In 1980' and 1990' China start economic reform, under this new policy. The size of PLA has Reduce by 1.5 million, along with budget and some new projects than under developing. Some of these projects been turn in to low priority, some been market to the Third world countries, and some been canceled.
During these China and Western countries are in so call Honeymoon period, so Chiese able to get some Western technology and cooperation.
In these time Chinese Industry main use the matured design to produce somethig new.
From top to bottom:
1)APC Type 63-I/B-531, Stretched version with five road wheels. Used as the chassis of the Type 70 SP howitzer, For Export.
The history of my country's development of wheeled armored vehicles can be traced back to Tibet's counterinsurgency period in the late 1950s. After the Tibetan rebellion, in order to solve the problem of the lack of armored vehicles and the difficulty of maneuvering in our troops stationed in Tibet, my country's weapons department developed the WZ533 wheeled armored vehicle on the basis of the former Soviet Union Gill 157 off-road vehicle. The WZ533 wheeled armored vehicle plays a role similar to the Maxxpro anti-ambush patrol vehicle developed by the US IMG company for the US military in Iraq. Its purpose is to provide a certain amount of armor protection for the patrol and fast-moving troops. Strictly speaking, the WZ533 wheeled armored vehicle should be an armored vehicle, because it still retains the chassis and power part of the Gil 157 off-road vehicle, and only protects the original engine compartment, cab and compartment with armored steel plates. After installing a large number of armored steel plates, a lot of weight has been added, and the power system still uses the design of the Gil 157 off-road vehicle, which greatly reduces its maximum driving speed. After handing over the troops stationed in Tibet in small batches, WZ533 developed the WZ533M wheeled armored command vehicle. After that, due to its lack of water travel capability and low combat adaptability, the development was finally stopped.
At the beginning of 1961, out of the need to build mechanized troops, the then Armored Forces Command issued the task of developing wheeled armored transport vehicles. The development task stipulates that the wheeled armored transport vehicle is mainly used to transport the infantry from the assembly area to the offensive starting position, and when necessary, it can pursue the rout enemy. After the task was assigned, my country's weapons department launched intensive research and development work. In order to reduce the difficulty of development, my country's weapons department chose to develop on the basis of the Jiefang CA30 off-road vehicle. Since the Jiefang CA30 off-road vehicle is a domestically improved version of the Gill 157 off-road vehicle, in a sense, the WZ521 wheeled armored vehicle can be regarded as an evolutionary version of the WZ533. Compared with the simple "assembly" of the WZ533 wheeled armored vehicle, the development of the WZ521 wheeled armored vehicle has more technical content. In view of the long track of WZ533 wheeled armored vehicle and poor flexibility; the power compartment is not compact enough and the front view is not good, WZ521 wheeled armored vehicle has shortened the track and redesigned the front power compartment. After improvement, The problems of vehicle agility and insufficient visibility of the front of the vehicle have been improved.
WZ533 follows the chassis of the Gill 157 off-road vehicle and adopts a non-load-bearing body design. Therefore, the WZ533 wheeled armored vehicle has the same body frame as the Gil 157 off-road vehicle. Wheeled armored vehicles with body beams have a high center of gravity and poor maneuverability; the passenger compartment has a low height and poor ride comfort. In the early design of WZ521 wheeled armored vehicle, the scientific research personnel of my country's weapons department saw this problem and adopted the design of load-bearing body without body beams. On the premise that the height of the passenger compartment is equivalent to that of the WZ533, the height of the body's center of gravity has been reduced by 400mm. The stability and mobility of the vehicle can be improved.
At the end of 1961, my country's weapons department trial-produced the first WZ521 prototype and delivered it for testing. After the 2,000-kilometer sports car test, the researchers modified it again. In June 1963, the Weaponry Department delivered three second-round prototypes. The second-round prototypes were divided into convertible WZ521-1 and closed-body WZ521-2. From July 1963 to May 1964, WZ521-1 and WZ521-2 were tested on long-distance sports cars. In the end, the design finalization committee believed that the closed-body WZ521-2 was more in line with the requirements. In December of the same year, the General Staff formally finalized the WZ521-2 wheeled armored vehicle as a 1964 wheeled armored transport vehicle, referred to as a 64-type wheeled armored transport vehicle. After that, the factory carried out small batch production in 1965 and delivered it to the troops for trial. It should be said that the 64-type wheeled armored transport vehicle has basically achieved the purpose of development, but due to the limitations of the congenital conditions of the Jiefang CA30 off-road vehicle, the performance of the 64-type wheeled armored transport vehicle is very limited. In addition, the original intention of the development of the 64-type wheeled armored transport vehicle was still to solve the problem of insufficient maneuverability of the troops in the southwestern region of my country to deal with emergencies. At that time, there was no possibility of emergencies in the southwestern region, so the 64-type armored transport vehicle After a small batch of trial installations, we did not equip our army as a standard equipment.
After the Sino-Soviet conflict broke out in 1969, the large number of troops deployed by the former Soviet Union along the Sino-Soviet border posed a major threat to our country's security. In order to improve the mechanization level of our country's forces and meet the needs of combat against the Soviet Union in the "Three Norths" area, in February 1970, the Armored Forces Command held a meeting to implement a new generation of tank and armored vehicles development tasks. At this meeting, it was determined to develop the second-generation wheeled armored vehicle on the basis of the first-generation wheeled armored vehicle (WZ533 armored vehicle, 64-type wheeled armored vehicle). At the same time, it is clear that the second-generation wheeled armored vehicles must meet the operational characteristics of the Three Norths, have a certain ability to overcome obstacles in the rivers, and take the transportation of infantry as the main task. After the task was assigned, the Northern Vehicle Research Institute served as the chief division unit to organize the development. At the same time, a certain research institute of the armored forces, the Changchun Automobile Research Institute, and the Shenyang Military Region participated in the development work.
In the 1970s, the development of wheeled armored vehicles in the world entered a new era. The development of wheeled armored vehicles is no longer modified on the three types of vehicle chassis, but relying on existing vehicle technology, using as many of the main parts of off-road trucks as possible, and partly undergoing adaptive transformations. According to the requirements, the development unit proposed the WZ522-1 program with 16 people and the WZ522-2 program with 24 people. After careful discussion, it was decided that the second-generation wheeled armored vehicle selected the 35D type successfully developed by the Second Automobile Group in 1970. The WZ522-1 program that can carry 16 people is developed based on 8×8 off-road trucks. In July 1970, the development unit launched the first-round prototype of WZ522-1, and participated in the "Five New Types of Tank and Armored Vehicle Field Reporting Performance" held by the Armored Forces in Beijing in the same year. Subsequently, the WZ522-1 test vehicle was tested in the cold winter from January to March 1971. In October of the same year, researchers made improvements based on the first-round prototype, and launched the second-round WZ522-1. From 1972 to 1975, the overall performance test of the second round prototype was carried out, and the test results basically met the design requirements.
Compared with the first-generation wheeled armored vehicles WZ533 and Type 64, the technical level of WZ522-1 has indeed improved a lot. For example, the 8×8 drive form, the sealed load-bearing car body design, the double wishbone independent suspension, etc., are all we have never tried before. The WZ522-1 wheeled armored vehicle basically has the characteristics of the second-generation wheeled armored vehicle that appeared in the world at that time, but there are still many unsatisfactory places in the overall design. In order to avoid the technical risks caused by a large number of changes to the more complex 8×8 drive train of the 35D off-road vehicle, WZ522-1 still adopts the power cabin front plan. Compared with the 35D off-road vehicle, the engine position is moved back 478mm longitudinally in order not to affect the front view and reduce the load on the first axle. This makes the power compartment space relatively narrow, which is not convenient for replacing the engine, and it is also not conducive to heat dissipation under the working state of the engine. In addition, because the car is not equipped with a tire central pressure regulation system, its ability to travel on complex roads is greatly reduced. The overall technical level of WZ-522-1 is comparable to that of the French VAB 6 which represents the development trend of wheeled vehicles in the world at that time. ×6 wheeled armored vehicles have a large gap.
After the second round of prototype car completed the overall performance test, the development department of WZ522-1 organized and ended the development of the car from 1976 to 1978. Relevant departments have made the following evaluations on the development of WZ522-1:
1. In the early stage of WZ522-1 development, there was a problem that the purpose of the development was not clear. Although the WZ522-1 was developed to meet the needs of the Three Norths for combat against the Soviet Union, it was not clear whether it was accompanied by tank forces for mechanized operations or simply as an independent armored transport vehicle. If fighting with tank troops, the mobility of WZ522-1 and tanks are difficult to synchronize. It is only used as an independent conveying vehicle, and it has a single function.
2. The design does not take into account the expansion of the WZ522-1 wheeled armored vehicle. In the 1970s, wheeled armored vehicles equipped with troops in Western countries launched 4×4 and 8×8 models based on 6×6 base vehicles to meet different needs. In comparison, the model of WZ522-1 is very single. Moreover, its chassis carrying capacity is insufficient, and its combat weight is only 10 tons, which is far below the level of contemporary Western 6×6 wheeled armored vehicles. Of course, this is also related to the low technical level of its prototype 35D off-road truck.
Due to the above problems, WZ522-1 finally failed to design a finalized equipment unit. So far, my country's third attempt to develop wheeled armored vehicles has failed.
By chance during the Spring Festival of 2017, I learned that a worn-out 8×8 wheeled armored transport vehicle was stored in Tinglinyuan Park, Kunshan City, Suzhou City, Jiangsu Province. The car looks exactly like the Soviet-made BTR series wheeled armored car, which was placed in the park as early as the early 1990s. Many people are confused by the appearance of the car. Some people say that it is a certain type of armored car that was eliminated by the local garrison troops, and some people say that it is a prop car left over from film and television dramas. For this reason, the author drove to Kunshan Tinglin Garden to see the respect. Kunshan netizens who have taken photos with the armored vehicle have sent old photos, allowing people to see many missing details. Surprisingly, this is not a retired vehicle, nor is it a fictional prop vehicle. Its identity is likely to be the second wheel of a domestically made WZ522-1 8×8 wheeled armored transport vehicle developed after the "Twenty-fourth" battle. sample car! Its engine is cast with Chairman Mao's quotations of "raising vigilance and defending the motherland", which can be seen in the shadow of the era of the "Twenty-fourth Battle" that year. The vehicle combines the technical characteristics of the first wheel prototype of the WZ522-1 8×8 wheeled armored transport vehicle and the WZ523 wheel-track integrated armored transport vehicle developed during the "Twenty-fourth Battle". It is to communicate with the early domestic wheeled armor. The bridge between conveyor vehicles and modern wheeled armored conveyor vehicles.
The early development of our army's wheeled armored vehicles
On March 14, 1959, a plant located in the southwest quickly mobilized the entire plant after receiving an emergency task. It took only three days and nights to refit the first armored vehicle on the basis of a Soviet-made Gil-157 chassis. Prototype, the car was officially named WZ533 armored car after completing the test. This is the first armored vehicle developed by New China itself, with a total combat weight of 9.14 tons, a length of 6.680 meters, a width of 2.3 meters, a height of 2.8 meters (to the turret), and a maximum speed of 45 kilometers per hour. There are 3 crew members, including the driver, co-pilot and radio operator, and 12 crew members. An open gun tower with armored anti-shield is installed on the top armor plate of the car body, with a 7.62 mm machine gun, which can rotate 360°. In February 1960, the factory modified the WZ533M armored command vehicle on the basis of the localized "Jiefang" CA30 2.5-ton off-road vehicle chassis.
When the WZ533 armored car is put into use in Tibetan areas, the armor protection can effectively defend against long-range rifle machine gun shells, and well protect the safety of the personnel in the car. The machine gun tower with anti-shield and multiple shooting holes around make the car a "fire hedgehog", which has an overwhelming advantage against Tibetan rebels without anti-armor capabilities. Some people think that the WZ533 armored vehicle is the first armored anti-ambush vehicle of our army. However, the vehicle also exposed its weak points of insufficient power and poor off-road performance when used on the plateau, so it was only used for temporary use and did not become a standard equipment of our army.
Before Tibet's rebellion was put down, our army had received 25 BTR-152 6-wheel drive armored vehicles from the Soviet army stationed in the Lushun military port, which provided a physical reference for the development of new wheeled armored transport vehicles. At the beginning of 1961, the armored forces assigned the task of developing a new type of wheeled armored transport vehicle. This new type of armored transport vehicle developed on the chassis of the domestically made "Liberation" CA30 2.5-ton off-road vehicle was named WZ521 wheeled armored transport vehicle. At the end of December 1961, the first prototype was trial-produced at the Trial Production Plant of the Armored Forces Research Institute, followed by a 2,245 km test run. On this basis, the second round of design and trial production decided to move to Chengdu Southwest Metal Structure Factory in order to listen to the opinions and suggestions of troops entering Tibet in time.
In June 1963, the Southwest Metal Structure Factory trial-produced 3 prototype cars for design finalization. Due to the influence of the Soviet-made BTR-152 wheeled armored transport vehicle, the prototype vehicle includes two models, an open roof and a closed body. This is exactly the same as the case where the early BTR-152 used an open roof, while the later BTR-152K used a fully enclosed body. For this reason, the prototype with an open roof was named WZ521-1, and the prototype with a closed body was named WZ521-2. From July 1963 to May 1964, the two prototypes were subjected to 25,000-kilometer design finalization tests in Chengdu, Nanjing, and Beijing. In early 1964, the vehicle passed the technical review, and its combat technical performance exceeded the target requirements of the mission statement. Subsequently, the State Council Military Product Modeling Committee approved the design and finalization of the WZ521-2 (closed body) wheeled armored transport vehicle. In December 1964, the General Staff officially named the vehicle "1964-type armored transport vehicle", referred to as Type 64 wheeled armored transport vehicle.
The vehicle has a total combat weight of 9.165 tons and can carry a total of 23 people including the pilot and co-pilot, which greatly improves the combatant transportation capability. A Type 64 armored transport vehicle can carry 2 infantry squads, or two 82mm mortar squads, or 3 heavy machine gun squads, or 1 infantry squad and 1 82mm mortar squad, or 1 infantry squad Class and 1 heavy machine gun class. If the back of the crew seat is laid flat, the car can transport supplies, equipment and ammunition. It has a loading area of 7.8 square meters, a space height of 1.2 meters, and a load capacity of 2 tons. After the model was finalized, the design was modified again in accordance with relevant regulations and requirements. After being approved by the state, the Southwest Metal Structure Factory carried out small batch production, and the 8 armored vehicles produced were delivered to the troops for trial. But at this time, the Tibetan counter-insurgency operations have ended, so that the vehicle has not been tested in actual combat.
Since the new China's automobile industry was completely built on Soviet assistance, although it was not out of date, it developed slowly in the following 20 years. This also caused the development of our army's wheeled armored vehicles to be more difficult than tracked equipment.
"Twenty-fourth Battle" creates "big eight rounds"
Whether it is the temporarily modified WZ533 armored vehicle or the type 64 armored vehicle developed and developed, they are all 6×6 driven. In the Sino-Soviet border conflict on Zhenbao Island that broke out in 1969, our army successively destroyed and wounded a number of Soviet new-generation 8×8 wheeled armored vehicles BTR-60. However, the BTR-60 has excellent performance, balance of mobility, protection and firepower, which has also attracted the attention of our army. In order to cope with the possible outbreak of a larger-scale Sino-Soviet war, the People's Liberation Army urgently needs an 8×8 wheeled armored transport vehicle that can quickly project troops on a large scale and is equivalent to or surpassing the BTR-60 in technical performance.
Marked by the famous "Twenty-Four Battle", China began the concentrated development of the second wheeled armored transport vehicle. (Refer to "The Second Fourth Battle"-The First Large-scale Cooperation of Tank Scientific Research of Chinese Military Industry, Issue 2 of 2017 of "Weapon").
In terms of the development of wheeled armored transport vehicles, WZ522-1 wheeled armored transport vehicles and WZ523 wheeled armored transport vehicles were developed at the same time during the "Twenty-Fourth Battle", both of which are different from the previous 8×8 large-scale. Wheeled armored transport vehicle. The armored force clearly stated that the main task of the new wheeled armored transport vehicle is to transport infantry and equip it with mechanized troops. Its use area is mainly in the north, but it is required to be able to float by itself.
Relevant units decided to develop two types of armored vehicles at the same time after the demonstration of the new vehicle plan, namely the WZ522-1 with 16 people and the WZ522-2 with 24 people. Among them, for the purpose of equipment versatility, the WZ522-1 vehicle uses as far as possible the 35D (8×8) military off-road vehicle assembly and parts developed by the Hanyang Special Automobile Manufacturing Plant in 1971. In September 1970, the WZ522-1 prototype was the first to be successfully developed. In October, it participated in the on-site report meeting of the new vehicle hosted by the Beijing Nankou Armored Forces. The WZ522-2 only stays on the conceptual design and has not entered the actual vehicle development stage.
From January to March 1971, the WZ522-1 prototype was tested in the cold winter at the Baicheng Weapon Test Center, and then the second round of prototype development was carried out according to the test conditions. From 1972 to 1975, the second round of prototype vehicles successively carried out various tests with a total mileage of 25,000 kilometers. From 1976 to 1978, relevant units completed test summaries, and a complete set of design drawings and technical data were sorted and archived. From 1979 to 1980, the WZ522-1 prototype also participated in the military equipment exhibition and conventional weapons exhibition, and gave a special report to the National Defense Industry Office to review relevant reports and summaries. After that, because the equipment system did not determine whether a wheeled armored vehicle was required, the vehicle could not be finalized, and related development work was stopped.
During the "Twenty-Four" battle, a wheel (track) integrated armored transport vehicle was also developed, and the design code was WZ523. The vehicle participated in the Beijing Nankou Armored Forces New Type Vehicle Field Report in October 1970 and the subsequent military equipment exhibition, but failed to finalize and develop further due to various reasons.
WZ522-1 first wheel prototype and old WZ523
At present, the first wheel prototype of WZ522-1 wheeled armored transport vehicle is parked in the tourist area of North Weapon City in Baotou, while the old WZ523 wheeled and tracked armored transport vehicle is parked in Beijing’s Huaishuling 201 Family Building. In the courtyard. Interestingly, on each side of the two prototypes is a TAB-77 8×8 wheeled armored transport vehicle imported from Romania (the Romanian version of the Soviet-made BTR-70 wheeled armored transport vehicle). This gives us the privilege to directly compare the domestic armored vehicle with this typical Soviet-style armored vehicle.
WZ522-1 is based on the domestic 35D off-road vehicle. The car frame is eliminated in structure, and a fully enclosed, load-bearing armored car body is adopted. The first wheel prototype of the WZ522-1 in the North Weapon City has a sharp head, which has changed the image of the former armored car. The front armor of the multi-rib structure has good frontal protection. The power hatch at the front of the car body is independently welded with a piece of armor plate, and the movable inspection hatch is opened through the top of the engine to achieve a balance between protection capability and maintenance convenience. There are three air inlets for the shutters that can be opened upwards at the upper armor part, and there are rear cooling air outlets on both sides. This is mainly considering the consideration of preventing water from entering the air inlet and outlet during floating. It can also be seen that the car continues the characteristics of the WZ533 and WZ521 armored vehicles, and the engine remains at the front position instead of the rear-mounted engine layout of the BTP-70/TAB-77 wheeled armored vehicle, and it is widely equipped with the WZ551 of our army. The layout of the mid-engine engine of the wheeled armored vehicle family is also different.
In the design, in order to take into account the center of mass of the vehicle during the floating, the heavy engine moves a certain distance back along the longitudinal axis of the vehicle, in the middle of the first and second axles, and moves appropriately to the right, leaving the driver on the left with a corresponding Operating space. The engine is a 6105 type four-stroke inline with a 35D off-road vehicle
A 6-cylinder water-cooled gasoline engine with a nominal power of 110 kilowatts (150 horsepower). Although the transmission system is still mechanical, due to the 8×8 all-wheel drive, the entire traditional system is more complicated than the old-fashioned armored car directly using the basic truck transmission. When the vehicle is driving in good road conditions, it can only drive the rear four-wheel propulsion, and when driving off-road, it combines the first and second axles to form an 8-wheel full drive to achieve higher off-road performance. The headlights on the front of the car are independently set, and the steel protective grille only protects the easily broken lamp mask, but does not protect the whole lamp. This design did not reappear later. The turn signal on the fender can be used in common with the turn signal of FAW CA-30 series trucks.
The engine compartment is next to the driver's cab, and the front is a large area of bulletproof windshield glass, which has a good view and is protected by an armor plate that can be turned up. There is a small triangular observation window on each side, and there is also a protective armor plate that can be put down at ordinary times. The driver is located on the left side of the vehicle and uses the steering wheel to operate. Although the prototype vehicle does not have a periscope installed, it is necessary to use a periscope to help driving like a BTR armored vehicle, considering the problem of driving with closed windows. One of the periscopes also needs to be able to be replaced with a night vision device for night combat driving. The cab is connected to the crew compartment. The crew compartment can carry 16 infantrymen. The fronts on both sides are equipped with fixed three-person benches, and the rear is a self-turning five-person bench. After automatically turning up, a larger space can be formed in the rear, which is convenient The crew quickly got on and off the car through the back door. The difference from the previous two models is that the car has no side doors on both sides, only a tail door that opens to the right at the rear. The shape is similar to the tail door of the Type 63 crawler armored conveyor. Both sides of the tail door Each has a fixed daylight periscope and a shooting hole.
The center of the top armor plate in the front of the crew room is equipped with a seat-type rotary machine gun rack, which can be installed with a 59-type 12.7 mm tank anti-aircraft machine gun, carrying 1,500 rounds of ammunition. The machine gun was operated by the squad leader of the infantry squad and operated by the co-pilot after the crew got off the vehicle. There are also two roof windows on the top of the crew compartment that can be opened forwards and backwards for people to enter and exit the vehicle from above. For this reason, there are two sets of double climbing handrails on each of the armor plates on both sides. There are also 4 fixed daylight periscopes and 4 shooting holes on both sides of the car body, so that the whole car has 10 shooting holes. In addition, the car is also equipped with a 57-type flare gun with 12 rounds of ammunition.
The WZ522-1 first-wheel prototype vehicle has a combat weight of 10 tons, a length of 6.385 meters, a width of 2.650 meters, and a height (up to the top of the anti-aircraft machine gun) 2.609 meters. When using 8-wheel drive, the trench width can reach 1.8 meters, which is close to the level of a crawler armored transport vehicle. Because the armored soldiers did not specify the tire requirements in the combat technical indicators during the development of the vehicle, the new bullet-proof tires of the WZ521-2 armored vehicle were not used, but the 11.00-18 off-road tires of the 35D truck were used, and the maximum speed reached 80 kilometers. /hour. The water is paddled by tires, with a speed of 3.3 kilometers per hour and a maximum road trip of 500 kilometers.
Because the industrial foundation was poor at that time and there was not enough new technical support, there was a certain gap between the car and the Soviet-made BTR-70 series. For example, there is no closed turret/gun turret design, and the anti-aircraft machine gun shooter is easily injured (the WZ533 armored car machine gun turret design for the war in Tibet). The 12.7mm anti-aircraft machine gun is weaker than the Soviet-made 14.5mm machine gun. The tires have no central deflation structure, and it is difficult to drive after being hit by a bullet. The car also has no special water propulsion device, and the tire stroke speed is slow.
The old WZ523 wheel-track integrated armored transport vehicle looks like the enlarged WZ522-1, which is much larger than the TAB-77 around it. The car also uses a sharp front, but the front is shorter, the upper armor is more downward, and the driver's vision is better. The lower armor is like the bow of a ship, which is convenient for water navigation, but like the WZ522-1 armored vehicle, there is no sign of installing a wave board. The armor plate outside the windshield of the cab adopts a rare downturn instead of the upturned WZ522-1 type, and there are downturned triangular side window armor panels on both sides.
On the left and right sides of the front of the car roof, there are two access hatches that are turned up on both sides for the driver and the co-pilot to enter and exit. Among the two hatches is the engine air intake grille. This shows that the engine still uses the truck's central axis layout, but the air intake has been changed from the front air intake to the upper air intake grille air intake, which effectively improves the armor protection capability of the car body. There are also two square exhaust pipes extending from both sides of the air intake grille, extending backward along the edge lines on both sides of the roof, and turning to the outside opening after the rear of the car. The engine exhaust gas flows from the square openings on both sides. discharge. This layout in which the engine intake and exhaust ports are placed on the roof is also conducive to floating ferry navigation, and in the following years it has become the standard design of China's wheeled armored transport vehicles.
Behind the engine compartment is the crew compartment. The car has a higher height and sufficient internal space for better riding comfort. An annular seat ring is installed in the center of the top armor plate behind the engine intake grille, which can be installed with anti-aircraft machine guns. In addition, the rear part of the top armor also has an overturned hatch for passengers to enter and exit. There are 4 daytime periscopes and 4 shooting holes on the armor plates on both sides of the car body. There are two tailgates at the tail that open to both sides, which is obviously much larger than the double-opening tailgate of the small 86-type crawler infantry fighting vehicle. Each of the tailgates has a shooting hole, but there is no periscope. There is a three-bladed propeller in the duct below the middle of the tailgate for water navigation. This is also the first time that a domestic wheeled armored transport vehicle adopts propeller propulsion. The dedicated propeller propulsion is better than WZ522-1 wheel paddling sailing, and the water speed is estimated to reach 6 to 8 kilometers per hour.
The biggest feature of this car is the land mobile device, 8 tires are independently suspended but two by two are in the same wheel groove. The tires have no brand mark and should be specially produced test tires. The tire surface is equipped with anti-skid nails, which can improve the passage of vehicles in the rice fields and muddy fields of the southern water network. This shows that unlike WZ522-1, which is positioned to operate in the "Three North" zone, the old WZ523 wheeled armored vehicle mainly considers the use of southern troops. According to the evaluation of Song Nan, a professional editor of Electric Vehicle Times, the car is not equipped with all-terrain tires similar to the BTR-70 series. It is equipped with low-pressure tires with flat sidewalls, which is suitable for rainy and muddy subtropical, tropical and coastal areas. . Each tire has 2 rows of studs added on both sides of the tread, which can be adapted to special crawlers. Not only that, this type of studs are not the same size, but for driving on pavement and various road conditions with better road conditions. The outer tire studs are flush with the central protruding end of the tread, which can reduce abnormal wear caused by non-motorized marching. Unfortunately, the old 523 is not equipped with a central tire inflation and deflation system.
Although the old WZ523 vehicle is called a wheel-track armored transport vehicle, neither the actual vehicle nor the display board description can see how the crawler is installed. Judging from the tire shape, it is not suitable for installing metal track shoes, but it is conducive to installing rubber tracks. The rubber track is an endless belt made of rubber, metal and fiber materials. It has the characteristics of low ground pressure, high traction, low vibration, low noise, good wetland passability, no damage to the road surface, fast driving speed, and low quality. Further expand the scope of use of wheeled walking machinery. The world's first rubber track was successfully developed by Bridgestone Corporation of Japan in 1968. The tall body and double-wheel groove design of the car really facilitate the installation of a rubber track on the moving wheels, and the cleats on the tires can be inserted into the driving holes of the rubber track as transmission teeth to make the track move. This is a typical geared rubber track drive.
The source of military exhibits in Tinglin Garden
If the first prototype of WZ522-1 was parked in the North Weapon City because of its background in the Weapon Industry Group, while the old WZ523 prototype was parked in 201 because that was its birthplace. So why does Kunshan Tinglin Garden, a purely folk-style Jiangnan garden, have the precious WZ522-1 second-round prototype? How did this armored vehicle be transported from the capital to the south and settled in Kunshan?
According to "Tinglin Garden Records", one of the local chronicles of Kunshan published in 2006, Tinglin Garden is located in the northwest corner of Kunshan City, a water town in the south of the Yangtze River. The ground is Maanshan Park. In 1936, it was renamed Tinglin Park to commemorate Gu Yanwu (from 1613 to 1682, a native of Kunshan in Suzhou Prefecture, Nanzhili, named Tinglin). In 2000, it was renamed Tinglin Garden. It is Gu Yanwu who put forward the famous phrase "everyone is responsible for the rise and fall of the world" in "Rizhilu Zhengshi", which reflects the historical responsibility of the Kunshan people. In the 1990s, in order to strengthen national defense education, the management of Tinglin Park opened an open space in the original children’s playground to build a small national defense education park. In order to prepare for the exhibits, with the support of the local garrison and relevant leaders, the park has successively obtained a J-5A night fighter, a 63 amphibious tank and a WZ522-1 wheeled armored transport vehicle prototype. 3 exhibits.
Regarding the origin of this WZ522-1 wheeled armored transport vehicle prototype, the "Tinglin Garden Records" records quite clearly. This armored vehicle "comes from Beijing. It was assisted by Zhu Min, who was the secretary of the Dianshan Lake Working Committee of the Kunshan Dianshan Lake of the Communist Party of China during the Anti-Japanese War, and the head of the armored force after the founding of the People’s Republic of China. After the approval of the relevant parties of the army, the gift procedure was completed. Former deputy of Kunshan County. County Mayor Wang Daowei, former deputy director of the Kunshan County (City) People’s Government Office Wang Shunbao, and the leaders of Tinglin Park went to Beijing with the leaders of Armored Forces 201 Institute to organize the gift handover ceremony and entrust the troops to apply on October 30, 1991 The special train for military vehicles arrived in Kunshan."
Comrade Zhu Min, who played a major role in the donation of armored vehicles, is an old revolutionary and an old leader in the development of tanks and armored vehicles in our army. Zhu Min (1921～1999), formerly known as Zhu Qicong, was born in Nanjing, Jiangsu. Joined the Communist Party of China in 1938 and joined the army in 1939. During the Anti-Japanese War, he participated in the Songhu Anti-Japanese Ranger and fought on the front lines of Baoshan Dachang and Huacao Town. In the underground work of the CCP, he was arrested twice and stood firm in the face of enemy coercion and torture, showing the unyielding revolutionary integrity of the Communist Party members. Since 1940, he has served successively as the propaganda committee member of the Kun (Shan) Jia (Ding) County Committee of the Communist Party of China, the propaganda committee member of the Kunshan County Committee, the secretary of the Dianshan Lake Working Committee of Southern Jiangsu, and the deputy director of the Sanqi City Office in Cixi, Zhejiang. In 1943, he transferred the work of the upper working committees of Shanghai and Jiangsu Province. In 1945, he was transferred to the Shanghai Suburb Working Committee and actively organized the Shanghai Underground Army (Workers' Army) to participate in an armed uprising and cooperate with the liberation of Shanghai. During the War of Liberation, he served successively as the captain of the Shanghai Workers' Force, the cultural team of Shandong University, the second training class leader of the Urban Engineering Department of the Central China Bureau, a member of the Xuzhou City Working Committee of Jiangsu Province, a special commissioner of the Liaison Department of the Political Department of the Central China Field Army, and the Wuxi County Working Committee of Jiangsu Province. Secretary, director and political commissar of the third detachment of the East Zhejiang Guerrilla Second Column, secretary of the Taixi Working Committee of East Zhejiang, director of the Political Department of the Second Zhejiang Guerrilla Group, and director of the Political Department of the Zhejiang Second Army Division. He led his troops to participate in the battles of Qingyan, Nakamura, Hongjiayang, Shangwanggang, Tiantai Mountain, Liberation Sanmen, and Shaoxing, and won the Second Class of Liberation Medal.
Comrade Zhu Min served successively as deputy political commissar of the Zhejiang Military Division, deputy political commissar of the Fourth Tank Training Base, political commissar of the Third Tank School, political commissar of the Armored Forces Science and Technology Research Institute, deputy director of the Political Department of the Armored Forces, and political commissar of the Nanjing Advanced Army School. One of the developers of the WZ522-1 wheeled armored transport vehicle is the Armored Forces Science and Technology Research Institute. It should be said that this armored vehicle was transported to the south, and Comrade Zhu Min's matchmaking was very important.
In addition to the WZ522-1 armored vehicle, there is also a J-5A night fighter and a Type 63 amphibious tank. Here is also the origin of these two exhibits. The J-5A night fighter was originally presented to the Suzhou Municipal Committee of the Communist Youth League by a certain part of the People’s Liberation Army Air Force and was displayed at the Suzhou Workers’ Cultural Palace. It was then donated to Kunshan Tinglin Garden free of charge on February 4, 1991. The plane was originally intended to be disassembled and then assembled, but because no one in Kunshan knew about the plane, in the name of the Kunshan County People’s Government, more than 10 technicians from the 86481 Air Force stationed in Kunshan were asked to help. Then the plane was disassembled and shipped to Kunshan and installed in place. new. The Type 63 amphibious tank is a retired tank, which was donated to Kunshan by the Nanjing Military Region on January 13, 1992.
It can be said that the establishment of the National Defense Education Park of Kunshan Tinglin Garden embodies the care and dedication of many old leaders, and also experiences the love of fish and water in the military-civilian relationship. The painstaking effort of the older generation of managers to raise money is unforgettable.
Stubborn and unique old iron armor
In the relevant technical data, it is difficult to find a few words about this second-round prototype, but the second-round prototype of the WZ522-1 armored transport vehicle in Kunshan Tinglin Park provides us with this kind of research. The physical object of the car model. Since the years have been so long, there is basically no maintenance after arriving at the place. During the twenty-odd years that have been placed in the open air, many equipment have been dismantled or destroyed. In general, in addition to the armored body that is relatively complete, the cockpit bulletproof glass, roof hatch, and passenger seats have long been missing. The interior partitions, the engine and other metals have been completely rusted, and the holes seem to be completely corroded. It is recounting the ruthlessness of the years and the casual destruction of people.
But the old iron armor is tenacious. The car is still parked on the spot, shining with the wisdom of the old experts and designers, waiting for the treasure hunt of the caring people. From the field survey, this WZ522-1 second-wheel prototype car is basically a new model of brand-new design, except for the traces of the first-wheel prototype on the body shape. More on the integration of the old WZ523 wheel-track integrated armored transport vehicle features.
◎ Large changes in body size and shape
Compared with the first-wheel prototype in Baotou, Kunshan Tinglinyuan’s second-wheel prototype has a wider body, a sharper front, a larger angle of armor on the front of the cab, and an appearance more similar to the Soviet-made BTR series armored car. Although my country has successively obtained the TAB-77 wheeled armored transport vehicle and self-propelled mortar deformation vehicle from Romania after 1979, it is the development work of either the first or second round of the WZ522-1. They were all completed before 1979, so it can only be said that the design concept of the BTR armored vehicle was borrowed to make the front bullet-proof design of the vehicle more reasonable. Unlike the first-wheel prototype and the old WZ523, the second-wheel prototype has a super-large triangular observation window on both sides of the cab, allowing the driver to have a good side view. This is more convenient than the small triangular observation window of the first two cars. Wheeled armored vehicles such as the French VAB and the German "Fox" also use a large-area side view window design. At the same time, judging from the traces left on the car, this big triangle observation window, like the windshield on the front, is protected by an armor plate that can be turned up.
In addition, the rear body of the second-wheel prototype is further lengthened. There are only 4 shooting holes on the side of the first-wheel prototype, while the shooting holes and observation windows on the side of the second-wheel prototype have been increased to 5 groups. From the comparison of its position with the wheels, the body of the second-wheel prototype is further lengthened, and the number of passengers may increase. However, unlike the first wheel prototype car with a shooting hole and observation window on both sides of the rear door, the second wheel prototype does not have these designs, so the number of observation windows and shooting holes is still maintained in the whole car.
On the top of the vehicle, in addition to the two outer flaps owned by the driver and the co-pilot, a rear flap is also arranged on both sides of the engine air intake grille behind it. In the middle of the car body, there is a huge seat ring sealed by steel plate, suspected to be equipped with a turret weapon system. Two long strip hatch covers that are turned outwards are also arranged behind the seat ring. The shape of these hatch covers obviously uses the ready-made hatch covers of the Type 63 crawler armored transport vehicle to save costs and maintain versatility.
◎ The power system is changed from front to center
The power system of the second wheel prototype is similar to the old WZ523 wheel-track armored vehicle, in the middle of the car body behind the cockpit. The most intuitive external difference is that the protruding intake and exhaust devices on both sides of the front of the first wheel prototype have disappeared, and the engine intake grille is added to the middle of the car body behind the driver's seat. There are also two square exhaust pipes extending from both sides of the air intake grille, extending backward along the edge lines on both sides of the roof, and turning to the outside opening after the rear of the car. The engine exhaust gas flows from the square openings on both sides. Exhaust, the layout of the engine's intake and exhaust ports on the roof is also conducive to floating sailing.
The interior of the car body was destroyed in a mess, the transmission system and seats were all missing, and only a steering wheel and instrument panel were left. Some instruments have Russian text samples, which should be a cost saving for trial-produced vehicles using stock parts. On the floor of the cabin, the author found an obsolete TCZ relay/electromagnetic switch. The factory date on it was September 1970. Raising your head, there is a third-gear opening mechanism on the upper right side of the driver, which should be the opening mechanism of the side armor plate and bulletproof glass windows.
There is a separate engine compartment in the middle of the rear of the cab, above the middle of the first and second bridges. The entire engine is wrapped in the power compartment, and Chairman Mao's quotations of "raising vigilance and defending the motherland" are cast into the cylinder shell of the engine, full of the characteristics of the time. From the appearance of the engine, this is still a four-stroke engine. One possibility is to continue to use the 6105 type four-stroke in-line 6-cylinder water-cooled gasoline engine. Song Nan, a military netizen and an electric vehicle media professional editor, suggested that another possibility is to install a better-performance 6135Q-1 diesel engine. This is an in-line 6-cylinder 12-liter diesel engine with a maximum output of 147 kilowatts. Compared with the 6105 engine, the performance is significantly improved, and it can meet the requirements of the WZ522-1 second wheel-like wheel-crawler traveling mechanism.
Going to the rear of the engine compartment, you can see two thick pipes leading to the outside of the car through the round holes in the upper armor plate. This is the characteristic of the old WZ523 armored vehicle, which is well reflected here.
◎ Changes in operational mechanisms and improvement of water driving capabilities
The action mechanism of the car is very unique. In terms of structure, the car frame is eliminated like the first wheel prototype, and a fully enclosed, load-bearing armored car body is adopted. However, the first, second, and third and fourth sets of tires are close to each other, the second and third sets of tires have a larger track, and the second round of the prototype uses a design with 4 sets of tires equal. In other words, the shadow of the 35D off-road truck can also be seen on the first wheel prototype, and the second wheel prototype is already a standard modern wheeled armored transport vehicle. Of course, in the old photos provided by netizens, we can also see very distinctive fenders and side skirts, which are very similar to the first wheel prototype in Baotou, which also proves the identity of the car from the side. .
The car uses two types of tires. The tires on both sides of the first drive axle at the front are ordinary off-road truck tires. The specification is 12.00-18, which is wider than the 11.00-18 off-road tires used in the first wheel prototype. The tires of the second, third, and fourth axles use wide tires similar to those on the old WZ523 that have no logo and can be installed with studs. However, these tire patterns are not the same as those of the old WZ523 armored vehicle. On both sides of the center of each tire, there are deep grooves. This should be a groove for installing anti-skid tire nails. Two rows of tires can be installed. nail. The steel plate reinforced in the tread pattern can also be seen from the damaged tire to improve the wear resistance of the tire.
The author believes that it is possible that the vehicle can use the first drive axle as the steering bridge, and the tires driven by the second, third, and fourth drive axles can be connected together with rubber tracks to improve the capacity of the armored vehicle in complex terrain.
On the first wheel prototype of WZ522-1, there is no wave breaker design and special water propulsion equipment. The old WZ523 has a three-blade propeller in the center of the tail to increase the speed on the water, but there is still no wave breaker design for the front. On this WZ522-1 second-wheel prototype vehicle, you can see the left wave breaker bracket, and there are traces of the wave breaker in the old photos. Turning to the rear of the car, you will find a 4-blade ducted propeller on both sides of the rear of the car. In addition, the second-wheel prototype model is more complete and suitable for water crossing. It is estimated that its water speed is much higher than the previous two models. The duct of this type of propeller is located under the car body, unlike the later WZ551 series of propellers that are separately located on the outside of the car body. However, this kind of internal channel propeller is not efficient.
◎ Conjecture about the big roof seat
The car also has a very unique place, that is, there is an oversized seat ring in the middle of the roof. Although the seat ring is sealed by an iron plate, it can be seen from the rusty iron plate that it was added later, and it is not the same material as the surrounding armor plate.
On the WZ522-1 first wheel prototype and the old WZ523, a single machine gunner hatch and anti-aircraft machine gun seat are installed on the roof. And such a large seat ring on the second wheel prototype should not be used to install anti-aircraft guns. Therefore, this circle may have considered the development of a new turret weapon system on its own to become a wheeled infantry fighting vehicle or a wheeled assault gun. Another possibility is to improve the wheeled self-propelled mortar on the basis of the vehicle. This opening is the hatch for the mortar battle.
◎ Estimation of the location of the occupants in the car
Walking sideways from the aisles on both sides of the engine compartment of the car to the crew compartment, the first feeling is that it is extremely low, basically I can only move in a hunched or squat state. Looking around, you can see that the additional observation mirror and shooting hole on each side of this second-wheel prototype car are located just beside the engine compartment. There is also an independent hatch on each side above it, plus the remnants of the floor and the side of the car body, then it can be inferred that there will be a position in each side aisle to take the squad leader and deputy squad leader of the infantry squad. Due to the setting of these two positions, the aisle actually loses its ability to pass, but the seat should adopt a self-turning structure, so that after the infantry gets off the vehicle, the turned-up seat can still ensure the aisle smooth.
You can find 3 sets of fixing pins on both sides of the tail, and there are also long hatches that can be opened above the corresponding. Therefore, it can be determined that there are also fixed/self-turning benches or seats for 3 people on both sides of the tail. This position is also corresponding. 2 sets of observation mirrors and shooting holes. If the turret is not installed, a row of self-turning benches or seats for 4 to 5 people can be placed on both sides, corresponding to 2 observation mirrors and shooting holes on each side. On the back of the engine compartment, a separate position can also be arranged. In this way, the crew of the entire vehicle in the armored transport vehicle state can reach 17-19, reaching the standard of two infantry squads, and the positions on both sides of the engine compartment can be given to the squad leaders of two squads. If it is an infantry warfare model with a turret, it can carry up to 8 people and has a squad strength. At this time, the squad leader and deputy squad leader can only get on and off from the upper hatch, while the six occupants in the rear can get on and off through the big tailgate.
Suggestions for gardens
Both the WZ522-1 two-wheeled prototype vehicle and the old WZ523 are the direct products of the "Twenty-Four Battle". The 8×8 wheeled armored transport vehicle was first developed in the early 1970s with great courage.
Judging from the test of the second round of the prototype vehicle, the vehicle has laid a good foundation for the development of China’s wheeled armored transport vehicle in the future, and heritage such as suspension and drive structure is even more important for the subsequent 6×6 and 8×8 drive wheels. The type vehicle provides technical accumulation and has an indelible historical feat.
Since it took so much time and effort to bring such a precious armored prototype to Kunshan in the early 1990s, we hope that Tinglinyuan Park, as the management party, should assume the responsibility of keeping it and leave the development history of wheeled armored vehicles in my country. This precious historical object is well preserved and protected!
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