Note 1: I'm not sure that Chinese armor could stand up in a head on fight against US, Japanese, Australian or S. Korean armor. But its not designed for that. I'm seeing a turn toward regional expeditionary operations. Strategic mobility and numbers will carry the day instead of relying on heavy armor.
ZBD-04/08
ZBD-05
%2BPeople's%2BLiberation%2BArmy%2B(PLA)%2Bchina%2Bchinese%2B%2Bexport%2Bmarines%2B%2B(6).jpg)
Type 89 Command Vehicle
ZBD09
Against Vietnam, the Phillipines, Malaysia or even Taiwan, they would do fine in a blitzkrieg of an island or small shoreline. The tanks might actually do better than expected--against an Abrams no, but with air support against older western tanks yes. Actually, it is has been so long since we fought against anywhere where we haven't had air superiority, we might under estimate their effectiveness. A US carrier is potent, but the Chinese have a LOT of land and sea based anti-ship missiles, so they if they can get air superiority--over the combat zone, not necessarily over the pacific--it might do very well. The weaknesses of these mostly Russia designs mostly counts if you are worried about losing a lot of men. As the Korean war showed, China has no problem with throwing soldiers into battle with little support...they have plenty. Yea, that doesn't sound nice, but dictatorships are not nice people. The Chinese people are better off than when maoist communists controlled, but it is still a dictatorship.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if the Chinese can actually pump out these Tanks and other AFV's at about the same rate as the Soviets could in WW2 and Cold War. The Soviets could grandly claim that they deliberatly choose weapons and designs that allow rapid manufacture from a huge Military Industrial Base to counter their general lack of Individual Capability. Despite China's industrial base, I bet they still have only one ot two production lines for tanks and even today....Russia may still be able to outpace China when it comes to actual Weapons Production- Tanks, Aircraft, Ships, Submarines, IFV,s Missiles, Helicoptors etc. Ditto for the USA and its Industrial Base. The chinese may have a tank which has the ability of rapid manufacture, but do they actually have the base to pump upwards of say....10 tanks a day (Not exact figure but you get my point).
DeleteIn this kind of a scenario where you have Russian/Chinese Equipment (Percieved to be more Expendable) but not have Russian/Ex-Soviet Weapons Manufacturing Base (Long percieved to be advantage of this kind of equipment) you are facing the worst of both worlds. This is the same situation in India.......Percieved to be more Expendable Equipment without the ability to manufacture them at a level that gives us a position of strength. Out Tank Plant at Avadi barely pumps out a Brigade's worth of T-90 tanks a year making our T-90's more vaulable than the M1 Abrams. And we dont have any other facility to manufacture Tanks in India. Expect a Paki Terrorist Fidayeen Attack here the next time we are at a stand off.
Did the USA have that kind of armor manufacturing base in 1940? No, but our industries got repurposed real-quick once WWII started, no?
DeleteThe USA doesn't have the industrial base left to do that kind of strategic production pivot. Russia may not either. But China? Holy crap, we'd better knock them out quick if there's a war. Otherwise we'll drown.
Second to the last photo. I wonder how did the PLAAF crew keep that door open.
ReplyDeleteSince it's low attitude, for taking photos, maybe.
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