DESIGN
The Type 98 is derived from the Type 90,
but incorporates a lot of improved systems.
Western tanks became increasingly more powerful
than their Chinese counterparts. The Chinese
thought of improving the three most important
characteristics: firepower, armor, mobility.
The firepower is increased by mounting a
new cannon. It is not the Russian 2A46, but
a new smoothbore cannon based on the Chinese
120mm cannon, but still it uses Russian 125mm
rounds, AT-11 anti-tank missiles and the
2A46 autoloader. The armor is a little thicker
on the front of the turret and more modular
armor is used. The glacis is also thicker.
A laser dazzle device is fitted on the turret
to prevent laser guided missiles from locking
on. A new 1200hp power pack makes the heaviest
Chinese tank one of the most mobile. |
PERFORMANCE
The Type 98 is the best Chinese tank. The
firepower, armor and mobility improvement
has payed of. The effectiveness comes quite
close to that of the M1A1 ‘Abrams’ and Leopard
2A5. Full scale production probably will
start in the year 2004. It is likely that
the Type 98 will be issued to elite units
and the bulk of the army will receive the
Type 96.
USE
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