The People's Liberation Army (PLA) deploys over 8,000 tanks, 4,000 armoured vehicles, and 25,000 artillery pieces. Although not a modern army it is slowly re-structuring from its prior Soviet doctrines into a more suitable force to cope with future land warfare.

Contents

1 Units 2 Equipment 2.1 Light Weapons 2.2 Combat vehicles 2.3 Artillery 2.4 Non-combat vehicles 3 External Links

Units

The PLA has 10 group armies and are currently downsizing their divisions into brigades.

There are 10 active tank divisions consisting of a number of independent armoured brigades. A typical PLA armoured brigade has 4 tank battalions (124 main battle tanks)- each tank battalion has 3 tank companies (30 + 1 tank for tne battalion commander), 1 mechanised infantry battalion (40 amoured personnel carriers), 1 artillery battalion (18 self-propelled howitzers) - 3 batteries of 6 guns each and 1 anti-aircraft battalion (18 self-propelled howitzers) - 3 batteries of 6 guns each.

There are 8 active artillery divisions consisting of a number of artillery brigades. A typical PLA artillery brigade has 4 artillery battalions each with 18 guns in 3 batteries and 1 self-propelled anti-tank gun battalion (18 vehicles).

Equipment

Light Weapons

• QSZ-92 - 9 mm and 5.8 mm pistols
• Type 84 (mini), Type 77, Type 67 (muted) and the Type 64 7.62 mm pistols. The Type 54 is a copy of the soviet TT1930/1933 and is slowly being replaced.
• Type 95 - 5.8 mm bullpup design assault rifle and squad machine gun
• Type 87 - 5.8 mm assault rifle and squad machine gun
• Type 81 (7.62 mm) assault rifle and squad machine gun replaced the two Type 56s (copy of the soviet AK-47 and a copy of the soviet SKS both called Type 56)
• Type 88 - sniper rifle
• Type 85/79 and the Type 64 (suppressed) 7.62 sub-machine guns
• Type 67 - replacing the Type 53 (SG43) and Type 57 (SGM) 7.62 mm general purpose machine guns
• PF-97 (80 mm fuel air explosive launcher), PF-89 (80 mm Lightweight Anti-tank Weapon comparable to the United States M136 AT4) and FHJ-84 (twin 62 mm rocket launcher) are slowly relacing the Type 69-1 (Rocket propelled grenade launcher copied from the RPG-7)

Combat vehicles

• Type 98 - main battle tank (31+)
• Type 85-1, Type 85-II and Type 96 (Type 88B/C) - main battle tanks (over 500)
• Type 80, Type 80-II and Type 88/A/B - main battle tanks (about 500)
• Type 79 (updated version of the Type 69) and Type 69 (redesigned Type 59)- main battle tanks
• Type 59D and Type 59D1 - upgraded versions of Type 59-IIA, Type 59-II, Type 59-I and Type 59 (copy of the Russian T-54) main battle tanks
• Type 63 (amphibious design similar to the Russian PT-76) and Type 62 light tanks
• A new infantry fighting vehicle based on the Russian BMP-3 to replace the Type 86/WZ 501/501A/503/504 itself a copy of the BMP-1. It also will replace the YW 309 which is based on the YW 531H.
• Type 90/92/ZSL-92/WZ 551 - (designed similar to the French VAB)amphibious infantry fighting vehicle
• Type 85/YW 531H and Type 89/YW 534 - amphibious armoured personnel carrier including an anti-tank version replacing over 2000 Type 63 (YW 531C/D/E also known as K-63, M1967 and M1970)
• Type 77/77-1/77-2 (improved copy of Russian BTR-50) - armoured personnel carrier (+200)
• Type 90/92A/ZSL-92A/WZ 551 - (based on the Type 92 IFV) and the WZ 523 (also known as M1984 it is designed similar to the South African Ratel) amphibious armoured personnel carriers

Artillery

• WS-1 and WS-1B - a 8 and 4 tube 320 mm multiple launch rocket system
• A-100 - 10 tube 300mm Multiple Rocket Launcher System
• WM-80 and Type 83/WM-40 - 273mm Multiple Rocket Launcher Systems
• Type 85/YW 306(on a YW 531H) and Type 82 (on a Yanan SX250 6X6 truck) - 30 tube 130 mm multiple rocket launcher replacing the 19 tube 130 mm multiple rocket launcher of the Type 70 (on a YW 531C) and Type 63 (on a 4X4 truck)
• Type 90 (on a Tiema SC2030 6X6 flatbed truck) and Type 89 (tracks) - 40 tube 122 mm multiple launch rocket systems replacing the Type 81 (copy of the soviet BM-21 Grad)
• PLZ-45 - 155 mm self-propelled howitzer might replace the obsolete Type 83 which is a 152 mm self-propelled howitzer
• YW 323 D30 (based on the YW 531H) and the Type 89 (based on the Type 77 APC) - amphibious 122 mm self-propelled howitzers replacing the Type 85 (YW 531C chassis) and Type 70 (YW 531B chassis)
• Type 90 - 122 mm self-propelled howitzer wheeled (based on a WZ-551 chassis)
• Type 89 - 155 mm towed gun/howitzer based on the GC-45 howitzer
• Type 66 (copy of the soviet D-20) 152 mm towed gun/howitzer and the Type 83 152 mm towed gun are replacing the Type 54 itself a copy of the soviet ML-20(M1937).
• Type 59 and Type 59-1 - copy of the soviet M46 130 mm towed field gun
• Type 85 - 122 mm towed howitzer derived from the soviet D-30 (M1963) and replaced the Type 54 howitzer
• YW 382 (120 mm) and YW 383 (82 mm) - amphibious mortar carriers based on the YW 531H replacing the YW 381 and YW 304 respectively which where based on the YW 531C
• Type 80 - twin 57 mm self-propelled anti-aircraft equivalent to the ZSU-57-2 but using the Type 69 tank chassis.
• HQ-2J (Hongqi-2) - anti-aircraft missiles based on the Type 77 transporter, the missiles are upgraded versions of the HQ-1 which is a copy of the SA-2 Guideline
• HQ-10 - licensed built S-300PMU-1 (SA-10D Grumble) anti-aircraft missiles
• HQ-15 - upgraded version of the HQ-10 anti-aircraft missiles

Non-combat vehicles

• Type 84 - Tank laying bridge using the Type 69 tank chassis
• Type 653 (Type 69 tank chassis) and Type 59 (Type 59 tank chassis) - armoured recovery vehicles
• YW 703 (based on the YW 534), Type 85 (based on the YW 531H APC) - amphibious recovery vehicles
• Type 85 (based on the YW 531H), WZ 701 (based on the YW 531C), WZ 506 (based on the WZ 501) and a version based on the Type 77 - amphibious command vehicles
• Type 77-2 (based on the Type 77) - amphibious artillery ammunition carrier
• WZ 751 (based on the YW 531H), YW 750 (based on the YW 531C), WZ 505 (based on the WZ 501) and a version based on the Type 77 - amphibious armoured ambulances
• Bv 206 Swedish tracked all-terrain multipurpose vehicle
• Type 77 and Type 60/WZ420/1 tracked tractors
• Type 82 consists of the HY473 (tractor truck) and HY962 (semi-trailer) - Heavy Equipment Transporter up to 75 tons
• TA580/TAS5380 (20 ton 8x8), TAS5450 (25 ton 8x8), TAS5500 (28 ton 10x10), TAS5570 (30 ton 10x10) and TAS5690 (42 ton 12x12) series special heavy duty trucks
• WS2300(6x6), WS2400(8x8) and WS2500(10x8) 20 ton series special heavy duty trucks
• XC2200 (copy of the German Mercedes-Benz 2060) 7.5 ton 6x6 heavy duty trucks
• SX2190 (copy of the Austrian Steyr-91) 7 ton 6x6 trucks replacing the JN252, CQ261 and SX250 heavy duty trucks
• SX250/SX2150 series 5 ton 6x6 heavy duty trucks
• EQ2102 series 3.5 ton trucks replacing the CA30 (copy of the 2.5 ton soviet ZIL 157)
• CA141/CA1091 series trucks replacing the CA10 (copy of the 3.5 ton soviet ZIL 150)
• EQ240/EQ2081 and EQ245/EQ2100 series 2.5 ton trucks
• EQ2050A series High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle (HMMWV) copied from the US M998
• NJ2045/2046 series 1.5 ton lightweight vehicle
• BJ212/BJ2020 series 0.5 ton lightweight 4 x4 vehicle

External Links

• http://www.sinodefence.com/army/orbat/default.asp