ZTZ88A
Contents
Description
The ZhuangJia Tanke ZhuZhan 88A(88A式主战坦克), coded WZ122G is a rank VI Chinese medium tank with a battle rating of 9.0 (AB/RB/SB). It was introduced in Update "Wind of Change".
An attempt of the PLAGF to modernize from the previous masses of ZTZ59 medium tanks, the ZTZ88A offers a superior engine, slightly better hull protection thanks to a new hull, and better firepower with a long barrel 105 mm gun; making it a more mobile alternative to previous tanks and stepping forward to chase-up the mobility to its competitor overseas while retaining decent armour and powerful firepower.
General info
Survivability and armour
At first glance, ZTZ88A still resembles a T-54 or its Chinese domestic counterpart, ZTZ59; but with a closer look at its hull, players will find that it is a new design. Its UFP is more angled than the T-54s (67° vs 60°), so the base protection would be slightly better than T-54/T-62, make ZTA88A in fact one of the most protected hulls at its tier. Furthermore, thanks to the advancement in composite armour in China, it is also the first Chinese vehicle to ever be equipped with composite armour as an applique on UFP, although it can't stop most of the darts or HEAT at its tier, APDS from lower-tier surely have a hard time penetrating its UFP. The sides were reduced to 60 mm, so do aware of any vehicles with autocannons- at its tier, most autocannons has APDS or APFSDS at their disposal; the turret is very similar to previous Soviet/Chinese designs so do not expect the turret can survive shots from aforementioned shells in its tier.
Like the previous Soviet/Chinese designs, the crew of 4 tankers is packed in a slightly bigger but still confined space; although the ammo rack is protected by a water-cool tank this time, the abundance of APFSDS or HEAT at its tier don't really concern about these improvements. So very careful on moving on the battlefield, a penetrated shot would very likely result in a knockout of the crew or ammunition detonation.
Armour type:
| Armour | Front (Slope angle) | Sides | Rear | Roof |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hull | UFP 100 mm (67°)
LFP 80 mm (52°) UFP applique (20 mm RHA+ 50mm NERA) |
60 mm Top 50mm Bottom |
45 mm | 30 mm |
| Turret | 220 mm Turret front (Volumetric) 200 mm Gun mantlet (Volumetric) |
175 mm (Volumetric) | 65 mm (Volumetric) | 30 mm |
| Cupola | 80 mm | 80 mm | 80 mm | 30 mm |
Notes:
Mobility
Thanks to the improvement during the early 1980s, ZTZ88A is equipped with a NORINCO 12150ZL engine with 730 hp, the same as his successor-ZTZ96 in tech tree; giving ZTZ88A vast improvement in power-weight ratio and thus better top speed at 57 km/h to its predecessors, although it is not as fast as NATO counterparts at similar tier, it is certainly a welcomed improvement.
| Game Mode | Max Speed (km/h) | Weight (tons) | Engine power (horsepower) | Power-to-weight ratio (hp/ton) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Forward | Reverse | Stock | Upgraded | Stock | Upgraded | ||
| Arcade | 64 | 10 | 38.5 | _,___ | 1,393 | __.__ | 36.18 |
| Realistic | 58 | 9 | _,___ | 730 | __.__ | 18.96 | |
Modifications and economy
| Mobility | Protection | Firepower | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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Armaments
Main armament
The introduction of Royal Ordinance L7 marked the transformation of PLAGF from Warsaw Pact armaments to western ones, ZPL94 mounted on ZTZ88A is among one of the longest barrels in the L7 family, giving it a higher velocity over his western counterparts.
| 105 mm ZPL94 | Turret rotation speed (°/s) | Reloading rate (seconds) | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mode | Capacity | Vertical | Horizontal | Stabilizer | Stock | Upgraded | Full | Expert | Aced | Stock | Full | Expert | Aced |
| Arcade | 45 | -4°/+18° | ±180° | Two-plane | __._ | __._ | __._ | __._ | __._ | 9.7 | _.__ | _.__ | 7.5 |
| Realistic | __._ | __._ | __._ | __._ | __._ | ||||||||
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 | ||
| Type-83 HEAT | HEATFS | 400 | 400 | 400 | 400 | 400 | 400 |
| DTB-1 | HE-VT | 21 | 21 | 21 | 21 | 21 | 21 |
| Type-83 HESH | HESH | 127 | 127 | 127 | 127 | 127 | 127 |
| Type-83 APDS | APFSDS | 351 | 349 | 343 | 336 | 328 | 321 |
| 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% | |||||||
| Type-83 HEAT | HEATFS | 1,200 | 11 | 0.05 | 0.1 | 1,270 | 65° | 72° | 77° |
| DTB-1 | HE-VT | 825 | 16.2 | 0 | 0.1 | 1,660 | 79° | 80° | 81° |
| Type-83 HESH | HESH | 750 | 15 | 0.1 | 4 | 4,310 | 73° | 77° | 80° |
| Type-83 APDS | APFSDS | 1,500 | 3.79 | N/A | N/A | N/A | 78° | 80° | 81° |
The ZTZ88A offers a range of shells at players' disposal, and players who already own the T-69 II G will be very familiar to them as both tanks share the same shells.
The first option that comes stock is the Type 83 HEAT having identical performance to NATO's DM13 HEAT. At its tier, it is still sufficient to penetrate most tanks without ERA (which is rare at the tier) and its explosive mass is enough to knock out lighter vehicles.
The DTB-1 is very different from most HE shells at its tier- it is a VT shell, meaning that the shell detonates when it is close to other vehicles, including aircraft; this is a trait that NATO counterparts don't have. It might be tempting that it has 16.2 kg of explosive mass which does indeed can knock out lighter vehicles, it is suggested to hit fixed-wing aircraft or helicopters which happened to be within your elevation angle- a hit from DTB-1 is very lethal to aircraft.
While the Type 83 HESH is another story, again it is a common HESH found on NATO vehicles; a solid hit on vehicles can trigger a lethal post-penetration effect, but the result of HESH is mixed. It is possible to snipe stationary vehicles with Type 83 HESH in some cases so bring some if players feel lucky- the laser rangefinder and automatic ballistic chart certainly help this.
The last round available is Type 83 APDS, thanks to the longer barrel of ZPL94, the overall penetration is slightly higher than M111/DM23 APFSDS at 351 mm point-blank; it will be the go-to shell for ZTZ88A. It might not have the highest penetration at its tier, but it can still hit enemies hard.
Ammo racks
| Full ammo |
1st rack empty |
2nd rack empty |
3rd rack empty |
Visual discrepancy |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 45 | 40 (+5) | 23 (+22) | 1 (+44) | No |
Although it has 23 shells in the ready rack, only 19 of them are protected by the fuel tank, not the 4 shells on the sides; so it is suggested that bring only 19+1 shells into battle.
Machine guns
ZTZ88A still uses the same machine guns from the obsolete T-54s despite its introduction date was back in the early 1990s. The DShK is still sufficient to gun down strafing aircraft/helicopters or lighter vehicles; while the SGMT is only good for harassing enemies or sometimes gunning down exposed crews.
| 12.7 mm DShK | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mount | Capacity (Belt) | Fire rate | Vertical | Horizontal |
| Pintle | 500 (50) | 600 | -10°/+60° | ±180° |
| 7.62 mm SGMT | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mount | Capacity (Belt) | Fire rate | Vertical | Horizontal |
| Coaxial | 3,000 (250) | 600 | N/A | N/A |
Usage in battles
For Soviet or Chinese players, ZTZ88A would feel like a faster T-55 or ZTZ59D1, which is indeed true thanks to its 730 hp engine, giving it higher mobility over them; it might not be the fastest tank at its tier, but ZTZ88A can still follow up with the main forces with its speed. For those who are playing against ZTZ88A, the tank looks very similar to T-55s but they will find surprised that they somehow didn't penetrate its UFP thanks to its applique, it might stop most APFSDS or HEATFS at similar tiers, but it certainly helps stop earlier shells. The turret though is another story- although being slightly thicker than T-55s, it will not stop any well-placed shots at its tier so be careful on where ZTZ88A is going.
The firepower of ZTZ88A is certainly sufficient thanks to the longer barrel ZPL94 gun with a variety of shells; but like many Eastern Bloc/Chinese tanks, it doesn't have the reaction time like NATO counterparts and the gunsight is fixed at 8x magnification, so sniping with this gun will be a big problem.
Overall, ZTZ88A provided a more mobile and higher firepower alternative to PLAGF against NATO or Soviet counterparts but still has some flaws.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Good frontal arc protection for its tier
- Long barrel L7 with a variety of shells at its disposal
- Improved engine with a higher output than its predecessors
Cons:
- Tightly packed crew and components
- Poor gun depression and gunsight
History
See User:Sakaban_Sharkigu's page for more information
After the Damansky/Zhenbao Island (珍宝岛) incident where PLAGF captured a T-62 from Soviet border guard, they soon realized that the existing ZTZ59s and later WZ121 (ZTZ69) were nowhere comparable with the masses of latest Soviet MBTs; the Commission for Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense (国防科学技术委员会, COSTIND) and Fifth Ministry of Machine Building (第五机械工业部;五机部) accelerated their project coded "Project 2-4 " (二四会战; established in 1970/2/4) for a new MBT which would be known as Project 122 (122工程) in attempt to build a new MBT with the best possible technologies during the early 1970s; the project was dropped a few years later after a revise on development route but this trained new batches of tank designers and engineers for future projects.
Meanwhile, one of the "fail-safe" versions of those designs in Project 122, WZ1225 with the newly-imported 105 mm gun and improved engine, designed by Fang Weixian (方慰先, designer of later ZTZ85, 88 and 96) passed state evaluation and inherited the industrial code WZ122. The later revised design of WZ1225 would become the basis of later domestic design tanks- ZTZ80 (80式主战坦克).
The ZTZ88 series was the hybrid of the ZTZ85 (85式主战坦克) with a redesigned hull completed with the turret from ZTZ80, aka ZTZ80-I. The ZTZ88A was the improved version with a ZPL94 105 mm gun; what's achieved in ZTZ85 and ZTZ88A would later be used in the new 2nd generation MBT of PLAGF- the ZTZ96 (ZTZ88C).
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 series of the vehicles;
- links to approximate analogues of other nations and research trees.
External links
Paste links to sources and external resources, such as:
- topic on the official game forum;
- other literature.
| Norinco (China North Industries Corporation) | |
|---|---|
| Light AFV/IFV | |
| WZ501 | ZBD86¹ |
| WZ131 | ▂Type 62 · Type 62 |
| WZ211 | Type 63 · ZTS63 |
| WZ502 | ZBD04A |
| MBT | |
| WZ120 | Type 59¹ · ZTZ59A · ZTZ59D1 |
| WZ121 | Type 69 |
| WZ122 | ZTZ88B · ZTZ88A · ZTZ96 · ZTZ96A · ZTZ96A (P) |
| WZ123 | ZTZ99-II · ZTZ99-III |
| WZ1001 | WZ1001(E) LCT · ZTZ99A |
| Tank Destroyers | AFT09 · PTL02 · PTZ89 · ZLT11 |
| SPH | PLZ83 |
| SPAA | ZSD63/PG87² · PGZ09 · PGZ04A |
| Export | |
| WZ121 | Type 69-IIa · T-69 II G |
| MBT2000 | MBT-2000 · Al-Khalid-I |
| MBT3000 | VT4A1 |
| Other | WMA301 · WZ305 |
| ¹ License production / Reverse engineered · ² Field modifications | |
| China medium tanks | |
|---|---|
| ZTZ59 | Type 59 · ZTZ59A · ZTZ59D1 |
| ZTZ69 | Type 69 · Type 69-IIa |
| ZTZ88/96 | ZTZ88A · ZTZ88B |
| ZTZ96 · ZTZ96A · ZTZ96A (P) | |
| ZTZ99 | ZTZ99-II · ZTZ99-III |
| ZTZ99A | ZTZ99A · WZ1001(E) LCT |
| Export series | MBT-2000 · VT4A1 |
| ROC | CM11 |
| Other | Т-34-85 Gai · Object 122MT "MC" |
| Bangladesh | T-69 II G |
| Japan | ␗Chi-Ha · ␗Chi-Ha Kai |
| Pakistan | Al-Khalid-I |
| USA | ␗M4A4 · ␗M4A4 (1st PTG) · ␗M4A1 (75) W · ␗M48A1 · ␗M60A3 TTS |
| USSR | ␗T-34 (1943) · ␗Т-34-85 (S-53) · T-34-85 No.215 · Т-62 №545 |
