Type 99A

China's top-tier main battle tank — a three-crew, 125 mm autoloader-equipped heavy tank with reactive armour and a distinctive turret-mounted laser dazzler, fielded only by the People's Liberation Army and with no combat record.

Overview

The Type 99A, industrially designated ZTZ-99A, is the most capable main battle tank fielded by China's People's Liberation Army. Built by NORINCO at the Inner Mongolia First Machinery Group plant in Baotou, it is a deeply upgraded development of the baseline Type 99 of 2001, combining a 125 mm smoothbore gun with a carousel autoloader, a new-generation reactive-armour package and a modern fire-control suite. It equips the PLA's elite heavy combined-arms brigades, has never been exported, and — like all Chinese armour — has no combat record, making it the least battle-tested of the three blocs' flagship tanks.

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