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Further Reading

Type 69 / WZ-121 Main Battle Tank
Type 69-II Main Battle Tank
Type 79 Main Battle Tank

The Type 69 (also known by its industrial designator WZ-121) main battle tank is effectively a Chinese copy of the Soviet T-55 tank and an improved version of the Type 59 main battle tank, with improvements in gunnery and automotive areas. It is a relatively inexpensive and easy to operate tank, but it is of an outdated design by modern standards. This series was first seen in public in 1982.

The interior is cramped and can be difficult to operate in. The 36-ton Type 69 main battle tank has improved armor, a gun stabilizer, a fire control system including a laser range finder, infrared searchlights, and a 100mm smooth-bore gun. The Type 69-III (also known as the Type 79) has an 105mm gun. This tank can lay its own smoke screen by injecting diesel fuel into its exhaust pipes on the left side of the hull.

Proposals for a next generation medium-sized tank were made in 1963. Development of a new tank was charged to the No. 60 Research Institute and the No. 617 Factory of the Fifth MMB. Unfortunately, the advent of the Great Cultural Revolution slowed down the program until 1970, when a trial tank was finally produced. The design of the new tank was eventually completed in 1974 and was designated as the Type 69 Medium Tank. It was also equipped with a new two-axis stabilizer, laser rangefinder, a 580 hp diesel engine.

The Type 69-I has two layers of armament: main and secondary. Main armament is a 100mm smoothbore gun with a bore evacuator near the muzzle. The ammunition load for the 100mm gun is 34 rounds, those being APDS, HEAT, and HE rounds. The Type 69-I's secondary armament consists of a 12.7-mm anti-aircraft Type 54 antiaircraft machine gun mounted on the loader's cupola. A 7.62-mm machine gun is mounted coaxially to the main armament and another similar weapon is mounted in the bow. The Type 69-I can lay a smoke screen through the exhaust system on the left side. On some export versions other secondary weapons have been substituted. Thai Army Type 69-IIs use the Browning M2 12.7mm machine gun in place of the Chinese Type 54 for instance.

The Type 69-I has a laser rangefinder mounted externally over the main armament in front of the mantlet, an infrared searchlight on the commander's cupola, an infrared searchlight above and to the immediate right of the main armament, an infrared driving light on each running board. o a coating of infrared reflecting paint and side skirts.

The Type 69-I can cross a 2.7-meter trench, mount a 0.8-meter vertical step, climb a 60-percent grade, climb a 40-percent side slope and ford 1.4 meters.

A second version of the Type 69, or the Type 69-II, was developed in 1983 at the No. 617 Factory. The newly improved tank included a simple fire control system, laser rangefinder, rubber shielding skirt, turret grid shield, and a hydraulic booster system for improved steering. The Type 69-II also included a double-pin rubber track plate, protection from NBC weapons, and a 100mm rifled gun capable of firing APDS and HEAT rounds.

The Type 69 MBT was first produced with both smoothbore (Type 69-I) and rifled (Type 69-II) guns. After extensive testing, the rifled gun proved to be more accurate and had greater armor penetration characteristics. Smoothbore production was discontinued after only 150 such equipped Type 69s were built.

The design of the Type 69-II's chassis was used as a foundation for other kinds of tanks and armored vehicles in the PLA. It served as a chassis for tanks performing an array of various function such as command tanks, bridge-laying tanks, recovery vehicles. The bridge laying tanks were capable of creating bridges over trenches, cliffs, canals, and rivers. The Type 84 AVLB is essentially a Type 69 MBT with its turret replaced with a bridge launching mechanism. The bridge launches over the front of the vehicle and when fully open can span a gap of up to 16 meters and support tracked and wheeled vehicles weighing up to 40 tons.

The recovery tanks were capable of hauling 70 tons and lifting 10 tons, which helped in the recovery of damaged tanks. The Type 653 ARV is designed to, along with recovery of damaged vehicles, undertake major repairs such as changing powerpacks, clearing obstacles and preparing fire positions. Type 69 ARV standard equipment includes a front-mounted hydraulically-operated dozer blade, a hydraulic crane on the right side, a main winch with a capacity of 70 tons, an auxiliary winch, tools, tow bars and cables. A small quantity were sold to Thailand.

The improved Type 69-II MBT helped lay the foundation of the Type 79 MBT, which was essentially an upgraded Type 69-II. The Type 69-II MBT Command Tank Type B (Type 69-IIB) is fitted with additional radio sets for the command and control function at Regimental level. An export only version with a common radio aerial for the additional radios was called Type 69-IIC.

Type 69 tanks are employed in countries in Asia, Africa and the Middle East. It was been used in combat by both sides during the 1980's Iran-Iraq war. It has been used by the Iraqi Army in the 1991 Gulf War and reportedly used by the Sri Lankan Army. In the Sri Lankan case these might have been confused with an influx of Chinese arms along with the acquisition of ex-Czechoslovakian T-55 tanks.

Recognition features and vehicle characteristics for the Type 79 are similar to some of the features on Type 59, Type 69 and Type 80 MBTs. The Type 79 chassis is similar to the Type 59/Type 69 and weighs 37.5 tons compared to the 36 tons on the Type 59. The Type 79 has a maximum road speed of 50 km/h.

The Type 79 MBT has towing eyes under the nose of the tank, headlamp arrangements similar to the Type 80 MBT, a turret (slightly different than the Type 59/ 69) with a large rectangular window forward of the commander's cupola that could be an internally-mounted laser rangefinder, and a bank of four electrically-operated smoke dischargers mounted on each side of the turret. The Type 79 also has a metal stowage box mounted to the rear of the smoke dischargers that was believed to house additional grenades, slight differences in the rear of the hull suggested a powerpack unlike the one used on the Type 59/ Type 69, five removable skirts on the upper suspension, new tracks with removable rubber pads replacing the more normal all-steel tracks fitted to other Chinese MBTs and night vision equipment for the commander, gunner and driver.

The Type 79 has two layers of armament: main and secondary. Type 79's main armament is a 105mm rifled tank gun that is provided with a fume extractor and a thermal sleeve. Type 79's secondary armament consists of a 12.7-mm machine gun mounted on the loader's cupola for local and anti-aircraft defense and a 7.62-mm machine gun mounted coaxially with the main armament.

The PLA's inventory of Type 69/79's according to The Military Balance, has experienced a dramatic degree of fluctuation in recent years. In 2000 the number of Type 69/79s peaked at around 1,200 tanks. The January-May 2001 edition of Jane's Sentinel Security Assessment: China and Northeast Asia issue put this number much lower, at around 300. It was possible that IISS was counting both active and inactive vehicles, though this might not be the explanation as IISS did not sufficiently explain their figures. By 2002 that number had declined to around 150 Type 69s and 500 Type 79s. Further reductions by 2003 brought the number of Type 79s down to 300 tanks. At this rate, this type of main battle tank was should be phased out by 2005. However, IISS reported that 300 tanks were still in inventory as of 2008.