Type 99
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| Type 99 | |
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 A Type 99 tank at the China People's Revolution Military Museum in Beijing during the 2007 Our troops towards the sun exhibition. |
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| Type | Main Battle Tank |
| Place of origin | People's Republic of China |
| Specifications | |
| Weight | ~54 tonnes |
| Length | 11.0 m |
| Width | 3.4 m |
| Height | 2.2 m |
| Crew | 3 (4 originally based on the Type 98 prototypes without autoloader) |
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| Armor | Composite with ERA |
| Primary armament |
125 mm smoothbore tank gun, compatible with Chinese 140mm guns [1] [2] |
| Secondary armament |
12.7 mm commander's machine gun, 7.62 mm coaxial machine gun |
| Engine | liquid-cooled diesel 1,500 hp (1,100 kW) |
| Power/weight | 27.4 hp/tonne |
| Suspension | torsion bar |
| Operational range |
600 km |
| Speed | 80 km/h (50 mph) |
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The Type 99, also known as ZTZ-99 and WZ-123, developed from the Type 98G (in turn, a development of the Type 98), is a 3rd generation main battle tank (MBT) fielded by the Chinese People's Liberation Army. It is made to compete with modern western tanks. Although not expected to be acquired in large numbers due to its high cost compared to the more economical Type 96, it is currently the most advanced MBT fielded by China.
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[edit] Development
The tank was first revealed in October 1999 during the national parade and entered service in small numbers for operational tests and evaluation before the finalisation of the design.
The production version, known initially as Type 98 and later as Type 98G, and then finally improve the performance and named it as Type 99, was revealed in 2001. It has an improved engine and additional Leopard 2A5-style sloped armour on the turret front and sides.
The official manufacturer's designation seems to be ZTZ-99. The tank is also known by its industrial index as the WZ-123 MBT. The unit price is greater than 16 million renminbi yuan (2006 price, ~2 million USD, ~1.6 million EUR).
In part due to its high cost, this tank will not be deployed in large numbers, like earlier models such as the Type 59. Due to its limited numbers, the Type 99 is currently only operated by PLA's elite divisions.
[edit] Type 98
The Chinese government made a decision to modernize their tank force by incorporating advanced features into their next-generation MBT, as their older tanks such as the Type 90 were becoming ineffective. The resulting tank had a hull (chassis) similar to the T-72 or T-80.
[edit] Type 98
This prototype is unique among current Chinese designs. Instead of an autoloader, it has a fourth crew member to manually load the western-style single unit ammunition rounds. Traditional Russian-made autoloaders were designed to separately load the propellant and warhead components. The transmission is manual instead of automatic like those on the newer Type 90.
[edit] Type 98G
The most obvious feature is that a modified autoloader was installed so that the crew was reduced to three from the original four. The power plant is a domestic 150HB 1,200-hp diesel engine.
[edit] Type 99
The latest variant developed and now in trial is the Type 99A2 with a 1,500-hp water cooled diesel engine and getting re-designed at some parts.
Earlier reports about a Type 99A2 has been revealed as facts. This latest variant not only has more armor on the turret, but also includes re-designed front lights and a completely redesigned rearpart of the hull. The self-defense laser module has been replaced by an active defensive module.[3] Unconfirmed reports mention that the primary armament will be a 140mm gun that can fire depleted uranium. The ZTZ-99A2 also installed ERA on the front and side turret. The tank hull will follow the MBT 2000 configuration instead of the previously used hull.
[edit] Design
The development of the new tank was initiated in the early 90s during the Gulf War. Western tanks had destroyed numerous Iraqi Soviet-made T-72s, which were comparable to the most advanced tank in the PLA arsenal at the time: the Type 90 tank. The PLA realized that their tanks would prove inadequate against western tanks in combat, and initiated a project to develop a new, modern main battle tank which eventually resulted in the Type 99. The design was heavily influenced by the Soviet T-80 and the German Leopard 2. Features include a sloped turret armor for increased protection, among others. The driver's compartment is in the front while the fighting compartment lies directly behind it and the engine is installed in the rear.
To accommodate more equipment and ammunition, the Type 99's turret is slightly larger than that of the Type 90, resulting in a gap between the turret and hull in the front. This could be a major disadvantage in battle as it acts as a shot trap (much like the overhang on the German Leopard 2 and Israeli Merkava) and exposes the turret ring, increasing the likelihood of hits from the front jamming the turret.[citation needed]
This effect, however, is not to be confused with the World War II shot-trap effect, for modern long-rod kinetic energy penetrators (APFSDS) behave in a different manner to traditional solid shot armour-piercing rounds. The Leopard 2A5 and 2A6 also feature this wedge on the turret front, which Leopard engineers deliberately designed in such a way as to subject an incoming APFSDS round to yaw forces. This places the penetrator under enormous stress, so much so that it may shear, thus preventing its penetration of the turret. The projectile still imparts its kinetic energy to the turret, but not in a fashion that will penetrate the armour.
In addition, the Type 99 also lacks some features often found on Western MBTs that would minimize the damage caused by HEAT projectiles. For example, armour bulkheads separating the crew compartment from the fuel tanks and ammunition and top panels that are designed to blow outwards in case of explosion are absent. This could lead to low damage survivability in combat, judging by the experiences of the 1991 Gulf War.[citation needed]
The tank is equipped with an active laser defense system. The laser warning receiver can determine the location of an attacking enemy tank, while the high-powered laser dazzler can damage or destroy the enemy's optics (eyes). It can also be used as a secure communications device.
[edit] Armament
The ZTZ99’s main armament includes a dual-axis fully-stabilised 125mm/50-calibre ZPT98 smoothbore gun with an autoloader , a thermal sleeve, and a fume extractor. The gun can be fired by either electronic or manual control. The gun barrel can be replaced within one hour. Loading is mechanical with 41 rounds carried inside the turret and vehicle hull. The gun can fire about 8 rounds per minute using autoloader and 1~2 rounds per minute with manual loading. Ammunition includes armour-piercing fin stabilized discarding sabot (APFSDS), high explosive anti-tank (HEAT), and high explosive fragmentation (HE-FRAG) projectiles. China has also reportedly manufactured Russian AT-11 laser-guided anti-tank missiles (ATGM) to be fired from the 125 mm gun for enemy tank with Explosive Reactive Armour, with an effective range of 4.5km. In addition, the Chinese have developed depleted uranium (DU) rounds for their tanks and these may be available for the Type 99. The primary kinetic energy armour-piercing ammunition for the 125mm tank gun is the APFSDS round with a 30:1 length/calibre heavy tungsten alloy penetrator and the round has a muzzle velocity of 1,780m/s and is capable of penetrating 850mm steel armour at a distance of 2,000m. A depleted uranium (DU) APFSDS round which can penetrate 960mm steel armour at a distance of 2,000m and the target range would be approx above 5km on non moving target with APFSDS depleted uranium.
[edit] Armour
Currently, the actual armour composition of the Type-99/ZTZ-99 remains unknown. There are public photos of experimental Chinese composite armours, specifically Al2O3 which has been tested. The armour didn't sustain any significant damage after being shot by a T-72C 125mm armament 7 times or a 105mm armament 9 times in a range of 1,800 meters[citation needed]. The tank’s front armour protection is equivalent to 1,000~1,200mm of steel armour.[4] Also, there are significant differences between the armour packages displayed on the current Type 99s and the ones first seen in 1999.
Another theory that has been suggested is that the armor additions are not ERA, but composite layers in block form[citation needed]. The reason is that the blocks are too large to be effectively used as ERA, since one detonation leads to a large unprotected area. Further support is given in the fact that Eastern Bloc armies had two armor packages after the introduction of ERA. Live ERA blocks for wartime and composite blocks for peacetime, as maintaining ERA blocks during operational conditions is both expensive and hazardous.[citation needed]
[edit] Fire Control and observation
Fire accuracy is attained by the laser rangefinder, wind sensor, ballistic computer, and thermal barrel sleeve. Dual axis stabilization ensures effective firing on the move. The commander has six periscopes and a stabilized panoramic sight. Both the commander and gunner have roof-mounted stabilized sights fitted with day/thermal channels, a laser rangefinder and an auto tracker facility. The commander has a display showing the gunner's thermal sight, enabling the commander to fire the main gun. The Thermal Imaging System (TIS) with cooled detector using processing in the element (SPRITE) technology has magnification x11.4 narrow field of view and x5 wide field of view.
The Type 99 is also fitted with a computerized onboard information processing system, which can collect information from vehicle navigation (Inertia/GPS), observation systems and sensors, process it in the computer and display it on the commander's display, giving the ability of real-time command and beyond-vision-range target engaging.
[edit] Propulsion
The Type 99 is powered by a liquid cooled, turbocharged 1,500 hp diesel derived from the German MB871ka501 diesel technology. At its current battle weight of 54 t, this gives a power-to-weight ratio of about 27.78. The maximum speed on road is 80 km/h and 60 km/h cross country. Acceleration from 0 speed to 32 km/h only takes 12 seconds. The transmission provides seven forward and one reverse gears.
[edit] Operators
People's Republic of China - 500+
[edit] Notes and references
[edit] See also
Type 59/62 - Type 69/79 - Type 80/85/88 - Type 90/96 - MBT 2000/Al-Khalid - Type 98/99 - T-72 - M-84 - M-95 - PT-91 - T-80 - T-84 - T-90 - T-95
[edit] External links
