The Chinese ZSL92 6×6 IFV Family

The Chinese ZSL92 6×6 IFV Family

The Chinese ZSL92 6×6 IFV Family is the most modern wheeled IFV in service with the PLA and is a modernised version of the 1980’s WZ551 (ZSL90) wheeled IFV and is manufactured by China North Industries Group Corporation (NORINCO).

It has been in service with the PLA since 1995 and the APC variant since 1997. Other variants in service include ARV, ambulance and command & control as well as a number of prototypes mounting different turrets housing various main guns. It has also been exported to Sri Lanka and Pakistan.

The hull of the vehicle comprises three sections: the driver compartment in the front, the powerpack compartment in the middle left, and the troop compartment in the rear, which has six firing ports (x3 on each side of the vehicle).

Protection:

The vehicle offers all round protection against .50cal rounds and has an NBC system. A bank of x4 smoke grenade launchers is mounted on each side of the turret.

Firepower:

The main gun is a ZPT90 25mm chain gun, mounted in a one man turret and can be elevated from -8° to 55°. 120 high-explosive rounds and 80 armour-piercing rounds are fed in to the gun and an additional 200 rounds are stored in the turret. The gun can fire single, 3-round burst, 5-round burst, or fully automatic. It has a coaxial 7.62mm MG with 100 rounds.

Mobility:

The vehicle uses a German-designed BF8L413F 4-stroke, 8-cylinder, turbo-charged, air-cooled diesel engine, which generates 320hp. This gives a top road speed of 85km/h and an operational range of some where between 600 to 800km.

The vehicle is fully amphibious and propelled in the water by two propellers mounted at the rear of the vehicle, much like the USMC LAV-25 and has a top speed of 8km/h.The vehicle has an overall combat weight of 15.3 tonnes.

The Chinese ZSL92 6×6 IFV Family Variants:

All variants use the same chassis configured in one of the two chassis configurations: 4X4 and 6X6 or 8X8.

The 6X6 variants include:

■WZ551 – IFV armed with a 25mm automatic cannon. Prototype only
■WZ551-1 – IFV armed with a 73mm smoothbore gun. Prototype only
■WZ551-2 – APC armed with a 12.7mm machine gun. Prototype only
■ZSL92 – Production variant IFV with 25mm cannon
■ZSL92A – Production variant APC with 12.7mm machine gun
■PTL02 – 100mm assault gun
■NGV-1 – IFV with a Giat DRAGAR one-man 25mm cannon turret. Prototype only
■WZ554 – Twin-23mm self-propelled anti-aircraft artillery gun. Prototype only
■WZ551D – PL-9 surface-to-air missile system. Prototype only
■WZ901 – Police anti-riot vehicle
■WZ901F (Type 86) – Patrol vehicle
■XJZ92 – Armoured recovery vehicle (ARV)
■Armoured command vehicle
■Armoured ambulance
■Armoured reconnaissance vehicle
■Artillery reconnaissance vehicle
■‘Yitian’ air defence missile system. Prototype only

The 4X4 variants include:

■WZ91 – HJ-8 ATGM carrier. Prototype only
■WZ550 – HJ-9 ATGM carrier
■WJ94 – Police anti-riot vehicle