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 . Type 90 . Type 90 first appeared on the National Day of the People ' s Republic of China parade in 1984 , and it is the basic version of WZ551 . During its service , it was discovered that the vehicle was underpowered and the cross country capability at high altitude terrain was not sufficient enough to meet the requirement . As a result , the planned 4 x 4 and 8 x 8 variants were canceled , and resources were concentrate on the improvement effort . However , the planned export version designated as ZSL - 90 ( also the industrial designation ) was continued , and the vehicle was used as chassis for a variety weaponry platforms , such as command vehicle , ATGW carrier , self - propelled AAA , and ambulance . The most distinct visual difference between Type 90 and its successor Type 92 is that for Type 90 , the distance between the first pair and the second pair of wheels is greater than the distance between the second pair and the third pair of wheels , while for Type 92 , the distance is the same for all . Despite being used as a common chassis for many different platforms , the total number of vehicles of all types entering Chinese service is small due to its inherent problem , and with the exception of the basic APC version , no other versions of ZSL - 90 is known to be exported due to the same reason . NGV - 1 . NGV - 1 is the successor of Type 90 . It was discovered that the cross country mobility was not the only thing that needed to be improved for WZ551 , firepower was also in need for improvement . The original Chinese manually operated 25 - mm gun initially mounted on WZ551 proved to be incapable of penetrating the armor plate of most of Soviet armored vehicles , and a more power small caliber gun that was able to defeat Soviet armor was needed , and China turned to west for help because its own technologies and industrial capabilities back in the 1980s could not fill the need in the required time . A deal was made with French firm GIAT to incorporate a GIAT 25 - mm autocannon as the primary weapon for WZ551 and the work on the redesign of WZ551 begun in China even before the French gun was delivered . Due to the urgent need to meet the schedule , the GIAT 25 - mm autocannon was airlifted to China , as opposed to delivery via cargo ships , the usual practice at the time . The development was completed and received state certification in October 1988 , and the new vehicle was named as NGV - 1 , with N for Norinco , G for GIAT and V for vehicle . The remotely operated 25 - mm autocannon was eventually reverse engineered in China after France withdrew from the program after 1989 , and used to upgrade Type 92 , another development of WZ551 . Type 92 . The redesigned ZSL - 92 or Type 92 solved the problems of its predecessor Type 90 and was first revealed to the public in 1986 , and entered Chinese service on larger scale than its predecessor . Just like Type 90 , Type 92 is also used as a common chassis for many different weaponry platforms , such as command vehicle , ATGW carrier , self - propelled AAA , and ambulance . Additionally , the canceled 4 x 4 and 8 x 8 versions were realized in Type 92 program . The industrial designation VN2A is also used for the export version of Type 92 , following earlier practice . The chassis of Type 92 comes in three variations : 105 mm Assault Gun . In 2001 a self - propelled assault gun based on the WZ - 551 was disclosed . 120 mm Self Propelled Mortar . In 2001 a self - propelled mortar based on the WZ - 551 was disclosed . 122 mm Self Propelled Howitzer . This was based on a lengthened chassis . WMZ - 551B . This was an upgraded amphibious armored personnel carrier with improved firepower , maneuverability , and reliability .