picture 178389

In 1992, Sri Lanka acquired 12 Chinese-built wheeled APCs. These were referred to by the Sri Lanka Army as the Type-86, or T-86, though the Chinese referred to these as the Type 90 or by the industrial designation WZ 551. All were assigned to the 3rd Squadron of the 3rd SLAC (the other two were still equipped with Type-85s). Although armed with a 12.7mm heavy machine gun in an open-topped turret, they proved underpowered for cross-country movement: thus, their procurement was stopped. As far as is known, all were painted in green overall. (Artwork by David Bocquelet)