ZTS63
Contents
Description
The ZTS63 (Chinese:ZTS63式水陆两栖坦克, industry code WZ211), originally certified in 1963 as the amphibious tank for PLANMC or PLAGF units with the needs to cross waterbodies which were abundant in Asia, has received an upgrade as some of the technologies used on ZTZ59A or ZTQ62 have already been installed successfully by 1980; in ZTS63's case, it received a laser rangefinder and better fire control system for long-range fire support. These tanks have served PLAGF during the Sino-Vietnamese War in early 1980s as a supporter to troops against Vietnamese troops and militia with very few tanks at service, although having non-sufficient protection against cannons and RPGs, these vehicles were kept in service until later ZTS63A and eventually ZLT05 or newer IFVs that replaced its role as amphibious tank, marking the end of the prefix ZTS in PLA service.
Introduced in Update "Sky Guardians", players of Type 62 or Type 63-I will soon find themselves home thanks to its identical handling and overall design, some welcoming upgrades including better FCS and the installation of Type 54 DShK also makes it a more versatile alternative to its predecessors; the introduction of this tank also marked the earliest tank possible to equip with both APFSDS and LRF with automatic ballistic solutions, not only this greatly extent the combat distance of the tank, it also greatly increase its odds to survive as this feature is extremely rare at its tier. However, players would still have to beware of its below-average protection against even HMGs and rather slow turret traverse speed, these could be fatal if players must run into heated fights without the situational awareness needed.
General info
Survivability and armour
One thing to note is that the name of ZTS63 is interchangeable with Type 63, other than the name change after 1980, HMG on turret and a LRF on the mantle by the centerline, the overall design of these two tanks are totally identical. For the needs of amphibious operations, the protection is reduced to the bare minimum to stop rifle caliber bullets and shrapnel; other than the mantlet at 50 mm, the whole vehicle has only up to 20 mm of armor, enemies' autocannons and HMGs will be very happy to see ZTS63 as they could tear down the vehicle with ease. So it's better to keep the vehicle from the heated battlefield and act as a supporter of the team to deliver possible final blow to enemy vehicles or disabling enemies as much as possible.
Armour type:
| Armour | Front (Slope angle) | Sides | Rear | Roof |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hull | 10 mm (82°) UFP
15 mm (54°) LFP |
10 mm Top 8 mm Bottom |
8 mm | 8 mm |
| Turret | 20 mm Turret front (Volumetric) 50 mm Gun mantlet |
20 mm (Volumetric) | 8 mm | |
| Cupola | 8 mm | |||
Notes:
Mobility
The ZTS63 didn't receive any upgrade in terms of powerplant and transmission, so it shares the same 12150L-2 diesel engine found previously on Type 63-I; the very slight or even no weight change on the tank also means it can retain a sufficiently high power-to-weight ratio at around 20 hp/t. If players ever have the need to flank enemies by taking detours on waterbodies, it could also travel on water at 11 km/h, one of the fastest speed among other amphibious vehicle in game.
| Game Mode | Max Speed (km/h) | Weight (tons) | Engine power (horsepower) | Power-to-weight ratio (hp/ton) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Forward | Reverse | Stock | Upgraded | Stock | Upgraded | ||
| Arcade | 72 | 9 | 18.4 | _,___ | 763 | __.__ | 41.47 |
| Realistic | 65 | 9 | _,___ | 400 | __.__ | 21.74 | |
Modifications and economy
| Mobility | Protection | Firepower | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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Armaments
Main armament
Still sharing the same gun as on Type 62 and 63, the Type 63 85 mm rifle cannon still handles totally identical to Type 63-I with some changes on the ammunition available; players will find the same exact advantage and flaws from previous users- while the caliber is larger than most light tanks of its tier with variety of ammunition and now APFSDS is among one of them, players need extra situational awareness to use the gun as it has way less reaction time than most light tanks at its tier as well; plan ahead and turn the turret before any close-quarter assaults.
| 85 mm Type 63 | Turret rotation speed (°/s) | Reloading rate (seconds) | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mode | Capacity | Vertical | Horizontal | Stabilizer | Stock | Upgraded | Full | Expert | Aced | Stock | Full | Expert | Aced |
| Arcade | 47 | -5°/+22° | ±180° | - | __._ | __._ | __._ | __._ | __._ | _.__ | _.__ | _.__ | _.__ |
| 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 56 HEAT-FS | HEATFS | 300 | 300 | 300 | 300 | 300 | 300 |
| Type 56 HE | HE | 19 | 18 | 17 | 16 | 15 | 14 |
| Type 56 APCBC | APCBC | 164 | 162 | 154 | 143 | 134 | 125 |
| DJW85 | APFSDS | 227 | 225 | 217 | 208 | 199 | 190 |
| 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 56 HEAT-FS | HEATFS | 845 | 7 | 0.05 | 0.1 | 822.8 | 65° | 72° | 77° | |||
| Type 56 HE | HE | 785 | 9.54 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 741 | 79° | 80° | 81° | |||
| Type 56 APCBC | APCBC | 792 | 9.2 | 1.2 | 14 | 77 | 48° | 63° | 71° | |||
| DJW85 | APFSDS | 1,290 | 2.1 | - | - | - | 78° | 80° | 81° | |||
Ammo racks
| Full ammo |
1st rack empty |
2nd rack empty |
3rd rack empty |
4th rack empty |
5th rack empty |
6th rack empty |
Visual discrepancy |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 47 | __ (+__) | __ (+__) | __ (+__) | __ (+__) | __ (+__) | __ (+__) | __ |
Machine guns
The previous Type 63-I has no HMG installed on top; in ZTS63's case, it has a pintle Type 54 DShK installed on the commander side of turret, giving it the chance to unleash 12.7 mm bullets against light targets or aircrafts/helicopters that came too close.
| 12.7 mm Type 54 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mount | Capacity (Belt) | Fire rate | Vertical | Horizontal |
| Pintle | 500 (50) | 600 | -5°/+60° | ±180° |
| 7.62 mm SGMT | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mount | Capacity (Belt) | Fire rate | Vertical | Horizontal |
| Coaxial | 3,250 (250) | 600 | N/A | N/A |
Usage in battles
Describe the tactics of playing in the vehicle, the features of using vehicles in the team and advice on tactics. Refrain from creating a "guide" - do not impose a single point of view but instead give the reader food for thought. Describe the most dangerous enemies and give recommendations on fighting them. If necessary, note the specifics of the game in different modes (AB, RB, SB).
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Amphibious, allowing the use of surprise tactics involving rivers
- Fast and nimble enough to get into vantage points
- LRF and automatic ballistic solution for long-range engagement
- Access to HMG for self-defense against planes
- APFSDS with ~220mm penetration is effective against weakly armoured tanks like Leopard 1, AMX-30
- Varieties of ammunition for different scenario
Cons:
- Low survivability: unprotected with its paper-thin armor, and large size
- Cannon struggles against late war heavy tanks like Maus, IS-4
- Slow turret traverse speed
- Relatively slow reload speed
- Still lacks NVD for night battles
- No smoke grenades
History
Describe the history of the creation and combat usage of the vehicle 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 vehicle and adding a block "/History" (example: https://wiki.warthunder.com/(Vehicle-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 />. This section may also include the vehicle's dev blog entry (if applicable) and the in-game encyclopedia description (under === In-game description ===, also if applicable).
Media
Excellent additions to the article would be video guides, screenshots from the game, and photos.
See also
- Type 63-I: the base model
External links
| China light tanks | |
|---|---|
| Type 63 | Object 211 · Type 63 · ZTS63 |
| Type 62 | Type 62 |
| WZ551 | 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 |
