Jan 18, 2018

Armored Warfare - Silentstalker

Commanders!

In Update 0.22, we’ve introduced a modern Chinese Tier 7 wheeled IFV called ZBL-08. In the near future, following multiple players request for a high-Tier progression Tank Destroyer, we’re introducing its variant called ST1.

The ST1 is, simply put, a fire support vehicle on ZBL-08 chassis – one of two in fact, the other one being the ZTL-11 tank destroyer. The difference is that the ZTL-11 was developed by the Chinese for limited domestic use, while the ST1 is purely an export vehicle. Like the ZBL-08, the ST1 was developed by NORINCO.

Some western sources claim that the ST1 is an export variant of the ZTL-11, but this is not true – they are parallel developments and where the ZTL-11 uses the ZBL-08 chassis, the ST1 uses the chassis of the export version of the ZBL-08 called VN1. The ST1 turret is also different from the ZTL-11. Nomenclature intricacies aside, the ST1 is a rather common fire support vehicle, built with affordability and ruggedness rather than cutting edge technology in mind.

Protection-wise, the basic ST1 steel armor can withstand 12.7mm bullets frontally and 7.62mm AP bullets from all angles. Much like the ZBL-08, its armor can be upgraded to become frontally protected from 23mm or 25mm AP-I rounds at 1000 meters while its sides become protected from 12.7mm AP bullets at 100 meters. The vehicle also carries:

Smoke grenade launchers
Automatic fire suppression system
NBC protection system

Instead of the IFV variant turret, the ST1 carries a large two-man hydraulics-traversed turret armed with a low-recoil 105mm rifled gun that can fire NATO standard shells. Additionally, the gun can fire 105mm guided missiles, is fully stabilized, can depress to -4.5 degrees and elevate to +18 degrees. The turret is offering the same level of protection as the hull and is equipped with an advanced Fire Control System, featuring a laser rangefinder and a thermal imager. The vehicle carries 30 rounds.

The vehicle is very likely powered by the same engine as the VN1, the license produced German 440hp Deutz BF6M1015CP diesel and its maximum speed is around 100 km/h, an admirable result for its 24 tons. Its operational range is 800 km.

Not much else is known about the ST1 – the prototype was unveiled in November 2014 at the Air Show China expo. NORINCO advertised that the vehicle could become a part of rapid reaction light brigades in combination with the ZBL-08, a prospect that Venezuela found appealing – according to several sources, along with the 2014 order of approximately 40 VN1 IFVs, the Venezuelans ordered perhaps a dozen ST1 fire support vehicles with the first of them being delivered at the beginning of 2015.

Other sources claim that Argentina ordered perhaps two dozen of the ST1s at the same time. The first Argentinian deliveries allegedly happened around the end of 2014, although sources differ and this may not be true for the fire support variant.

Apart from several prototypes, the exact amount of ST1s produced is unknown, if any production took place until now at all.

In Armored Warfare, the ST1 will be a progression Tier 8 Tank Destroyer that will be possible to unlock from the Tier 7 ZBL-08 IFV of the Zhang Feng branch. Its gun performance will be comparable to that of the M1128 Stryker, but unlike the American vehicle, the ST1 will be able to launch guided missiles. Compared to the Stryker, it will be a less armored but stealthier vehicle.

We hope that you will enjoy it and will see you on the battlefield!

Jan 18, 2018

In Development: ST1

Armored Warfare - Silentstalker

Smoke grenade launchers
Automatic fire suppression system
NBC protection system

Jan 17, 2018

Vehicles in Focus: Type 69

Armored Warfare - Silentstalker

The Type 69 Main Battle Tank is the first widely-produced major upgrade of the old Type 59. Not the first upgrade in general, but the first to receive a new number in its designation.

The story of the original Type 59 is widely known. Once upon a time, there were two great countries that cooperated in many fields, including arms production – the Soviet Union and China. As a part of their “brotherly help” to fellow communists, the Russians provided the Chinese with the means and the license to produce a local variant of the ubiquitous Soviet T-54A Medium Tank. At first, the Chinese assembled the tanks (which they designated Type 59) from parts delivered by the Russians and later on, the vehicle was entirely built in China.

The original Type 59 was not even a T-54A variant; it was a direct copy, sharing its traits, including:

Steel armor (sloped, welded hull and cast turret)
100mm rifled D-10 cannon
520hp diesel engine

Additionally, the T-54A variant offered several upgrades over the standard T-54, including:

Single-axis STP-1 “Gorizont” stabilizer (from 1955 onwards improved with a two-axis one)
Gun fume ejector
New electric turret drive
Improved TSh-2A-22 gun sights
TVN-1 night visor or the driver

And a few smaller upgrades. Overall, it was a good tank, but by 1958-1959, it was almost a decade and a half old with its roots firmly in the Second World War. The Soviets realized it and were actively working on an upgrade to the vehicle. That’s also one of the reasons they weren’t worried about sharing the vehicle with the Chinese.

The cooperation was going on reasonably well, but each of the two countries had a bit of a problem with the other one. You see, both the Soviet Union and the People’s Republic of China thought their own strand of communism is the only correct communism – and so, to resolve their differences, the representatives of both states sat down like civilized people and found a peaceful solution to their ideological disagreements.

Well, not quite. In reality, they started a decade-long feud that culminated in a minor border war and had far-reaching consequences for both countries, the most relevant for this article being the cessation of military cooperation and development. The Soviets went their own way and the Chinese were left with a massive fleet of Type 59 tanks that were becoming quite obsolete over the years.

Faced with the lost access to advanced Russian technologies as well as their own lack of knowhow and, most importantly, funding, the Chinese turned towards the only logical solution – they attempted to upgrade the Type 59 tanks as much as they could to increase their combat value and to keep them relevant on modern battlefields.

Due to the technological gap between the Soviet Union and China, it took more than a decade to produce an upgraded version of the original Type 59. The upgrading in fact followed two somewhat separate paths – one relied on upgrading the original Type 59 with additional equipment and resulted in a number of variants and prototypes, including:

Type 59-I
Type 59-IA
Type 59-II
Type 59C
Type 59D
Type 59-120
Type 59-125

While the other relied on building a whole separate branch of vehicles on an upgraded Type 59 chassis that eventually became known as the Type 69. It’s worth noting that the Type 69 program was the first to appear, starting in the early 1960s, while the Type 59 upgrades mostly happened based on the lessons learned during the 1960s and 1970s. Either way, the whole Type 69 program is a confusing mess, as you’re about to find out.

The first Type 69 requirement was issued in 1963 with the first prototypes built as early as 1964 by Factory 617 (also known as the Baotou Tank Plant) – although some sources claim it was in 1966.

There were several major differences compared to the Type 59. First, the original clone of the rifled 100mm D-10T gun (called Type 59 cannon in Chinese service) was replaced by a new 100mm smoothbore called Type 69, an IR searchlight and an indigenous first generation laser rangefinder. The original 520hp 12150L diesel (a clone of the original Soviet T-54 engine) was replaced by a more powerful variant called 12150L-7, producing 580hp. It wasn’t exactly a successful design and it did not meet the expectations the military had – especially the gun was problematic:

It was nowhere near powerful enough to deal with modern Soviet and western tanks
It was less accurate than the rifled Type 59 gun (D-10T variant)
Due to poor processing quality in China, excessive residue remained in gun barrel after firing

This variant was never really mass-produced. Another big leap in the Type 69 development came in 1969, when the Chinese captured a Soviet T-62 tank during the Damansky Island incident. The tank was carefully studied by the Chinese and several upgrades based on its technology were introduced to the Type 69 chassis such as a new NBC protection set and a copy of the Luna IR searchlight.

Here’s where things get really interesting.

The true breakthrough only came in the early 1980s and this is where the Type 69 nomenclature becomes really tricky because even Chinese sources contradict each other. It’s commonly accepted that the two basic variants of the Type 69 are called:

Type 69-I
Type 69-II

This information is mentioned in numerous western sources, including the Wikipedia. Common sense suggests that “I” should come before “II”, which is something the western sources claim as well. However, in Chinese nomenclature, I and II do not necessarily represent version orders. The “II” in is generally reserved for export vehicles while “I” is reserved for domestic vehicles. Such is the case of Type 69.

From various contradicting sources (including the available Chinese ones), it can be surmised that roughly the following possibly happened:

After the abovementioned testing of the Type 69 prototype in 1960s (to make things even more confusing, this vehicle is also referred to as Type 69), the development stalled until the Chinese got their hands on the captured T-62 in 1969. In the early 1970s, they reverse-engineered some of the T-62 components and the variant them saw very limited production run under the name Type 69 (not Type 69-I, as some sources claim).

The 1970s are somewhat shrouded in mystery – it seems that the development halted for both political and technological reasons and the Chinese were only able to make major breakthroughs at the end of the decade due to the thawing of relations with the west. This gave the Chinese the access to western technologies, which in turn kickstarted the abovementioned Type 59 upgrade program from the 1980s, but also revived the development of the Type 69. The goal of the Type 69 program has always been to produce a significantly improved version of the Type 69 so, to a large degree, both programs ran in parallel, although the improvements to the Type 69 were deeper and involved some design choices rather than direct upgrades of certain components.

A few more things happened in the 1970s and the early 1980s. The Chinese were paying close attention to the events occurring in the Vietnam War where they supplied the North Vietnamese with arms and equipment. The same naturally went for the Sino-Vietnamese war of 1979 and the Iran-Iraq war. These lessons resulted in a brand new, separate MBT program for domestic use that eventually resulted in the Type 80/88 Chinese MBT and its evolution variants.

But that did not solve the Type 59/69 situation – there still were plenty of them around and the production was still going on at that point (it only stopped in mid-1980s). What to do with the Type 69 program?

The decision was to improve the Type 69 into an export vehicle. This vehicle became known as the Type 69-II and became one of the most widely exported Chinese tanks, starting from 1982-1984.

Compared to the previous Type 69 version, a number of improvements were made as a result of the 1981 meeting between the representatives of five Chinese ministries where especially the people responsible for foreign trade emphasized that the vehicle would not only have to perform well, but it would also have to be affordable. In the end, as many as 526 separate improvements of various magnitude were implemented into the design that was evaluated by 1982.

For one, the Type 69-II had a different gun. The 100mm smoothbore was dropped in favor of a more reliable 100mm Type 69 rifled design, derived from the older Type 59 cannon. Combined with modern ammunition such as the tungsten core APFSDS rounds, the modernized weapon could still deliver a punch. The firepower was further enhanced by a new (albeit still quite rudimentary) fire control system featuring:

TLRLA laser rangefinder (covered ranges from 300m to 3000m)
BCLA ballistic computer
TSGA gun sights
New TSFC twin-axis gun stabilizer

The vehicle carried 44 rounds of ammunition, the gun could depress to -5 degrees and elevate to +18 degrees and the rate of fire was 7 rounds per minute.

The engine was also improved – the 12150L-7 580hp V-12 diesel was changed to a variant called 121150L-7BW, which also produced 580hp, but featured an improved oil filter, improved fuel piping and improved cooling. This engine, along with its 5-gear gearbox, allowed the 36.7 ton vehicle to go as fast as 50 km/h on roads (30-32 km/h off-road). The operational range was some 440 km. This engine could be told apart from the other Chinese designs by a circular-shaped engine deck.

The armor was roughly similar to a standard Type 59 – 100mm of sloped steel armor on the hull and 200mm of armor at the turret front. Against modern threats such as the T-72 tank, it was nowhere near enough, but it allowed the vehicle to remain relatively light, small and cheap.

Other improvements were added to the vehicle as well, such as:

Emergency compressed air engine starter
Improved hydraulic steering (reducing driver’s fatigue)
New CWT-167 radio
New CYY-168 crew intercom
Automatic fire suppression system
Improved smoke generator (injecting fuel into the exhaust mechanism, making a 200 meter long trail of smoke that stuck around for 2-4 minutes)
Anti-IR coating, reducing the tank’s thermal footprint

Several sub-variants existed, including:

Type 69-IIA (a standard Type 69-II, but equipped with additional NBC protection)
Type 69-IIB/C/C1 (a command version of the Type 69-II/IIA)

Starting from 1982, the Type 69-II design was offered all over the world and was widely exported. The actual numbers, however, are not known. It is estimated that between 1982 and 1985 or so, around 3000 to 4000 export Type 69-IIs were produced and sold to:

Iraq (around 2000, most were destroyed during the wars with the United States)
Iran (around 200, because why arm only one side of the conflict when you can arm both)
Thailand (in 1987, they bought around 50 tanks and later used them in 1988 against Vietnam)
Pakistan (license-produced special variant called Type 69-IIM)
Bangladesh
Burma
Sri-Lanka
Sudan
Zimbabwe
Albania

While the main customers are generally known, sources differ wildly as to the smaller ones as these tanks often get mistaken for standard Soviet T-54/T-55s. In reality, nobody knows exactly how many ended up and where and it’s unlikely that we ever will.

One thing is for sure. Even though the tank was relatively capable and sufficiently powerful for third world countries, by the late 1980s, the Type 69 was completely obsolete and the shock from the defeat of what had been the most powerful army of the Middle East (Iraq) forced the Chinese to accelerate their modern tank research.

There is, however, one more chapter left in the history of the Type 69 – what became of the Type 69-I that was mentioned earlier in this article?

From what could be gathered, the Type 69-I came relatively long after the export version. It was one of the attempts to directly upgrade existing Type 59s with Type 69-II technology – in other words, those were Type 59s, converted to Type 69-II standard for domestic use. In 1988, a limited number of these vehicles (perhaps 200 or so) were produced and sent to various Chinese military units. A few of them are held in reserve to this day but as a whole, the Type 69 was never adopted by the Chinese military.

In Armored Warfare, the Type 69 is a Tier 2 Main Battle Tank of the Zhang-Feng branch. The Chinese vehicles are somewhat specific in the game by the fact that China caught up with the whole tanks arms race relatively late. As such, the low-Tier vehicles use generally obsolete platforms with better technology. Gameplay-wise, low-to-mid Tier vehicles behave like Russian tanks, but with more focus on single shot damage at the expense of mobility. These tanks are generally sluggish and not well-protected, but pack quite a punch.

We hope you like them and will see you on the battlefield!

Jan 17, 2018

Vehicles in Focus: Type 69

Armored Warfare - Silentstalker

The Type 69 Main Battle Tank is the first widely-produced major upgrade of the old Type 59. Not the first upgrade in general, but the first to receive a new number in its designation.

Steel armor (sloped, welded hull and cast turret)
100mm rifled D-10 cannon
520hp diesel engine

Additionally, the T-54A variant offered several upgrades over the standard T-54, including:

Single-axis STP-1 “Gorizont” stabilizer (from 1955 onwards improved with a two-axis one)
Gun fume ejector
New electric turret drive
Improved TSh-2A-22 gun sights
TVN-1 night visor or the driver

Type 59-I
Type 59-IA
Type 59-II
Type 59C
Type 59D
Type 59-120
Type 59-125

It was nowhere near powerful enough to deal with modern Soviet and western tanks
It was less accurate than the rifled Type 59 gun (D-10T variant)
Due to poor processing quality in China, excessive residue remained in gun barrel after firing

Type 69-I
Type 69-II

TLRLA laser rangefinder (covered ranges from 300m to 3000m)
BCLA ballistic computer
TSGA gun sights
New TSFC twin-axis gun stabilizer

Emergency compressed air engine starter
Improved hydraulic steering (reducing driver’s fatigue)
New CWT-167 radio
New CYY-168 crew intercom
Automatic fire suppression system
Improved smoke generator (injecting fuel into the exhaust mechanism, making a 200 meter long trail of smoke that stuck around for 2-4 minutes)
Anti-IR coating, reducing the tank’s thermal footprint

Several sub-variants existed, including:

Type 69-IIA (a standard Type 69-II, but equipped with additional NBC protection)
Type 69-IIB/C/C1 (a command version of the Type 69-II/IIA)

Iraq (around 2000, most were destroyed during the wars with the United States)
Iran (around 200, because why arm only one side of the conflict when you can arm both)
Thailand (in 1987, they bought around 50 tanks and later used them in 1988 against Vietnam)
Pakistan (license-produced special variant called Type 69-IIM)
Bangladesh
Burma
Sri-Lanka
Sudan
Zimbabwe
Albania

Jan 16, 2018

Community Interview: Kosmic_K

Armored Warfare - Silentstalker

Kosmic_K is an American Armored Warfare YouTuber and Streamer in the English speaking community and we are delighted that he accepted our invitation for an interview!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3z5w-2UOcwg

Who’s Kosmic_K? Please introduce yourself!

Hello, I’m Kosmic_K! I’m an American Streamer and Youtuber. I primarily play on NA, but sometimes play on EU, and will often stream upcoming changes on RU PTS.

How and when did you start playing Armored Warfare?

I started back in closed beta but only really got invested when Global Operations came out back in Patch 0.18. Having been a longtime fan of Conquest Mode in Battlefield games, I enjoyed playing a team based objective mode with all players in modern armored vehicles. The intricacies of the game mode that made it easy to stage comebacks from certain defeats and loss from the jaws victory made AW very exciting and compelling for me.

How has your experience been so far?

Armored Warfare has become my go-to online game. Whenever I can get a match, I far prefer playing Global Operations or PVP to anything else in my Steam library. The tactics, map awareness, team coordination, and speed of Armored Warfare hits all the right cords for me, and I find myself coming back to it over and over whenever I can. Furthermore, while Global Operations was the first game mode which made me fall for the game, PVP has grown on me as I’ve improved as a player and learned how to play the maps and tanks better.

What are your favorite vehicles and maps in Armored Warfare?

My favorite map in Armored Warfare has to be Desert Crossing. It was the only map available for Global Operations for a long time and yet I find it a lot like the Blood Gulch or de_dust2 of AW which you can play over and over and still have a unique experience each time, despite knowing every nook and cranny. My current favorite tank is the XM1A3 Abrams with the 120mm ready rack. The one-two punch of the two successive shots gives a lot of versatility in tracking opponents or punishing players for misplays. However, a close second is the Type 99A2. The new Chinese Tier 10’s speed and maneuverability make it a perfect for the extremely aggressive play that I enjoy. A wolf pack of coordinated Type 99A2’s have terrifying power, and it’s a treat to see just how quickly they can overwhelm flanks.

What's your most anticipated feature or improvement to Armored Warfare?

I’d like to see the end game of Armored Warfare. There isn't much for me to work towards as I have just about every tank in the game. One of my best experiences in AW has been playing together in a competitive tournament along with my other [APE] clan mates. Having a caller directing and coordinating an entire team against another team which is doing the same is extremely exciting. You see plays and moves which never happen in a regular PVP match. I’d like to see more high-level play where the very best players and tactics can square off against each other and push what is possible in AW.

How do you like the Armored Warfare community?

The Armored Warfare community has a special place in my heart. I started streaming AW because I wanted to find others to play with. I’ve been overwhelmed by the number of players I’ve met and the experiences I’ve shared since then. One aspect of the community that I enjoy is how easily bitter foes can become friends. My closest allies in AW are players who have utterly trashed me and I them in matches. Being able to flip and play together brings out the best in the community in my opinion and has taught me how to play better.

Is there something you would improve on Armored Warfare?

I wish that there were more skirmish maps available to play on PVP in small matches. Small PVP games have their own appeal with a different set of tactics, but the number of maps is just too few. I don’t think it would be too difficult to trim some of the many great PVP maps into smaller ones for smaller teams. I also would like for Armored Warfare to have server roaming. I have friends who are playing on EU and being an NA player means I had to start from scratch. It limits content I can make with other content creators and prevents me from experiencing matches with the best players on EU.

Where can players find your content?

You can find my content:

On my YouTube page: https://www.youtube.com/c/kosmic_k
I also stream on Twitch: https://twitch.tv/kosmic_k

Finally, if you’d like to chat or find other players to platoon with you can check out my discord server here: https://discord.gg/gMkSbuf

Last but not least, is there anything you'd like to tell the Armored Warfare players?

It’s easy to get too emotionally invested in your matches and games. This applies to me as much as anyone else. But experience has taught me that being able to step back is also valuable. To quote the athlete-philosopher Ilya Bryzagalov, “It’s only game. Why you have to be mad?”

We hope you've enjoyed this interview and see you on the battlefield!

Jan 16, 2018

Community Interview: Kosmic_K

Armored Warfare - Silentstalker

On my YouTube page: https://www.youtube.com/c/kosmic_k
I also stream on Twitch: https://twitch.tv/kosmic_k