PTL02
Contents
Description
The HuoPao TuJi LunShi 02 (Simplified Chinese: PTL02 轮式突击炮; lit. wheeled assault gun) is a rank VI Chinese light tank with a battle rating of 8.7 (AB) and 9.0 (RB/SB). It was introduced in Update "Ixwa Strike".
Based on the WZ551 6x6 chassis developed in early 1990s shared with the ZSL-92 armoured personnel carrier, this vehicle is also the very first wheeled assault gun of the Chinese tech tree. Having subpar speed compared to contemporary wheeled vehicles (at 85 km/h on road) and paperthin protection, it might not be a first rate flanker like the Centauro or Rooikat Mk.1D. It is still significantly faster than all other PLAGF/ROCA vehicles for now. Armed with a high velocity 100 mm smoothbore anti-tank gun, its stock APFSDS can penetrate 220 mm of flat RHA at point-blank range and its unlockable DYW PT-86-100 APFSDS boasts up to 381 mm of penetration. This vehicle has thermal sights with acceptable resolution in addition to a laser rangefinder, which can be precious at its BR since they significantly speed up the seek and destroy process. The PTL02 is less forgiving than other wheeled light tanks, but despite its shortcomings in armour, it still offers valuable scouting and flanking abilities that complement other Chinese vehicles well.
General info
Survivability and armour
One of the major drawbacks of this vehicle is the poor protection against any calibre bigger than 12.7 mm since only the turret has more than 20 mm of armour to stop heavy machine gun rounds from some range. Other than that, it's 5 to 10 mm of armour all around. Avoid anything with a HMG or any autocannon vehicles (including aircraft) at all costs, because it is very likely you will not have a second chance to return fire and knock the enemy out.
The PTL02's large profile (it is taller than a Leopard 2) does it no favours when it comes to avoiding fire, but the combination of thin armour and large, empty volume will occasionally frustrate enemies firing subcalibre rounds. Penetration is essentially guaranteed, but minimal spalling is created and a hastily aimed shot may not catch many crew members or important modules in the line of fire. On the other hand, HE shells with a high explosive mass will often transmit shockwaves into the vehicle's interior and knock out the crew with pressure damage. Other chemical rounds like HEAT and HESH might inflict overpressure damage but with a much lower probability. Bombs, rockets, and artillery shells are similarly dangerous.
Armour type:
- Rolled homogeneous armour
- Cast homogeneous armour
| Armour | Front (Slope angle) | Sides | Rear | Roof |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hull | 10 mm (33°) Driver viewport glacis 10 mm (78°) Upper Glacis 10 mm (40°) Lower Glacis |
8 mm (25°) Top 10 mm (6°) Bottom 8mm (27°)Wheelwells |
6 mm (4°) Upper plate 6 mm (48°) Lower glacis |
10 mm (12°) Front glacis 6 mm Driver hatch 6 mm Centre |
| Turret | 30 mm (31°) Turret front 20 mm (29°) Turret Cheeks 30 mm (0°) Gun mantlet |
20 mm (23°) Frontal 20 mm (9°) Rear |
15 mm (14°) | 10 mm (12°) 10 mm (13°) Centre |
| Cupola | 10 mm (cylindrical) | 10 mm | ||
Notes:
- 5 mm structural steel storage boxes covering the turret rear
- Gun mantlet consists of cast homogeneous armour
- Wheels are 10 mm thick
Mobility
| Game Mode | Max Speed (km/h) | Weight (tons) | Engine power (horsepower) | Power-to-weight ratio (hp/ton) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Forward | Reverse | Stock | Upgraded | Stock | Upgraded | ||
| Arcade | 94 | 8 | 19 | 496 | 611 | 26.11 | 32.16 |
| Realistic | 84 | 8 | 283 | 320 | 14.89 | 16.84 | |
Powered by a licensed BF8L413F 325 hp diesel engine from Germany, the PTL02 can reach up to 85 km/h ( and -8 km/h in reverse) on roads. This vehicle still lags behind almost all wheeled assault guns in the game (only the M1128 has a worse power-to-weight ratio). This exacerbates the common problem of wheeled vehicles performing worse on soft terrain. Another negative aspect of the PTL02's mobility is the absurdly slow reverse speed of only ~7km/h, meaning it lacks the agility wheeled vehicles should have and will not be able to quickly back out from danger. The PTL02 will not be able to match the Centauro for example in terms of zipping in and out of cover and climbing to unusual vantage points.
To make the most out of the good top speed, it will need to navigate on hard terrain (roads, urban surfaces) for best results. If the PTL02 must be used on hilly and soft terrain maps, try your best not to get stuck since the lack of mobility will absolutely be the death sentence of this vehicle.
Modifications and economy
| Mobility | Protection | Firepower | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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Armaments
Main armament
The 100 mm PTP-86 smoothbore gun found on this vehicle was a improvement on the earlier Soviet based PTP-73 (Type 73) AT gun with the same calibre with NATO alloy technologies (which came from L7A3 then domesticated as ZPT-79). The PTP-86 has similar performance as the Type 69's gun and players can get used to it fairly quickly. Bear in mind the poor gun depression. It has a significantly faster turret rotation than the Type 69, which is a plus.
| 100 mm PTP86 | Turret rotation speed (°/s) | Reloading rate (seconds) | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mode | Capacity | Vertical | Horizontal | Stabilizer | Stock | Upgraded | Full | Expert | Aced | Stock | Full | Expert | Aced |
| Arcade | 30 | -4°/+18° | ±180° | Two-plane | 24.8 | 34.3 | 41.6 | 46.0 | 48.9 | 8.71 | 7.70 | 7.10 | 6.70 |
| Realistic | 15.5 | 18.2 | 22.1 | 24.4 | 26.0 | ||||||||
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 | ||
| 1-72-85 APDS-FS | APFSDS | 220 | 213 | 193 | 173 | 156 | 140 |
| 1-71-74 HE | HE | 17 | 17 | 17 | 17 | 17 | 17 |
| Type 1973 HEAT-FS | HEATFS | 390 | 390 | 390 | 390 | 390 | 390 |
| DYW PT86-100 | APFSDS | 381 | 378 | 372 | 364 | 356 | 347 |
| Shell details | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ammunition | Type of warhead |
Velocity (m/s) |
Projectile Mass (kg) |
Fuse delay (m) |
Fuse sensitivity (mm) |
Explosive Mass (TNT equivalent) (g) |
Ricochet | ||
| 0% | 50% | 100% | |||||||
| 1-72-85 APDS-FS | APFSDS | 1,505 | 4.7 | N/A | N/A | N/A | 76° | 77° | 80° |
| 1-71-74 HE | HE | 900 | 15 | 0 | 0.1 | 1,300 | 79° | 80° | 81° |
| Type 1973 HEAT-FS | HEATFS | 1,000 | 10.05 | 0.05 | 0.1 | 1,180 | 65° | 72° | 77° |
| DYW PT86-100 | APFSDS | 1,610 | 3.3 | N/A | N/A | N/A | 78° | 80° | 81° |
The PTL02 has a similar ammunition selection as the Type 69, with the exception of the DYW PT86-100 APFSDS round. The stock 1-72-85 APFSDS with 220 mm of flat penetration at 10 metres is worse than many AP/APHE rounds. It also suffers noticeable drop-off at long distances. 1-72-85 does have a few good qualities: it has a good muzzle velocity of 1,505 m/s and the angled penetration is decent considering the flat penetration, topping out at 127 mm @ 60 degrees. For comparison, the T-55A's 3BM25 APFSDS round has far superior flat penetration (up to 335 mm) but only has slightly higher angled penetration (up to 129 mm @ 60 degrees). 1-72-85 penetrates sloped armour more effectively than flat armour, rather like long rod APFSDS rounds. The post-penetration damage is nothing to write home about but still workable. Spalling is poor, but the round tends to stay intact after penetration and is quite good at detonating ammo racks and knocking out crew members if they are in the line of fire. Memorize the module layouts of enemy tanks to efficiently cripple and destroy them as the PTL02 cannot withstand return fire.
The 1-71-74 HE shell is weak and should be ignored. It has a low explosive content and might be able to cause pressure damage to light targets, but not consistently. Any vehicle with more than paper-thin armour will be immune to it.
The unlockable Type 1973 HEAT-FS is a Tier III modification. Familiar to Type 59 or Type 69 users, it has the same penetration performance as the T-55A's 3BK17M HEAT-FS with a lower TNT equivalent and a slightly lower muzzle velocity. 390 mm of flat penetration at any distance is impressive and will slice through almost all tanks lacking special armour types (spaced, reactive, composite). While it lacks the extra high velocity of the APFSDS and can be detonated by bushes or fences, the HEAT-FS is still good for dealing with heavy targets that the APFSDS can't penetrate. The explosive content is rather low but it might trigger overpressure damage occasionally against light targets. Post-penetration damage is somewhat inconsistent, so again, aim for crew members and ammo racks.
The DYW PT86-100 APFSDS round, introduced in Update "Red Skies", is the best option overall and comes as a tier IV researchable modification. With an even higher velocity at 1,610 m/s than 1-72-85, it has wonderful penetration for the PTL02's rank and battle rating: 381 mm of flat penetration and 220 mm of 60-degree penetration at point-blank is on the level of the M774 and M833 rounds used by the IPM1 Abrams! Very few opponents that the PTL02 faces can possibly resist this round, and even if used in lineups higher than 8.0, it fares well against relatively tough opponents like the T-72A. Once this round is unlocked, the PTL02's cannon becomes significantly more competitive and easy to use. Together with the linkage of rangefinder and gun sight, this round can prove its capabilities in the battlefield without having to worry about where to aim at its BR. Keep in mind that it costs 210 Silver Lions per shot, so firing it excessively can get expensive; make the shots count.
Ammo racks
| Full ammo |
1st rack empty |
2nd rack empty |
3rd rack empty |
4th rack empty |
5th rack empty |
6th rack empty |
Visual discrepancy |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 30 | __ (+__) | __ (+__) | __ (+__) | __ (+__) | __ (+__) | __ (+__) | __ |
Machine guns
The turret-mounted 12.7 mm QJC88A HMG has already become the standardized HMG for most PLAGF vehicles after the 1990s. The main usage of the HMG is to deal with lightly protected vehicles and low-flying aircraft including helicopters. It can also effectively damage gun barrels, tracks, optics, MG, and ERA to assist teammates in destroying enemies, though this may require a lot of fire. Players who dealt with the paltry 50 round belt capacity of the 12.7 mm DShK machine guns of previous PLA vehicles will be happy to know that the QJC88A has a much more generous 150 round belt capacity.
The 7.62 mm MG, on the other hand, is only useful in clearing obstacles such as fences, marking out enemy positions on the minimap, or knocking out exposed crew on certain vehicles (eg. M113 TOW). It lacks the penetration to pierce through even lightly armoured vehicles.
| 12.7 mm QJC88A | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mount | Capacity (Belt) | Fire rate | Vertical | Horizontal |
| Pintle | 500 (150) | 700 | -5°/+60° | ±180° |
| 7.62 mm Type 86 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mount | Capacity (Belt) | Fire rate | Vertical | Horizontal |
| Coaxial | 800 (250) | 700 | N/A | N/A |
Usage in battles
Being a wheeled vehicle and the very first wheeled assault gun of the Chinese tech tree, the PTL02's main advantages lie in its mobility and gun sight.
With its 85 km/h speed, flanking is the key to avoid any direct fire from pretty much any vehicle armed with at least a heavy machine gun. Because of the negligible protection found on this vehicle, take all precautions and avoid rushing into direct fire at all costs, you will not have the luxury of having the second chance to return fire. Being one of the slowest wheeled assault guns in the game, taking vantage points might not be possible considering the inferior top speed that only gets worse in off-road situations. The thin armour and poor reverse speed punish poor positioning, so think carefully about what spots allow the PTL02 to spot and engage enemies without being overly exposed to incoming fire. Complicated terrains are problematic for this vehicle and it tends to do better in urban combat. Any aircraft is a lethal threat, with either guns or rockets, so keep away from their sight. Use smoke grenades to mask your position if there are no buildings or other forms of large cover to hide behind. Helicopters in particular will have an easy time spotting and destroying the PTL02, so do not attract their attention and make use of the heavy machine gun if they get very close.
The 1-72-85 APFSDS comes stock, although it is enough to deal with earlier Cold War MBTs like Leopard 1 and AMX-30, this stock round might meet American tanks with rounded hull like M48A1 and the tougher M103 which cause some trouble; in this case, bring some HEAT-FS to help deal with such vehicles. Otherwise, memorize the weak spots of enemy tanks and try to flank. Contemporary MBTs tend to have poor side armour and even a half decent angle of attack may be enough for the APFSDS to penetrate where typical APDS rounds could not. Once the better DYW PT86-100 APFSDS round has been researched, you are more likely to take down your enemies without too much concern on their protection with a whopping 381mm penetration at point-blank. As discussed previously, aim for ammo racks and important crew members. If an injured enemy is still capable of returning fire, be very cautious and consider leaving them for teammates to clean up. Since the PTL02 is a relatively modern vehicle, dating from 2002, it has second generation thermal sights for the gunner with sufficient resolution to help players find targets at a good distance. With the laser rangefinder and the linkage of gun sight to rangefinder, the PTL02 is a mobile sniper that cause severe damage to the enemy team. Caution and planning are still needed to compensate for its faults, but once the PTL02 is in a good position, its thermal sights and railgun-like top APFSDS allow it to send enemies to hangar efficiently.
- Enemies worth noting
- Rooikat Mk.1D, Centauro, M1128: these wheeled vehicles perform a similar flanking role on the battlefield. Therefore you will often encounter them while flanking or on your way to flank. These vehicles are generally faster, both forwards and backwards, have better gun depression or better optics/ammo, so they may already be at a cap point before you. If this is the case, ambush around their location and passively hunt them down, as the PTL02's rather slow acceleration and bad reverse prevents it from being offensive in terms of mobility. The Rooikat lacks thermal sights, making it easier to spot and destroy preemptively. The Centauro has stronger armor and a more spaced out crew layout. The M1128 can only be encountered in a full uptier and has an unmanned turret, good thermal sights for all crew members, and slat armour that occasionally interferes with HEAT-FS rounds.
- AMX-10RC: a contemporary French 6x6 wheeled light tank armed with a 105 mm gun, APFSDS rounds, and thermal sights for the gunner. The AMX-10RC has a rather low profile compared to other wheeled tanks and can be a dangerous sniper. Unlike the other wheeled vehicles mentioned previously, the AMX-10RC does not have any sort of gun stabilizer. Try to attack it when it is on the move and cannot shoot accurately.
- M60A1 RISE (P), Sho't Kal Dalet, Centurion Mk.5 AVRE: these three medium tanks have good frontal armour and are equipped with ERA, so the HEAT-FS and stock 1-72-85 APFSDS will have some difficulty in direct engagements. All three have hull side armour of at most 50 mm, so the best option is usually to get a slight flank and overmatch their side armour using the APFSDS. In a last resort frontal engagement, all of them can be targeted in the turret ring area, though that is a difficult shot. The Sho't Kal can be ammo-racked through the lower glacis and the AVRE has some ERA gaps around the gun mantlet. Shooting the AVRE in the lower glacis is possible but somewhat annoying due to the obscuring plow attachment, and it is also hard to hit the ammo racks below the turret basket. These problems disappear once the top APFSDS is unlocked, as it has more than enough power to penetrate the three tanks anywhere and at any distance.
- Gepard, Type 87, M3 Bradley, BMP-2, etc.: these vehicles are fast and armed with fully-stabilized autocannons that will very easily rip through the PTL02. Keep a safe distance and try to ambush them.
Overall, the PTL02 can be put to good use by players who are skilled with using APFSDS and HEAT-FS rounds, perhaps from prior experience on the Type 69, and are willing to trade any semblance of armour for increased scouting abilities, better mobility, and a very powerful top APFSDS round. The combination of thermals, a stabilized gun, and HEAT-FS + both APFSDS can prove useful in many situations and is good training for the fast-paced combat seen at higher ranks.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- High speed and agility on hard and even terrain
- Hard-hitting 100 mm cannon capable of firing powerful rounds
- Powerful DYW PT-86-100 APFSDS shell with 381 mm penetration which is very effective at its BR, still highly potent in uptiers
- Gunner thermal optics significantly boost its fighting capability, especially at night
- Thin armour may cause overpenetration, leading to minimal shrapnel damage
- Fast turret traverse
- Two-plane stabiliser allows better targeting
- Roof-mounted 12.7 mm HMG is lethal against helicopters and light vehicles
- Laser rangefinder with linkage to gunsight helps sniping.
Cons:
- Extremely slow reverse speed for a wheeled vehicle
- Poor gun depression (-4 degrees) renders it useless in hilly battlefields
- Very thin armour, can be mowed down by common .50 cal MG frontally as well as knocked out by HE shells through overpressure
- Tall profile
- Suspension is soft and bouncy, hull wobbles severely when breaking to a stop
- As with other wheeled vehicles, poor mobility on soft or uneven terrain
- No thermal sight for commander
- Abysmal penetration figures for the 1-72-85 APDS-FS round against heavily armoured vehicles - expect the round to frequently non-pen or bounce off Russian T-62's, British Chieftains and American M60's
History
In the early 1980s, Factory 256 (now known as NORINCO Chongqing Tiema Industrial Cooperation) started their version of a domestic wheeled APC program coded WZ551. The factory decided to build the APC based on the Mercedes-Benz 2026 off-road truck which has just been introduced into Mainland China, the program didn't go well as they decided later on to make major changes to the propulsion system and therefore the WZ551 was delayed. This delay caused the withdrawal of funding from the 7th 5-year project and Factory 256 needed to export this APC in order to recoup their investment. However, in 1986, the prototype of the WZ551 was approved by the PLAGF and was selected as their future wheeled APC. It was approved for production in 1988 and designated as ZSL90 and later ZSL92 with improved propulsion. The WZ551A chassis was then designed to mount different weaponry ranging from riot-suppression equipment, mortar, IFV turret and anti-tank weaponry.
Just a few years prior to the official introduction of WZ551 and its variant, PLAGF kept their eyes on the development of wheeled assault guns from NATO countries, and Factory 256 was also among one of the factories that was asked to design a new domestic wheeled assault gun; they then opted for Type 86 100 mm AT gun as the main gun of their prototype Type 87 wheeled assault gun. While it didn't make it through state certifications, the PLAGF did saw how the extensive use of wheeled assault guns during the Gulf War helped the Coalition as a light, mobile gun platform while remaining less expensive to operate than conventional MBTs. Later, when the tension between Mainland China and the Taiwanese Government got more intense (the 2nd Taiwan Strait Crisis), PLAGF also found the potential of using a wheeled assault gun with the extensive and well-developed road network of Taiwan in view of the possible landing operations; thus WZ551A got a second chance. After some rapid development, PTL97 with 100 mm AT gun passed field tests, it was then further upgraded with a new image-stabilized FCS and some redesign of the main gun. The newly designed PTL02 finally passed state certification in October 2001 and was first publicly shown in the 50th Anniversary of the Establishment of PRC parade, as the 12th phalanx of the vehicle column in the parade. It serves as a quick response mobile gun platform for the artillery troops.
Devblog
In the late 1980's, the NORINCO corporation successfully tested the Type 87 armoured vehicle. The prototype featured a 6x6 chassis of a prospective Type 90 armoured personnel carrier with a 100mm anti-tank gun. The prototype vehicle successfully passed the tests, but was not put into service.
The army authorities returned to the project in the early 90's, when, in the course of modernization, the PLA began to form mobile motorized infantry formations. This was where the Type 87 researches came in handy: by 2003, on the same 6x6 chassis of the new Chinese armoured vehicles ZSL92 and ZSL92A, a PTL02 infantry support vehicle appeared with a 100mm smooth-bore cannon in the turret. The 19-ton infantry fire support vehicle possessed significant mobility and a weapon capable of effectively destroying fortifications and armoured vehicles, except for modern MBTs.
Mass production of the PTL02 has been going on since 2004, the SPG is widely used by the Chinese army and is produced for export in a version with a 105mm gun, unified for the use of Western-style ammunition.
Media
- Skins
- Images
- Videos
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 series of the vehicles;
- links to approximate analogues of other nations and research trees.
External links
| China light tanks | |
|---|---|
| Type 63 | Object 211 · Type 63 · ZTS63 |
| Type 62 | Type 62 |
| WZ551 | ZSL92 · PTL02 · WMA301 |
| ZBL08 | ZLT11 |
| Type 86 | ZBD86 |
| WZ502 | ZBD04A |
| ROC | M41D · M64 |
| Type 59 | QN506 |
| USA | ␗M8 LAC · ␗M3A3 Stuart · ␗M3A3 (1st PTG) · ␗M5A1 · ␗M24 · ␗M18 GMC · ␗M41A3 |
| USSR | ␗T-26 · T-26 No.531 · ␗PT-76 |
