Type 63 Amphibious Tank
In service 1963 - In service with export users
A Chinese amphibious light tank derived from the Soviet PT-76 but fitted with a larger 85 mm gun, built in quantity and exported widely.
Built byNorinco (Factory 256)
Development history
China received PT-76 vehicles from the Soviet Union and set about improving them rather than copying them. The Type 63 keeps the boat-shaped welded hull and water-jet propulsion but carries a new turret with an 85 mm gun, giving it real firepower for a vehicle of 18 tonnes. It swims without preparation beyond raising a trim vane and bilge pumps, which mattered to an army planning operations across the Yangtze and in the rice paddies of the south. Production ran for decades in several marks, and the type served in Vietnam with the PAVN, with North Korea, and later in African and Asian armies. Later Chinese upgrades fitted a 105 mm gun and modern fire control.
Notable actions
- Vietnam War
- Sino-Vietnamese War 1979