Střední tank typ 59 Jaguár

T-59 Jaguar (tank modernization)


Secondary History
In the 1980s, during the friendly relations between the People's Republic of China and the United States, Cadillac Gage Textron and China National Machinery & Equipment Import & Export Corporation announced that they were jointly developing a tank. This announcement was made in late 1988. Two Type 59 tanks were shipped to the U.S.
In mid-1989, the Jaguar chassis was completed and subjected to driving tests in Detroit. At the same time, turret development and testing took place. In October 1989, the turret was mounted on the hull and the complete vehicle was shipped to Nevada for testing.
It was expected that the second prototype would be built in the PRC and that American and British firms would supply key subsystems.
After the events at Tiananmen Square on June 4, 1989, Chinese engineers left the U.S. and Cadillac Gage Textron continued to develop and rebuild the prototype on its own. These modifications did not require the presence of Chinese technicians, as all of the upgrades were sourced from the US and UK.
Due to lack of interest abroad, the Chinese and Soviet T-54, T-55, and Type 59 tanks were not begun to be modernized. Cadillac Gage Textron reportedly ceased development work in 1996.
A second unit of the Type 59 tank was not rebuilt and served as a source of spare parts.


Description
The tank's structural layout is classic: The driver's compartment is located in the front, the crew fighting compartment and turret are in the middle of the vehicle, and the engine and transmission are located in the rear. An additional layer of armour protection has been applied to the chassis and turret. The driver is seated in the front left and under a one-piece hatch cover equipped with day periscopes. One of which could be replaced by a passive night vision periscope. To the right of the driver were boxes for 105 mm ammunition.
The chassis of the Jaguar was based on the converted Type 59, which had five running wheels with rubber banding on each side. The tension wheels were located at the front and the drive sprockets were located at the rear. Above the running wheels was a pair of support pulleys. The prototype Jaguar tank had improved torsional suspension, which allowed for a higher vertical travel of the running wheels.
Standard Chinese steel tracks were retained. The possibility of using hydropneumatic suspension for the running wheels was envisaged, which would greatly improve off-road mobility.
The main armament consisted of a modified 105mm gun firing standard NATO ammunition and equipped with a shell extractor and thermal barrel protection. The gun was equipped with an electro-hydraulic stabilisation system, which allowed firing on the move with a high probability of hitting the target with the first shot. The stated error of the stabilizer was to be less than 0.75 miles and depended on the speed of travel and the difficulty of the terrain.
For the Jaguar tank, the positions of commander and gunner were on the right and loader on the left. Above the commander and loader were one-piece hatches with rear opening.
A 7.62 mm machine gun was mounted parallel to the gun, and a 12.7 mm M2HB machine gun was mounted on the turret roof near the commander's hatch to defend against aircraft. Two four-barrel smoke grenade launchers were mounted in the front of the turret.
The Jaguar was equipped with a Command and Control Systems Digital Fire Control System (DFCS) fire control unit from the British company Marconi. The fire control system also allowed firing at night thanks to an image intensifier and the attached laser rangefinder had a range of 9990 m with an accuracy of plus-minus 10 m.
The rear of the fuselage housed a Detroit Diesel 8V92TA eight-cylinder diesel engine with a hydraulically driven cooling system and an XTG-411 fully automatic transmission.
The Jaguar tank was equipped with a fire detection and suppression system developed by Santa Barbara (SBRC), a subsidiary of Hughes Aircraft.
A wide range of optional equipment is available, including a variety of fire control systems, optoelectronic instruments, communications equipment, and a nuclear, biological, and chemical threat protection system.


Surviving Machines
According to the Google Street View search engine, the prototype was spotted in 2019 and 2022 in the courtyard of the Cadillac Gage Textron factory in Slidell (30°18'03.60 "N 89°46'50.20 "W).

Source:
Christopher F. Foss: Jane's Armour and Artillery 1990-1991, Jane's Information Group, Coulsdon, UKGB, pp. 47 and 48, ISBN 0-7106-0909-4
Jaguar, Military Vehicles Forecast, Archived 1998 April, ISSN does not
wot.17173.com
www.google.com
www.google.com

The authors of the publication below claim that the upgraded Jaguar tank was built on the chassis of a Chinese type 69-I tank and was fitted with tracks from a type 69-II tank.

Source:

L. Karjakin, V. I. Moiseyev: Voyennaya technika i vooruzheniye Kitaja, published in Otvaga narod RU, Saransk 2003, ISBN 5-7493-0505-8, pp. 37, 47-49