On August 16, Norinko Corporation held the Day of Armored Vehicles and Anti-Tank Weapons on the territory of a test site near the city of Baotou (Inner Mongolia). For the second time in the history of the Chinese defense industry.
In the closed pavilion, 34 samples of tracked and wheeled armored vehicles were displayed. To demonstrate acceleration and overcoming standard obstacles, a part of the production site with an unpaved surface was used.
BTR in the Russian style
Chinese gunsmiths showed the VT-5 light battle tank (curb weight - 33 tons). It is equipped with an 800 horsepower turbodiesel engine and an automatic transmission. The main armament is a smooth-bore 105 mm gun. The ammunition load includes feathered and sub-caliber armor-piercing, high-explosive fragmentation shells, and laser-guided missiles. Ammunition designed to combat tanks, from a distance of two thousand meters, pierces a sheet of homogeneous armor with a thickness of 550 millimeters. In the version for the PLA mountain rifle brigades, the tank turret is equipped with hinged reactive armor modules of the "Reaction-4" series.
The same gun is installed on a new wheeled assault vehicle under the designation ST-1, created on the basis of a Type-08 amphibious armored personnel carrier with an 8x8 wheel arrangement. Diesel BZ6M1015CP from the German company DEUTZ provides an armored vehicle weighing 23 tons a maximum speed of 100 kilometers per hour. The power reserve with a full refueling is 1000 kilometers. When driving on water, the maximum speed is eight kilometers per hour. The tower provides attachment points for an anti-aircraft machine gun and eight launchers (PU) for smoke screens of 76 mm caliber. A coaxial 7.62 mm machine gun can be installed inside the turret. It is known that the welded hull is made of composite armor, which protects the crew from shelling from a 25-mm cannon in the frontal part and automatic weapons of caliber 7, 62 in the side and rear surface from a distance of 100 meters. The vehicle was adopted by the PLA Marine Corps.
Another novelty from Norinko was a heavy infantry fighting vehicle under the designation VN-17, built on the basis of a light tank VT-5 using the same type of engine, automatic transmission and communication systems. It is noticeable that the designers were impressed by the Russian BTR-T and T-15. The weight of the Chinese heavy infantry fighting vehicle reaches 30 tons due to enhanced dynamic protection, which reliably covers the entire body of the vehicle. The VN-17 has an unmanned turret with a 30-mm automatic cannon, two Red Arrow 12 ATGMs and 12 launchers for smoke grenades. Weapon guidance is provided by a two-channel optoelectronic station with a laser rangefinder.
On the basis of the time-tested BMP-3, Chinese designers have created a rather heavy (23 tons) BMP VN-11A for export. The manned turret WA333T1B has a 30-mm cannon, the outer points are equipped with the classic Red Arrow 73D ATGM and six launchers for setting up a smoke screen. The power of the VN-11A engine is 440 kilowatts, the cruising range at full refueling is 500 kilometers. The crew consists of three people, in the aft troop compartment there are seven places. A distinctive feature of the BMP is the bolted scheme for attaching additional armor plates. Both the driver and the troopers are provided with side triplexes to monitor the situation.
At the training ground near Baotou, a heavy infantry fighting vehicle, created on the basis of the Type 59D tank (the Chinese version of the Soviet T-54/55), appeared for the first time. Engineers modernized it with the aforementioned WA333T1B turret with a 30-mm cannon and the Red Arrow 73D ATGM. Chinese observers state that the armor protection of the hull has been seriously enhanced due to both thickening up to 600 millimeters and the use of a large number of dynamic protection units. The BMP is designed for buyers from more than 20 states of Asia and Africa, in whose armies a significant number of Type 59D tanks. The approach is borrowed from Israeli specialists who continue to modernize the heavy BMP Namer for the IDF.
It should be noted that the Norinko designers also propose to install uninhabited UW-4 modules, in which a 30 mm cannon and 12 launchers for a smoke screen are mounted, and for light armored vehicles they offer an option with a 12.7 mm machine gun.
The armored vehicles that participated in the dynamic display were covered with camouflage kits made of special fabrics, hiding it in the radar and infrared ranges. This approach allows both to reduce the cost of repainting, and to increase survivability in combat conditions.
Also in the pavilion and in the open area were presented armored wheeled vehicles with different levels of armor protection and weapon compositions, including for the first time - the transport VP-22, created on the model of the Russian Typhoon-K, taking into account information on operation in Syria.
Arrows in stock
It is known that in the closed pavilion were demonstrated PU heavy ATGM "Red Arrow 10". These anti-tank ammunition is placed in eight units on the basis of the tracked BMP VN-11 (a copy of the Russian BMP-3), which, according to the plan of the Chinese military, should allow a division of such ATGMs consisting of nine vehicles to confidently destroy about 60 enemy armored vehicles in four minutes.
At the stands one could also see the Red Arrow 12 ATGM (production designation GTS7), which outwardly resembles the famous American FGM-148 Javelin. Chinese manufacturers do not hide the fact that they borrowed some design solutions from American gunsmiths. PU provides a cold start of ammunition at 30 meters, after which a single-stage solid-propellant engine is triggered, providing an average flight speed of 200 meters per second.
Some tactical and technical characteristics of the "Red Arrow 12": rocket weight - 17 kilograms, launcher - 5 kilograms, missile length - 1.25 meters, caliber - 170 millimeters. The launch range with infrared guidance is 2000, when using a television system - 4000 meters. At a distance of 2500 meters, the tandem warhead penetrates 750 millimeters of homogeneous armor.
For the first time, the attention of Chinese military observers was presented to the heavy ATGM of increased range "Red Arrow 11", the rocket of which, with a starting weight of 30 kilograms, has a maximum launch range of 10 kilometers and, in fact, is a multifunctional ammunition that allows you to fight any enemy armored vehicles, even in fortified positions.
Tank helmet
A video was shown at the Day of Armored Vehicles showing the action of the GL-5 active protection system (SAZ) installed on the roof of the Type-96 MBT tower. According to information from the manufacturer, over the past two years, engineers have made great efforts to fine-tune the SAZ - problems with the power supply of the radar with an active phased antenna array and its cooling have been eliminated.
The GL-5 system includes four panel radar stations. Each includes six emitters, two of which are responsible for target detection, two for tracking and two for the guidance of interceptor projectiles. The destruction of anti-tank ammunition is assigned to four launchers, each of which has three shells. They are installed in guides with a rotation of 30 degrees from the mounting axis, which allows covering the sector by 90 degrees.
For the computing station GL-5, Chinese specialists have developed a special algorithm. When an anti-tank projectile is detected, it uses two interceptor ammunition at once, which, according to calculations, is guaranteed to deflect the threat. The maximum effective interception range is 100 meters, while the minimum can be ten times less, which, however, does not ensure the safety of the optoelectronic systems and the anti-aircraft machine gun located on the roof of the tank. The turret provides space for an additional 24 interceptor shells, which makes it possible to reload the SAZ twice.
Some Chinese experts note that while the GL-5 is capable of intercepting only ammunition flying up to the tank at a speed of no more than 1800 meters per second. Obviously, the designers are trying to create a system that should not be inferior in efficiency to the Russian "Arena" and the Ukrainian "Knife".
Note that the equipment presented in Baotou is mainly intended for export.
