New Type98/99 MBT thread

[ougoah]

What ever next major war is going to be, i'm sure that heavy tanks (+50 tons) will become like battleships during wolrd war 2, well armored and impressive on peace time activities, but in real shooting war those things are gonna be largery used as target practice by more flexible forces coming from all directions.

Had they put 125mm gun on Type-15 with room for 130mm gun update it would have been able to replace all other tanks in PLA service.

Nah. Type 15 is flexible and all but heavy armour can take a beating something like the Type 15 just can't. That's worth something. I doubt a 125mm L48 will go easy on the gimbal and hydraulics, which means slower and less steady gun. Who knows though. Do they have room? I'm sure PLA would have preferred a L48 125mm similar to one on the Type 96 or Type 99. It would have one if it could accommodate, but it doesn't.

The purpose of the Type 15 is to fill a certain niche where any battlefield it can go on while heavier tanks can't, mean the Type 15 is the heaviest armour and biggest gun around. I think one of the more vocal Chinese military "analysts" summed it up fairly well as; anything you can deploy on the battlefield (high altitude or requiring light weight) cannot defeat me (Type 15), anything that can defeat me, you cannot deploy onto this battlefield.

 

[lcloo]

New type 99A entering service with a certain combined brigade of 81 Army.

 

[sndef888]

Does anyone have an accurate number of how many 99s and 96s the PLA has?

 

[ougoah]

Does anyone have an accurate number of how many 99s and 96s the PLA has?

You won't get accurate numbers of Type 99s and 96s in service with PLA. China is deceptive with numbers. Could be overstated, understated, or right on but nobody outside senior PLA and CCP will know the truth which it is for what platform.

Wiki suggests numbers are roughly at 961 x Type 96 and 1116 x Type 96A/B. Roughly 600 x Type 99 (first two generations after the Type 98) and 250 x Type 99A. But these numbers haven't been updated since early 2016 and 2017 respectively. Type 99A numbers should be a lot more than 250 units now and Type 96A/B numbers should also be more than 1116.

 

[lcloo]

You won't get accurate numbers of Type 99s and 96s in service with PLA. China is deceptive with numbers. Could be overstated, understated, or right on but nobody outside senior PLA and CCP will know the truth which it is for what platform.

Wiki suggests numbers are roughly at 961 x Type 96 and 1116 x Type 96A/B. Roughly 600 x Type 99 (first two generations after the Type 98) and 250 x Type 99A. But these numbers haven't been updated since early 2016 and 2017 respectively. Type 99A numbers should be a lot more than 250 units now and Type 96A/B numbers should also be more than 1116.

Chinese language Wikipedia's figures are as below:-
2,500+ type 96 and type 96A
500+ type 99 and 500+ 99A
are in PLA service.

Also, pls note that type 96B is not yet in mass production. The few units in existence are mainly for evaluation/demo test purposes.

Participation in past and future Russian army games was and will be a good testing ground to expose its strength and weakness. I suspect there will be changes to current type 96B. Probably they might use some technology from type 15 light tank before official induction into PLA.

 

[ougoah]

The tank biathlon doesn't test anything outside of the mobility in the concentrated range of soils and turns of that course. It doesn't test armour or shooting either since Type 96's FCS is banned from being used and all competing teams shoot manually for an even playing field. It doesn't evaluate any aspect of firepower except for teams calibrating their guns maybe and some basic sighting, command, crew cooperation, and executing of firing.

As for mobility, well whatever trials and lessons garnered from participating in the biathlon will not exceed what PLA themselves can do in evaluating new improvements to the tank's mobility which is already pretty good being a lighter MBT. The real purpose of the competition is just to build some good relations with other countries and having fun.

 

[ansy1968]

Chinese language Wikipedia's figures are as below:-
2,500+ type 96 and type 96A
500+ type 99 and 500+ 99A
are in PLA service.

Also, pls note that type 96B is not yet in mass production. The few units in existence are mainly for evaluation/demo test purposes.

Participation in past and future Russian army games was and will be a good testing ground to expose its strength and weakness. I suspect there will be changes to current type 96B. Probably they might use some technology from type 15 light tank before official induction into PLA.

Hi lcloo

Or induct VT-4 as a replacement for type 96A?

 

[alanch90]

Or induct VT-4 as a replacement for type 96A?

Waste of resources. Better wait a little for the 4th gen tank.

 

[Gloire_bb]

Or induct VT-4 as a replacement for type 96A?

???
Export equivalent of ZTZ-99A(yet different enough to form a distinct supply chain) as a replacement for much cheaper, lighter ZTZ-96A?
"Let them eat cake!"

 

[benny]

New type 99A entering service with a certain combined brigade of 81 Army.

View attachment 61619View attachment 61620View attachment 61621View attachment 61622

Hmmm the gap between the ERA blocks looks noticeably bigger.