PF-89

The PF-89 or Type 89 is a portable, disposable, unguided, shoulder-launched, anti-tank rocket-propelled rocket launcher. Developed by Norinco for the People's Liberation Army (PLA), the PF-89 was designed to replace the obsolete Type 69 RPG, providing a man-portable, single-use assault weapon system that could be used mainly by infantry squads to engage and defeat light armor and bunkers.

Its design permits accurate delivery of a rocket-propelled 80mm high-explosive anti-tank (HEAT) warhead, with negligible recoil. The PF-89 entered mass production in 1993, and generally replaced the Type 69 RPG in the PLA throughout the 1990s. Since 2010, the system is being used along with the more advanced Type 08 recoilless gun.

Description
The PF-89 is a lightweight, self-contained, anti-armor weapon comparable to the Swedish AT4 (U.S. Designation M136). However, unlike the AT4, the PF-89 is a rocket-propelled weapon instead of a recoilless gun, which makes the PF-89 more similar to the M72 LAW and the RPG-26. The weapon consists of a free-flight, fin-stabilized, rocket-propelled cartridge packed in a one-piece, one-off, fiberglass-wrapped tube.

It is man-portable and is fired from the right shoulder only. The launcher is watertight for ease of transportation and storage. The PF-89 has a simple 2.5x, 12° field of view optical sight for aiming, with no night combat ability.

The user must be able to see and identify the target and estimate the range to it. The round of ammunition is self-contained in a disposable launch tube. The system weighs only eight pounds and can be used effectively with minimal training.

The problem of back blast became prominent after the PF-89's adoption. Collateral damage is especially concerning for the PLA, which uses motorized infantry fighting tactics. To address this, China developed the Type 08 multipurpose recoilless gun with a countermass balance mechanism to replace the PF-89, especially the multipurpose PF89A variant.

Variants
The PF-89 has six variants with each variant corresponding to a specific type of ammunition. The earliest variant, simply called the PF-89, uses high-explosive double shaped charges (with 8701 explosives) to achieve 628mm of rolled homogeneous armour (RHA) penetration at 90° angle in static tests. In kinetic tests, the RHA penetration is more than 400mm at 0° angle or 180mm at 68° angle.

The second variant, the PF-89A, employs specialized multipurpose incendiary rounds. These multipurpose rounds can penetrate 300 mm of reinforced concrete, and release steel fragments and zirconium-based incendiary composition to kill targets and light up wood and fabric upon impact.

The third variant, known as the PF-89B or PF-89-1, uses tandem-charge HEAT warheads to improve penetration against reactive armour.

The WPF-89-1 is the thermobaric version of the PF-89. The WPF-89-1 is reusable, but did not see much use due to its complex reload process. As a result, China developed the improved single-use WPF-89-2 in 2003.

A training replica version is also available for operation practice.

Users

 * 🇰🇭 cambodia: Used by the Royal Cambodian Army.
 * 🇨🇳 china: Used by the People's Liberation Army.

Non-state actors

 * 🇱🇾 libya: WPF-89-2s used by Fajr Libya.