ZTZ96A Type 96A 96G MBT Main Battle Tank technical data | China Chinese list of modern MBTs Main Battle Tanks | Chinese China army military equipment armoured UK

: 23 October 2021

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ZTZ96A Type 96A MBT Main Battle Tank

Description

Technical Data

Specifications

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Description

The ZTZ96 A/G main battle tank was first revealed in 2006. The ZTZ96A was showed for the first time to the public, during the military parade at Beijing in 2009. The ZTZ96A is a modified version with add-on armor modules and explosive reactive armor, similar to the Type 99's. Its internal electronics may also have been upgraded to Type 99 standard.

Variants

- Type 96: Previous version of the tank

Technical Data

Armament

The main armament of the ZTZ96A or Type 96A is composed of a smoothbore 125 mm gun with an autoloader of Russian 2A46M design. Auxiliary weapons include one 7.62 mm coaxial machine gun, with a maximum fire-range of 1,800 m and a fire rate of 250 rounds/min. A 12.7-mm/50-calibre anti-aircraft machine gun is mounted on the command cupola, with a maximum fire-range of 2,000 m. To complete its armament, the ZTZ96A - Type 96A is equipped with six smoke grenade launchers, mounted on each side of the turret.

Design and protection

The hull and the turret of the ZTZ96A are of all-welded steel armor construction. ZTZ96A variant features arrow-shaped spaced add-on armor modules, which replaced the original vertically faced front armor on the basic variant ZTZ96. Two arrow-shaped spaced add-on armor modules are added to the front of the turret, and explosive reaction armor (ERA) plates are mounted on the front hull and the storage rack on the rear of the turret. The gunner's sight on the ZTZ96A is fitted with a thermal imaging system (TIS).

Mobility

The ZTZ96A tank is powered by a liquid-cooled 1,000hp diesel engine, providing a power to weight ratio of about 24.1hp/t. Wheels and tracks are protected by rubber hull skirts. Suspension is of the conventional torsion bar type and there are six rubber-tired road wheels on each side, with the drive sprocket at the rear and idler at the front.

Accessories

Tank crew of ZTZ96A is protected by an over-pressure collective NBC protection and a fully automatic fire/explosion suppression system. The standard version of the ZTZ96A or Type 96A is equipped with a snorkel. The snorkel system allows the tank to cross water obstacles up to 5 meters, after some preparation of the crew. The export variant of the ZTZ96G also features a passive countermeasures system similar to the Russian Shtora-1, which is mounted on the Russian T-80 and T-90 series and the Ukrainian T-84. The two box-shape on either side of the turret are electro-optical jammers designed to jams the enemy's semiautomatic command to line of sight (SACLOS) antitank guided missiles, laser rangefinders and target designators.

Specifications