What are these movements about?... some western media are already talking about a threat from China against Taiwan
PLA Ground Forces news, pics and videos
- Thread starter Jeff Head
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Why is it that every time Mainland China move a couple of armored vehicles around MSM starts losing its shit?
Infantry stuff is lowest on the totem pole in terms of priority for the PLA, given the strategic orientation for the Chinese military.
That's why you should probably stop posting PLA infantry related images on Reddit, because there's really nothing particularly boast worthy or impressive to talk about or show.
I don't post infantry related images on Reddit because they're "boast worthy", I post them because I personally find researching and writing about them pretty interesting. It doesn't matter how they're the "lowest on the totem pole in terms of priority", I honestly don't care
There aren't much that's impressive about PLA infantry gear. In fact, compared to most major NATO militaries out there, the PLA is at least a decade behind to put it generously. I've made this pretty obvious in most of my posts and I think I've talked quite negatively about it in many instances. But if you were to compare it to just 2-4 years ago, the improvements made in such a short time period (despite drawbacks) are pretty damn noticeable ngl. What this reflects is a gradual transition and modernization of the PLA's infantry doctrine, something that I believe will continue in the foreseeable future
And please don't start with the whole decades old "strategic orientation“ thing all over again. The same argument has been used by "experts" and nationalists justify the PLA's use of unusual digital monotubes in the 2020s, lack of even flack armor in the 2015s, issuing of 50s era Type-65 "liberation shoes" to frontline units in the 2010s, and pretty much every existing problem related to infantry gear in the last twenty years. If a fighting force with the second biggest budget in the world can't even properly equip it's infantrymen, then there really ain't much to say
Lol, only in the west can they make some routine movement of military equipment into something as sinister as a precursor to war.
Absolutely true. The amount of gear you could get for just one less J-20 is absurd. No reason not to improve the quality of infantry gear. Yes missiles are important, but the filler and ultimate victor of battles is infantry. You need them to protect armor, you need them to occupy towns and cities. I don't care if it's just a fraction or 50% of the PLA. I'd rather sacrifice one J-20 for improving the overall quality of PLA infantry gear - that's a bigger force multiplier on the battlefield than one more J-20. If the PLA is going to do anything more than a naval blockade of Taiwan then infantry gear is equally paramount.
Current rate of implementation of the standard gear with the monocular NVG and new helmet is too slow, even just ramp that up.
-Ear pros
-Basic comms
-3x optic, Laser module, foregrip
-NVGs
You know, if you're not boasting about it on Reddit, then at least post them without writing "informative" comments without actually verifying whether your information is actually accurate.
There's been at least three separate occasions where I've responded to you advising that no, the name of the LMG as best we know isn't QJS-161, it is QJB-201.
Seeing as we are here, I'll just put these two pictures up which you can view and maybe save somewhere to assist your memory.
As for the importance of infantry equipment -- yes, the PLA is indeed at least one generation behind NATO military forces, however your focus on them both on Reddit and here is actually exactly why it is not impressive.
It implies that high value infantry equipment is perceived as something actually important for the PLA's goals.
Let's put it this way -- and this is for readers of this thread at large, not you specifically -- for the PLA, ground forces warfare is currently at the overwhelming bottom of their strategic priorities, in terms of domains of "warfare" as generally understood.
Air, naval, missile, space, EW and cyber, are all virtually equally important to each other for the missions that the PLA actually are interested in for this era.
Ground forces/land warfare is multiple notches below all of those domains (acknowledging a bit of overlap of course especially for things like EW, cyber and missile technology to a lesser extent) -- however even if one wants the PLA to put money into the most high yield capabilities and effectors in ground warfare, more modern infantry equipment is almost at the very bottom of importance for what is already the least important domain of warfare for the PLA.
Mechanization, artillery systems, ground reconnaissance systems, ground launched reconnaissance systems, logistics and general purpose trucks/vehicles, utility helicopters, attack helicopters, are all so much more consequential for the kind of land warfare that the PLA would actually consider as a realistic prospect (i.e.: against other nation states), and yeah things like earpro, having a better optic, or indeed even the presence or absence of a plate carrier are trivial at best, or a significant and diminishing yield use of money at worst.
If you want to talk about the world's "second highest military budget" I advise you first to look at how much money is being spent on all of those domains, then minus the money from all of the much more important aspects of ground warfare, then look at the remaining money they actually have for infantry equipment.
Given all that, you should be absolutely gobsmacked and amazed that the PLA are even willing to issue 3x sights to QBZ-191s on a slightly increasing ad-hoc basis, because frankly in the scheme of things, even that is a bit of a luxury which they have only recently been able to partially dip their toes into.
Of course, I understand why infantry kit is "cool" and why people enjoy following it.
But just don't treat it as if it's actually that important, and of all the things related to the PLA worth tracking or disseminating elsewhere, it is probably the single least important one to do.
Unironically, tracking the PLA's procurement of modern trucks is more consequential.
That sounds good, until you start thinking about the training and upskilling (which no, is not free either) they would need to actually use them properly in a manner where they are not glorified paperweights.
Then multiply that by the number of troops you actually want to fit it out with.
Giving it to some units that can actually make use of it, sure.
But for the PLA as a whole, they are not at a stage where they can luxuriously spend on gadgets like that while not having competitiveness (or better yet, dominance) in the higher order domains of warfare. Unironically it would be more valuable for them to use that money towards an additional J-20 or some more PL-15s, because buying modern infantry kit without being able to compete in the domains of warfare that you need to win to actually enable your kitted out infantry to get where they need to be, is putting the horse before multiple carts.
Kinda off topic, but there's a reason why I post stuff along with "informative" comments. And no, I don't enjoy spending 20 minutes writing cringe contexts every time I post. You see, when it comes to a rather controversial topic like the PLA, most people will believe anything no matter it's real, fake or made up on the spot. And considering it's "Chyna", negative stuff are usually much more appreciated over positive ones. My comments aren't meant boast about anything, but simply to provide the most basic context so that posts don't end up being filled with NCD level misinformation and crap.
By far it's worked out pretty good, PLA related comment sections went from keyhole rifles, 2 second lag digital tubes, wish.com gear, meat grinder tactics etc. (a year ago) to actual quality discussions and positive stuff today, and sinophobic misinformation turned from being upvoted af to being debunked, downvoted, and removed, something that I consider rather rewarding.
And yes, I do make some pretty ridiculous mistakes sometimes, especially regarding PLA infantry. In fact, this is at least the 7th consecutive time I've mixed the QJS-161 with QJB-201 (a tradition by this point), with the most recent being two days ago Maybe take some things with less seriousness lol, human beings are meant to make mistakes
I really can't understand how you could possibly undermine infantry (one of the foundations of a modern fighting force) to this extent, especially considering the PLA's likelihood of engaging in both amphibious and urban warfare on a specific fortified island in the near future (in which infantry would play a crucial role). But this isn't a topic that can be covered within a single comment thread, maybe a more detailed discussion will do next time
If you're going to do informative PLA-posting on places like Reddit, treating it with some minimal standards is necessary, and it's better to be prepared to defend your word to the hilt, or otherwise it's better to not post at all.
I'm well aware of the level of PLA knowledge on Reddit, I've been actively posting there regarding PLA matters for going on eight years now, but if you view it as your mission to change people's opinions and to change sinophobic misinformation, it is obvious through your posting and comments.
It doesn't help that infantry equipment is one of those low barrier of entry topics that everyone manages to have an opinion on even if they don't know the difference between direct impingement versus short stroke, and trying to "educate" people in the mainstream "military fan" subreddits is a waste of time.
Of the mainstream "military fan" subreddits the only one where there are enough users to make it worthwhile is probably warshipporn.
Considering everything the PLA would have to do first (i.e.: the domains of warfare they would need to have superiority in) to be able to get to a stage where they can engage in warfare where well kitted out infantry can begin to yield a meaningful difference compared to currently kitted out infantry, I don't think I'm undermining infantry at all -- if anything I'm giving them more credit than they deserve for the PLA.
This is actually an excellent time to seriously reflect just how important infantry for the PLA actually is, and what the difference between "good enough" versus "kitted out well" is for a military as large as the PLA. Even for the specific mission you are considering, think about how many multiple many much larger domains to first contest before it can even have the luxury of thinking "oh no, if our infantry don't have NODs or lasers or a plate carrier it'll make us unable to achieve our actual strategic, military objective".
That's why tracking infantry kit and "advances" in it for the PLA is in at best kinda neat to follow but almost irrelevant for their actual priorities.
