VT4/MBT-3000
Posted on 11/16/2014 8:27:42 PM PST by sukhoi-30mki
Effective, affordable armaments prove popular with developing countries Chinese-made armaments have become increasingly popular in the international market, according to an industry insider.
"We have observed several successive years of good revenue from the export of our products, and the sales figures keep rising year-on-year, "Liu Song, deputy general manager of research and development at China North Industries Corp, popularly abbreviated as Norinco, told China Daily at the 10th China International Aviation and Aerospace Exhibition. The show, which closed on Sunday, was held in Zhuhai, Guangdong province.
As the export wing of China North Industries Group Corp, the country's biggest developer and maker of land armaments, Liu's company brought to the exhibition 44 weapons in six categories, including armored vehicles,anti-tank missiles and multiple rocket launchers.
"Our exhibits cover almost all weapons an army would probably need," Liu said. "We came here with two goals: showing the achievement of technological innovation made by China's ground weapon industry, and making more people know our products."
Having retained traditional clients in South Asia and Middle East regions, Norinco has been successful in winning new buyers in Africa and South America, according to Liu. "The demand for our products from emerging markets continues to expand, and now a lot of foreign armies are coming to us," Liu said. Here fused to reveal details such as buyers' identities and sales volume, citing the company's confidentiality policy.
Among the exhibits Norinco displayed at the show, the VT-4 main battle tank, was arguably the biggest star.
Formerly designated as MBT-3000, the tank features superb mobility and strong firepower as well as a cutting-edge data exchange network, Liu said.
According to Western military publications, the VT-4 is equipped with an electronic-controlled diesel engine with 1,200 horsepower, giving the tank a cruise speed of 68 kilo-meters per hour. Its main gun is a 125-mm smoothbore that can fire various shells, including a kinetic energy penetrator and high explosive anti-tank warhead. In addition, it can also fire anti-tank missiles with a maximum range of 5,000meters.
"It has an advanced fire-control system, a new-type active protection system and a state-of-the-art fully automatic transmission device," he said. "In addition, the inter-unit network connects commanders of tanks and armored vehicles under a combat group, enabling them to share battlefield data in real time."
The VT-4 can compete with any first-class tank used by Western militaries such as the United States' M1A2 Abrams and Germany's Leopard 2A6, Liu said, adding that Russia's T-90 is no match for the Chinese tank in terms of technology.
Other weapons Norinco highlighted at the show included the PLZ-52, a new-generation, 155 mm self-propelled howitzer whose predecessor sold well in the Middle East, and the HJ-12 anti-tank missile, which has fire-and-forget capability and can even hit a helicopter flying at slow speed. "Many of our products were specifically designed for the overseas market. Their capabilities are as good as those of Western weapons, but the prices are much more competitive," Liu said.
Anthony Cordesman, a national security analyst at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies, told Bloomberg: "The Chinese systems are simply cheaper, they are reliable and they are tailored to the conditions of developing countries. As the systems get more sophisticated, they will under-cut Europe and the US and compete with Russia."
During a promotion in August in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region, diplomats, military officials and defence contractors from 44 countries were given a field performance by Norinco's VT-4 tanks and combat vehicles.
"Several countries have expressed interest in the VT-4 after their officials saw the tank display, and we are negotiating with them on this matter," Liu said.
- See more at: http://news.asiaone.com/news/asia/chinese-weapons-winning-battle-international-market#sthash.3y9bKEN3.dpuf
VT4/MBT-3000
Norinco makes a knockoff Tokarev TT-33 that would be fun to own, but is unavailable new in the US due to current import restrictions.
Spinning up for Armageddon.
Harbor Freight?
>> fun to own, but is unavailable new in the US due to current import restrictions.
ROFL!
It looks like a Abrams/Leopard 2A7 hybrid.
>> Harbor Freight?
ROFL again.
If the tank holds up as well as my HF hammers (!), there’s not much to fear from it.
At checkout, I *would* suggest paying the add-on fee for extended warranty.
If the quality if this stuff is equivalent to most of the Chinese junk imported into the U.S., I don’t think we’ve got a whole lot to worry about.
Looking forward to a TAPCO compliance kit for that sucker!
According to friends in Canada, where they still get Chinese firearms, their current rifle offerings are sometimes (not even mostly, just sometimes) on par with Western manufacturer offerings in all respects. In some cases, they’re actually better.
Something to think about.
Something else to think about - a huge number of *hard drives* are made in China, which is about as precise a machine work job as you’re going to see. They mostly work just fine.
Underestimating your enemy can be a fatal mistake.
The Chinese can actually make some nice stuff (see post above) but places like HF don’t import it - not high enough profit margins.
It certainly looks like a real tank
I wouldn’t mind adding some B40 rockets to my gun cabinet for, uh, you know, hunting.
You just point that baby in the general direction of a white-tail and you’re probably knocking down some squirrel and rabbits as well!
I’ll check in the long-handled stick tool dept. next time I’m there.
China will steal everything from us that isn’t bolted down and they will sell it to the highest better. The Chinese are ruthless and would sell their own mothers to get ahead. They will eventually steal all of our technology. They are great theives and just ruthless. We don’t stand a chance against them playing “nice guy”.
This is bad news for Russia, because the Chinese market canibalizes the Russian one.
I ordered a laser toy from Canada, but it was a Chinese front company. The thing works great and kills small cockroaches. The package arrived directly from China, and in order to avoid custom fees, they blatantly wrote they were shipping a $5 flash light when the thing cost more like $300.
I think I am targeting the wrong cockroaches.
Skirt looks to be less than a quarter of what we had in the M1
Yeah, keep telling yourself that the Chinese only build junk. Meanwhile they can put a man into space and we cant. Or build a television.
I have a lot of stuff from HF. It keeps improving every time I go in there.
Some is junk for sure, but some is excellent value for the money and some is as good as the best US tools.
>> I have a lot of stuff from HF. It keeps improving every time I go in there.
Yeah, I own a lot of HF too. They do have some good stuff. I still enjoy poking fun at them, though. The idea of a HF battle tank just cracked me up.
>> Some is junk for sure
For example... I have a HF hammer that lost its head after about three blows. I tried to fix it with wedges and every other clever thing I could think of. Head just won’t stay on. Cheaper to buy another one than to make a career out of fixing this one.
I can understand a $10 air tool that craps out after three uses. But a HAMMER??!? A hammer shouldn’t have ANY moving parts. But my HF hammer does. ROFL
On the other hand I have HF wrenches and sockets that were amazingly cheap and darn good tools. Their impact sockets are a great value.
HF is on the very short list of stores where I actually enjoy “shopping”.
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