet T-72. This main battle tank might be compatible with the Russian AT-11 Sniper gun-launched anti-tank guided missiles, or its Chinese copy. Maximum rate of fire is 6 - 8 rounds per minute. A total of 42 rounds are carried.

   The tank is fitted with new computerized fire control system. It incorporates laser rangefinder and automatic target tracker. This MBT can engage moving targets accurately, while on the move. It has a high first round hit probability against stationary and moving targets, while the tank is firing on the move. Fire control system of this tank is superior to those, used by the Soviet T-72 series tanks. The Type 96 is also fitted with a night vision system with image intensifier.

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Type 98

In 1996 a small batch of these MBTs were handed over to the Chinese Army for trials and evaluation. Tests were completed in 1998. These MBTs were first publicly revealed in 1999 during the national day parade, however the Type 98 did not entered operational service with the PLA. Sometimes it is referred as the ZTZ98. At least 18 of these tanks were built.

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Type 99

The Type 99 main battle tank is a further development of the Type 98 MBT. It is generally similar to the Type 98, but has a number of improvements. The Type 99 was revealed in 2000 and entered service with the Chinese Army in 2001. This main battle tank shows a mixture of Russian and Western influence in its design and technology. As of 2017 it looks that improved version of this tank are still produced in China. Currently it is the most advanced Chinese main battle tank.

   The Type 99 MBT features improved armor protection over the Type 98. Turret of the Type 99 has a Leopard 2A5-style wedge-shaped modular add-on explosive reactive armor. Damaged sections to be replaced or upgraded when more advanced armor is available. It is claimed that the front protection of the Type 99 MBT is equivalent to 1 000 - 1 200 mm of steel armor. Vehicle is equipped with NBC protection and automatic fire suppression systems.

   This main battle tank is fitted with unique active laser protection system, which uses a high-powered laser to disrupt missiles laser or infrared guidance signal, disable enemy observation optics and damage eyesight of enemy gunner. This active laser protection system can also be used against helicopters.
   The Type 99 tank is armed with a fully-stabilized ZPT98 125-mm smoothbore gun, fitted with a carousel-type autoloader. Both the main gun and the autoloader were copied from the Soviet/Russian designs. The Type 99 has a rate of fire in 8 rpm using autoloader and 1 - 2 rpm loading manually. It fires APFSDS, HEAT and HE-FRAG rounds. It is reported that this MBT also uses more capable APFSDS rounds with depleted uranium penetrators.

   The Type 99 main battle tank is compatible with Russian 9K119 Refleks (AT-11 Sniper) gun-launched anti-tank guided missiles, fired in the same manner as ordinary projectiles. China produces this anti-tank missile system under license. This missile has a maximum effective range of 4 - 5 km and can target helicopters. Four AT-11 Sniper missiles are carried.

   Secondary armament consists of 7.62-mm coaxial machine gun and 12.7-mm anti-aircraft MG.

[Ayoshi]

Type 90-II MBT 2000 Main battle tank | Army Recognition

The existence of the main battle tank Type 90-II MBT (also called MBT 2000) was first revealed in late 1991. The Type 90-II is designed and manufactured by the Chinese Company NORINCO. The Type 90-II MBT was also much heavier than previous Chinese-made MBTs, suggesting a transformation of design principles in the Chinese tanks. The tank received extensive field testing but did not enter production due to lack of interest from either domestic or foreign customers. The Type 90-II is not a totally new design with around 45% of its components coming from current designs. This can be broken down as follows: 10% from the Type 59, 15% from the Type 69, and 20% from the Type 85/88C; the remaining 55% being new components. The overall layout of the Type 90-II MBT is conventional with the driver's compartment at the front, fighting compartment in the centre and power pack at the rear. Under a contract signed in May 1990, the Type 90-II is also to be manufactured under licence in Pakistan and further development has resulted in the Khalid MBT which is tailored to meet the specific operational requirements of the Pakistani Armoured Corps.

Armament

Main armament of the Type 90-II consists of a fully-stabilised 125mm auto-fed smoothbore gun capable of firing various types of ammunition including high explosive, high explosive fragmentation and APFSDS. The main gun is fitted with a thermal sleeve and fume extractor. It is fed by an automatic loader which holds a total of 22 projectiles and charges which can be loaded at the rate of six to eight per minute. The gun can fire HEAT, HE-FRAG, and APFSDS munitions. The gun is also capable of firing the 9M119 Refleks guided missile. Second armament includes a 7.62mm co-axial machine gun and a 12.7mm air defence machine gun mounted on the commander's cupola. Mounted either side of the turret is a bank of six electrically operated smoke grenade launchers which fire forwards

[Ayoshi]

From Military-Today

MBT-3000

The MBT-3000 is a recent Chinese main battle tank, developed specially for export. It is also referred as VT-4. It is being marketed by NORINCO. It is an improved version of VT1A. The MBT-3000 is similar to the Type 99G which is currently in service with the PLA, but has downgraded capabilities such as sights, propulsion and gun. A model of this MBT was publicly presented in 2012. First pictures of this new tank appeared in 2013. It seems that the MBT-3000 was proposed for Pakistan as an Al Khalid Mk.2. In 2016 Thailand ordered a first batch of 28 VT-4 tanks. Deliveries were planned to be completed between 2016-2018. Future Thai orders could reach 150 units.

   This tank is not an entirely new design. It owns its existence to the Soviet T-72 of the Cold War era which has been around for over 30 years. The T-72 proved to be reliable but not too effective in combat. In the 1980s China obtained this tank from Romania and cloned it. The MBT-3000 is the culmination of decades of fine-tuning many tank systems that have been of Soviet origin. Also this tank shows some Western influence in its design. A number of improvements over the previous Chinese designs is substantial, however none of them greatly improved tank's performance.

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The MBT-3000 is armed with a fully-stabilized 125-mm smoothbore gun. The gun is fed by an automatic carousel-type loader. The autoloader reduces the tank crew to three and allow to reduce dimensions of the vehicle. Both the gun and autoloader were copied from the Soviet T-72. Loading speed is 8 rounds per minute. This tank fires APFSDS, HEAT and HE/HEF rounds. It is also compatible with gun-launched anti-tank guided missiles. These are Russian 9K119 Refleks (AT-11 Sniper) missiles, produced in China under license. Missiles are launched in the same manner as ordinary munitions. Missiles have a maximum range of 5 000 m. Typically four missiles are carried. This anti-tank guided missile capability is not common in Western designs. A total of 38 rounds are carried for the main gun. 22 of them are loaded into the autoloader and are ready to use. Other rounds are stored inside the hull.

   There is also a coaxial 7.62-mm machine gun. Also the is a roof-mounted 12.7-mm machine gun. Initially it was manually operated by the vehicle commander. Later it became remotely controlled from inside of the tank. So the tank commander no longer has to expose himself to enemy fire.

   The tank is fully digitalized and is fitted with a battlefield management system. Gunner and commander use a second-generation cooled thermal imagers. It seems that these sights were jointly developed with ASELSAN of Turkey. Fire control system has a hunter-killer capability. This tank can fire accurately on the move. Vehicle is also fitted with a GPS navigation system.

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VT4 MBT-3000 Norinco main battle tank

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0c32qaTUmE

[Ayoshi]

Meet the ‘Backbone’ of China’s Deadly New Tank Force | The Diplomat - August 11, 2016

The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) is slated to induct large numbers of a new variant of the third-generation ZTZ-96 (Type-96) main battle tank (MBT), designated ZTZ-96B, into its ranks, Chinese military experts with close ties to the PLA have noted. The upgraded ZTZ-96B will become the new mainstay of China’s armored ground force, which consists of over 7,000 main battle tanks.

“The Type-96B is the strongest variant of the Type-96 family and is truly an advanced, third-generation main battle tank,” Ghao Zhuo, a Shanghai-based military analyst told China Daily. “The PLA will use it to replace the old tanks such as the Type-59 and Type-69 models.” The PLA operates over 5,000 Type 59 and Type-69/79 models of all variants, manufactured

The Type-96B is an improved variant of the Type-96A MBT, manufactured by China’s top tank maker China North Industries Corporation (Norinco). Over 2,500 Type-96A MBTs are estimated to be currently operated by the PLA.  It is unknown how many of those underwent upgrades to the Type-96B variant. As I noted elsewhere (See: “China Reveals New Main Battle Tank”), there is little information publicly available about the upgrades.

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China Modernizes Type-96 Tanks | Defense World - August 3, 2017

China is modernizing itsType-96 tank with the help of experience it gained during 2016 Russian Tank Biathlon, the military Zvezda TV channel reported.

All the teams used Russian T-72 tanks, except for the Chinese crews, who use their own T-96 tanks. Before the start it was no problem for foreign participants to compete on the Russian hardware as the tank is operational in many countries, Chief arbiter of the competition Colonel Roman Bunyukov was quoted as saying by TASS Wednesday.

However, the Belarussian team competed on T-72BME, the Indian team - on T-90S Bhishma and Chinese team - on Type-96B.

Chinese Type 96A main battle tank at Russian “Tank Biathlon-2014” International Competition. Photo taken from armyrecognition.com

[Ayoshi]

NORINCO demonstrates GL5 APS | IHS Jane's 360 - 20 August 2017

China North Industries Group Corporation (NORINCO) has released details on a previously opaque active protection system (APS) known as the GL5.

The hard-kill APS was demonstrated during a live-fire display as part of NORINCO’s second ‘Armour Day’ in Bautou, Inner Mongolia. The precise configuration and method of operation was also confirmed, with the system employing a radar sensor system and grenade-type interceptor countermeasures.

GL5 countermeasures fired from the platform vehicle to the right hand-side. Source: NORINCO

[Ayoshi]

VT4 MBT-3000 Main Battle Tank Walkaround

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPlOekOW3bM

[Ayoshi]

https://www.janes.com/article/95814/china-dispatches-two-customised-vt4-mbts-to-undisclosed-foreign-customer

China dispatches two customised VT4 MBTs to undisclosed foreign customer
28 April 2020

The images, which show the MBTs featuring a new explosive reactive armour (ERA) fitted to the glacis and turret, indicate that these VT4s are slightly different from the ones exported to Thailand and Nigeria.

The factory did not provide further details about the platforms (which were painted in green-brown camouflage), the value of the contract, or the number of tanks set to be supplied, saying only that it had held a "launch ceremony" for the two VT4s, which were being delivered to an undisclosed country.

According to Jane's Land Warfare Platforms: Armoured Fighting Vehicles, the export-only VT4 (formerly known as the MBT-3000) follows a conventional Soviet-layout MBT with a 125 mm smoothbore gun and carousel automatic loading system.

For close support and anti-personnel fire, the VT4 carries a 7.62 mm coaxial machine gun and what is most likely the Type 88 12.7 mm machine gun, which is cupola-mounted for the commander's use.

The turret also carries eight 76 mm smoke dischargers and four dischargers of 76 mm high-explosive fragmentation grenades. In 2014, an enhanced version of the platforms was shown featuring a remote weapon station, believed to be the UW1, which can mount a 7.62 mm or a12.7 mm machine gun.

One of the two customised VT4s photographed leaving China’s Inner Mongolia First Machinery Group on 20 April. The group did not reveal the identity of the customer. Source: Inner Mongolia First Machinery Group