plawolf
Lieutenant General
Because the PLA isn’t at war and has other priorities for its budget.
It’s silly to compare peacetime procurement decision of one army with the wartime procurement of another.
China is also in the enviable position of being able to place massive orders such things like exo-skeletons and having those delivered en mass extremely quickly so there is even less reason to heavily stock what is essentially a consumable item.
It seems clear that for the PLAGF at least, their peacetime priority is to purchase assets that unlock and enable new capabilities and which are hard to procure on a massive scale at rapid speed in times of need.
The reasoning is very simple and logical that it’s better to accumulate critical mass in long lead time and game changing equipment so that you have the inventory and your troops all have experience using them in peace time. And if and when war time comes, you can rapidly procure and issue the nice-to-have things that soldiers need minimal training to get used to, and you will also enjoy all of the benefits of technological advancement in those items as well.
This is also why the PLA favours digital NV and thermals over the more capable but far more finicky IIT NV that western forces favour. If and when the need comes, China can rapidly scale up production of digital NV and thermal units to tens or even hundreds of thousands of units per month. That’s simply unachievable with IITs even if you throw several times as much resources into it.
In terms of exo-skeletons, it’s the same as with small FPV level drones, the PLA will procure a modest number for trials and training and general issue to the most pressing areas, but it will not field them in remotely the numbers as the likes of the Russians or Ukrainians who are fighting a full scale war with them.
