China's PLA Starts Fielding New Light Tank

The People's Liberation Army (PLA) has started to field a new light tank armed with a 105 mm gun.The new tank will replace the PLA's Type 62 and Type 63 light tanks. Its estimated weight of around 30 tonnes could give it significant export potential given that main battle tanks (MBTs) are often too heavy for road networks and bridges.

The light tank will also give the PLA operational flexibility inside China. The PLA's latest Type 99 series MBT weigh at least 50 tonnes, which, coupled with their overall size, makes them difficult to deploy to some parts of the country.

The light tank, which may have the designation of the Type 99A2 (which, confusingly, is also the designation of the latest version of the Type 99 MBT), is of conventional layout with the driver at the front, turret and fighting compartment in the centre, and the diesel power pack at the rear.

Main armament comprises a stabilised 105 mm rifled gun fitted with a fume extractor and thermal sleeve with a 7.62 mm co-axial machine gun.

China's New Light Tank

In addition to firing conventional natures of 105 mm ammunition, including the latest BTA2 armour-piercing fin-stabilised discarding sabot round, it can also probably fire the GP2 105 mm laser-guided missile, which has a maximum range of 5,000 m and is fitted with a tandem high-explosive anti-tank (HEAT) warhead.

The hull and turret appear to be of all welded steel armour construction with the upper part of the suspension covered by a skirt in some photographs.

Explosive reactive armour is fitted to the front and sides of the turret to provide a higher level of protection against weapons fitted with a HEAT warhead. The flat hull sides would make it easy to fit additional armour if required.

Suspension consists of six road wheels with an idler at the front and drive sprocket at the rear, and three track return rollers. It is probable that the suspension is of the hydropneumatic type, which allows the driver to adjust the ground clearance to suite the terrain.

Comments

Pakistani JF-17 A Thunder OR A Blunder

Pakistan has witnessed new defense acquisitions in this decade than any other, and in the center of it all is the new fighter which was designed by China with partial funding from Pakistan. It is formally known as JF-17 Thunder. When the fighter was in development, Pakistani online communities were jumping with excitement comparing it with its arch rival India’s modern combatants Su-30MKI, Mig-29S & Mirage-2000H. There were claims of it featuring western Radars and long range missiles, & Chinese ordering some due to its superior capabilities. But the reality is far from it. China having spent significant amount of money into a fighter which it is never going to use, most probably forced Pakistan to accept its avionics to offset some its development costs. Chinese who are known for their self reliance first and quality next, are further downgrading JF-17s capabilities with their poorly copy-pirated avionics. Along with their dubious weapons, any chance of JF

Pakistani F-16s Shoot Down RAF Eurofighter Typhoons During Air Combat Exercises In Turkey

Pakistani pilots flying modernised versions of the 1970s-vintage F-16 Falcon fighter have beaten the RAF's brand-new Eurofighter Typhoon superfighters during air combat exercises in Turkey, according to a Pakistani officer. Analysis: The RAF Typhoon, formerly known as the Eurofighter, should nonetheless have been vastly superior in air-to-air combat whether BVR or close in within visual range (WVR). The cripplingly expensive, long-delayed Eurofighter was specifically designed to address the defects of its predecessor the Tornado F3 – famously almost useless in close-in, dogfighting-style air combat. The Typhoon was meant to see off such deadly in-close threats as Soviet "Fulcrums" and "Flankers" using short-range missiles fired using helmet-mounted sight systems: such planes were thought well able to beat not just Tornados but F-16s in close fighting, and this expectation was borne out after the Cold War when the Luftwaffe inherite

India Planned Attack On Pak Navy Mehran Base To Kill Chinese Engineers

The terrorist attack on Karachi's Mehran Naval Station on May 22 was conceived and launched by India with the primary objective of killing the Chinese engineers present there, a Pakistani newspaper has claimed, citing 'informed sources'. Four to six Taliban terrorists had entered PNS Mehran on May 22, destroying two maritime surveillance aircraft and killing ten military personnel during their 17-hour siege of the naval air base. "India is the only country in the region that feels troubled by the Pakistan Navy, which had awfully beaten the Indian Navy in Operation Dwarka of 1965. Since then, it has been an earnest desire of India to harm the Pakistan Navy but it was perhaps not possible on the battle front, hence it struck the PNS Mehran," The News quoted sources as saying.

ASIAN DEFENCE

Search This Blog