At the military parade in Beijing on October 1, 2019, dedicated to the 70th anniversary of the PRC, the Chinese military for the first time appeared before the public with a new machine gun. At the parade, soldiers of the Chinese People's Army were armed with classic QBZ-191 assault rifles. The fact that the Chinese military decided to look for a replacement for their QBZ-95 assault rifle, made in the bullpup layout, became known two years ago. It looks like the replacement is already ready.
At the same time, the designation QBZ-191 is inconclusive, the machine gun may be officially adopted by the PLA under a different designation. According to the American military-political publication The National Interest, the assault rifle can be officially adopted under the designations QBZ-17 or QBZ-19, where the number will indicate the year of development of the weapon, as previously happened with the QBZ-95 bullpup assault rifle. …
China will give up the machine QBZ-95
Demonstrated at a military parade in Beijing on October 1, the new machine gun is expected to replace the QBZ-95. The latter has been in service with the Chinese army for over 20 years and is the most massive small arms in the country's armed forces. The rejection of the machine, made in the bullpup layout, fits into the general world practice. This decision has been reached not only in China over the past few years. Despite the fact that no one gives up on such small arms, more and more large operators are abandoning the bullpup assault rifles. Recent examples include France, which has decided to replace its FAMAS rifle with a new classic-style HK-416 assault rifle, created by engineers at Heckler & Koch.
The development of the QBZ-95 light automatic rifle was completed in 1995. In the same year, the serial production of new weapons started. For the first time, a bullpup assault rifle was introduced to the general public in 1997, when the Chinese administration regained control of Hong Kong. The Chinese garrison in Hong Kong was armed with new machine guns. In total, three main modifications of this weapon were developed for the armed forces of the Celestial Empire: a standard QBZ-95 assault rifle with a sector magazine for 30 rounds; QBZ-95B with a shortened barrel, primarily intended for arming units of the Chinese Navy and special forces; The QBB-95 LSW is a light machine gun with a weighted longer barrel and 80-round drum magazine.
In 2010-2011, an updated version of the assault rifle with improved ergonomics was distributed, this model received the designation QBB-95-1. In addition to improving ergonomics, the designers have worked to improve the strength of the plastic parts, have improved the barrel life, and also presented a new optical sight. In addition to improving the ergonomics and reliability of the product, the machine was adapted to use the most advanced cartridge 5, 8x42 mm DBP10 at that time. Despite the fact that the Chinese military traditionally does not comment on the shortcomings of their weapons, Chinese bloggers often criticized the QBB-95 assault rifles, listing all the shortcomings that characterize weapons of a similar scheme.
The first hints that the PLA was looking for a replacement for its standard QBB-95 assault rifle appeared back in 2016-2017, when the first two images of the future assault rifle were published in one of the Chinese military blogs. Later, this post attracted the attention of American journalists, including Popular Mechanics, and the media started talking about weapons. A few days before the parade in Beijing, timed to coincide with the 70th anniversary of the PRC, several photos of the new weapons appeared on the network again. The newly presented samples bore a pronounced similarity to the photographs shown two years ago. Finally, on October 1, 2019, thousands of Chinese soldiers marched in a parade armed with new machine guns.
New Chinese machine gun QBZ-191
A distinctive feature of the new weapon is the modularity of the design, which is typical for many modern assault rifles. QBZ-191 can be easily transformed for solving various combat missions. The fact that the new assault rifle has a more convenient layout and a modular design concept was emphasized even by the announcers of Chinese television, who emphasized, among other things, the versatility, reliability and increased firepower of the new assault rifle. At the same time, experts have already noted the similarity of the new Chinese machine gun with the HK-416, this model of small arms was adopted by the US Marine Corps under the designation M27, as well as the FN SCAR combat assault rifle for special operations forces.
The new assault rifle will be presented in three main variants, each equipped with different barrels. The version with a barrel length of 10.5 inches (267 mm) will receive the PDW designation. This machine will be designed primarily for arming the crews of combat vehicles and other equipment. The bulk of the infantry will be armed with an assault rifle with a barrel length of 14.5 inches (368 mm). In addition, an elongated heavy barrel will be available, which will turn the machine gun into a weapon designed to arm snipers in the squad, providing shooters with confident hitting targets at a distance of up to 600 meters. At the same time, the effective firing range of the PDW version is estimated at 300 meters, and the standard assault rifle is 400 meters. The declared rate of fire is 750 rounds per minute.
The new assault rifle will receive a rotary bolt and a shockless system of automatic operation due to the removal of powder gases from the barrel with a short piston stroke, according to the Kalashnikov magazine. The thumb-operated fire switch allows single shots and fully automatic fire. At the same time, American journalists note that the Chinese have abandoned the use of a three-shot cut-off fire regime. It is also noted that with the new assault rifle it will be possible to use standard magazines from QBB-95 assault rifles.
The new Chinese assault rifle meets the concept that is popular today, when the armament of infantrymen should be easily adapted to the solution of various combat missions. This in the new modular weapon, in addition to replaceable barrels and Picatinny rails, is facilitated by the use of a telescopic butt adjustable in length, it is noted that it will have 4-5 fixed values (folding the butt is not provided). Also, the new Chinese machine gun will receive a long Picatinny rail mounted on top of the receiver and forend, made of aluminum. The presence of such a bar allows you to install a large number of different sighting devices, while the mechanical sighting devices, in particular the front sight, are foldable.
Chinese cartridge 5, 8x42 mm
The new Chinese machine gun, like its predecessor, uses an intermediate cartridge 5, 8x42 mm. Work on the creation of this ammunition began in China in the mid-1980s. When developing their own cartridge, Chinese engineers took into account all the experience in creating similar low-impulse intermediate cartridges, which by that time had already been accumulated by the military of the NATO countries and the Soviet Union. The new cartridge was originally developed for a wide range of small arms: machine guns, machine guns, sniper rifles. According to the assurances of the Chinese side, this ammunition surpasses similar cartridges of the NATO block 5, 56x45 mm and the Soviet cartridge 5, 45x39 mm.
According to the developers, the Chinese cartridge of 5, 8x42 mm has better ballistics than similar low-impulse intermediate cartridges, a flatter flight path and more bullet energy at medium and long distances. The advantages of the cartridge also include a greater penetrating power compared to standard NATO cartridges 5, 56x45 mm. At the same time, the superiority of the Chinese patron does not seem to be significant. It is no coincidence that for all the years of production, it has not interested other countries, ammunition 5, 8x42 mm is still produced only in China.
The new cartridge was officially adopted by the PLA in 1987 under the designation DBP-87. All ammunition of this caliber has a bottle-shaped sleeve with a groove. The standard cartridge, which is used by submachine gunners, is equipped with a bullet with a steel core weighing 4, 15 grams. The initial flight speed of such a bullet is 930 m / s, and the energy of the bullet is 1795 J. Specially for machine guns and sniper rifles, a cartridge with a heavy long-range bullet was developed, the mass of which increased to 5 grams, and the muzzle energy increased to 2000 J. can receive updated ammunition of 5, 8 mm caliber, with better characteristics at medium and long ranges.
