September.03 (China Defense Mashup Reporting by Johnathan Weng) — Since the beginning of “Stride-2009″ drill on august 11, one army division from each of the military commands of Shenyang, Lanzhou, Jinan and Guangzhou has participated in a series of live-fire drills lasting for two months. And lots of heavy armor vehicles appear on the Chinese high-way and railway transporting network.

Yesterday, some Type 96A Main Battle Tanks were found by local people at the railway station in Xining, the capital city of Qinghai Province in North West China. According to the brief schedule of “Stride-2009″ drill, this city is not the destination of troops involved in that biggest drill in PLA history.

Why do these Type 96A MBTs appear in Xining? Some Chinese people associate those tanks with the new protest which at the same day broken out in the western Chinese city of Urumqi. Thousands of members of China’s majority Han ethnic group had gathered downtown to denounce the regional government and deteriorating law and order in the city. In July, this city was torn by deadly ethnic rioting risen by Uighur ethnic group.

What are those Tanks’ purpose will not be discussed here, of course. The most interesting thing is that the precise weight of Type 96A Tank has been known! On one wood plate hang on the real left side of tank’s turret, some words and numbers are written as extra size and weight notifications for railway transporting. 42.8 tonnes, the weight of Tank, were clearly written on the board.

Red Line marks the weight number of Type 96A MBT

The modified variant Type 96A was first revealed in 2006. This variant features arrow-shaped spaced add-on armor modules, which replaced the original vertically faced front armor on the basic variant Type 96. Two arrow-shaped spaced add-on armor modules are added to the front of the turret, and explosive reaction armor (ERA) plates are mounted on the front hull and the storage rack on the rear of the turret. The gunner’s sight on the ZTZ96G is fitted with a thermal imaging system (TIS). Some Western resources estimate that the weight of Type 96 tank is 41.5 tonnes.

Type 96A MBT will participate in the military parade held on the coming October.1 national day of 60th anniversary of People’s Republic of China.