The Type 90 is an armoured fighting vehicle produced by Chinese company Norinco; it is the successor for the Type 85 AFV of which it uses some components. The Type 90 series was developed for export, and consists of at least 10 different types; its industrial index is YW535.
This new type is rather similar to its predecessors Type 85 AFV and Type 89 AFV, but the hull has a different shape, having a vertical lower side wall and a sloping upper side wall. Overall, the Type 90 is bigger and heavier, yet has a lower profile.
Description
The hull is made of all-welded homogeneous armour plate, and provides protection against small arms fire. The vehicle carries a maximum of 15 including crew. The driver sits in the front left of the hull, and has a single piece hatch, which opens to the left. The driver is provided with three day periscopes. One of them can be replaced by a passive low-light-level night vision device or infrared sight. The commander sits behind the driver and has a single piece hatch.
The air-cooled, turbocharged diesel engine sits to the right rear of the driver. The engine is usually the BF8L 413F of 320 hp, but some models (Type 91) are powered by a more powerful 360 hp engine BF8L 513C. A large intake is located in the top of the hull, with an exhaust on the right hand side. The engine feeds a new hydraulic gearbox with 4 forward gears and 1 reverse gear.