PTL02
Contents
Description
The HuoPao TuJi LunShi 02 (Simplified Chinese: PTL02 轮式突击炮; lit. wheeled assault gun) is a rank VI Chinese light tank with a battle rating of 8.7 (AB) and 9.0 (RB/SB). It was introduced in Update "Ixwa Strike".
Based on the WZ551 6x6 chassis developed in early 1990s (it shares the same chassis with ZSL-92), this vehicle is also the very first wheeled assault gun of the Chinese TT. Having subpar speed compare to the similar BR wheeled vehicles (at 85 km/h on road) and paper-like protection, it might not be the first vehicle with a role as sniper platform and flanks, but still a significantly faster vehicle than all PLAGF/ROCA vehicles has to offer for now. With its high velocity 100 mm smoothbore AT gun on-board, it can do some damage with the APFSDS at 220 mm RHA penetration at point-blank range. This vehicle has thermal sights with acceptable resolution, which can be precious at its BR since it can significantly speed up the seek and destroy process.
General info
Survivability and armour
One of the major drawback of this vehicle is the inferior protect against any calibre bigger than 12.7 mm since only the turret has more than 20 mm of armour that can stop HMG rounds from some range, other than that it's 5 to 10 mm of armour all around. Avoid anything with a HMG or any autocannon vehicles (including aircraft) at all cost, because it is very likely you will not have the second chance to return fire and knock the enemy out.
Armour type:
- Rolled homogeneous armour
| Armour | Front (Slope angle) | Sides | Rear | Roof |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hull | 10 mm (33°) Driver viewport glacis 10 mm (78°) Upper Glacis 10 mm (40°) Lower Glacis |
8 mm (25°) Top 10 mm (6°) Bottom 8mm (27°)Wheelwells |
6 mm (4°) Upper plate 6 mm (48°) Lower glacis |
10 mm (12°) Front glacis 6 mm Driver hatch 6 mm Centre |
| Turret | 30 mm (31°) Turret front 20 mm (29°) Turret Cheeks 30 mm (0°) Gun mantlet |
20 mm (23°) Frontal 20 mm (9°) Rear |
5 mm (14°) | 10 mm (12°) 10 mm (13°) Centre |
| Cupola | 10 mm (cylindrical) | 10 mm | ||
Mobility
| Game Mode | Max Speed (km/h) | Weight (tons) | Engine power (horsepower) | Power-to-weight ratio (hp/ton) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Forward | Reverse | Stock | Upgraded | Stock | Upgraded | ||
| Arcade | 94 | 8 | 19 | 496 | 611 | 26.11 | 32.16 |
| Realistic | 84 | 8 | 283 | 320 | 14.89 | 16.84 | |
Powered by a licensed BF8L413F 325 hp diesel engine from Germany, it can push this vehicle at the speed of 85 km/h ( and -8 km/h in reverse) on road. This vehicle still lags behind all wheeled assault guns in the game, making it the slowest at present, as well as the common problem for wheeled vehicles performing worse on soft terrain, which in this specific case is even worse due to the inferior power-to-weight ratio. Another negative aspect of the PTL02's mobility is the absurdly slow reverse speed of only ~7km/h, meaning it lacks the agility wheeled vehicles should have and will not be able to quickly back out from danger.
To make the most out of the good top speed, it will need to navigate on hard terrain (roads, urban surfaces) for the best result. If the situation requires for you to use this gun as a last-ditch weapon on hilly and soft terrain maps, try your best not to get stuck since the lack of mobility will absolutely be the death sentence of this vehicle.
Modifications and economy
| Mobility | Protection | Firepower | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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|
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Armaments
Main armament
The 100 mm PTP-86 smoothbore gun found on this vehicle was a improvement on the earlier Soviet based PTP-73 (Type 73) AT gun with the same calibre. The PTP-86 has similar performance as the Type 69's gun and players can get used to it fairly quickly. Bear in mind the slow reload and poor gun depression.
| 100 mm PTP86 | Turret rotation speed (°/s) | Reloading rate (seconds) | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mode | Capacity | Vertical | Horizontal | Stabilizer | Stock | Upgraded | Full | Expert | Aced | Stock | Full | Expert | Aced |
| Arcade | 30 | -4°/+18° | ±180° | Two-plane | __._ | __._ | __._ | __._ | __._ | _.__ | _.__ | _.__ | _.__ |
| Realistic | __._ | __._ | __._ | __._ | __._ | ||||||||
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 | ||
| 1-72-85 APDS-FS | APFSDS | 220 | 213 | 193 | 173 | 156 | 140 |
| 1-71-74 HE | HE | 17 | 17 | 17 | 17 | 17 | 17 |
| Type 1973 HEAT-FS | HEATFS | 390 | 390 | 390 | 390 | 390 | 390 |
| 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% | |||||||
| 1-72-85 APDS-FS | APFSDS | 1,505 | 4.7 | N/A | N/A | N/A | 76° | 77° | 80° |
| 1-71-74 HE | HE | 900 | 15 | 0 | 0.1 | 1,300 | 79° | 80° | 81° |
| Type 1973 HEAT-FS | HEATFS | 1,000 | 10.05 | 0.05 | 0.1 | 1,180 | 65° | 72° | 77° |
Ammo racks
| Full ammo |
1st rack empty |
2nd rack empty |
3rd rack empty |
4th rack empty |
5th rack empty |
6th rack empty |
Visual discrepancy |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 30 | __ (+__) | __ (+__) | __ (+__) | __ (+__) | __ (+__) | __ (+__) | __ |
Machine guns
The turret-mounted 12.7 mm QJC88A HMG has already become the standardized HMG for most PLAGF vehicles after the 1990s. The main usage of the HMG is to deal with lightly protected vehicles and low-flying aircraft including helicopters. It can also effectively damage gun barrels, tracks, optics, MG, and ERA to assist teammates in destroying enemies, though this may require more belts.
The 7.62 mm MG, on the other hand, is only useful in clearing obstacles such as fences, marking out enemy positions on the minimap, or knocking out exposed crew on certain vehicles (eg. M113 TOW). It lacks the penetration to pierce through even lightly armoured vehicles.
| 12.7 mm QJC88A | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mount | Capacity (Belt) | Fire rate | Vertical | Horizontal |
| Pintle | 500 (150) | 700 | -5°/+60° | ±180° |
| 7.62 mm Type 86 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mount | Capacity (Belt) | Fire rate | Vertical | Horizontal |
| Coaxial | 800 (250) | 700 | N/A | N/A |
Usage in battles
Being a wheeled vehicle and the very first wheeled assault gun of the Chinese tech tree, mobility and its gun sight is where it shines.
With its 85 km/h speed, flanking is the key to avoid any direct fire from pretty much any vehicles with 12.7 mm as its weapon and above, because of the negligible protection found on this vehicle, take all precautions and avoid rushing into direct fire at all cost, you will not have the luxury of having the second chance to return fire. Being currently the slowest wheeled assault gun in the game, taking advantage points might not be possible with the inferior top speed and only getting worse in off-road situations, complicated terrains are problematic for this vehicle that will excels better in urban combats. Any aircraft is a lethal threat, with either guns or rockets, so keep away from their sight.
While the gun does sufficient damage to vehicles at lower tier or lightly protected tanks, it will have trouble with Cold-War heavy tanks such as M103 or tanks with rounded hull such as M48 Patton. Bringing some HEATFS help deal with such vehicles. Due to the late introduction of this vehicle in-game wise (2002), this vehicle has thermal sights, with sufficient resolution to help players find targets. Utilize your mobility and the high velocity 100 mm smoothbore gun to clean up any potential flankers.
Enemies worth noting:
- Rooikat, Centauro, M1128, etc: these wheeled vehicles perform similar roles on the battlefield as the PTL02, that is, flanking. Therefore you might usually encounter them while flanking or on your way to flank. These vehicles are generally faster, both forward and backward, has better gun depression, or better optics/ammo, so they may already be at a cap point before you. If this is the case, ambush around their location and passively hunt them down, as the PTL's rather slow acceleration and bad reverse prevents it from being mobily offensive. These vehicles, however, can usually be hull-broken by chemical warheads, which makes your HEATFS rounds very useful.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- High speed and agility on hard and even terrain
- Hard-hitting 100 mm cannon firing powerful HEATFS shells
- Gunner thermal optics significantly boost its fighting capacity, especially at night
- Thin armour may cause overpenetration, leading to minimal shrapnel damage
- Fast turret traverse
- Two-plane stabiliser allows better targeting
- Roof-mounted 12.7 mm HMG is lethal against helicopters and light vehicles
Cons:
- Extremely slow reverse speed for a wheeled vehicle
- Poor gun depression (-4 degrees) renders it useless in hilly battlefields
- Very thin armour, can be mowed down by common .50 cals frontally as well as hull-broken by HEAT
- Tall profile
- Huge recoil, firing to the sides or on a slope will cause severe hull wobbling
- As with other wheeled vehicles, poor mobility on soft or uneven terrain
- No thermal sight for commander
- Reloads quite slowly(~10 seconds)
- Abysmal penetration figures for the 1-72-85 APDS-FS round against heavily armoured vehicles - expect the round to frequently non-pen or bounce off Russian T-62's, British Chieftains and American M60's
History
Devblog
In the late 1980's, the NORINCO corporation successfully tested the Type 87 armored vehicle. The prototype featured a 6x6 chassis of a prospective Type 90 armored personnel carrier with a 100mm anti-tank gun. The prototype vehicle successfully passed the tests, but was not put into service.
The army authorities returned to the project in the early 90's, when, in the course of modernization, the PLA began to form mobile motorized infantry formations. This was where the Type 87 researches came in handy: by 2003, on the same 6x6 chassis of the new Chinese armored vehicles ZSL92 and ZSL92A, a PTL02 infantry support vehicle appeared with a 100mm smooth-bore cannon in the turret. The 19-ton infantry fire support vehicle possessed significant mobility and a weapon capable of effectively destroying fortifications and armored vehicles, except for modern MBTs.
Mass production of the PTL02 has been going on since 2004, the SPG is widely used by the Chinese army and is produced for export in a version with a 105mm gun, unified for the use of Western-style ammunition.
Media
See also
Links to the articles on the War Thunder Wiki that you think will be useful for the reader, for example:
- reference to the series of the vehicles;
- links to approximate analogues of other nations and research trees.
External links
Paste links to sources and external resources, such as:
- topic on the official game forum;
- other literature.
| 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 |
