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Type 96A/B:

Type 96A, People’s Liberation Army 77th Group Army photo, 04DEC2022.

Sometimes a fuel/oil tank is carried on the top of the left rear hull/fender. It can also carry long range fuel drums on its rear.

Type 96A, PLA 77th Group Army photo, 04DEC2022.

The tow hooks are mounted on the lower front slope, inboard of the headlights.

Type 96A with manually operated 12.7mm machine gun mounted on turret. Photo by Liu Zhiyong, 13SEP2022.

Type 96B, with remote controlled 12.7mm on turret roof. Photo by Alexander Zemlianichenko Junior, 27AUG2022.

Photo by Alexander Zemlianichenko Junior, 21AUG2022.

In August 2022, China took second place in the Tank Biathlon and Masters of Armored Vehicles, during Russia’s International Army Games, using their Type 96B. The International Army Games were held on the territories of 12 countries, including China, Russia and Iran, with more than 270 teams from 37 countries competing.

Photo by Yu Ziheng, 14AUG2022.

The Type 96B has a remote controlled 12.7mm heavy machine gun on top of the turret, which is not always mounted. The Type 96A is up-armored with armor blocks, and upgraded gun sights. The Type 96 series uses a 125mm main gun. The ‘skirt’ gets shorter with each new generation of Type 96, the Type 96B being the shortest (sometimes they go ‘naked’).

Type 96Bs leaving China controlled Inner Mongolia for the International Army Games in Russia, July 2022. Photo via CCTV-7.

CGTN video, first round of Tank Biathlon, 15AUG2022, revealing that the remote controlled 12.7mm can also be fired manually:

The Type 96A/B has a turret very similar to the VT4, VT5, and Type 99 tanks. The hull evolved from the Soviet/Russian T-54/55. The roadwheels are uniquely Chinese, and unlike the T-54/55 the track is supported. The Type 96B has more streamlined looking fenders, than the Type 96A, the two exhaust ports are closer together as well and not as obvious as on the Type 96A.

From U.S. Army Graphic Training Aid, Armored Vehicle Recognition, 1987.

From a distance the Type 96A/B looks much like the old Cold War era NATO-West German Leopard 1A4.

People’s Liberation Army 77th Group Army video showing Type 96A during live-fire training, May 2022:

PLA 73rd Group Army photo by Liu Zhiyong, 27APR2022.

PLA 71st Group Army photo by Bai Junfeng, 15APR2022.

The Type 96 has two exhaust holes on the same side of the hull, the right side, as opposed to the T-54/55 or T-72 single exhaust on the left side.

PLA 71st Group Army photo by Bai Junfeng, 15APR2022.

PLA 73rd Group Army photo by Liu Zhiyong, 15JAN2021.

The Type 96A appears to be connected to a generator on the ground. PLA 81st Group Army photo by Yang Jian, November 2020.

The front of the Type 96A/B turret is different from the older Type 96, also, the bustle racks have armor(?) plates attached.

PLA 72nd Group Army photo by Xiao Yuxuan, 11MAY2020.

CGTN video, January 2020, female tank commander explain why she likes the Type 96A/B (because it makes her look “most beautiful”, typical!):

CGTN video, Type 96B during 2019 International Army Games:

CGTN video of Type 96 driver showing-off, December 2017 (I did the same thing in an M1 Abrams, it is actually easy to get a tank to drift or slide, if it has a powerful motor):

Type 96:

The older Type 96 has a splash guard on the front slope, and the turret bustle racks do not have armor plate covering them.

Skirtless Type 96. PLA 71st Group Army photo by Yao Zongkai, 17SEP2022.

PLA 82nd Group Army video from May 2022, Type 96 live-fire:

The Type 96 is also known as ZTZ-96.

PLA 71st Group Army photo by Zhu Baolong, 21MAY2022.

The Chinese started with the T-54/55 hull, then got radical by replacing the unsupported track system with a supported track (the track-links themselves are the same), and replacing the manually loaded main gun with the auto-loading 125mm from a T-72.

PLA 71st Group Army photo by Zhu Baolong, 21MAY2022.

The wire cage on the top rear of the turret is for catching the spent 125mm casings as they are ejected from the turret. PLA 71st Group Army photo by Yao Zongkai, 21MAY2022

The turret of the Type 96 is shaped different from that on the Type 96A/B, especially on the front.

PLA 71st Group Army photo by Lin Min, February 2022.

The Type 96 inherited the butt of the T-54/55.

Notice the spent 125mm casings on the ground behind the Type 96. PLA 71st Group Army photo by Lin Min, February 2022.

World War Three Vehicle I-D: CHINA’S TYPE 99A AND TYPE 99

Type 99A:

People’s Liberation Army photo by He Rui, late January 2023.

Track shoes/pads are removable, on the Type 99A. PLA photo by He Rui, late January 2023.

It has been confused with the export only tanks VT1 and VT4, and the lightweight high altitude tank VT5. Sometimes it is called ZTZ-99A. The Type 99A is an radical evolution of the Type 99. The Type 99 is based on the Soviet/Russian T-72, it began service in 2001.

T-72 style roadwheels and small exhaust ports on both sides of the Type 99A.

The Type 99A has the driver’s position slightly offset from center of the front of the hull, and has two periscopes, the Type 99 has only one T-72 style periscope for the driver and the position is centered. Other Chinese tanks with similar looking turrets (like the Type 96B) have driver’s positions that are offset from center, on the driver’s left side, revealing they were originally based on the T-54/55.

An 81st Group Army Type 99A with armored blocks, and without fender skirts. Notice the ‘Eiffel Tower’ in the background. PLA photo, 10JAN2023.

CGTN video explaining the Type 96A, from August 2020:

In 2011, China began slowly replacing the Type 99 with the Type 99A, however, it wasn’t publicly revealed until 2015.

CGTN video, Type 99A during parade in July 2017:

CGTN video, Type 96A during parade in October 2019:

Type 99:

The older Type 99. PLA 76th Group Army photo by Cao Xuguang, 14JUL2020.

The exhaust ports on the Type 99A are set further back than the Type 99, due to a new powerpack (motor/transmission). The powerpack for the older Type 99 was reportedly developed by NATO-Germany. The headlights on the Type 99 sit higher up on the front slope than the Type 99A. The front tow hooks on the Type 99 sit on the upper front slope, below the headlights, while the tow hooks of the Type 99A are mounted on the lower front slope, inline with the headlights.