ZTS63
Contents
Description
The ZTS63 (Chinese: ZTS63式水陆两栖坦克, industry code WZ211), originally certified in 1963 as the amphibious tank for PLANMC or PLAGF units with the need to cross the water bodies abundant in Asia, received some of the technologies used on ZTZ59A and ZTQ62 that had already been installed successfully since 1980; in the ZTS63's case, it received a laser rangefinder and better fire control system for long-range fire support. These tanks served during the Sino-Vietnamese War in the early 1980s as a supporter to troops against Vietnamese troops and militia with very few tanks in service; although having insufficient protection against cannons and RPGs, these vehicles were kept in service until the later ZTS63A and eventually ZLT05 or newer IFVs replaced its role as an amphibious tank, marking the end of the prefix ZTS in PLA service.
Introduced in Update "Sky Guardians", players of the Type 62 or Type 63-I will soon find themselves at home thanks to its identical handling and overall design. Some welcome upgrades including better FCS and the installation of a Type 54 DShK machine gun also make it a more versatile alternative to its predecessors. With both APFSDS and a laser rangefinder with automatic ballistic solutions, not only does this greatly extend the combat distance of the tank, it also greatly increases its odds to survive as this feature is extremely rare at its tier. However, players will still have to beware of its below-average protection against even HMGs and rather slow turret traverse speed, these could be fatal if players run into heated fights without the situational awareness needed.
General info
Survivability and armour
One thing to note is that the name of ZTS63 is interchangeable with Type 63, other than the name change after 1980, HMG on turret and a LRF on the mantlet by the centerline, the overall design of these two tanks are totally identical. For the needs of amphibious operations, the protection is reduced to the bare minimum to stop rifle calibre bullets and shrapnel; other than the mantlet at 50 mm, the whole vehicle has only up to 20 mm of armour: autocannons and HMGs will tear down the vehicle with ease. So it's better to keep the vehicle from the heated battlefield and act as a supporter of the team to deliver possible final blow to enemy vehicles or disabling enemies as much as possible.
Armour type:
| Armour | Front (Slope angle) | Sides | Rear | Roof |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hull | 10 mm (82°) UFP
15 mm (54°) LFP |
10 mm Top 8 mm Bottom |
8 mm | 8 mm |
| Turret | 20 mm Turret front (Volumetric) 50 mm Gun mantlet |
20 mm (Volumetric) | 8 mm | |
| Cupola | 8 mm | |||
Notes:
Mobility
The ZTS63 didn't receive any upgrades in terms of powerplant and transmission, so it shares the same 12150L-2 diesel engine found previously on Type 63-I; the very slight or even no weight change on the tank also means it can retain a sufficiently high power-to-weight ratio at around 20 hp/t. If players ever have the need to flank enemies by taking detours on water, it could also travel on water at 11 km/h, one of the fastest speed among other amphibious vehicle in game.
| Game Mode | Max Speed (km/h) | Weight (tons) | Engine power (horsepower) | Power-to-weight ratio (hp/ton) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Forward | Reverse | Stock | Upgraded | Stock | Upgraded | ||
| Arcade | 72 | 9 | 18.4 | 620 | 763 | 33.7 | 41.47 |
| Realistic | 65 | 9 | 354 | 400 | 19.24 | 21.74 | |
Modifications and economy
| Mobility | Protection | Firepower | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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Armaments
Main armament
Still sharing the same gun as the Type 62 and 63, the Type 63 85 mm rifled cannon still handles totally identically to the Type 63-I with some changes on the ammunition available. Players will find the same exact advantages and flaws from previous vehicles - while the calibre is larger than most light tanks of its tier with a variety of ammunition and now APFSDS among them, players need extra situational awareness to use the gun as it has much slower reaction time than most light tanks at its tier as well; plan ahead and turn the turret before any close-quarter assaults.
| 85 mm Type 63 | Turret rotation speed (°/s) | Reloading rate (seconds) | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mode | Capacity | Vertical | Horizontal | Stabilizer | Stock | Upgraded | Full | Expert | Aced | Stock | Full | Expert | Aced |
| Arcade | 47 | -5°/+22° | ±180° | - | 9.5 | 13.2 | 16.0 | 17.7 | 18.8 | 9.62 | 8.51 | 7.84 | 7.40 |
| Realistic | 5.9 | 7.0 | 8.5 | 9.4 | 10.0 | ||||||||
Ammunition
| Penetration statistics | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ammunition | Type of warhead |
Penetration @ 0° Angle of Attack (mm) | |||||
| 10 m | 100 m | 500 m | 1,000 m | 1,500 m | 2,000 m | ||
| Type 56 HEAT-FS | HEATFS | 300 | 300 | 300 | 300 | 300 | 300 |
| Type 56 HE | HE | 19 | 18 | 17 | 16 | 15 | 14 |
| Type 56 APCBC | APCBC | 164 | 162 | 154 | 143 | 134 | 125 |
| DJW85 | APFSDS | 227 | 225 | 217 | 208 | 199 | 190 |
| Shell details | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ammunition | Type of warhead |
Velocity (m/s) |
Projectile mass (kg) |
Fuse delay (m) |
Fuse sensitivity (mm) |
Explosive mass (TNT equivalent) (g) |
Ricochet | |||||
| 0% | 50% | 100% | ||||||||||
| Type 56 HEAT-FS | HEATFS | 845 | 7 | 0.05 | 0.1 | 822.8 | 65° | 72° | 77° | |||
| Type 56 HE | HE | 785 | 9.54 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 741 | 79° | 80° | 81° | |||
| Type 56 APCBC | APCBC | 792 | 9.2 | 1.2 | 14 | 77 | 48° | 63° | 71° | |||
| DJW85 | APFSDS | 1,290 | 2.1 | - | - | - | 78° | 80° | 81° | |||
Ammo racks
| Full ammo |
1st rack empty |
2nd rack empty |
3rd rack empty |
4th rack empty |
5th rack empty |
6th rack empty |
Visual discrepancy |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 47 | __ (+__) | __ (+__) | __ (+__) | __ (+__) | __ (+__) | __ (+__) | __ |
Machine guns
The previous Type 63-I has no HMG installed on top; in ZTS63's case, it has a pintle Type 54 DShK installed on the commander side of turret, giving it the chance to unleash 12.7 mm bullets against light targets or aircraft/helicopters that came too close.
| 12.7 mm Type 54 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mount | Capacity (Belt) | Fire rate | Vertical | Horizontal |
| Pintle | 500 (50) | 600 | -4°/+82° | ±180° |
| 7.62 mm SGMT | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mount | Capacity (Belt) | Fire rate | Vertical | Horizontal |
| Coaxial | 3,250 (250) | 600 | - | - |
Usage in battles
Describe the tactics of playing in the vehicle, the features of using vehicles in the team and advice on tactics. Refrain from creating a "guide" - do not impose a single point of view but instead give the reader food for thought. Describe the most dangerous enemies and give recommendations on fighting them. If necessary, note the specifics of the game in different modes (AB, RB, SB).
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Amphibious, allowing the use of surprise tactics involving rivers
- Fast and nimble enough to get into vantage points
- LRF and automatic ballistic solution for long-range engagement
- Access to HMG for self-defense against planes
- APFSDS with ~220mm penetration is effective against weakly armoured tanks like Leopard 1, AMX-30
- Varieties of ammunition for different scenario
Cons:
- Low survivability: unprotected with its paper-thin armor, and large size
- Cannon struggles against late war heavy tanks like Maus, IS-4
- Slow turret traverse speed
- Relatively slow reload speed
- Still lacks NVD for night battles
- No smoke grenades
History
Describe the history of the creation and combat usage of the vehicle in more detail than in the introduction. If the historical reference turns out to be too long, take it to a separate article, taking a link to the article about the vehicle and adding a block "/History" (example: https://wiki.warthunder.com/(Vehicle-name)/History) and add a link to it here using the main template. Be sure to reference text and sources by using <ref></ref>, as well as adding them at the end of the article with <references />. This section may also include the vehicle's dev blog entry (if applicable) and the in-game encyclopedia description (under === In-game description ===, also if applicable).
Media
Excellent additions to the article would be video guides, screenshots from the game, and photos.
See also
- Type 63-I: the base model
External links
| China light tanks | |
|---|---|
| Type 63 | Object 211 · Type 63 · ZTS63 |
| Type 62 | Type 62 |
| WZ551 | ZSL92 · PTL02 · WMA301 |
| ZBL08 | ZLT11 |
| Type 86 | ZBD86 |
| WZ502 | ZBD04A |
| ROC | M41D · M64 |
| Type 59 | QN506 |
| USA | ␗M8 LAC · ␗M3A3 Stuart · ␗M3A3 (1st PTG) · ␗M5A1 · ␗M24 · ␗M18 GMC · ␗M41A3 |
| USSR | ␗T-26 · T-26 No.531 · ␗PT-76 |
