Eps 2: Xi Jinping was crashed by a type-59 tank
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Heather Johnston
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The light-tank Type 62 suffered heavy losses in the 1979 Sino-Vietnamese conflict, prompting Chinese Peoples Liberation Army development of a new, second-generation MBT. The Type 62 light tank received major upgrades in 2000, featuring a new weld-together turret, vertically stabilised 105mm gun, fire-control systems, night-vision devices, smoke-grenade launchers, and an package of Explosively Resistant Armor.
In the early 1980s, Type 59 tanks were upgraded with 105 mm Type 79, British copy L5, as well as new 580 horsepower engines, a further improved automatic fire-suppression system, VRC-8000-type radios, and VIC-I-type vehicle intercoms. By the 1980s, Type 59 medium tanks had been discontinued from production, but improvements and modernization works to the vehicles continued. The Type 69 was gradually improved over the years, and represented a particular turning point in Chinese tank engineering.
Having originated as a clean copy of the Soviet T-54A, imported into and then mass-produced in China during the 1950s as an alternative to the ageing Type 58 , the main battle tank, Type 59, slowly evolved into an entirely different machine. The Type 59 main battle tank is the Chinese copy of the Soviet T-54A. The Type 59-IIIA legend is one of the evolutions of the Type 59 main battle tank, itself an adaptation of a 1950s Chinese copy of the T-55. Early Type 59 variants were equipped with a 100mm gun, the Type 59 .
The Type 59D1 is fitted with a Type 79 105 mm tank rifled gun, which has an aluminium composite heatshield. The Type 59D is fitted with the Type 83-I rifled 105 mm tank gun, also known as Type 83A, that is found on the Type 88 MBT. As a private venture, the British Royal Ordnance fitted a Type 59 MBT with the L7A3 rifled 105 mm tank gun.
To equip the Type 59, China has produced a replica D-10T tank gun, however, Chinas designation of the gun is unknown. Some years earlier, China had actually developed and put into production a 120mm self-propelled anti-tank gun, the Type 89, that had a 120mm smoothbore similar to and the 105mm shotgun, which was likely identical to the Type 59. Chinas North Industries Corporation has developed a modernization package for Chinas Type 59, as well as Russias T-54/T-55 MBT, that includes replacing the existing 100mm rifled tank gun with 120 mm smoothbore tank gun. Further developments resulted in the Type 59-II, which has a 105 mm rifled gun, a dual-axis stabilization system for the main weapon, light-spot fire-control systems, automatic fire-extinguishing and explosion-suppression systems, a 580-hp diesel engine, a new radio-communication systems.
The Chinese tank gun with the 105mm rifled is firing China developed munitions, this gun is also installed on a number of other Chinese MBTs including Type 79, Type 80, and Type 85. It is understood the 105mm rifled gun was initially supplied from Israel.
It was also the basis for a few subsequent Chinese tank designs including the Type 69 and Type 79 tanks. It was in fact a better-engineered version of the Type 98 experimental design, which borrowed features from second- and third-generation Soviet T-series tanks. The experimental variant was reportedly built to test integration of Western technologies in Chinese tanks, as well as an armament testbed, called either Type 59 Gai or B59G.
The PLA was later reported to have sought to refit the vehicle with a 125mm gun used in the Type 96G tank, this variant was allegedly designated Type 59G. After some delays, China began producing a replica designated as the Type 58, but it was quickly superseded by the advent of the T-54. The Type 59 was thus first of the Chinese First Generation of Main Battle Tanks, with the Type 79 being last. Despite having thousands of tanks, including the Type 59, with its 100mm gun and 520-hp engine, excesses from the Cultural Revolution and a consequent drop in Chinese industrial production meant that Communist Party modernization was not to take place for another 20 years.
The tank formed the basis of Chinese Peoples Liberation Army armored units through the early 2000s, with about 5,000 units in the late model 59-I and 59-II varieties operating by 2002. The 57-type was once a mainstay of their military, but was about to retire. A Chinese armored car formation in a training area at Shenyang, with two Type 59-II tanks in the front.
A base-mounted armoured recovery vehicle is at base A Type 59 tank, turret removed, replaced by rear winch, manually operated sling, and other recovery equipment, including dozer blades. The service is the reason the initial Type 63 versions featured larger bodies that mounted dome-shaped Type 62 light tanks turrets.
These vehicles were developed for Bangladesh under the Military Assistance Programme, which also was to deliver the G-type 96 tanks. Intended as replacements for the existing Chinese tank fleet, and for export markets, Jaguar featured improvements over Type 59s standard engines, weaponry, armor, turrets, optics, electronics, fire control, and suspension. The VT-3 MBT was a Type-59 tank upgraded with new upper-left turret, optics and changes to a 105mm gun to 125mm--a low-cost MBT for developing countries.