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Description
The Type 59, a Chinese production version of the Soviet T-54 MBT, made infamous by events 30 years ago.

With help from the Soviet Union to build their own version of the T-54 tank, production commenced in 1958, under the manufacturer designation WZ-120, and was accepted into PLA service in 1959 as the Type 59.

The Type 59 featured the iconic rounded dome turret that mounted a 100mm rifled cannon with a coaxial 7.92mm machine-gun. A 12.7mm anti-aircraft machine-gun was mounted atop the gunner's hatch, and lastly a 7.62mm bow machine-gun gave the driver something to play with. Powered by a 520hp V12 diesel engine, the Type 59 could travel at up to 50 kph (31 mph) on torsion bar suspension.

Over 10,000 Type 59s were built before production ended in 1980. Modifications and domestic upgrades were implemented to the tank, with improvements based on a Soviet T-62 captured during the Sino-Soviet border conflict led to the Type 69, with a final upgraded variant the Type 79 being the last of China's first-generation series of MBTs before the Type 80.

A lighter variant, the Type 62, was built to suit the southern region of China. With lighter armor and a smaller 85mm cannon, the 20 ton light tank unsurprisingly suffered against Vietnamese RPGs during the Sino-Vietnam war and improvements were added later on.

Even with thousands sold overseas as far as Albania and several African and Asian militaries and states, the 60-year-old tank is considered long obsolete by today's standards, yet over 5,000 currently sit in PLA inventory, forming the bulk of China's tank force even as they slowly and incrementally replace them with more modern tanks.

Not that they're in any rush to get rid of them. What are they expecting to run into? Or over?

Description
The Type 59, a Chinese production version of the Soviet T-54 MBT, made infamous by events 30 years ago.

With help from the Soviet Union to build their own version of the T-54 tank, production commenced in 1958, under the manufacturer designation WZ-120, and was accepted into PLA service in 1959 as the Type 59.

The Type 59 featured the iconic rounded dome turret that mounted a 100mm rifled cannon with a coaxial 7.92mm machine-gun. A 12.7mm anti-aircraft machine-gun was mounted atop the gunner's hatch, and lastly a 7.62mm bow machine-gun gave the driver something to play with. Powered by a 520hp V12 diesel engine, the Type 59 could travel at up to 50 kph (31 mph) on torsion bar suspension.

Over 10,000 Type 59s were built before production ended in 1980. Modifications and domestic upgrades were implemented to the tank, with improvements based on a Soviet T-62 captured during the Sino-Soviet border conflict led to the Type 69, with a final upgraded variant the Type 79 being the last of China's first-generation series of MBTs before the Type 80.

A lighter variant, the Type 62, was built to suit the southern region of China. With lighter armor and a smaller 85mm cannon, the 20 ton light tank unsurprisingly suffered against Vietnamese RPGs during the Sino-Vietnam war and improvements were added later on.

Even with thousands sold overseas as far as Albania and several African and Asian militaries and states, the 60-year-old tank is considered long obsolete by today's standards, yet over 5,000 currently sit in PLA inventory, forming the bulk of China's tank force even as they slowly and incrementally replace them with more modern tanks.

Not that they're in any rush to get rid of them. What are they expecting to run into? Or over?