The development of the new tank was initiated in the early 1990s during the Gulf War. Western tanks had destroyed numerous Iraqi Soviet-made T-72s, which were superior to the most advanced tank in the PLA in design at the time: the Type 90 tank. The PLA realised that their tanks were no match for the Western MBT designs such as the Challenger 2 and M1A1, 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 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 98'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 and exposes the turret ring, increasing the likelihood of hits from the front jamming the turret. Since then NORINCO provided the armor upgrades to the Type 99 which minimizes the gap to avoid a shot trap.
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 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 temporarily blind the enemy's optics. It can also be used as a secure communications device.
| Type 99 | |
|---|---|
| Type | Main battle tank |
| Place of origin |  People's Republic of China |
| Production history | |
| Manufacturer | Norinco |
| Unit cost | ¥ 17,417,659 Renminbi (approx 2,500,000 USD) |
| Specifications | |
| Weight | ~54 tonnes for Type-99G ~57 tonnes for Type-99A1 ~58 tonnes for Type-99A2 |
| Length | 11.0 m |
| Width | 3.4 m |
| Height | 2.2 m |
| Crew | 3 (4 originally based on the Type 98 prototypes without autoloader) |
| | |
| Armor | Classified, Al2O3, ERA, composite |
| Main armament | 125 mm smoothbore tank gun, compatible with Chinese 140 mm guns or 155 mm for Type 99KM |
| Secondary armament | Type 85 heavy machine gun 12.7x108 mm commander's machine gun, 7.62 mm coaxial machine gun |
| Engine | liquid-cooled diesel 1,500 hp (1,100 kW); 2,100 hp for Type 99KM |
| Power/weight | 27.8 hp/tonne; 28 hp/tonne for Type 99KM |
| Suspension | torsion bar |
| Operational range | 600 km |
| Speed | 80 km/h (50 mph) |
Type 99 MBT Counter Measures and Communications
The type-VHF-2000 tank communication system on Type 98 (and mostly the Type 99 too) has electronic countermeasures, electro-magnetic compatibility and multiple workstation capability. Mounted behind the commander's hatch is a laser communication and IFF system. It is a compact and multifunctional system used for IFF, sending digital command signal, voiced communication and laser detection. its receiver could function as a laser warning system on the wavelength of 0.9–1.06 µm. it has a working range of >3,600m. up and down angle of +45 degree to -10 degree (same as the commander's sight), 360 degree at horizontal level, target detection time is <0.6sec, 60 encrypted IFF code is stored in the system.
Further back on top of the turret is the type-9602 GPS navigation and position signal receiving antenna, its a two channel C/A code receiver and provide 3D military grade coordinates under all weather condition, data on tank's moving direction and speed along with those of the target can be established to provide suitable navigation route. type-9602 has a relatively low precision of 100m that fell short of some tactical requirement, once the Type 98G is equipped with the successfully developed GLONSS/GPS navigation and positioning system, the precision can be increased to 20 meters.
On the back of the gunner's hatch is an active laser suppression system designated JT-1, which is claimed to be designed to directly attack the various guidance systems on the opponent's weapon system. it can be operated by either the commander or the gunner, the laser ray could interfere or permanently damage IR sensor's components (laser ranger; night-vision equipment; TV camera head; telescopic sight; etc.) and has obvious effect against naked eyes. The system consists of a micro-computer control box; target tracking sub-system; laser suppressor and thermal image jammer. The system can be rotated 360 degrees, +90 degree to -12 degree, horizontal tracking speed 45 degree/sec, vertical tracking speed 40 degree/sec, laser energy output is 1.000 MHz, laser pulse's working repetition rate is 10ps, maximum working range is 4,000m, continues working time is 30min, laser beamer has a lifespan of 1.2 million. But other sources suspect it to be ATM guidance device,even a patent description claims it to be laser-based IFF system. A special reporting book published a photo of an electro-optical active protection suite resembling Russian Shtora,JD-3,but it never appeared on ztz-99 and instead appeared on some testing prototype 96G. In addition, the Type 98/99's driver is equipped with anti-laser glass for protection from similar system fielded on the opponent's platform.
Armament
The ZTZ99's main armament includes a dual-axis fully-stabilised 125 mm/50-calibre ZPT98 smoothbore gun with a carousel-style autoloader, a thermal sleeve, and a fume extractor. It is a further development of the 120 mm Chinese Design while many foreign observers thought it would be just a Chinese version of the Soviet 2A46M-1 type 125 mm gun. The Chinese gun with 120 mm turned out to be slightly better than 125 mm in some aspect, but 125 mm was chosen due to the selection of T-72-type autoloader. The 120 mm gun ended up on Type 89 self-propelled anti-tank gun with a semi-autoloader. The 125 mm tank gun was successfully developed as early as 1985. After continued improvement, the ZPT98 tank gun with 125 mm achieved higher bore pressure than the 120 mm.
The gun can be fired by either electronics 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 while 22 rounds are stored within the autoloader. 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), HEAT, and HE-FRAG projectiles. China has also reportedly manufactured Soviet AT-11 laser-guided anti-tank missiles to be fired from the 125 mm gun for enemy tank with Explosive Reactive Armour, with an effective range of 4 km. In addition, the Chinese have developed depleted uranium (DU) rounds for their tanks and these may be available for the Type 99. The 3rd generation kinetic energy armour-piercing ammunition for the 125 mm tank gun is the APFSDS round with a 30:1 length/calibre heavy tungsten alloy penetrator and the round has a muzzle velocity of 1,780 m/s and is claimed to be capable of penetrating 850 mm steel armour at a distance of 2.000 m. A depleted uranium (DU) APFSDS round which is claimed to be able to penetrate 960 mm steel armour at a distance of 2.000 m and the accuracy range would be approx 5 km on non moving target with APFSDS depleted uranium.
From Type 98 to all Type 99 variants, they are all armed with a ZPT98 125 mm smoothbore gun with a length/calibre ratio of 51:1. the barrel is made of high-intensity PCrN13NoV, muzzle velocity is comparable to that of Soviet 2A46M-1 type 125 mm gun. hydraulic self-strengthening technology has resulted in a much stiffer barrel, the length is 6,412 mm, it has a lifetime of 700 armor-pieceing rounds. The thermal sleeve is of a double aluminium plate structure with air gap, it consist of 5 non-interchangeable parts, its effective rate is 70%. A severely damaged ZPT98 can have its parts repaired and/or replaced on the battlefield within 1 hr.
Type 99 MBT Armor
Currently, the actual armor composition of the Type-99/ZTZ-99 remains unknown. There are public photos of experimental Chinese composite armors, specifically Al2O3 under test. The armor didn't sustain any significant damage after being shot by a T-72C 125 mm armament seven times or a 105 mm armament nine times in a range of 1,800 meters, while rounds that are used in the test are unknown. The tank's front armor protection is claimed to be equivalent to 1,000~1,200 mm of steel armor, possibly against shaped charge warheads. Also, there are significant differences between the armor packages displayed on the current Type 99s and earlier 99 models seen in 1999.
Another theory that has been suggested is that the armor additions are not ERA (Explosive Reactive Armour), but composite layers in block form. 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 as well as leading to an increase in weight.
Type 99 MBT Fire Control and observation
Fire accuracy is attained by the laser rangefinder, wind sensor, ballistic computer, and thermal barrel sleeve, while essential muzzle reference system is invisible in released photographs. 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 narrow field of view magnification of ×11.4 and ×5 in 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.
Type 99 MBT 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 tons, this gives a power-to-weight ratio of about 27.78 hp/ton. The maximum speed on road is 80 km/h and 65 km/h cross country. Acceleration from 0 to 32 km/h only takes 12 seconds. The transmission provides seven forward and one reverse gears.
