That makes me wonder, is the ATGM placement designed so that the infantry in the back can just open their roof hatch and reload the ATGM from relative safety? I believe US M2 Bradley had that function with its ATGM launcher.
Chinese infantry fighting vehicles
- Thread starter Broccoli
- Start date
"Shame there's no RWS though."
Assuming it's unmanned, isn't the turret itself the RWS?
by78
General
The image is unclear, but it's possible the gunner sight is located on the mantlet, situated directly under the cannon. We've seen this arrangement on a NORINCO export vehicle before (2nd image).
My thinking was that thing could be the gunners sight, but I do also agree with By78 observes correctly, there is a possibility the gunners sight is already installed but under the barrel.
If that is the case, then it becomes more likely that the thing in top of the current could have been a CITV.
Which turrets are you thinking of which can have similarly mounted ATGMs be auto loaded once or twice?
As far as I can see, there looks like there is space for two or four ATGMs in the launcher, which seems fairly adequate, and if one needs more than that in short order then you are probably in trouble anyway and the ability or inability to autoreload (versus retreating to do manual reload) won't be a huge decisive issue.
In theory, an RWS independent of the turret's orientation would be able to deal with threat from a different direction at the same time.
I feel like these missiles are HJ-16's. They look too big to be HJ-12's. What's the consensus?
Great catch.
Do you have any other pictures of this vehicle from norinco? I vaguely recall its presence at a land expo/Zhuhai a few years back but can't recall any clear high quality pictures.
That is my working hypothesis as well, but it's a bit complicated by the fact that we don't have clear images of HJ-16 in line service or even HJ-16 as an export available product.
by78
General
The credit for the catch goes to sharp-eyed observers on the Chinese internet. The vehicle in question is the CS/VN-9. It recall seeing that turret from Zhuhai 2018. I'm sure I have high-resolution images of it, but they are on a hard drive somewhere in my basement. I haven't bothered unpacking it since moving houses a few months ago.
The placement of the sight seems to take a lot of space at the bottom. I wonder if it will affect the gun depression of the 8x8?
