PLA Next Generation Main Battle Tank

bsdnf

Junior Member
Registered Member
This forum makes it bloody hard to share images. Everything is "not an image" or "too large" to share. Anyway it's a pita. I can't load the full images thanks to the stupidly low limits for this site.

These PL-15E wrecks retrieved by Indians were mostly rocket sections and frames but they managed to find a few burnt out seeker heads from the missile warhead detonating behind the seeker section. One of those seekers they shared an image of the manufacturing plate. Instead of 2012, it is 2015. My mistake, I didn't bother checking but PL-15 was thought to have went into mass production after J-20 reached service in 2017/2018 and only known about after photos of J-20 prototypes showing internal bay and four dummy PL-15 training missiles (the blue ones) were shown.

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2015 july is the marked date of manufacture for this particular PL-15E Pakistan used. We didn't see PL-15 until around that period in time. This just shows the missile was in active service in some form well before we estimated.
This is a widely circulated image - but it was not found in India, nor is it the wreckage of a PL-15.
 

alanch90

Junior Member
Registered Member
Its more likely that those are just composite modular armor plates, no?
If there wasn´t a reactive element (likely explosive), there would be no reason to the segmentation, which is typical of ERA. Most likely this armor is of the same type as in the tank´s sides.
 

amchan

New Member
Registered Member
If there wasn´t a reactive element (likely explosive), there would be no reason to the segmentation, which is typical of ERA. Most likely this armor is of the same type as in the tank´s sides.
Segmentation is normal on modular armor. It makes repairs easier, and lets the user standardize the design to make manufacturing simpler. You can see the modular armor tailored for medium caliber ammunition on the front of the ZDB-04As hull for an example. Also,, if you look at the side armor from above, there are 2 layers. The inner layer, which is thinner, is probably protection against medium caliber kinetics, and is probably similar to the plates on the glacis. The outer layer is possibly reactive armor, and is clearly different from the front plates.
 
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