L/54 (125 mm)

Description

The 125 mm L/54 cannon equipped on the WZ1001(E) LCT prototype was part of the experiment of WZ1001 (future ZTZ99A) to further increase the firepower of new MBT while maintaining identical caliber to future PLAGF MBTs; although the program was ditched due to limited improvements and shorten barrel life, the slightly increased penetration and velocity can help long-range engagements.

Vehicles equipped with this weapon

• WZ1001(E) LCT

General info

Tell us about the tactical and technical characteristics of the cannon or machine gun.

Available ammunition

Penetration statistics
Ammunition	Type of warhead	Penetration @ 0° Angle of Attack (mm)
		10 m	100 m	500 m	1,000 m	1,500 m	2,000 m
DTP-125	HEATFS	480	480	480	480	480	480
DTB-125	HE	45	45	45	45	45	45
125-I	APFSDS	476	475	468	460	452	445
DTC10-125	APFSDS	588	586	578	568	557	546
GP125	ATGM (tandem)	850	850	850	850	850	850
DTB12-125	HE-VT*	43	43	43	43	43	43

Shell details
Ammunition	Type of warhead	Velocity (m/s)	Projectile mass (kg)	Fuse delay (m)	Fuse sensitivity (mm)	Explosive mass (TNT equivalent) (kg)	Ricochet
							0%	50%	100%
DTP-125	HEATFS	930	18	0.05	0.1	2.62	65°	72°	77°
DTB-125	HE	870	23	0.3	0.1	5.46	79°	80°	81°
125-I	APFSDS	1,770	4.02	-	-	-	78°	80°	81°
DTC10-125	APFSDS	1,810	4.85	-	-	-	78°	80°	81°

Missile details
Ammunition	Type of warhead	Velocity (m/s)	Range (m)	Projectile mass (kg)	Fuse delay (m)	Fuse sensitivity (mm)	Explosive mass (TNT equivalent) (kg)	Ricochet
								0%	50%	100%
GP125	ATGM (tandem)	445	5,000	17.2	0.4	0.01	5.72	80°	82°	90°

Proximity-fused shell details
Ammunition	Type of warhead	Velocity (m/s)	Projectile mass (kg)	Fuse delay (m)	Fuse sensitivity (mm)	Arming distance (m)	Trigger radius (m)	Explosive mass (TNT equivalent) (kg)	Ricochet
									0%	50%	100%
DTB12-125	HE-VT*	870	23.2	0.3	0.1	500	7	5.3	79°	80°	81°

Comparison with analogues

• Rh120 L/55 and L/55 A1 - the longest NATO standard cannon with superior penetration but lesser velocity.
• 2A46M-5 - Russian 125 mm equivalent to PLAGF cannon at slightly higher penetration but lesser velocity.
• CN120-26 F1 - French 120 mm NATO standard cannon at slightly lower penetration and lesser velocity.
• OTO Breda 120/44 - Italian 120 mm NATO standard cannon at higher penetration but much less velocity.
• M256 and MG251 - US and Israeli 120 mm NATO standard cannon at higher penetration but much less velocity.
• L30A1 - British 120 mm NATO standard cannon at lower penetration and much less velocity.

Usage in battles

Players who have used the previous ZPT88C and ZPT98 would likely have no problem transferring from the shorter barrel 125 mm cannon to the longer variant; thanks to the additional length for the L/54 cannon, the new gun further increases the penetration and velocity of Chinese domestic shells at a slight but welcomed rate. But just like most PLAGF MBTs, beware of any breech damage from enemy attacks and hide the cannon as much as players can due to the additional section of cannon that peeks out from the safe cover.

Pros and cons

Pros:

• Sufficient gun traverse speed
• Improved penetration and velocity to previous PLAGF tanks

Cons:

• One of the longest cannon in-game with risk of damage behind cover
• Mantle protection problem still haunts the survivability of cannon

History

Examine the history of the creation and combat usage of the weapon in more detail than in the introduction. If the historical reference turns out to be too long, take it to a separate article, taking a link to the article about the weapon and adding a block "/History" (example: https://wiki.warthunder.com/(Weapon-name)/History) and add a link to it here using the main template. Be sure to reference text and sources by using <ref></ref>, as well as adding them at the end of the article with <references />.

Media

Excellent additions to the article would be video guides, screenshots from the game, and photos.

See also

Links to the articles on the War Thunder Wiki that you think will be useful for the reader, for example:

• reference to the article about the variant of the cannon/machine gun;
• references to approximate analogues by other nations and research trees.

External links

Paste links to sources and external resources, such as:

• topic on the official game forum;
• other literature.

China tank cannons
30 mm	ZPL02 · ZPZ02
73 mm	Type 85
76 mm	M32K1
85 mm	Type-62-85-TC · Type 63
100 mm	PTP86 · Type 59 · Type 69 · Type 69-II · ZPL04
105 mm	Type 83 · WMA301 · ZPL94 · ZPL98A
120 mm	122TM · PTZ89
125 mm	Type 88C · Type 99A · ZPT98
152 mm	PL66 Gai
	Foreign:
20 mm	KwK30 (Germany)
37 mm	M6 (USA)
45 mm	20-K (USSR)
47 mm	Type 1 (Japan)
57 mm	Type 97 (Japan) · ZIS-2 (USSR)
75 mm	M2 Howitzer (USA) · M3 (USA) · M6 (USA)
76 mm	D-56T (USSR) · F-34 (USSR) · M1 (USA) · M7 (USA) · ZIS-3 (USSR)
85 mm	ZIS-S-53 (USSR)
90 mm	M3 (USA) · M41 (USA)
100 mm	D-10S (USSR)
105 mm	M68 (USA) · M68A1 (USA)
115 mm	U-5TS (USSR)
122 mm	A-19 (USSR) · D-25T (USSR)
152 mm	ML-20S (USSR)