[5] The vehicle chassis and turret is made of all-welded steel with mounted alumina ceramic composite plates, providing protection against shell splinters, 12.7 mm armor-piercing incendiary rounds at 100 metres (330 ft) and 25 mm projectiles over the frontal arc at 1,000 metres (3,300 ft).

The driver is equipped with a helmet-mounted night vision system fed from the CCD-based sensors fitted on the vehicle chassis.

The gunner is equipped with a computerized fire control system, gun stabilization with automatic tracking, laser rangefinder, and thermal imagining devices.

[10] ZTL-11 assault vehicle is fitted with ZPL-98A[11] 105 mm rifled gun with capability of launching armor piercing fin stabilized discarding sabot (APFSDS), high explosive (HE), and high-explosive anti-tank (HEAT) ammunitions, as well as the indigenous GP105 105 mm gun-fired laser beam riding guided anti-tank missile (ATGM).

[16] The assault vehicle is also fitted with ST-16[17] millimeter wave radar suite,[17] similar to the one mounted on Type 99A tank.

Type 08 family is powered by the Deutz BF6M1015C water-cooled V-type 6-cylinder diesel engine, developing 330 kW (440 hp).