The Nigerian army continues to receive weapons from China. At the end of August, a small convoy of vehicles carrying military equipment was spotted on one of the highways.
Nigerian Army recently took delivery of an unknown number of Norinco Type 89 tracked armoured fighting vehicle from China. pic.twitter.com/A8Va7LaxRH
— Jake (@Jakepor21) August 30, 2021
Since the combat vehicles were covered with a tarpaulin, it was not possible to determine their exact type. However, it has been suggested that these are Chinese Type 89 tracked armored personnel carriers. Currently, this information seems to be confirmed.
Possible supplies of infantry transportation vehicles have been discussed for a long time, it was reported that this would be an export version of the ZBD-04A BMP, known as VN11A. The Nigerian command, apparently, decided to choose simpler cars and, accordingly, cheaper in price.
The Type 89 APC, also known as the YW-534, was developed in the 80s and is a development of the long-obsolete Type 63. They are equipped with a German licensed diesel engine with a capacity of 320 hp.
The maximum speed on a good road can reach 65 km / h, when overcoming water obstacles - no more than 6 km / h. The fuel reserve is 550 km.
Armored vehicles are armed with 12.7 mm heavy machine guns W-85. There are variants with 30-mm automatic guns and 7.62-mm machine guns, which in fact are already BMP. A few years ago, an "eighty-ninth" was spotted with a turret from a light tank, in which a 105-mm rifled gun was installed.
The combat weight, depending on the modification, is 14300 - 15400 kg. The crew consists of 2 people, 13 more servicemen are placed in the landing compartment.
In addition to the People's Liberation Army of China, they are also exploited in the armed forces of Bangladesh, Zimbabwe, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Ethiopia.
Earlier, the Nigerian ground forces have already received VT-4 tanks, SH2 and ST-1 wheeled artillery self-propelled guns and CS/VP3 armored vehicles.
Alexey Moiseev
