PG87 (25 mm)

Description

The 25 mm PG87 (PG87式25毫米双管高射炮) is a Chinese anti-aircraft gun. It is the enlarged version of the previous 23 mm PG85 anti-aircraft gun, the reverse-engineered version of the Soviet ZU-23-2. The gun was also used as the basis of ZPT90 turret system for ZBD86-I and ZSL92.

Vehicles equipped with this weapon

• PGZ04A
• ZSD63/PG87

General info

The overall design of the PG87 is very similar to its reverse-engineered Soviet counterpart, the ZU-23-2. Based on a larger 25x183 mmB cartridge, it has a straight ballistic trajectory and a high muzzle velocity.

Available ammunition

• Default: AP-T · FI-T*
• Type 87 HE: FI-T*
• Type 87 AP:AP-T

Penetration statistics
Ammunition	Penetration @ 0° Angle of Attack (mm)
	10 m	100 m	500 m	1,000 m	1,500 m	2,000 m
FI-T*	8	8	6	5	4	3
AP-T	63	61	51	41	33	27

Shell details
Ammunition	Velocity (m/s)	Projectile mass (kg)	Fuse delay (m)	Fuse sensitivity (mm)	Explosive mass (TNT equivalent) (g)	Ricochet
						0%	50%	100%
FI-T*	1,050	0.25	0.1	0.1	29.26	47°	56°	65°
AP-T	1,050	0.25	-	-	-	47°	60°	65°

Comparison with analogues

Thanks to the overall larger calibre of 25 mm, the PG87 has a straighter trajectory compare to the Soviet ZU-23-2 and its AZP-23 quad-mount found on the ZSU-23-4, although the lesser choice on ammunition might seem disappointing at first glance; the default penetration from Type 87 AP-T round can penetrates most NATO vehicles' sides, its rate of fire also helps it gunning down its targets.

It has a high muzzle velocity (1,050 m/s) than the ZU-23-2 (970 and 980 m/s), comparable to the 25 mm Oerlikon KBA autocannon. However, the Oerlikon cannon can fire APDS rounds at an even higher velocity. While it shares similar traits to the 25 mm Oerlikon KBA, the PG87 doesn't come with any type of APDS round.

Usage in battles

The default belt itself has a balanced arrangement of shells of AP-T and FI-T, more than enough to gun down even the toughest aircraft at their tiers if it is careless enough to come into range. while Type 87 AP is still enough to gun down tanks with thinner sides, but it struggles to penetrate Soviet tanks with thicker sides.

There is a major drawback for PG87: its reload time. For the towed gun version found on ZSD63, it takes up to 17 seconds to reload, which is very fatal in heated fight, so do conserve ammo and wait until the target is within 800 m: the target will have lesser chance to escape the short burst of 25 mm shells.

Pros and cons

Pros:

• High muzzle velocity and penetration
• High rate of fire
• The Type 87 FI-T round has high explosive mass

Cons:

• Small ammo pool for the towed version
• Relatively long reload time (up to 17 seconds)
• Type 87 AP-T round still struggles to penetrate tanks with over 70 mm side armour

History

After the certification of the reverse-engineered PG85 23 mm anti-aircraft gun in 1985, an upgraded version of this gun with 25 mm calibre dubbed PG87 was then passed certification in 1987,in view of the Oerlikon KBA equipping some NATO countries. With new IR tracking gunsight, it served as an enhanced version of the PG85 and was used as field tow AA gun and on the later PGZ95/04A SPAAG.

As PLAGF deemed 25 mm as the autocannon caliber for earlier IFV/APCs with autocannon before the introduction of 30 mm ZPZ02, this gun and its caliber were then fitted onto the ZPT90 turret system for the aforementioned types of vehicles.

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

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

China anti-aircraft guns
25 mm	PG87 · ZPT90
35 mm	PG99-35-2
37 mm	Type 65
57 mm	WA318
	Foreign:
12.7 mm	M2HB (USA)
20 mm	KwK30 (Germany)
40 mm	Dual Automatic Gun M2 (USA)