China’s Tank Force: An Overview

China is continuing to modernize its ground forces, combining informatization with mechanization as mandated by the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) modernization plan. The first phase, as laid out during the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, is to create a new joint force capable of fighting “local wars under high-technology conditions.”

As part of an ongoing effort to emphasize joint operations and to create leaner and more flexible ground forces, the PLA has paid particular attention to reforming and re-equipping its main battle tank (MBT) and other mechanized units more along the lines of armored U.S. brigade combat teams. The U.S. Army’s smallest deployable maneuver unit, brigade combat teams can consist of around 4,700 soldiers, 90 MBTs, 90 infantry fighting vehicles, and over 110 armored personnel carriers.

One of the principal reasons for Chinese President Xi Jinping’s sweeping military reforms, first announced in 2015, were the repeated defeats of Chinese armored brigades at the hands of opposing brigades organized and deployed along the lines of U.S. brigade combat teams during training exercises at the Zhurihe Training Base in Inner Mongolia.

As Done Tse wrote in The Diplomat in 2017 about these military exercises:

Between 2014 and 2016, the “American” Blue team scored a total of 32 victories and one defeat against Red forces that comprised some of the best and most well-equipped units in the [PLA]. On average, Red forces sustained 70 percent simulated casualties after clashing with the Blue team.

One of the results of the ongoing reforms has been to reduce the size of PLA maneuver brigades and transform them into combined arms units down to the battalion level. According to the 2018 Military Balance report compiled by the Institute of International Strategic Studies (IISS), these “combined-arms battalions appear to resemble a previous mechanized infantry battalion supplemented by tank companies and a 122mm artillery company.”

Overall, the push for leaner and easier to deploy ground forces has led to a reduction of PLA maneuver forces from 19 divisions and 76 brigades at the end of 2016 to approximately five divisions and 81 brigades at the end of 2017, according to IISS. However, according to some estimates, the size of the maneuver forces has only been reduced by 10 percent. Nonetheless, given the slow abandonment of Soviet-style armored warfare, based on the Soviet Operational Maneuver Groups, and the introduction of combined arms battalions, the PLA’s armored force is expected to shrink in size in the years ahead.

This is evidenced in the shrinking size of the PLA’s MBT force. The PLA’s operational MBT force currently consists of around 3,390 third-generation, 400 second-generation, and 2,850 first-generation MBTs. In 1997, the PLA was still able to field a force of 6,200 first-generation and 1,600 second-generation MBTs. The ground forces still operate 2,850 ZTZ-59, ZTZ-59-II, and ZTZ-59D license-built variants of the obsolete Soviet T-54 MBT, with the latest Chinese-designed variant of the tank undergoing upgrades in the 1980s.

The PLA fields 500 second-generation MBTs divided up into the ZTZ-79 (which is also considered by some analysts to be a first-generation MBT) and ZTZ-88/ZTZ-88B. The ZTZ-79 was in production until the end of the 1980s, whereas the ZTZ-88/ZTZ-88B was produced throughout the 1990s. Notably, both second-generation MBTs were based on domestic designs combining a Soviet-style chassis and turret with Western technology including local copies of the United Kingdom’s Royal Ordnance 7 rifled tank gun.

Due the aforementioned reforms and the overall reduction in size of the PLA’s armored forces, the military’s second-generation MBT force was reduced from 800 to 500 in the last five years. In the years ahead, the remaining second-generation tanks could be scrapped from service altogether, as IISS notes in its report: “The reorganization of PLA maneuver units into combined-arms brigades in 2017 may result in these second-generation designs being removed from service altogether as the overall size of the PLA’s tank fleet shrinks again.”

Replacing second-generation designs will be third-generation ZTZ-96/ZTZ-96A and more advanced ZTZ-99/ZTZ-99A MBTs. To emphasize the importance assigned to the Type 99A tank – dubbed the “King of Land Warfare” — by PLA senior military leadership, Xi Jinping, the PLA’s commander-in-chief as head of the Communist Party’s Central Military Commission, climbed aboard a Type 99A MBT during a public visit to a military command in January.

However, the PLA still has a limited number of ZTZ-99As, according to some estimates. “The latest ZTZ-99A appears to have been produced in relatively small numbers, and issued to strategic-reserve units near Beijing, possibly because of its relatively high cost,” IISS explains. “The majority of China’s third-generation tanks are still versions of the late 1990s ZTZ-96 design.”

I concurred with this assessment in a separate analysis in 2016: “Chinese military analysts believe that the ZTZ-96B is more likely to become the new workhorse of the PLA’s armored force than more advanced Type 99 (ZTZ-99) and Type 99-A third-generation MBTs (…) citing the tanks’ high price tag and China’s still limited production capability.” Based on my own assessment, the PLA currently has around 600 ZTZ-99 and ZTZ-99A MBTs on active duty, while the remaining third-generation tank force is composed of ZTZ-96/ZTZ-96A/B variants.

Additionally, the PLA fields approximately 2,500 Type-96A MBTs with a yet to be determined number upgraded to the Type-96B variant. The newer version reportedly features improved communication systems, a new engine, and improved targeting capabilities, as well as an increased operational range.

Furthermore, the PLA is also in the process of inducting a new light tank, designated ZTQ-15, for service in high altitude regions including the Tibetan Plateau. It is still unclear whether the ZTQ-15 is already in serial production. Last June, the new tanks underwent test trials on the Tibetan Plateau in western China, according to Chinese media reports.

The PLA is also experimenting with turning first-generation MBTs, such as the ZTZ-59, into remotely controlled armored fighting platforms. While the armor is not good enough to sustain direct hits from modern anti-tank weapons, remotely controlled first-generation MBTs could be used to probe enemy strength at the outset of an armored battle and to add additional firepower.

While China’s MBT force is shrinking, the quality of its overall armored and mechanized units appears to be slowly improving, at least at the technical level and when it comes to fielding more advanced armored weapon platforms. The overall quality of PLA training in armored warfare remains difficult to assess, although there are several indications that it is not up to, for example, NATO or Japan Ground Self-Defense Force standards.