Pakistan is looking for a new gun and are like china's number one weapons consumer. If anyone will adopt 5.8 it should be them. 5.8 is also a little longer range than 5.56 so should be good for Pakistan. China designed 5.8mm to be usable at 800m from QJY88.
Highly doubt it.
The Pakistani military may be seeking a new rifle but not a new calibre. The intention thus far has been to replace the now vintage G3. Pakistan seems intent like India, Türkiye, Iran to retain 7.62x51mm NATO calibre. This is likely due to the fact that POF the state owned state run arms maker already owns a factory for manufacturing 7.62x51mm.
The same for 7.62x39mm and 5.56x45mm. The Pakistani government has existing infrastructure and easy access to socks and weapons.
The thing about the third world or even second world is that the nations have finite resources. Pakistan, India, Türkiye have grand modernization programs. Some more than others, still they have limitations on spending. with the priority going to the higher end projects. New ships, Fighters, missiles, armor and artillery.
small arms gets the bottom rung. Made all the more so as there is always a want to “indigenize”. The Pakistani government owned armory made G3s under license. They make AKs under license. They got M4’s for free. The Pakistani state owned and operated armories want to build the new rifle for the Pakistani army. It’s a matter of Pride and Ambition.
Additional thought::
Time and time again despite QBZ95 having been available. The Chinese have exported and licensed the 5.56x45mm NATO chambered QBZ97. When at international arms shows the Chinese have shown 5.56x45mm, 7.62x39mm and 7.62x51mm rifles before the 5.8x42mm. Even when they have shown 5.8x42mm its often only in Chinese arms shows and often surrounded by the other three calibres.
There is next to zero likelihood of any non-China nation properly introducing a new intermediate caliber like 5.8mm given how widespread 5.56 and 5.54 (and 7.62x39) are, and more importantly how widespread the magazines, tooling, and manufacturing for those calibres are. Not to mention how widespread the actual rifles chambered in those intermediate cartridges are.
I would have reversed the 5.45 and 7.62x39mm reference here. Because 5.45x39mm is nowhere near as popular as the cartridge it was supposed to replace. Of course it doesn’t help that much of its user base in Europe bailed on the Warsaw pact for NATO the second the crimson hammer and Sickle flag came off the flagpole.
The US also is not "moving away" from 5.56; that cartridge will remain widespread in both the US military and across the globe for many, many decades yet.
Exactly. The 6.8x51mm fury and its related M7, M250 weapons are specialized for combat infantry units. The U.S. is moving to more specialization in its combat arms. This has resulted in three new calibre being adopted for specific roles.
6.8x51mm for the “Close Combat force” of the US Army (basically infantry and infantry related units.) to allow AP at infantry ranges and engagement of enemy forces at extended ranges.
6.5 Creedmoor for Special Operations
Command specifically for combat in COIN.
.300 blk for commandos in PSD and raiding ops. Where they want to be scary quiet.
Like all military though there is an even larger force of soldiers who are not intended to use those weapons the support and logistics troops. The Guys who cook, drive trucks and stack gear. The guys who make power points and read and give Ibuprofen tablets. Those guys don’t need nor have the skills to take advantage of the three caliber above. They need a Personal defense weapon but not a rifle able to take targets at over 600m. They need something compact but not Hollywood quiet. 5.56x45mm fits the bill and will for the foreseeable future. This and the fact it takes along time for a full transition means that top tier nations are likely to be able to sustain 5.56x45mm for decades.
