Posted on 10/12/2017 10:50:42 AM PDT by sukhoi-30mki
Developed by Norinco, the Chinese army’s new light tank is equipped with a hydropneumatic suspension system and is armed with a 105mm gun that can fire both shells and guided missiles. (Chinese Internet photo) China has confirmed the deployment of a new light tank, which observers say will suit combat operations on plateaus.
A photo of the tank on snowy ground is on display at an exposition in the Beijing Exhibition Center, as part of a display showing achievements made by China over the past five years. The caption accompanying the picture says it is a new type of light tank, without giving details.
This is the first time the Chinese military has officially published a picture of the tank.
Almost all of the military equipment on display at the exhibition is in active service with the People's Liberation Army. A number of pictures taken by military enthusiasts and circulated on Chinese defense websites show a row of the new tanks being transported by rail. Those tanks had been painted with a tactical code on the turret - an indication of delivery to the PLA Ground Force.
At a Defense Ministry news briefing in late June, Senior Colonel Wu Qian, ministry spokesman, confirmed that the light tank was being tested at that time on plateaus in the Tibet autonomous region.
Developed by China North Industries Group Corp, the country's biggest maker of land armaments, the light tank is equipped with a hydropneumatic suspension system that ensures good maneuverability and survivability in mountainous regions.
Its main weapon is a 105-mm gun that is able to fire both shells and guided missiles, according to weapons observers, who said the tank's main task is to fight on plateaus even at very low temperatures and that its weight ranges from 25 to 35 metric tons. By comparison, a main battle tank, such as the United States' M1 Abrams and China's Type 99A, weighs up to 65 tons.
Du Wenlong, an equipment researcher at the PLA Academy of Military Science, said the vehicle was designed to operate in China's southern regions and on plateaus.
"The shortage of oxygen on plateaus means its engine must be very powerful and can work well with a limited amount of oxygen," he said. "Similarly, its power, fire control and ammunition systems must have been specially designed for high altitudes."
Ge Lide, a defense technology researcher at PLA National Defense University, said that while the tank falls into the light-duty category, its combat capability is strong, considering its firepower, mobility, defensive features and information capacity.
He noted that the tank would be capable of moving through many kinds of tough terrain and should be able to outperform all other PLA tanks and armored vehicles off-road.
In addition to the domestic version, China has also developed a light tank for export. The VT-5, which China North Industries Group Corp calls the most advanced light tank available in the international market, has a maximum weight of 36 tons, and is armed with a 105-mm rifled tank gun, according to the company.
China developed the Type 62 light tank in the 1960s and had used it in its armored forces in southern regions for more than 50 years until retiring them in 2013.
-ends-
Without air dominance tanks are nothing more than moving targets.
Expensive ones.
Nice targets...........................
PLA and Red Army doctrine- “Quantity has a quality all its own.....”
At least this light tank has a real gun on it.
That gun won’t penetrate a main battle tank. I think this tank is meant to handle domestic disturbances.
Believe it or not the Brits had a lot of success strong-pointing hilltops with their Chieftain heavies during the Korean War. They US did some of that with their M4A3E8 Shermans, but the Chieftain’s main gun was the difference.
“Without air dominance tanks are nothing more than moving targets.”
I suspect anyplace the Chinese use those they will have air superiority simply because they have thousands of planes in their homeland. Even if they were inferior planes, and don’t bet your freedom on that, they could readily swamp any force close to their borders. Notice the word plateau. This tank is meant to fight India. It is unlikely India could maintain air superiority for more than a few hours at most. Likely that entire time they’d be tied up with opposing air forces and not hitting many ground targets.
If I were India I’d be working on fire and forget missiles and inexpensive, disposable drones. (Hint, India. Get with Israel, the world’s largest maker of drones. And, you need a licensing agreement before China convinces Israel that selling you technology isn’t in Israel’s best interest.)
Drones and practical railguns are going to be making air dominance more and more questionable in coming years. We may soon be going to the “it flies, it does” era projected by many SF writers.
does/dies, even.
A 105mm can, it turns out, still destroy every NATO MBT from the top or rear, FYI. Not from the front for sure and not from the side for most NATO tanks. But even the Abrams is vulnerable in the rear aspect.
Those would be Centurions.
Chieftains didn’t come out until the 60s.
I think the point of it, is to be able to go where big tanks can't: narrow Third World roads, flimsy Third World bridges, narrow mountain passes, etc.
When time and again they emphasized high-altitude fighting these Chinese authors and speakers are actually talking to India, mainly.
1) We were willingly naked when we first deployed the M1 with 105 mm gun, having done testing that showed it would not penetrate Soviet armor.
2) Because of this, the M1 chassis and turret was developed to accommodate the 120 mm, anticipating a rapid change over.
3) Studies of armored warfare in WWII showed that 90% of tank sustained hits were from the front.
4) Attacks from the top will not come from a standard MBT round, but rather something 'else'...and I'll leave it at that.
5)Yes the M1 is vulnerable from the rear. But refer to item #3.
I guarantee you that not even the Chinese value lives so little, that they would willfully deploy these against any nation's main battle tanks. These are meant to keep Tibetians in line.
“Drones and practical railguns are going to be making air dominance more and more questionable in coming years. We may soon be going to the “it flies, it does” era projected by many SF writers.”
I don’t think railguns will be a major factor for antiaircraft use. They’re a fairly low rate of fire weapon which also can’t fire too many rounds without maintenance. Laser weapons, on the other hand, may be a game changer.
Drones could possibly make a big difference. I’m guessing you’re thinking about large numbers of roughly Predator type drones, carrying long range IR air-to-air missiles? They would need IRST sensors to detect stealth targets, and highly sensitive missile seekers to work at long range. (By the way, even now non-stealthy aircraft flying in a heavily defended airspace have poor prospects.)
On the other hand, offensive drones and cruise missiles could possibly offset things in the other direction, overwhelming defenses with numbers and destroying ground installations along with air assets.
It’ll be interesting to see how all that plays out. It may be that cloudy nights (clouds block infrared) become the preferred strike environment.
Tibetans perhaps, but it’s looking like they might use them against Indian frontier forces. The opponents that the Chinese face there are armed with uprated T-72s backed up by a local heavily uprated version of the T-90. With the enhanced lethality munitions like the M426 now available in 105mm ( http://www.imisystems.com/whatwedocat/firepower-precision/land-firepower-precision/tank/ ), they could be a significant threat to the Indian T-72s. Not sure about the T-90MS Bhishma, though.
I’m not thinking about the big naval or tank railguns we seem to be working on, but smaller <40mm guns, which require less maintenance and can be fired faster. A railgun does have the advantage of a fast enough projectile that a one shot kill isn’t just possible but likely - a 40mm hypervelocity railgun projectile through your engine will ruin a strike fighter’s day. Laser weapons... right now they’re a huge vulnerable target that can’t displace quickly.
Yes, that’s one thought I had about drones. There’s also the “suicide swarm” idea people have been kicking around - fast mover jets go down real fast when their engines ingest a bunch of drone machinery and die.
“I guarantee you that not even the Chinese value lives so little, that they would willfully deploy these against any nation’s main battle tanks.”
I’m guessing you’ve forgotten that Stuarts were deployed against much superior German tanks in WWII? The disparity there was much greater than between these and Abrams...
You also may have missed that these can fire missiles as well as shells. That is reminiscent of the M60-A2 tanks from the 70’s. Such missiles might well defeat the top armor of the tank, if not the front. Interestingly, the South Korean tanks in use now fire an indirect artillery round that attacks top armor as well...
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