Zombie Tank: China’s Type 59D, updated Cold War T-54/55, to live-on as a Robot Tank?

Cold War: Approximately 1947 (due to U.S. President Harry Truman’s Truman Doctrine) to 1991 (Operation Desert Storm, collapse of Soviet Union).

People’s Liberation Army 77th Group Army photo by Guo Yuhui, 26MAY2021.

China’s Type 59 (aka WZ-120) is a license built version of the Soviet T-54A. Many were sold/given to Viet Nam during the U.S. occupation of that South East Asian country, it was the first time the Type 59 experienced actual combat. In the last decade of the non-official Cold War (the 1980s) China upgraded its tanks with NATO’s 105mm L7 gun, designed in United Kingdom.

Type 59D of the PLA 77th Group Army, 20MAR2018. Photo by Yang Qishuai.

The latest version of the Type 59 is the Type 59D (WZ-120D) with explosive reactive armor and a longer barreled 105mm L7 main gun (which is now called the ZPL-94/Type 94 gun). Apparently it is able to launch anti-tank guided missiles from the ZPL-94 gun.

Type 59D of the PLA 77th Group Army, 20MAR2018. Photo by Yang Qishuai.

Type 59D of the PLA 77th Group Army, 16MAR2018.

Video still from a China Central TV (CCTV) report about remote controlled Type 59 tanks.

In March 2018, the PLA announced that many of the retiring Type 59 tanks are being converted to be used as remote control tanks, or even robot tanks: “A large number of due-to-retire Type 59 tanks can be converted into unmanned vehicles if equipped with artificial intelligence.”-Liu Qingshan, chief editor of Tank and Armoured Vehicle

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