Isnt those weapon station cost like almost more than the vehicle? I am thinking 300k usd.
Chinese infantry fighting vehicles
- Thread starter Broccoli
- Start date
According to this website (), the RCWS on that pg is 90,000 USD. So it depends on what is being remote controlled.
I guess. Technically a stabilized mount and a good camera should not be that expensive, but it is military so...
Well the biggest cost is thermals and laser range finder. And mechanical components that can withstand a 12.7mm machinegun firing and remain reliably operational have to be to a certain standard.
Does a MG for self defense need these high tech thermal and laser range finder? How much does the laser rangefinder cost?
You can buy a laser range finder for playing golf...
So as I expected it dont cost much. I dont think thermal is standard for weapon station either.
Golf laser range finders dont really work past 200m... and probably cant handle being exposed to all weather conditions, heat, rain, wind, snow etc. Remember everything has to be rugged and survivable, cant just bolt on and go
Sure but being rugged dont cost 30x in most items. I am sure gun rangefinder should be below 1000usd too.
Yes, it is a big confusion that I had with most of PLA ground fighting vehicles, vast majority of them still don't have a RCWS and instead opt for a manual MG. This is so weird because it's not about technological shortcomings since the export variants on a lot of similar products have it installed in them, which lead me to believe that to be more of a budget issue. Some explanation like on type-99 may make more sense if it's doctrine decision to only use tank for only tank battle (though not something I completely agree on either; if that's the case then why bother with putting a MG in it, just put more ERA on the top plate or more countermeasures/info gathering tools that's crucial in a tank to tank battle). This aspect is something that should be given an attention and improved upon in the continuous process of PLAGF's modernization.