Type 59 I

[Dragonmitri 94]

History

The PLA had been using the base Type 59 for almost 20 years without any major upgrades but after a border clash with Vietnam they realized that the Type 59 was very obsolete and now that the country was once again stable, work was quickly started to modernize the PLA's tanks. The first of these modernizations was the type 59 I. The modernizations consisted of many ergonomic improvements to the vehicle for example modified hatches and improved driving related mechanisms and many other changes around the tank. The most crucial upgrades to vehicle to improve its combat capabilities was the addition of a type 73 laser range finder, a basic FCS system, night vision with an IR light for the driver and a new 100mm APFSDS shell (if someone has more info on this shell please post in the replies section).

 

Later built Type 59 I's may have further improved FCS systems, rubber side skirts, external smoke grenade launchers, re-positioned lights on the front hull, storage cages around the turret and an IR search light on the gunners side of the turret.  Various combinations of some of these features seem to have been retrofitted onto already produced earlier Type 59 I's

 

Specifications

 

Weight: 36.3 tons

Crew: Driver, loader, gunner and commander

 

Armour front/side/back

Hull 100 / 80 / 45 mm of RHA.  

Turret 220 / 155 / 65 mm of CHA

 

Mobility

Engine 520hp 12150L diesel engine

Speed 50 km/h forward and 7 km/h back

 

Armaments

Type 59 100mm rifled gun 

ammunition capacity of 34 rounds 

DShK 12.7mm MG with 500 rounds of ammo

7.62mm SGMT MG with 3000 rounds

Stabilizer is only vertical

Pictures

Spoiler

Take note of the laser rangefinder on top of the barrel and the IR drivers light above the right track.

A late production Type 59 I

 

Sources

Spoiler

 

https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/59式坦克#cite_note-虎啸东方-1

http://mil.news.sina.com.cn/2005-02-13/1040265825.html

https://baike.baidu.com/item/59式中型坦克/2562524?fromtitle=59式坦克&fromid=2028389

 

 

Edited September 6, 2020 by Dragonmitri

[Princess_Pinch 5,625]

Open for discussion. 

[eleks12 1,076]

+1

[Borotovas 4,499]

+1

[Milocat 4,842]

Definite +1 from me, more unique Chinese tanks are a must.

[Dragonmitri 94]

With the update "ground breaking" this tank got added into the game with the name ZTZ59A as a battlerating 8.0 rank 5 premium.

Spoiler

 

Edited October 28, 2021 by Dragonmitri
Put the image as a spoiler

[Borotovas 4,499]

6 hours ago, Dragonmitri said:

With the update "ground breaking" this tank got added into the game with the name ZTZ59A as a battlerating 8.0 rank 5 premium.

 

 

Good news.

[NAYEONnaise 1,936]

hold up, the turret traverse is suspiciously wrong?!?! so much for an upgrade of the already in-game type 59

[Dragonmitri 94]

5 hours ago, NAYEONnaise said:

hold up, the turret traverse is suspiciously wrong?!?! so much for an upgrade of the already in-game type 59

The Type 59-I/ZTZ59A was a very crude early basic upgrade to the Type 59. Other than improvements that dont matter for gameplay(changes to hatch designs and FPE systems etc) all that was done was a laser range finder was added and even that was added in the most basic simple way possible. This vehicle shouldn't even have automatic range setting all the LRF did was measure and then display the range, the gunner still has to manually adjust sights based on the LRF data. No changes were made to the turret drives or stabilization systems. For night vision only thing that was done was provisions were made for a drivers night vision periscope the gunner and commander were still blind at night and it was the year 1981 when these were produced. So in summery it was a first very crude step towards modernization for the PLA after near 2 decades of instability and very small amounts of progress.

Edited October 29, 2021 by Dragonmitri
some grammar

[NAYEONnaise 1,936]

1 hour ago, Dragonmitri said:

The Type 59-I7ZTZ59A was a very crude early basic upgrade to the Type 59. Other than improvements that dont matter for gameplay(changes to hatch designs and FPE systems etc) all that was done was a laser range finder was added and even that was added in the most basic simple way possible. This vehicle shouldn't even have automatic range setting all the LRF did was measure and then display the range, the gunner still has to manually adjust sights based on the LRF data. No changes were made to the turret drives or stabilization systems. For night vision only thing that was donem was provisions were made for a drivers night vision periscope the gunner and commander were still blind at night and it was the year 1981 when these were produced. So in summery it was a first very crude step towards modernization for the PLA after near 2 decades of instability and very small amounts of progress.

i stand corrected.

[leroyonly 4,310]

As the Type 59-I has been implemented with update 2.11 Ground Breaking,

 

Moved to Implemented Suggestions.