The Type 89 tank destroyer (military designation PTZ-89, industrial designation WA320) is a Chinese armored,
tracked,
tank destroyer vehicle developed by
Norinco for the
People’s Liberation Army
The People's Liberation Army (PLA) is the principal military force of the People's Republic of China and the armed wing of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The PLA consists of five service branches: the Ground Force, Navy, Air Force, ...
. The vehicle was developed in the 1980s and entered service in 1989.
Development
Armed with a 120 millimeter
smoothbore
A smoothbore weapon is one that has a barrel without rifling. Smoothbores range from handheld firearms to powerful tank guns and large artillery mortars.
History
Early firearms had smoothly bored barrels that fired projectiles without signi ...
gun, it was intended to combat newer generations of Western and Russian main battle tanks that were equipped with
composite armor
Composite armour is a type of vehicle armour consisting of layers of different material such as metals, plastics, ceramics or air. Most composite armours are lighter than their all-metal equivalent, but instead occupy a larger volume for the sam ...
and 120 and 125 millimeter caliber guns. Despite a successful development process, with the end of the
Cold War it became apparent that the weapon was no longer needed.
Production was halted in 1995 after around 100 examples had been built.
An official retirement ceremony was held by the 39th Army Group on 3 November 2015.
Operators
*
**: 230 built and in store (no longer in active service)
See also
*
Type 11 Assault vehicle
*
AFT-10 ATGM Carrier
References
Tank destroyers
Armoured fighting vehicles of the People's Republic of China
Military vehicles introduced in the 1980s
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