History:

The Type 98 main battle tank is the latest development in Chinese tank design. The tank was developed in the 1990s and was first shown in public in the National Day Parade on 1st Oct 1999. The Type 98 is based on the Type 90, but has a redesigned hull and other improvements on FCS and observation systems. Also the Type 98's turret is slightly larger than that of the Type 90. This allows the stowage of more rounds and equipment but results in a gap between turret and hull on the front side. This gap could cause major problems when hit during a battle, resulting in a total blow-off of the turret. The turret and hull are of all-welded steel armour construction with an additional layer of modular composite armor which has been added to the frontal arc.The maximum thickness of armour is around 600 mm on the turret front, and around 450 mm on the glacis plate. Due to the modular design of the armour package, explosive reactive armour (ERA) can be fitted if required. The main armament is a fully-stabilised, auto-fed 125mm smoothbore gun, fitted with a thermal sleeve and a fume extractor. It is capable to fire APFSDS, HEAT, HE-FRAG rounds and laser guided missiles. 45 rounds can be stowed inside the tank. A computerised fire control system, a laser rangefinder and an auto tracker device is also fitted as standard. The Type 90 MBT can engage moving targets under both day and night conditions. Second armarment is a 7.62 mm co-axial machine gun and a 12.7 mm AA machine gun which is mounted on the commander's cupola. The Type 98 also features an integrated laser rangefinder/warning/self-defence device. The crew is warned when their tank is being illuminated by an enemy range-finding or weapon-guidance laser and the turret will be automatically traversed to face the direction of the enemy threat. Then a high-powered laser weapon will attack directly the source of the enemy laser. The laser beam disables the guidance optics of the enemy weapon and/or damages the eyesight of the enemy gunner. It is alos possible to engage helicopters or other low-flying targets with the laser device. The Type 98 is powered by a liquid cooled, turbocharged 1,200 hp diesel which is based on the German WD396 diesel technology.