WZ551

The WZ551 (AKA the ZSL92 is a Chinese wheeled armored personnel carrier. It is actually consisted of two families of vehicles with official designations in the People's Liberation Army as Type 90 and Type 92. Roughly 900 WZ551s are in service with the PLA, where they are used by light mechanized infantry units. WZ551s have been exported to Algeria, Bosnia, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Pakistan.

Design

Produced by Norinco, the WZ551 first appeared in 1984, but the Chinese military were not satisfied with its performance, and the design had to be modified. Modification is mostly concentrated on improving the chassis. The improved WZ551A entered service in 1995 as the Type 92 IFV and Type 92A APC.

It has a crew of three men, and is fully amphibious, being driven in the water by shrouded propellers.

The IFV version is equipped with a 25 mm cannon and a 7.62 mm coaxial machine gun in a closed turret and it can carry 9 passengers. The APC version has only a 12.7 mm machine gun but can carry 11 passengers. Additional versions include anti-tank missile, command, self-propelled artillery, air defense and armored recovery vehicles.