Type 59
Sign in to saveAlso known as Type 59 MBT, WZ120, Type 59 Medium Tank, Type 59 tank, WZ-120
1958 main battle tank built by China
Key facts
- Type
- Main battle tank
- Place of origin
- China
- In service
- 1959–present
- Manufacturer
- First Inner Mongolia Machinery Factory , Norinco
- Produced
- 1958–1985
- Number span no built
- 9,500
- Mass
- 36 tonnes (35 long tons; 40 short tons)
- Length
- 6.04 metres (19.8 ft) (hull)
- Width
- 3.27 metres (10.7 ft)
- Height
- 2.59 metres (8 ft 6 in)
- Armor
- 20–203 mm
- Main armament
- 100 mm rifled gun
- Secondary armament
- 2 x Type 59T 7.62 mm machine gun, Type 54 12.7 mm air-defence machine gun
- Engine
- Model 12150L V-12 liquid-cooled diesel, 520 hp (390 kW)
- Power weight
- 14.44 hp/tonne
- Suspension
- torsion bar
- Operational range
- 450 km, 600 km with external tanks
- Maximum speed of vehicle or missile span
- 50 kilometres per hour (31 mph)
via Wikipedia infobox
~23 min read
Encyclopedic overview
T-62
The Type 59 (Chinese: 59式; pinyin: Wǔ jiǔ shì; industrial designation: WZ-120) is a Chinese version of the Soviet T-54A main battle tank, an early model of the ubiquitous T-54/55 series. The first vehicles were produced in 1958 and were accepted into service in 1959, with serial production beginning in 1963. Over 9,500 of the tanks were produced by the time production ended in 1985 with approximately 5,500 serving with the Chinese armed forces. The tank formed the backbone of the People's Liberation Army's armoured units until the early 2000s, with an estimated 5,000 of the later Type 59-I and Type 59-II variants in service in 2002.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Type 59” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.