China has the manufacturing capability to produce high end tanks on par with modern european / american standards, in sufficient numbers so I personally don't think it's wise to sacrifice capability for numbers. Perhaps a high-low mix like it currently is is a good trade-off. Should embrace new technologies. ERA/composites can be reduced, giving way to advanced APS, which ideally should be able to reduce the pen effect of even APFSDS. An iron vision system where the outside of the tank is projected via HUD or 360 LCD screens to give full situational awareness could also be beneficial. Drone RWS and jammers are a must-have. The only downside to this system is the overreliance on APS leaves the tank vulnerable to something like LOSAT, which is likely to re-emerge as the prevalnce of hard-kill APS increases.
PLA Next Generation Main Battle Tank
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I believe China should move to replace all of its legacy tank fleet(basically every tank in service that isn't the ZTQ-15) with these new tanks ASAP. Type 096As and Type 099As are relatively outdated compared to modern standards and not as versatile. Also a good APS should in theory be capable of even intercepting APFSDS under certain conditions, so LOSATs would still be interceptable with a good APS
The problem is that LOSAT and APFSDS are kinetic energy projectiles, so even an amazing APS will only degrade it's penetration capability, not completely stop it. a substantial amount of composite armor and ERA is still required to stop the remaining warhead after APS interception. Hence anything lighter than a future MBT is likely to still be destroyed by atgms like LOSAT or apfsds. In the next 5-10 years, if APS is installed on almost every fighting vehicle, then the only viable option will be either drones that can evade APS interception or by brute forcing through APS, aka with kinetic energy projectiles
That is true, but I expect the next gen tank that is being tested should atleast have enough armor even for its unmanned turret to survive large caliber autocannons and residual KE projectiles after being intercepted by APS while the crew capsule itself should be able to survive direct hits frontally in a decently large cone from a 120mm/130mm APFSDS shell.
Thats a half truth. Israeli experiments with Iron Fist concluded that if an APS manages to indue tilt to an APFSDS, just with 10 degrees the projectile losses 90 percent of its penetration potential. Though there may be other, completly different defeat mechanisms used by other types of APS such as Armata´s Afghanit.
It's the same road, it leads from the factory to the testing ranges in the mountains so basically every tank that rolls of the assembly line will be driven via this road to the testing ground before officially being inducted.
can we geolocate this place?