More Chinese Small Arms and Armour

Tongzhimen shubingmen he pengyoumen, nimen hao!
Dorogiye tovarshchi soldaty i druzhya!
Prolettarii vsekh Stran, Soyedinites!

On the small arms side this newsletter looks at shotgun ammunition, This issue looks at the QBZ03 5.8mm assault rifle, QCW05 5.8mm Silenced Sub-machine Gun, the ‘Concealed Demon’: China’s New Silenced Pistol, and a new 5.8mm co-axial machine Gun.

Armour stuff includes a tiny piece on multiple rocket launchers in the 1979 Sino-Vietnamese War, the new QL550 4x4 lightweight wheeled armoured fighting vehicle, Chinese Airmobile Vehicles, Wheeled Missile Armed Tank Destroyers and the venerable Model 83 152mm self-propelled gun,.


A Protracted Development: The QBZ03 Assault Rifle

This rifle was developed from the 1987 vintage QBZ87 which is similar in appearance to the Model 81 7.62mm x 43mm assault rifle. It was not introduced into service as it did not offer any weight benefit, with its reduced calibre, when compared with the Model 56.[1] This was also the case with Heckler and Koch’s 5.56 x 45mm G-41 in the early 1980s, when compared to the 7.62 x 51mm G-3. It was redesigned in 1995 and designated the QBZ95A and again redesigned in 2002 and designated the QBZ03. The major differences from the QBZ95A are a new folding stock copied from the Heckler and Koch G36, a SIG 540 style fore grip and a slim mount for the standard 3x optical sight used on Chinese rifles. [2] The QBZ03 is 950mm long with the stock folded out and 725mm folded.[3] An effective range of 400 metres is quoted with an accurate rate of fire of 40 rounds per minute with 100 rounds per minute automatic. The muzzle velocity is 930m/sec and its weight with an empty magazine is 3.5kg.


QCW05 5.8mm Silenced Sub-machine Gun[4]

The venerable Model 64 silenced 7.62mm sub-machine gun is being replaced by the QCW05 5.8mm machine gun. This fires the 5.8 x 21mm DAP92 cartridge which is 33.5mm in overall length and not 34mm as previously mentioned.

There is also a subsonic round the DCV05 available in 5.8 x 21mm but I cannot find any details other than it would be 33.5mm in length and it reduces the effective range of the weapon to 100 metres. There are two flip up rear peep sights with the one for the DAP92 set for 150 metres, the other at 100m for the DCV05 round. The fifty round magazine is spilt internally into two separate magazines internally and has particularly strong lips which would not deform if a full magazines was in avertedly dropped. Without the suppressor the QCW05 weighs 2.18kg empty and is 499mm long. The DAP92 round has a muzzle velocity of 321m/sec.

‘Concealed Demon’: China’s New Silenced Pistol[5]

The new QSW06 is replacing the Model 67 silenced pistol in PLA service. It uses the subsonic 5.8 x 21 mm DCV05 round when firing with the detachable suppressor but can also fire the 5.8 x 21mm DAP92 cartridge. It weighs 795 g empty with its empty 20 round magazine, has a 120mm barrel and fires the DAP92 round at 290m/sec. No information is available on its detachable suppressor other than it uses spiral diffusion to reduce the noise of firing and from photographs is about 200mm long and screws onto the barrel.

New 5.8mm Machine Gun[6]

A new 5.8 x 42mm machine gun was recently unveiled. Provisionally designated the QJT it is based on the QJY88 it has been simplified removing the forward hand guard, pistol grip, butt and using a fixed feed ramp. Solenoid fired, it feeds from the right instead of the left on the QJY88 and weighs under 8kg empty.

Rat Patrol Revisited - Chinese Airmobile Vehicles Trials

As I sit at my desk I have two old OO scale Roco models under my screen of the German Kraka airborne vehicle, one mounting a TOW, the other a Milan anti-tank guided missile system. These are for inspiration on the PLA’s new airmobile mechanised trials battalion which has been identified in the Chinese media as the 155th Special Light Mechanised Regiment.[7]

The 16 February 2006 edition of Zhanqi Bao, reported on a ‘light mechanized infantry experimental group’, in Sichuan, which is part of the Chengdu Military Region. An airmobile trials unit in Western terminology, the group is developing and testing new joint concepts and equipment required for the new corps aviation brigade. Eighty percent of the unit's equipment is new or modernized and is not available to other PLA units. This unit has quadrupled the firepower of the unit it was formed from, with only 30 percent of the original personnel. The article refers to it as a ‘newborn baby’ of integrated training and is an ‘integrated entity of operational elements such as intelligence and reconnaissance, navigation and positioning, three-dimensional mobility, fire strikes, command and control and battlefield management. In other words it is organised as an independent task force. The unit is entirely airmobile—all vehicles are able to be slung underneath or stored inside the unit’s helicopters. Unless the PLA Air Force’s (PLAAF) heavy-lift helicopters were transferred to the PLA’s army aviation force, this implies that the unit is a joint PLA/PLAAF unit). The Zhanqi Bao article mentioned that the new equipment included a high mobility amphibious vehicle with an automated fire control system equipped with cannons and missiles. The unit therefore relies on manoeuvrability, surprise and advanced fire control systems to bring its firepower to bear.

Photos taken from Chinese television show a variety of vehicles that would not be out of place at a NATO airborne meeting in the early 1980s. The vehicles shown look remarkably like the British argocat 8 x 8 wheeled light vehicle; German Kraka 640 4 x 2 light airborne weapon carrier and the M274 Mechanical Mule.[8] Their fast attack vehicles are similar to the modified Chentowth Racing Products FAVs bought by the US Army for the 9th Infantry Division in the early 1980s.

Many of the vehicles have a QLZ87 35mm lightweight automatic grenade launcher (AGL) and the QJZ89 12.7mm heavy machine gun. There is even a modular lightweight towed 107mm multiple rocket launcher. Chinese airborne personnel are being equipped with modern Chinese infantry weapons like the Model 92 pistol, Model 95 assault rifle and squad automatic weapon, the QLZ87 35mm AGL and the Model 89 120mm anti-tank rocket launcher.[9]

Sergeant Sam Troy would have been impressed.

There does not appear to be a weapon comparable to the Kraka with its Milan anti-tank guided weapon launcher and six rounds which was, for its time, an excellent anti-armour weapon. This would not be an issue however as the Red Arrow-9 ATGW could be easily fitted to a vehicle. Like all gun buggies the vehicles lack any armour or weather protection and rely on speed, small size and their cross-country ability to survive. A bullet in the driver or engine block quickly wrecks their day.


1979 Sino-Vietnamese Conflict

On the inside of the rear cover of Tanke Zhuangjia Cheliang 9/2006 is a painting of the PLA’s First Armoured Division Model 70 130mm self- propelled multiple rocket launchers.[10] They are firing a salvo in February during the conflict.

A VBL Clone: The QL550 Lightweight Wheeled AFV

The Chinese defence industry has come up with another copy of a foreign design, this time thew French designed VBL 4x4 wheeled armoured fighting vehicle.[11]

Armed with a 12.7mm machine gun on a pintle mount the QL550 is 5.2m long, by 2.25m wide by 1.86m at the top of the hull. It has a crew of four and can carry seven or eight passengers or 1.5 tonnes of cargo. Its 230 horsepower diesel engine gives it a maximum road speed of 120 km/hr. Unfortunately, the article did not give the weight of the vehicle.

Chinese Wheeled Missile Armed Tank Destroyers

The front of the September 2006 issue of Tanke Zhuangjia Cheliang shows the rear engine version of the WZ 523 Series 8 x 8 Wheeled Armoured Vehicle mounting a tank destroyer turret.[12] The bottom of the turret has two banks of four smoke dischargers ands a weapon sight, then there is a box like structure equipped with a fixed 14.5mm QJG02G machine gun, a co-axial 7.62mm machine gun that can be independently elevated, and a co-axial QJT 5.8mm machine gun. The box turret elevated independently and also contains a day/night sight for the Hong-Jia 9 ATGW system with two missiles underneath the turret, either side of the turret elevation equipment shielded from the weather and shell bursts etc.

The six-wheeled WZ551A tank destroyer which was photographed prominently in last years Sino-Russian peace Mission Exercise has a much simpler turret with 4 Hong-Jia 8 or 9 ATGW and a 12.7mm machine gun.

Model 83 152mm Self-Propelled Gun[13]

The Model 83 self-propelled gun was the first modern Chinese self-propelled gun and used its own chassis which was later used for the PTZ89 120mm self-propelled anti-tank gun and the PHZ89 122mm self-propelled gun.

The hull is 7.33 m long and the vehicles overall length is 9.942m with the gun forward and the barrel locked for travelling. It is 3.236m wide and 2.68m high to the turret top and 3.052m including the 12.7mm machine gun. Its combat weight is 30 tons, and its 520 horsepower diesel engine gives it a maximum road speed of 56 km/hr and 30 km/hr cross country with a maximum road range of 450 km. The gun has a depression of -50 and a maximum elevation of 650. Its minimum indirect fire range is 4.3 km and its maximum range is 17.23km. There are 30 rounds for the main gun and 650 round for the machine gun stored internally. There are 5 crew of which three assist in firing the gun, the driver and AA machine gunner stay I their positions although they would assist if necessary. The other four of the gun team ride in a separate vehicle.

Wo Pengyoumen Zai Jian!


[1] . Wo junbanyong wuqide huimou yu zhanwang’, Qing Bingi, 2002 Niandi, 10 Qi, Zhongdi 164 Qi, p. 13.

[2] . ‘Zhongguo 03 zidong buqiang’, Qing Bingqi, 2005 Niandi, 2 Qi, Zhongdi 193 Qi, pp. 32 – 35.

[3] . ‘Chilaide ai ___ jiedu QBZ03 shi 5.8mm zidong buqiang’, Qing BingQi, 2006 Niandi, 8 (shang) Qi, Zhongdi 228 Qi,
pp. 16 – 20.

[4] . ‘Zhongguo QCW05 shi5.8mm weisheng chongfengqiang’, Qing Bingqi,
2006 Niandi, 7 Qi, Zhongdi 246, p. 21.

[5]. ‘Yinbi zhimei QSW06 5.8 haomi weisheng shuoqiang’, Bingq Zhishii, 2006 Niandi, 9 Qi, Zhongdi 227 Qi, pp. 22-24.

[6] . ‘5.8mm xiakouneng jiqiang xilie’, Qing BingQi, 2006 Niandi, 8 (xia) Qi, Zhongdi 229 Qi,.pp. 33–35.

[7] . ‘155th Special Light Mechanized regiment , Chengdu MR’, http://www.china-defense.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=883

[8] . Foss, Christopher S. Jane’s Combat Support Equipment, 1978-79, Jane’s Yearbooks, London, 1978, pp.

[9]. Yingjichangkong __ zhongguo konggjiangbing zhuangbei daquan (yi)’, Qing Bingqi, 2006 Niandi, 7 xia Qi, Zhongdi 227 Qi, pp. 12 – 15.

[10] . Ibid.

[11]. ‘Zhongguo QL550 qinqxing lunshi zhuangjiache’, ‘Tiejia zhanshen zai nuhuo (xia) ___ guochan zixing liudanpao he zixing huojianpao’,Tanke zhangjia cheliang, 2006 Niandi, 8 Qi, Zhongdi 246, pp. 5 - 10.

[12] . Tanke zhangjia cheliang, 2006 Niandi, 9 Qi, Zhongdi 247.

[13] . ‘Tiejia zhanshen zai nuhuo (zhong) ___ guochan zixing liudanpao he zixing huojianpao’,Tanke zhangjia cheliang, 2006 Niandi, 7 Qi, Zhongdi 245, pp. 5 - 10.