Type 88A in the Gobi Desert, sometime in 2021. People’s Liberation Army-Xinjiang Military Command photo by Li Renxi.
During the last decade of the non-official Cold War, China began experimenting with the Soviet designed T-54/55 tank, and the NATO United Kingdom designed 105mm L7 main gun. One of the results was the Type 88.
Type 88A conducts live-fire gunnery in the Gobi Desert, sometime in 2021. People’s Liberation Army-Xinjiang Military Command photo by Shi Jinguang.
In the 1990s, testing by South Africa revealed the NATO 105mm gun could not penetrate the armor of the upgraded Russian T-72, and that the Russian 125mm gun could easily destroy the Type 88. This revelation killed export sales of the Chinese tank, but amazingly China still uses the Type 88A (with the long barreled version of the L7 gun known as ZPL-94/Type 94).
Type 88A in the Gobi Desert, sometime in 2021. PLA-Xinjiang Military Command photo by Li Renxi.
Type 88A in the Gobi Desert, sometime in 2021. PLA-Xinjiang Military Command photo by Li Renxi.
Type 88A in the Gobi Desert, sometime in 2021. PLA-Xinjiang Military Command photo by Li Renxi.
Gobi Desert sometime in 2021. PLA-Xinjiang Military Command photo by Shi Jinguang.
The old Type 88A is being replaced with the new Type 15 Light Tank (aka ZTQ-15), which is also armed with the 105mm gun.
PLA-Xinjiang Military Command live-fire gunnery, April 2020. Photo by Han Qiang.
PLA-Xinjiang Military Command live-fire gunnery, April 2020. Photo by Han Qiang.
Type 88A, Uyghur Autonomous Region on 30MAR2020. Photo by Yuan Kai.
Type 88A, Uyghur Autonomous Region on 30MAR2020. Photo by Yuan Kai.
These PLA-Xinjiang Military Command Type 88As are equipped with something similar to the U.S. MILES lazer-tag wargame system. Photo by Sun Bo, 19MAR2020.
Not only are these PLA-Xinjiang Military Command Type 88As equipped with something similar to the U.S. MILES lazer-tag wargame system, their main antenna looks very much like a U.S. antenna. Photo by Sun Bo, 19MAR2020.
Night maneuvers Uygur Autonomous Region, January 2020. PLA-Xinjiang Military Command photo by Yuan Kai.
Can you identify a Type 88A at night?
Night maneuvers Uygur Autonomous Region, January 2020. PLA-Xinjiang Military Command photo by Yuan Kai.
Night maneuvers Tianshan Mountains, October 2019. PLA-Xinjiang Military Command photo.
Uygur Autonomous Region, August 2018. PLA-Xinjiang Military Command photo by Yuan Kai.
The exhaust pipes of the Type 88A are on the opposite side of the Grandfather T-54/55, and they are two large round pipes.
Uygur Autonomous Region, January 2020. PLA-Xinjiang Military Command photo by Yuan Kai.
In the above photo you can see a Type 88A being hauled away by an old fashioned T-54/55 ARV, notice the standard T-54/55 single exhaust pipe.
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