Chinese tanks, type 59

"Military Parity." The Chinese main battle tank Type 59 (factory index WZ-120) is a licensed version of the Soviet tank T-54A. The first tank was launched in 1958, put into service in 1959, mass production began in 1963. By 1980, about 9500 vehicles of this type were produced.

Prior to the start of the 2000, the Type 59 tanks were the backbone of the PLA armored formations (according to experts, 5000 tanks of the Mod. Type 59-I and Type 59-II, which entered service with the 2002 of the year) are currently in service. During the time they were in service, the tanks underwent a number of upgrades, in particular, with the replacement of 100 mm guns with 105 mm, they became the basis for later machines of the Type 69 and Type 79 type, light tank Type 62 (inf. English Wikipedia).

The most modern modification considered tanks modification "Super 59", set for the ground forces of Tanzania

Comments

[Kovrovsky]

"Military Parity." The Type 59 Chinese main battle tank (factory index WZ-120) is the licensed version of the Soviet T-54A tank. The first tank was launched in 1958, put into service in 1959, mass production began in 1963.

Previously, the Chinese still had a conscience ... I liked the photo of a Chinese tankman in glasses!

[omsbon]

Quote: Kovrovsky

Before, the Chinese still had a conscience ..

The conscience of the Chinese is a very loose concept! Especially with regard to military equipment.

[Turik]

The Chinese have a conscience - one for the entire billion Chinese.

[Avenger711]

Almost everything copied by the Chinese is copied quite legally.

[Kovrovsky]

Quote: omsbon

Quote: Kovrovsky

Before, the Chinese still had a conscience ..

The conscience of the Chinese is a very loose concept! Especially with regard to military equipment.

That's for sure! Stretched to the length of the Great Wall of China!

[Standard Oil]

The Chinese are great, Confucius also said: "Give-take, don't give-steal, beat-call the PLA"

[Syrdon]

normal tank in VoT)))) taxis!

[Turik]

These tankers pulled up! Want action - march into the army!

[Michael_59]

He does not steer, does not break and does not farm for a long time.

[teceitap]

and where is the combat use?

[Andrei]

Iraq, the Indo-Pakistani wars, if I am not mistaken, too, Vietnam, the Iranian-Iraqi war, in my opinion, too And since the tanks of type 59 of the first modifications did not have any significant differences from the t54 \ 55, then the combat properties of the "Chinese" somewhere -the same level ...

[smiths xnumx]

I dare to take on the description of the combat use of the Chinese T-59 tank:
The first combat use of the T-59 tank took place in the Indo-Pakistani War, when after the 1965 war, Pakistan, previously focusing on the supply of Western, primarily American equipment, established close military cooperation with China, which successfully replenished the Pakistani losses with necessary military equipment, including several hundreds of tanks "59". According to Western data, by 1971 in the Pakistani army there were at least 700 "59". In the late 1960s, Pakistani "59" were slightly modernized to better meet local requirements. On the back of the tower, a large basket for stowing transportable ammunition was strengthened, and English-style smoke grenade launchers were installed on both sides of the tower. For its part, India received from the USSR 500 T-54A, T-55 tanks (450 according to other sources). The Chinese "59" and Soviet T-55 met in the battles of the second Indo-Pakistani war of 1971. Due to the fact that these tanks were very similar, both sides had to take measures to distinguish their own from strangers. Moreover, if the Pakistanis decided this question traditionally - by putting on their "59" signs of quick identification - a horizontal white strip (about 25 cm wide) around the tower, with a gap on the left and right side for the number, and a white strip on the gun ejector, then the Indians acted more original. They installed on the trunks of their T-54/55 false ejectors of increased size (at a distance of 2/3 of the barrel length from the tower). Thanks to this, the D-10 cannon began to resemble the English L7 from afar, which was armed with the Indian "Centurions" and "Vijayaty", which were in large numbers in service with the Indian army.
In 1973, the Chinese tanks Type 59 and Type 63 were delivered to North Vietnam. A total of about 600 tanks. Thanks to these deliveries, as well as deliveries from the USSR, North Vietnam was able to equip 9 armored regiments: 201,203, 204, 206, 207, 215, 273, 408 and 574th. In 1974, the formation of armored brigades and a five-battalion squad began. The first of these was the 203rd Armored Brigade. In 1979, the Vietnamese T-59s participated in repelling the Chinese offensive in the northern provinces of the DRV. In this conflict, they confronted their Chinese T-59 tanks, which were truthfully equipped with laser rangefinders, which significantly increased the accuracy of cannon fire.
Another military conflict in which the T-59 was widely used was the Iranian-Iraqi war, which began in 1980 and lasted for eight years. The fighting was large-scale and fierce and was fought with varying success. Curiously, during the war, both sides made up for their significant losses in armored vehicles by purchasing tanks in the same place - China. Tehran was prompted to this by the severance of diplomatic relations with the United States in 1979 and the cessation of the supply of American weapons, while Baghdad was prompted by the reduction in arms exports from the USSR in the early 1980s. As a result, Iran received 750 tanks "59" from China, and Iraq signed a deal with Beijing for the supply of over a thousand "69", about 600 of which were received before 1988 (by the way, it was in this war that "69" received the baptism of fire). By the end of the war, Baghdad also purchased about 700 tanks "59". By the time of Operation Desert Storm, Iraq had about 1000 T-59s and T-69s. Moreover, during the modernization, the 59-mm British L105 cannon and a modern western fire control system were installed on the T-7. Naturally, these outdated tanks could not compete with modern American "Abrams" and British "Challengers" ...
Destroyed Iraqi T-59

[Des10]

Quote: Kuznetsov 1977

Naturally, these outdated tanks could not compete with modern American "Abrams" and British "Challengers" ...

without any negativity - here you need statistics of destroyed tanks from various weapons. (In this war).
And then - it's a shame, modernized and in vain - initially.

[smiths xnumx]

Especially for you, dear Des10
Post-war CIA statistics (taken from: Anthony Cordesman. The Lessons of Modern War. - Volume IV. - The Gulf War, Chapter 7), estimates of the Central Command are shown in brackets.
It was on the theater of war before the war - 3475 (4280, see note 2)
Destroyed during the air campaign - 1388 (1688)
Destroyed or abandoned during a ground campaign - 1245 (2159)
Total Lost - 2633 (3847)
Remained by retreating troops - 842
After the war, a total of 163 tanks were examined, or 6% of the total CIA losses calculated by the CIA.
- 85 tanks (52%) had combat damage, 78 tanks (48%) were unscathed;
- 85 wrecked tanks were hit a total of 145 times;
- 28 of 145 hits (19%) were attributed to aircraft ammunition (according to another source, 28 of 85 wrecked tanks were hit by aviation ammunition).

Due to the very small scale of the study, it would probably be wrong to draw any global conclusions on its basis, but two things are striking. Firstly, at least half of the tanks examined were abandoned by the crews, and secondly, the main part of the tanks was by no means hit by aviation, as one would expect, but by the fire of ground units.

For example, the irretrievable losses of the Iraqi T-72 for all reasons (air strikes, tank battles, flight or surrender of crews, technical malfunctions) should have been somewhere around 400-500 vehicles.

http://artofwar.ru/p/ponamarchuk_e/text_0140.shtml

. with respect!

[Revolver]

Quote: Des10

And then - it's a shame, modernized and in vain - initially.

So it is important who upgraded, and how. Chinese quality - it is famous all over the world.

[Des10]

Quote: Kuznetsov 1977

Especially for you, dear Des10

All the rules, thanks, I’m trying to think - all the same ground-based ATGMs and tanks - to share. Those. - I agree that their Abrams and Challengers are more modern, but for me - not a specialist (!) - a tank and a desert tank.
I am inclined to think - there were no direct tank battles.
And that they abandoned the equipment ... may Allah judge them.
Once again, ATP for the prompt response.