The current best main battle tank from the USA, Russia, and China

 The USA, Russia, and China’s army are the three largest ground forces in the world, both in quantity and quality. The armed forces manpower of these three countries are 1.5, 1.0, and 2.1 millions, respectively. The USA has about 34000 armored fighting vehicles, whereas Russia and China have 18000, and 13000  vehicles (see http://www.strategypage.com/fyeo/howtomakewar/databases/armies/default.asp). This includes main battle tanks (MBT), combat supports vechicles, infantry fighting vehicles (IFV), armored personnel carriers (APC). There are also other equipment such as artillery, surface to air missiles systems, and engineering equipment. Among all of these mentioned, the main battle tank (MBT) is the most formidable military equipment for the ground forces.

The most advanced MBT fielded by the USA is M1A2 Abrams. Over 3000 units have been built so far, not mentioning 5000 older M1A1s makes the Abrams a most popular MBT. It has proven to be a best experienced MBT, both in the Gulf and Iraq Wars. The most significant battle won by M1A2 was during Iraq War when many Iraqis Soviet built T-72s were destroyed. It was due to the better firepower range of M1A2 at 2500 m. The T-72 however, could not fire effectively more than 2000 m range. Many argued the victory was because the Iraqis T-72s unlike their Russian counterparts did not have night visions and modern rangefinders, and also lacked of anti tank missiles. However, it still showed that M1A2 was a very formidable design.

M1A1 Abrams in Iraq. M1A2 looks the same from outside

 

Russian T-90

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chinese ZTZ-99

The table below shows some comparison among these three MBTs. It sources from US Defence, Jane’s, Sinodefence, and wikipedia.

	M1A2	T-90	ZTZ-99
Number in service	1500	500	200
Weight (tonnes)	68	46	54
Cruising range (km)	400	650	600
Power/weight (hp/tonnes)	25	23	28
Speed (km/h)	67	65	80
Speed, off road (km/h)	48	n.a	60
Armor	All have unknown composite, ERA
Protection	NBC	NBC	NBC
Primary gun (mm)	120	125	125
Gun range (m)	4000	5000	5000
Rounds penetration (mm)	790	950	960
Secondary gun (mm)	7.62	7.62	7.62
Anti aircraft gun (mm)	12.7	12.7	12.7
ATGM capability	No	Yes	Yes
ATGM range (m)	0	6000	6000
Night vision	Yes	Yes	Yes
Laser finder	Yes	Yes	Yes
Autoloader	No	Yes	Yes
Crew	4	3	3

From the table, we may think that the ZTZ-99 is the best. It has a anti tank guided missile (ATGM) similar to T-90 but it has more power and speed. Also, ZTZ-99 is 2000s design technology, whereas M1A2 and T-90 based on the 1980s design with improved sensors and armaments. However, unlike M1A2 and T-90 (assuming it is used in Georgian conflict), ZTZ-99 does not have any real combat experience yet.

Hence, M1A2 is still the best battle experience MBT, followed by T-90. However, ZTZ-99 could be the best MBT ever deployed so far.

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