Infantry Combat Equipment (non-firearm): Vests, Body Armor, NVGs, etc.
- Thread starter by78
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plawolf
Lieutenant General
Identification range with 8km visibility, illumination 0.001lx, not skylined, against human size target is >20m.
Maybe I am misunderstanding something, but that visor seems pretty trash by those specs. For reference, from:
0.0011lx is typical moonless starlight conditions. 20m might be useful if you want to sneak up and knife a guy, otherwise I can’t see much use for these.
Maybe I am misunderstanding something, but that visor seems pretty trash by those specs. For reference, from:
0.0011lx is typical moonless starlight conditions. 20m might be useful if you want to sneak up and knife a guy, otherwise I can’t see much use for these.
TerraN_EmpirE
Tyrant King
Seems like it might be the price of doing business if you want that configuration of display. The lens system looks very small about the size you see on a smart phone as opposed to the larger types you see on NVG. The size of the lenses is important as that is how you gather light. But then comes the display. As yet a true transparent display is still mostly sci-fi. You need contrast.
So, PLA have published a procurement notice for 930,000 bullet proof vests (two plates each), AND, 476,000 enhanced bullet proof vests (two plates each).
That's a total of 1.4 million vests, and should be able to outfit army frontline infantry in the various light, medium and heavy brigades as well as the relevant infantry and special forces from navy/marines, air force and rocket forces.
One commentator's take on it:
That's a total of 1.4 million vests, and should be able to outfit army frontline infantry in the various light, medium and heavy brigades as well as the relevant infantry and special forces from navy/marines, air force and rocket forces.
One commentator's take on it:
by78
General
If you look at the general product description, this isn't intended as a full-blown NVG. Rather, it's supposed to assist soldiers in reading or operating and repairing equipment at night or in lowlight conditions. It is to be used in conjunction with external illumination, such as low-intensity glow sticks and such. Basically this is for all the (non-combat) situations where a full-blown NVG system would be overkill.
What do they want with it I wonder. Body armor has a shelf life of 5 years, buying them in bulk at such a short time doesn't make sense unless the PLA foresee a lot of usage of them in the not so distant future (7 years max given that the order is to be fulfilled in 2 years).
vesicles
Colonel
One possibility is of course that they are planning something serious for the next 7 years.
the other possibility would be that they are finally happy with their vest design and now have decided to issue these vests as regular equipment for their troops, same as helmets and boots...
I see it as more of a financial issue, rather than them only just becoming happy with the vest design.
They're budgeting $1100-$1800 for each bulletproof vest.
Total procurement cost is then $2Billion
Just 5 years ago, the average spend for an active member of the Chinese Armed Forces was around US$60,000 per person
Now that figure is over US$140,000 per person.
And in 5 years time, I reckon it will be over US$200,000 per person. That assumes military spending remains at a modest 2% of GDP.
Analysis
Chinese spending of US$200,000 per person would be comparable to the French or Japanese Armed Forces.
So given time, we could expect the overall Chinese military to become equals in terms of technology and training,
Plus it also doesn't take into account lower costs in China.
If we were to use PPP, that would suggest that China can buy twice as much stuff for the same amount of money.
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plawolf
Lieutenant General
I would say that it’s less that China is preparing for something, and more that their threat assessments have shifted and they now feel that the risk of something happening within the new 2-7 years is high enough to justify these purchases.
2-7 years would interestingly firmly be within Trump’s 2nd term time. Given what he has done in his first term, it’s little surprise if China is making precautions for what he might do in his second term.