The Type 89 tank destroyer (military designation PTZ-89, industrial designation WA320) is a Chinese armored, tracked,

tank destroyer A tank destroyer, tank hunter or tank killer is a type of armoured fighting vehicle, predominantly intended for anti-tank duties. They are typically armed with a direct fire anti-tank gun, artillery gun, also known as a self-propelled anti-ta ...

vehicle developed by

Norinco China North Industries Group Corporation Limited, doing business internationally as Norinco Group (an abbreviation of "North Industries Corporation"), and known within China as China Ordnance Industries Group Corporation Limited (), is a Chinese ...

for the

People’s Liberation Army The People's Liberation Army (PLA) is the military of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the People's Republic of China (PRC). It consists of four services— Ground Force, Navy, Air Force, and Rocket Force—and four arms— Aerospac ...

. The vehicle was developed in the 1980s and entered service in 1989.

Development

Armed with a 120-millimeter

smoothbore A smoothbore weapon is one that has a barrel without rifling. Smoothbores range from handheld firearms to powerful tank guns and large artillery mortars. Some examples of smoothbore weapons are muskets, blunderbusses, and flintlock pistols. ...

gun, it was intended to combat newer generations of Western and Russian main battle tanks that were equipped with

composite armor Composite armour is a type of vehicle armour consisting of layers of different materials such as metals, plastics, ceramics or air. Most composite armours are lighter than their all-metal equivalent, but instead occupy a larger volume for the s ...

and 120 and 125-millimeter caliber guns. Despite a successful development process, with the end of the

Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...

it became apparent that the weapon was no longer needed. Production was halted in 1995 after around 100 examples had been built, though the

International Institute for Strategic Studies The International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) is an international research institute or think tank focusing on defence and security issues. Since 1997, its headquarters have been at Arundel House in London. It has offices on four co ...

estimated 230 vehicles were built until retirement. An official retirement ceremony was held by the 39th Army Group on 3 November 2015.

Operators

* **: 230 built and in-storage (no longer in active service)

References

Norinco Tank destroyers of the Cold War Armoured fighting vehicles of the People's Republic of China Military vehicles introduced in the 1980s {{mil-vehicle-stub

Development

Operators

See also

References