QTS-11 OICW. 5.8 mm Heavy and 20 mm Air Burst.

Possible but highly unlikely. Its like shooting a helicopter from the sky with a Barret 50cal. you would have to have the stars and the moons all aligned just right for the gods to smile on you and the forces of fate to turn so far in your favor that's more or less limited to Hollywood.
so could a system like ZH05 get into the wrong hands yes.but would it be such a event as to turn everything in the path of said bad guys into death? No.
access to ammunition would be rare and unreliable at best. Excepting use in the PRC its self. Its unlikely that any would make it far beyond Asia proper. And it would still only be a handful.
If some did make it into terrorist groups then what to do with it? The only roles it fits are Rampage shooter or sniper but the sniper is limited as the second you fire the 20mm everyone is going to hear where you shot from. So rampage shooter. Its a suicide attack with a super expensive weapon? Where's the logic in that? Why not sell theses and the rounds you stole to say Iranian intelligence or some other third parties who have an interest in developing there own weapons of this class take the money and pay for more terrorism?

I also question this becoming standard issue.
One, despite everything being said its still a system that has its limitations, its not likely to replace the QBZ95G or its variants. its also not likely to totally replace all of the under barrel units in the PLA and its subservices. Under barrel grenade launchers are not just for HE but also smoke, Riot shells, flares, and such a greater number of round types that the versatility of such system will continue to justify their issue well beyond the next two decades.
two if the PLA was to be willing to invest that heavily in its infantrymen then they would already have far superior gear in one other areas of issue such as fire resistant clothing, body armor, optical gun sights, and the like. This is a nitch system its intended to support and supplement.
three, the complexities of the system interms of integration, spare parts, software updates, and general logistics would be monstrous far mor then just price per unit. The PLA or in fact any military service would be bankrupting its self.

If they issue it it would be in set numbers lets say one or two per rifle squad. It would not be one per man.

plawolf said:

I think if the PLA wanted a specialist weapon for only 1 or 2 guys per fireteam, they would have been better off going for a separate dedicated smart grenade launcher like the XM25. Even if they were going with a combi-weapon, the emphasis would have been on the smart grenade launcher, like every other such design out there. They may indeed only issue 1-2 guys one per fireteam, but that would probably be because of costs and production capacity.

By putting the rifle first, the new ZH05 really seems like it can be mass issued as a standardised next gen assault rifle to entire squads or the majority of the squads. At least for special forces and elite units etc.

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It's interesting that to compare, the US own OICW project got canned but the airburst munition system survived into the specialized XM25, which in practice would be - in Call of Duty analogy for the uninitiated - served as the secondary weapon along side the rifle as primary.

Come to think of that, the PLA's disadvantage of not going to war for 30+ years and denied joint training with advanced nations cost them dearly in many ways, in this case the weapon systems - while their arms industry is catching up in terms of fabrication technology, they have a hard time to make things more than just for the sake of innovation. In the case of handheld grenade launchers, their current line of products are just too unwieldy, when instead something like the Milkor MGL design would be far more easier to use and lighter. In the case of ZH-05 choice of airburst munition deployment, well that's clearly abandon the potential of rapid firepower projection, but a dedicated one-shot-at-a-time solution. It'd be better to build a dedicated launcher instead.

Norinco does make a Multi shot grenade launcher of similar class to the Mekor.

Would flak jacket or similar body armour coupled with helmet reduce damage done by grenades?

I am just wondering whether the adoption of accurate long range grenade fire would spur development of soldier mobile armour?

In this case its possible. Because of the small size of the explosive load the 20mm shells power is intended for air burst fragmentation. That means body armor would be the proper first counter. The second element of the shell the concussive force is limited to maybe a meter or two that could clear a small room, or a small entrenchment and would be a nightmare against a enclosed space like a vehicle's cabin but unless the targets are directly in the blast radius if they are behind cover in a large entrenchment then the chances of a kill drop.
as seen in Iraq and Afghanistan frontline military services are already being up armored to counter fragmentation threats. The US army's latest Natick future soldier envision not just armor but armor interbreed with powered exoskeletons over the critical areas of human anatomy such as the femoral artillery and modular helmets with facial and neck protection.

no_name said:

Would flak jacket or similar body armour coupled with helmet reduce damage done by grenades?

I am just wondering whether the adoption of accurate long range grenade fire would spur development of soldier mobile armour?

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It'd offer moderate protection to your head and your centre mass (torso), but your hands and feet still lacks the equal and proper protection against shrapnel.

Then there's the shockwave induced damage to your soft tissues, which can't be mitigated by body armor...unless, we can come up with exoskeleton suits like those in sci-fi such as Halo or whatever.

In the end, though, body armor of any sort won't turn you into the Master Chief, just make a good deal of lethal damages reduced to "survivable", though it usually translated in "crippled for life"...

And even then it's usually Isolated to the Top armed forces in the World lesser Armies and Groups might get a hold of some surplus, Or you might even see some militant groups who copy Larry Phillips, Jr. and Emil Mătăsăreanu North Hollywood shootout armored suits.

I think this photo is enough to prove that the grenade round is hand-loaded.

It's a nice graphic but I really want to see a Clear Photograph as I question the USe of a Mauser style bolt operation.

TerraN_EmpirE said:

It's a nice graphic but I really want to see a Clear Photograph as I question the USe of a Mauser style bolt operation.

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I wonder if this answers your question, or you may go to see more photos.