The Type 59 main battle tank is a variant of the Soviet T-54A, the earliest iteration of the iconic T-54/55 series, manufactured in China. The first vehicles were assembled in 1958 and were put into service in 1959, with serial production starting in 1963. More than 10,000 of the tanks were made with about 5,500 serving with the Chinese armed forces by the time production ended in 1980. The tank formed the backbone of the Chinese People's Liberation Army with an estimated 5,000 later Type 59-I and Type 59-II models in service in 2002 up until the early 2000s.