The Type 98 (also known as ZTZ-98) is the PLA’s third generation indigenous main battle tank (MBT). Its batch production variant is Type 98G (also known as ZTZ-99 or Type 99).

On October 1, 1999, during a parade in Beijing marking the 50th anniversary of the People’s Republic of China, the world got a look at the current Chinese armored force, including a first glimpse of the new Type 98 main battle tank (MBT). The PLA paraded three different tank types, with one of the most significant surprises being the new Type 98, which resembles a Russian T-72 MBT with a new and well-protected “box-like” turret. The Type 98 (and other improved and evolving armored vehicles like it) represent a potentially significant and continuing heavy threat confronting U.S. Army forces in the future.

Perhaps the most interesting characteristic of the Type 98 is the addition of what appears to be a previously unknown active self-defense system. Unlike contemporary Russian active tank self-defense systems like Drozd, Drozd-2, and Arena, which launch projectiles to disable or “shoot-down” incoming anti-tank missiles and projectiles, the Chinese system apparently uses a high-powered laser to directly attack the enemy weapon’s optics and gunner. The system includes what appears to be a laser warning receiver (LWR - the dome-shaped device on the turret roof behind the commander’s position), that warns the crew that their tank is being illuminated by an enemy range-finding or weapon-guidance laser. The turret of the tank can then be traversed to face the direction of the enemy threat, and the laser self-defense weapon (LSDW - the box-shaped device on the turret roof behind the gunner’s position), can be employed against the source of the enemy laser.

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