New Type98/99 MBT thread

[Figaro]

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.

Type 96B is not in production yet ? I find that quite surprising honestly since I remember seeing many pictures of 96B tanks in training exercises (not the tank biathlon). Where did you get this information from? It's really shocking to not be in mass production considering we saw the 96B over 4 years ago ...

 

[hbogyt]

Fiiigaaaaro. FIGARO. FIGARO. FIGARO. FIGARO. 96B was made to compete in military games only

 

[lcloo]

Type 96B is not in production yet ? I find that quite surprising honestly since I remember seeing many pictures of 96B tanks in training exercises (not the tank biathlon). Where did you get this information from? It's really shocking to not be in mass production considering we saw the 96B over 4 years ago ...

The type 96B we saw in many pictures, including training in China and participation in Russian Army Games are prototypes, if my memory is correct, only 12 units were built.

The performance of these 96B in 2019 Russian army game were less than satisfactory and somehow affected the decision of PLA which was supposed to have been taken place in end 2019. I don't know what was the out-come, but thus far there is no news on final development version of this tank nor its production status.

 

[plawolf]

Fiiigaaaaro. FIGARO. FIGARO. FIGARO. FIGARO. 96B was made to compete in military games only

Is there an actual authoritative source for this, or is this purely based on speculation?

If China wanted to win the games so badly, they could have just sent 99s.

Seems more likely that the 96B was developed as a high mobility, high altitude version intended for PLA rapid reaction forces and for Tibet, but the much newer and better Type 15 was selected instead, so little more than the initial test and evaluation units were ordered in the end.

 

[jobjed]

Is there an actual authoritative source for this, or is this purely based on speculation?

If China wanted to win the games so badly, they could have just sent 99s.

Seems more likely that the 96B was developed as a high mobility, high altitude version intended for PLA rapid reaction forces and for Tibet, but the much newer and better Type 15 was selected instead, so little more than the initial test and evaluation units were ordered in the end.

Type 15 began development in 2008 while Type 96B began development in May 2015. There was never any possibility the 96B would become the main highland tank.

 

[FangYuan]

I think the Type-15's role is a heavy sniper gun. It ambushed the enemy and retreated quickly.

 

[by78]

I think the Type-15's role is a heavy sniper gun. It ambushed the enemy and retreated quickly.

What thread is this?

 

[dawn_strike]

The type 96B we saw in many pictures, including training in China and participation in Russian Army Games are prototypes, if my memory is correct, only 12 units were built.

The performance of these 96B in 2019 Russian army game were less than satisfactory and somehow affected the decision of PLA which was supposed to have been taken place in end 2019. I don't know what was the out-come, but thus far there is no news on final development version of this tank nor its production status.

The truth is that when you already have ZTQ15 and ZTZ99A you can hardly find a position for 96B in PLAGF.

 

[ougoah]

The truth is that when you already have ZTQ15 and ZTZ99A you can hardly find a position for 96B in PLAGF.

The Type 96 is still the backbone and has been this way since before the ZTQ-15 was commisioned. Well over 2000 Type 96 vs about 900 Type 99. But it does seem like the PLA is overextending on tank types. They should limit it to 2 types, a light tank 30-40 tonnes and a medium weight MBT 50-60 tonnes. ZTQ-15 already has high altitude and "conventional" variants so the two lines and their sub-variants should cover all terrain and conflict types. The Type 96 production hopefully gets stopped but it's there because it offers the PLA much better value for money and material than the Type 99 and since the PLA demands to have the numbers in order to cover the vast landmass and station x numbers in every certain area, the only solution is unfortunately fielding three tanks - 2 MBTs and 1 light tank.

 

[antiterror13]

The Type 96 is still the backbone and has been this way since before the ZTQ-15 was commisioned. Well over 2000 Type 96 vs about 900 Type 99. But it does seem like the PLA is overextending on tank types. They should limit it to 2 types, a light tank 30-40 tonnes and a medium weight MBT 50-60 tonnes. ZTQ-15 already has high altitude and "conventional" variants so the two lines and their sub-variants should cover all terrain and conflict types. The Type 96 production hopefully gets stopped but it's there because it offers the PLA much better value for money and material than the Type 99 and since the PLA demands to have the numbers in order to cover the vast landmass and station x numbers in every certain area, the only solution is unfortunately fielding three tanks - 2 MBTs and 1 light tank.

With massive transport capability with Y-20, basically China can transport ZTQ-15 or Type 99, etc anywhere in China within 24 hours. China may not need massive number of tanks anymore