Type 80/88 main battle tank

In the 1970s China's primary MBT in service was the Type 59, a copy of the T-54 tank which was obsolete compared to contemporary Soviet and Western designs. The People's Liberation Army (PLA) thus requested new tanks that could match Russian designs, which led to the development of the Type 69 tank that incorporated some technologies from a captured Soviet T-62 tank. However the Type 69 failed to satisfy PLA requirements and was only an export success that saw limited domestic service.

Further tank development commenced which led to the WZ122, Type 80 and Type 90 prototypes. The Type 80 began development in 1980 under 617 Factory with 201 Institute, 447 Factory, and 616 Factory.[2] None of the prototypes entered service.

A brand new tank was designed for export based on the Type 80 chassis. It was named the Type 85 and marketed as the "Storm". However, the Storm series of tanks failed to gather interest among potential buyers. From the Type 85-IIA onwards, the tank featured an expanded, angular turret with a copy of the T-72's 125mm gun with autoloader. The Type 85-IIM variant eventually caught the interest of the Pakistani government and was exported under the designation Type 85-IIAP.

The Type 85-III was renamed the Type 88C for domestic production.[3] The Type 88C was renamed as the Type 96 and upgraded in the 1990s.

The Type 80 inherited the design philosophy of the Type 69/79 which combined a Soviet style chassis and turret with Western technology. Like the Type 69 series, the initial Type 80 design possessed a hemispherical turret similar to the T-54/55. Another similarity was that the driver sat in the left forward section of the hull.[4] However, the Type 80 used a local copy of the NATO 105mm rifled gun instead of the Soviet 100mm rifled gun. It was also the first Chinese design to be observed using a system of six road wheels and three support rollers.[4] The first Chinese tanks to incorporate applique composite armor were later variants of the Type 80 family.[5]

The Type 85-I (Storm-1) series had a new welded turret design that was angular instead of the familiar bowl-shape. The Type 85IIAP/M was the first tank in the series to be equipped with a 125mm smoothbore gun.

The "M" in the designation represents a variant primarily intended for export.[6]

Map of Type 88-85 operators in blue with former operators in red

 China

300 Type 88A/B as of 2018[13]

 Pakistan

275+ Type 85 as of 2018[14]

 Sudan

10 Type 85-II-M (local designation Al-Bashir) as of 2018[15]

 Uganda

~5 Type 85-II-M received in 2008[16][17][18]

Bibliography