Posted on 03/23/2016 11:14:23 PM PDT by sukhoi-30mki
Pakistan’s Army has for the first time publicly revealed the Changhe Aircraft Industries Corporation (CAIC) Z-10 Thunderbolt attack helicopter during this year’s Pakistan Day parade, Defense News reports.
The Z-10 is the first modern attack helicopter designed and produced domestically by the People’s Republic of China and been in service with the People’s Liberation Army since 2012.
The helicopter gunship has been undergoing performance evaluations (on and off the battlefield) since 2015 when Pakistan purportedly received three Z-10s (along with one Z-19 Black Hurricane armed scout helicopter).
Up to now, the Pakistan Army has not made an official announcement on whether it intends to induct the helicopter, although an unknown number of Z-10s are allegedly already in service with the 35th “Mustangs” Squadron of the Army Aviation Corps.
Perhaps, one of the reasons why the military has not declared publicly that it will opt for the Chinese gunship is that it is not satisfied with the performance of the aircraft. According to some analysts, the helicopter is plagued by the same issue that has been afflicting other Chinese aircraft: an under-performing engine.
The helicopter is currently operating with two under-powered WZ-9 turboshaft engines that prevent Z-10 from carrying its maximum payload potential including up to 16 AR-1/HJ-10 anti-tank missiles.
China, however, is already working on a new more powerful engine, the WZ-16, currently under development by the Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC), which would solve the under-performance problem.
Despite engine issues, however, the Pakistan Army has allegedly been satisfied with the performance of the helicopter during counterinsurgency operations, where it has outclassed other helicopters currently in service with the military.
Islamabad aims to replace its aging fleet of AH-1F Cobra helicopter gunships over the next years. The Pakistan Army has expressed interest in pur
(Excerpt) Read more at thediplomat.com ...
Is this one a real Chinese innovation or another stolen design?
The Chinese manufacture items that always look good & the “real deal” but trust yourself-there’s always a glitch-something stupid that kills the whole copy. They are good at copy but not real technology
Built with Russian and Canadian (probably U.S.) technology.
Most will recall we left a highly classified bird outfitted with classified capabilities at the site of where Bin Laden was. The Chinese got it. This chopper may well have improvements courtesy of our SEAL’s and crew who simply failed to put an incendiary grenade or two on the bird to burn it in place during their EXFIL of the AO.
I was talkin to a guy once about China’s billion man army (this was some time ago), and he said “yeah, they may have a billion men... but all their sh*t is made in China”
Hmmm looks real familiar...
Chinese Z-10
American Apache A-64
Looks like a ripoff job to me, as usual
No, look more to the EuroCopter Tiger, The Rooivalk, and others. The high-tandem design matches those much more closely.
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