New Type98/99 MBT thread

[Nethappy]

Hi there... it been a long time since I been here.. hope some of u remember me... work keep getting in the way

Well ask I said bak a few years ago they are testing mixtures explosive reactive armour and composite armour. As far as i am cencern the ERA are less effective then one use by the west but lighter, but am not sure it that true or not

 

[Obcession]

How can we ever forget you Nethappy? You're the most reliable provider of tech info o.o

So they've found ERA has less protective power? Does that mean they're gonna focus into composite armours now?

 

[Nethappy]

Well I wouldn't said less protective power, as they a ligther, u be seeing just larger ERA.

Yes they are really proud of there composite armours and believe they can stop a direct hit from an US M1A2, possible but I would still doubt, imo PLa Composite armours are still way of western stardard.. according to my source the composite armours has been increased in the frontal arc and on both side.

I was actually told the upgrade of the type 99 is actually a result of the PLA indept study of tank in Israel-Lebanon and iraq war. Imo they must of got nervous of how RPG and IED not even needing advance atm was damaging or knocking out tank and other armour.

But it been a while since I really seen a Type99 but i still has friend which i met back then... whom can still provide me with some good frist hand info

 

[Nethappy]

Tphuang msg me about the firing power/penetration power of T-99.

I'll see what i can get for u guy... gimme some time.

But i do know that they have more intrested and priority of impoving of the main gun anti-tank guided missile over the DU round.

 

[challenge]

Tphuang msg me about the firing power/penetration power of T-99.

I'll see what i can get for u guy... gimme some time.

But i do know that they have more intrested and priority of impoving of the main gun anti-tank guided missile over the DU round.

gun launhced anti tank missiles are very expensive,according to steven zaloga, cost for 10 rd. of AT-10 "bastion" is equally one t-72 tank!
with the advance in digital fire control system, the interest on gun launhced ATGM waned.

 

[Scratch]

In that context, how about the viability of (laser)-guided tank rounds?
Technicly it should be quiet possible I think. Would they offer significant advantages over unguided rounds and still be easier to handle/ cheaper then ATGMs?

 

[nemo]

I presume the interest in gun launched missile is the possibility of developing a missile that can do top attack.

 

[Norfolk]

I presume the interest in gun launched missile is the possibility of developing a missile that can do top attack.

That, and to make up for the gun's relative lack of accuracy with anti-tank shells of one type or another much beyond 1600-1800 metres. All the 125mm tank guns have attentuation/dispersion problems beyond those ranges, so of course they require gun-launched ATGM's to match the long-range performance of Western 105mm and 120mm guns.

 

[RedMercury]

Oh, you have access to accuracy evaluations of the ZPT-98? Do share. Or is it just based on your opinion that western guns are just superior? Hum?

 

[Norfolk]

Oh, you have access to accuracy evaluations of the ZPT-98? Do share. Or is it just based on your opinion that western guns are just superior? Hum?

The 125mm smoothbores on the current generation of PLA MBT are based upon the Russian 125mm smoothbore - both Western intelligence (such as BRIXMIS missions in East Germany, who were the first to crack some of the secrets about the T-64 as well as subsequent Soviet tanks armed with the 125mm smoothbore) as well as Israeli intelligence who had access to captured Syrian T-72s (and provided some to the US) tested the 125mm and discovered that is was, quote "more of a giant shotgun", unquote, devastating up to about a mile, but suffering dispersal beyond 1800 metres.

On our own ChinaDefense.com site on the ZTZ-99 MBT, the article states that the ZPT-98 is believed to be a version of the Russian 125mmm smoothbore. The ZPT-98 has a muzzle velocity of 1780 m/s (compared to Western analysis of the Soviet 125mm which was found to have a muzzle velocity of 1800 m/s) with sabot rounds, and the ZPT-98 also fires the same Refleks AT-11 gun-launched ATGM as the Soviet 125mm. Clearly, they are besically the same gun and share the same performance. PM DongFeng about this if you doubt it.

As for Western 105mm/120mm guns, firing sabot rounds from about 1400 m/s to about 1700m/s, the 105mm was rumoured to be able to of taking out targets from a stationary M-60 A3 at 5,000 metres (try James Bolgers' Dragons At War - it's about the National Training Center at Ft. Irwin California), and the published reports of the M-1 A1 taking out targets in the Gulf War while on the move at 3,200 metres (also while stationary too) with 120mm gun (try, amongst others, the General's War by Michael R. Gordon and LtGen. Bernard B. Trainor (USMC ret.). Samuel Katz claims (from Israeli sources) that the Merkava can hit targets with sabot at 6,950 m, (whether that is with consistency, he does not say).

In any case, the ZPT-98, which is a Chinese version of the Soviet 125mmm smoothbore, does not have an equivalent armour-piercing shell accuracy at range performance to that of Western tank guns. That is why the Russians have resorted to tank-gun-launched ATGMs since the 1980's.