The tank’s design is a mix of Russia and the West with an angled welded turret. The Chinese tank has a hull length of 7m (23 ft), a width of 3.7m (12 ft) and a height of 2.35m (7.7 ft). In total, nearly 900 Type 99s have been produced.īasically, the Type 99 is a 54-ton steel block, which looks quite similar to the Russian T-72 series, but a little longer. An upgraded version later called the Type 99A was manufactured in 2007 and continues to be produced today. The first generation of the Type 99 was produced from 2001 to 2011. Shortly after, a slightly improved version was named Type 98G, later renamed Type 99 or ZT99. It is better known as Al-Khalid, a licensed tank in Pakistan.Īt home, China continued to develop Type 90-II, which led to Type 98 derivative or WZ-123, which were first seen in rehearsals for the 1999 National Parade and were officially disclosed on October 1, 1999. The Type 90-II did not eventually join the People’s Liberation Army service, but it was an export success. The Type 90-II was developed based on studies obtained from T-72 tanks: the chassis was based on the T-72’s hull combined with Chinese subsystems. The Type 99 is also known as the ZT99, which originated from the Type 90-II, a prototype developed in the early 1990s to replace the Type 88 tanks. Type-99 is considered the quintessence of China’s defense industry, and the pride of the country. Mao Ming, chief engineer of the Type-99 “super tank”, also acknowledged that the new tanks of the country are very modern, but they still have many technical problems and have not reached the world’s advanced level and are not as refined, especially in the engine departament. Comparison of parameters, especially with the latest variant, the M1A2C Abrams, the Chinese tanks are still far behind. However, US military analysts say that China’s new tank is actually only equivalent to the first generation M1 Abrams.
China has a total of about 7,000 tanks, of which the Type 99 is the country’s most advanced main battle tank.Ĭhinese media confidently stated, Type 99 is the “King of tanks” in Asia, with offensive and defensive power that completely surpasses rivals from Japan, South Korea or India.
This is changing rapidly as Beijing is actively developing new models and producing them in large quantities. Similar to other weapons, China now has the largest force of tanks on the planet, half of them obsolete.
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