In the 80s, Chinese designers began to look for a replacement for the 100-mm guns, which they installed on their Type 69 medium tanks. At this time, the leading tank-building powers of the world began to produce a new generation of combat vehicles with powerful multilayer armor, reinforced on some models (T-72BM, T-80U) with built-in dynamic protection.
Chinese experimental PGZ-89 tank destroyer turret on Type 69 MBT chassis pic.twitter.com/Z3IcNqKlJ5
— Caesar (@Ninja998998) August 18, 2019
At that time, the Type 89 tank destroyer, also known as the PTZ89, was being created in China, armed with a 120-mm rifled gun, created under the influence of the German L44.
The ammunition included feathered armor-piercing and sub-caliber shells that had fairly good armor penetration, cumulative and high-explosive fragmentation shots. The initial speed of the first reached up to 1660 meters per second, and the second - up to 960. The rate of fire was 10 rounds per minute.
A 12.7 mm machine gun was used as an additional weapon.
Therefore, the tower from the "eighty-ninth" was proposed to be installed on a tank. Perhaps it was expected that foreign partners of the PRC would come to buy it in this form.
However, such a technical solution turned out to be controversial. Yes, the firepower was significantly increased, but the gun did not have stabilization.
The armored protection was relatively weak - no more than 50 mm. In addition, there was no paired 7.62 mm machine gun. That's probably why there were no people willing to get this armored mutant, and he remained in the form of a prototype.
Alexey Brusilov
