The PF-89 or Type 89 is a portable, disposable, unguided, shoulder-launched,

anti-tank Anti-tank warfare originated from the need to develop technology and tactics to destroy tanks during World War I. Since the Triple Entente deployed the first tanks in 1916, the German Empire developed the first anti-tank weapons. The first deve ...

rocket launcher A rocket launcher is a weapon that launches an unguided, rocket-propelled projectile. History The earliest rocket launchers documented in imperial China consisted of arrows modified by the attachment of a rocket motor to the shaft a few in ...

. Developed by

Norinco China North Industries Group Corporation Limited, doing business internationally as Norinco Group (North Industries Corporation), and known within China as China Ordnance Industries Group Corporation Limited (), is a Chinese state-owned defense ...

for

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, ...

, PF-89 was designed to replace the obsolete

Type 69 RPG The Type 69 85mm RPG (Ручной Противотанковый Гранатомёт, 'Hand Anti Tank Grenade Launcher'), made by Norinco, is a Chinese variant of the Soviet RPG-7. First introduced in 1972, the Type 69 is a common individual ...

, providing a man-portable, single-use assault weapon system that could be used mainly by infantry squads to engage and defeat light armor and bunkers. The design permits accurate delivery of a rocket-propelled 80mm

high-explosive anti-tank High-explosive anti-tank (HEAT) is the effect of a shaped charge explosive that uses the Munroe effect to penetrate heavy armor. The warhead functions by having an explosive charge collapse a metal liner inside the warhead into a high-velocity ...

(HEAT) warhead, with negligible recoil. PF-89 entered mass production in 1993, and generally replaced

in PLA throughout the 1990s. Since 2010, the system is being used along with the more advanced

Type 08 The Type 08 () is a family of eight-wheeled amphibious, modular armored vehicle developed by Norinco for infantry fire support, battlefield logistics and quick reaction operations. It is a recent People's Republic of China produced Infantry fi ...

recoilless gun.

Description

The PF-89 is a lightweight, self-contained, anti-armor weapon comparable to the Swedish

AT4 The AT4 is a Swedish unguided, man-portable, disposable, shoulder-fired recoilless anti-tank weapon built by Saab Bofors Dynamics (previously Bofors Anti-Armour Systems and before that FFV Ordance). The AT4 is not considered a rocket launc ...

(U.S. Designation M136). Unlike AT4, PF-89 is a rocket-propelled weapon instead of a recoilless gun which by design is more similar to

M72 LAW The M72 LAW (light anti-tank weapon, also referred to as the light anti-armor weapon or LAW as well as LAWS: light anti-armor weapons system) is a portable one-shot unguided anti-tank weapon. The solid rocket propulsion unit was developed in th ...

and

RPG-26 The RPG-26 ''Aglen'' is a disposable anti-tank rocket launcher developed by the Soviet Union. It fires a single-stage rocket with jack-knife fins, which unfold after launch. The rocket carries a diameter high explosive anti-tank single shaped ...

. The weapon consists of a free-flight, fin-stabilized, rocket-propelled cartridge packed in a one-piece, one-off, fiberglass-wrapped tube. It is man-portable and is fired from the right shoulder only. The launcher is watertight for ease of transportation and storage. The PF-89 has a simple 2.5x, 12° field of view optical sight for aiming, with no night combat ability. The firer must be able to see and identify the target and estimate the range to it. The round of ammunition is self-contained in a disposable launch tube. The system weighs only eight pounds and can be used effectively with minimal training. However, the problem of back blast became prominent after the Army adopted the PF-89. Collateral damage is especially concerning for PLA that uses motorized infantry fighting tactics. China developed the

multipurpose recoilless gun with countermass balance mechanism to replace the PF-89, especially the multipurpose PF89A variant.

Variants

The PF-89 has six variants with each variant corresponding to a specific type of ammunition. The earliest variant, simply called PF-89, uses high-explosive double

shaped charge A shaped charge is an explosive charge shaped to form an explosively formed penetrator (EFP) to focus the effect of the explosive's energy. Different types of shaped charges are used for various purposes such as cutting and forming metal, init ...

s (with 8701 explosives) to achieve 628mm of RHA penetration at 90° angle in the static test. In kinetic test, the RHA penetration is more than 400mm at 0° angle or 180mm at 68° angle. The second variant, PF-89A, employs specialized multipurpose incendiary rounds. The multipurpose round can penetrate 300 mm of reinforced concrete, and release steel fragments and

zirconium Zirconium is a chemical element with the symbol Zr and atomic number 40. The name ''zirconium'' is taken from the name of the mineral zircon, the most important source of zirconium. The word is related to Persian '' zargun'' (zircon; ''zar-gun'', ...

-based incendiary composition to kill targets, light up wood, fabric upon impact. The third variant, PF-89B or PF-89-1, uses

tandem-charge A tandem-charge or dual-charge weapon is an explosive device or projectile that has two or more stages of detonation, assisting it to penetrate either reactive armour on an armoured vehicle or strong structures. Anti-tank Tandem charges are ...

high-explosive anti-tank warheads to improve penetration against

reactive armour Reactive armour is a type of vehicle armour that reacts in some way to the impact of a weapon to reduce the damage done to the vehicle being protected. It is most effective in protecting against shaped charges and specially hardened kinetic ener ...

. The WPF-89-1 is the

thermobaric A thermobaric weapon, also called an aerosol bomb, a vacuum bomb or a fuel air explosive (FAE), is a type of explosive that uses oxygen from the surrounding air to generate a high-temperature explosion. The fuel–air explosive is one of the be ...

version of the PF-89. WPF-89-1 is reusable, but did not see much use due to the complex reload process, thus China developed improved single-use WPF-89-2 in 2003. A training replica version is also available for operation practice.

Users

* : Used by the Cambodian Army.https://www.files.ethz.ch/isn/171425/SIPRIPP38.pdf * :

Non-state actors

* : WPF 89-2s used by

Fajr Libya The National Salvation Government ( ar, حكومة الإنقاذ الوطني) was a government body formed by politicians from the General National Congress's blocs that lost the June 2014 elections in Libya. The NSG was led by Khalifa al-G ...

References

External links

''PF-89''
at

SinoDefence 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, ...