ZBD-86

The ZBD-86 is a tier 3 Premium Armored Fighting Vehicle originating from China. It can be purchased from Zhang Feng for 925 Gold.

Features

 * Subtle movement: moving on a low speed doesn't reduce your camouflage factor.
 * Designated target: vehicle has the ability to designate targets that are within line of sight and vision range. Designated targets are called out and takes increased damage.
 * Recon package: this vehicle's recon package provides an improved vision range when stationary.

Player Recommendations
Very similar to the standard BMP, the ZBD-86 is a lightly armored fire-support vehicle. However, compared to its Soviet version, the ZBD is noticeably quicker, but weaker against incoming fire. It’s possible that the ZBD could handle active scouting better than the BMP due to this, though its fragility warrants cautious play.

Pros

 * Excellent camouflage
 * High mobility
 * Powerful ATGM

Cons

 * Extremely poor gun depression
 * Large target for an AFV

Upgrade Suggestions
Premium vehicles in Armored Warfare come fully upgraded.

Retrofit Suggestions

 * Augmented Optics
 * Improved Telescopic Lenses
 * Improved Gun Breech / Advanced MRS

Commander and Crew Skill Suggestions

 * Commander: Erin O'Connell for camo rating and spotting boosts or Rashid Al-Atassi for ATGM accuracy and reload boosts
 * Driver: Smooth Ride, Off Road Driving
 * Gunner: Quick Draw, Sharpshooter

Upgrades
Premium vehicles in Armored Warfare come fully upgraded.

Variants

 * ZBD-86 NEON

History
Class: Infantry Fighting Vehicle Developed: 1980-1985 Service: 1986+ Vehicles Built: 1000-7000 (sources vary) Operators: China, Iran, Iraq, Burma In the late 1970s, 15 long years after the 1966 introduction of BMP-1, the Chinese still found themselves without a proper IFV. The 1979 Sino-Vietnamese conflict was a serious wake-up call for the Chinese military commanders and the issue of obtaining a new infantry fighting vehicle had become urgent. The old Type 63 APCs were simply not cutting it in jungle warfare and were too vulnerable for front-line combat. The development of the new IFV started soon afterwards, in 1980, under the designation of WZ-501. To overcome the issue of limited experience with such vehicles, it was decided, once again, to rely on the old and proven strategy of copying existing designs. The BMP-1, by that time a rather widespread vehicle, was taken as the basis. The Chinese acquired a BMP-1 from somewhere and simply copied it between roughly 1980 and 1985. In 1986, the vehicle was officially accepted in Chinese service under the designation of ZBD-86 with full-scale production running since 1992. It took several years for the vehicle to appear in public and by the time it did, it was considered to be completely obsolete. It was almost a perfect copy of the BMP-1 with the only major upgrade being the presence of a Red Arrow ATGM launcher. The production estimates range wildly from around 1000 to as many as 7000 vehicles built. Visually, it’s quite difficult to recognize the ZBD-86 at first glance from the original BMP-1, which likely contributed to the confusion regarding its deployment and exports. It seems that the vehicle was exported to several countries including Iran, Iraq and Burma, but given its similarity to the BMP-1, these records are hard to confirm. There are rumors that the Iranian BMP-1s are in fact the Chinese Type 86 IFVs. In any case, many ZBD-86 IFVs remain in Chinese service to this day.