Type 88C (125 mm)

This page is about the Chinese tank cannon Type 88C (125 mm). For other uses, see Type 88 (Disambiguation).

The 125 mm Type 88C on the ZTZ96A gun mantlet.

Description

The Type 88C is a 125 mm smoothbore cannon manufactured by Factory 617, Norinco during the late 1980s. Serving as the PLAGF's early model of Warsaw Pact calibre equivalent cannon with the sufficient velocity and the projectile's penetration, this gun can show its power through eliminating enemies with its varied shells.

Vehicles equipped with this weapon

• ZTZ96
• ZTZ96A
• ZTZ96A (P)

General info

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

Available ammunition

The basis for this gun was Warsaw Pact's 2A46M-1 cannon, so it can theoretically fire most of its shells, while there are a few domestic options like the DTP-125 HEATFS, DTB-125 HEATFS and later 125-I APFSDS shells.

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	466	464	458	450	442	434

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	905	18	0.05	0.1	2.62	65°	72°	77°
DTB-125	HE	850	23	0.3	0.1	5.46	79°	80°	81°
125-I	APFSDS	1,730	4.02	-	-	-	78°	80°	81°

Comparison with analogues

For the NATO equivalent Rh120 L/44 and its basis 2A46M-1, the Chinese Type 88C shines over in terms of projectile velocity at 1,730 m/s, but considering the subpar reload speed at 7.1 seconds just like his Soviet cousins, this gun is somewhat average at its tier while still sufficient to handle most targets.

Usage in battles

Since the gun was based on the 2A46M-1 cannon, players of Soviet tech tree might find themselves at ease using the Type 88C cannon, as they share many traits and flaws. Its overall higher velocity and access to HEATFS, as well as slow (albeit still faster than the former) traverse speed and subpar reload compared to NATO manually reloaded guns. Its velocity and penetration help players knock out most of the targets it may face thanks to the 125-I APFSDS, also DTB HE does worth mentioning with their bit more explosive mass and penetration which also makes enemies be extra caution not to overpressurized by this shell. Overall the gun is very similar, if not the same as 2A46M-1 found on many Soviet/Russian tanks, aside from the reload time, and the playstyle should be similar as well.

Pros and cons

Pros:

• High velocity that makes it comfortable at sniping
• 125-I found on this gun has enough penetration to stop most of its targets
• Access to powerful HEFS that can over-pressure even the heaviest MBTs
• Domestic autoloader that reloads even with loss of crew members

Cons:

• Subpar reload rate like the T-72 series
• Subpar traverse speed albeit still faster than his Soviet Cousin
• Comes with no tube-launched ATGM

History

The attempt of Chinese domestic smoothbore cannon goes back to the late 1960s.

During the 1980s, Mainland China has acquired a T-72U-1 "Ural" , aka Model 64, from Romania, in exchange to some industrial equipment; meanwhile there was the competition from Factory 447's 120 mm smoothbore gun of early Project 122 tanks, Factory 617 had a better progress on reverse-engineering this gun alongside with its AZ-172 autoloader, eventually in 1986 this gun passed state certifications and was used on a prototype of the ZTZ85II-AP/M export tank and the ZTZ90 as their main cannon. Later with its official introduction into PLAGF service, it made its way into becoming the main gun for the ZTZ88C (later renamed the ZTZ96) and its upgrade, the ZTZ96A. Completed with NATO alloy technologies from Rheinmetall, this gun served as a more accurate and powerful option for PLAGF to handle any future tanks they may encounter.

Media

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

See also

• PTZ89 (120 mm)

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 86
76 mm	M32K1
85 mm	Type 56 · Type 63
100 mm	PTP86 · Type 59 · Type 69 · Type 69-II · ZPL04
105 mm	88B-105T · Type 83 · WMA301 · ZPL94 · ZPL98A
120 mm	122TM · PTZ89
125 mm	Type 88C · Type 99A · ZPT98
130 mm	PL59A Gai
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)