Peru is buying Chinese tanks

Peru to buy military hardware from China, Brazil
Wed Dec 9, 2009 7:20pm ESTRelated NewsChile: Any U.S. missile, radar deal under $665 million
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LIMA, Dec 9 (Reuters) - Peru is in talks to buy tanks from China and fighter planes from Brazil to replenish an "obsolete" military arsenal, officials said on Wednesday, just weeks after accusing Chile of starting an arms race.

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President Alan Garcia has criticized Chile, which defeated Peru in the 19th century War of the Pacific, for negotiating the purchase of U.S. missiles and radar equipment.

Garcia has also tried to spearhead an anti-arms initiative in Latin America, where countries like Venezuela, Brazil and Colombia have been beefing up their armed forces.

"The government is in talks to acquire a fleet of tanks made in China to replace some of the obsolete units of the armed forces," Defense Minister Rafael Rey told local radio.

"It's about equipment replacement -- not about entering an incessant arms race," Prime Minister Javier Velasquez said on RPP radio.

Peru said Super Tucano planes it buys from Brazil's Embraer (ERJ.N)(EMBR3.SA) would be used to combat cocaine trafficking in remote parts of the Andes and Amazon jungle.

Peru's government, which hopes to replace Soviet-era tanks acquired in the 1970s, did not say how much it would spend on the new equipment.

Chilean Defense Minister Francisco Vidal has said any U.S. equipment that Chile buys would cost much less than a recent $650 million estimate provided by the Pentagon.

Vidal said potential purchases of missiles and Sentinel radar systems would not upset the military balance in South America.

Chile's armed forces have benefited from years of windfall copper earnings due to a law that entitles them to 10 percent of state copper giant Codelco's sales. The government has sent a bill to Congress that aims to scrap the Codelco payment. (Reporting by Marco Aquino and Dana Ford; Editing by Terry Wade and Peter Cooney)

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Autumn Child said:

Read the news today. What do the expert think? What kind of tanks? what is the specs?

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Semi-Lobster said:

You can basically say the MBT-2000 is a simplified export version of the Type 96 tank that can trace its lineage back to the Soviet T-54 with modular armour, and a modern fire-control, autoloader, engine, transmission etc. etc.

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You can basically say the MBT-2000 is a simplified export version of the Type 96 tank that can trace its lineage back to the Soviet T-54 with modular armour, and a modern fire-control, autoloader, engine, transmission etc. etc.

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jackbh said:

That's a joke right?

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rhino123 said:

Actually what Semi Lobster holds some truth. Type 96 and MBT-2000 did share some lineage to old T-54 MBT. But MBT-2000 is never the simplified version of the Type 96. MBT-2000 is totally new, sharing a high percentage of old components found in older Chinese tanks, except for a new turrets, a bigger gun (125mm smoothbore cannon) and a Ukraine 1200bhp engine. The Type 96 is basically a further developement from the Type-80III MBT.

Type 99 is a further developement from Type 98. Type 98 and Type 96's was developed in parallel with each other.

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Quickie said:

I don't see the point of linking a modern tank to a very old tank model. Too many components were either modernised, redesigned or replaced , and also, new capabilities were added in.

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Semi-Lobster said:

Both the Type 96 and the MBT-2000 are two parallel branches derived of the Type 90 project which itself is derived from the Type 85 which is derived Type 80 which is derived from the Type 69/79 which is based on the Type 59 which was a direct copy of the T-54. The Type 98/99 of China's third generation of tanks should be considered a fantastic achievement as they're the first Chinese tanks not directly derived from the T-54. The Type 96 was built from the ground up to be a indigenized Chinese tank, while the MBT-2000 was designed like many of its predecessors, for export which can be seen in it development history where there was an emphasis on modular, parts with international cooperation for various global partners (mostly Western Europe and the CIS) and cost effectiveness of design and production (45% of the MBT-2000 parts are from older models). There are many important improvements from the Type 85/88, many of which where learned during the Type 96's development.

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