PLA Small arms

SinoSoldier

SinoSoldier

Colonel
Bltizo said:
Honestly, who knows?
Maybe they've decided to only do a limited MLU of the original QBZ-95 (in the form of QBZ-95-1) because they knew they were hitting a dead end with it anyway, and decided on a stop-gap before looking to do a mass replacement with a clean sheet design.
Or maybe they will continue being relatively cheap and only issuing truly modern rifles to more capable units while the rest continue working with QBZ-95s.

That said, I think the Chinese military will eventually have to move onto a more modern family of mass service rifles eventually. Whether it's going to happen sooner (where this new rifle family may come in) or later, is another question...
Click to expand...

It seems that the PLA is still in the experimental stage, with the QBZ-95 being one of the "experiments" but with enough merit to provide their forces with a solution until they settle on a rifle. Akin to how the PLAN was experimenting with dual destroyer classes before the 052C came along. Only time and service history would determine which rifle the PLA would make long-term commitments to.

Bltizo said:
I think the receivers of the guns we're talking about are similar, I think the "different receivers" is actually just different stocks instead... Though we don't exactly have a clear first picture to see the details of the receiver itself.
However what is fairly distinctive is the handguard on the rifle on the right in that first photo, which seems to correspond very closely with the rifle in the second photo.

And I never suggested it was two variants of the same rifle competing for the same tender? The pictures we see may merely be variants of the same rifle undergoing trials, going for a single tender for a family of rifles.
Or it may even be differing test configurations for different variants of the same rifle undergoing trials.

I.e.: instead of merely being different rifles being trialled for a replacing a single type of rifle, the pictures (rifle on the right in the first picture, and the rifle in the second picture) may well be different variants and configurations of a single modular rifle type, for a tender meant to replace multiple rifle types in service, carbine, assault rifle, SAW/IAR, DMR --

That said I'm not sure if the rifle on the left in the first picture is the same as the rifle on the right in the first picture -- that may well be a different competing design, or an alternative configuration of the same rifle variant (probably assault rifle variant).
Click to expand...

I wouldn't be surprised if there were more designs under evaluation than what have been revealed. It's also possible for the Chinese to consider upgraded QBZ-03s, CS/LR-14s, QBZ-95 Flat-tops, and possibly AR-derivatives in addition to clean-sheet designs.

I guess the two rifles will become clearer with time, as more information comes to light.
 
Blitzo

Blitzo

Lieutenant General
Staff member
Super Moderator
Registered Member
SinoSoldier said:
It seems that the PLA is still in the experimental stage, with the QBZ-95 being one of the "experiments" but with enough merit to provide their forces with a solution until they settle on a rifle. Akin to how the PLAN was experimenting with dual destroyer classes before the 052C came along. Only time and service history would determine which rifle the PLA would make long-term commitments to.
Click to expand...

No, I think QBZ-95 was not an experiment, rather it was merely the best product they could come up with at the time based on their own requirements (whatever requirements they might have been).... and it was a product that they ended up adopting en masse as standard for the last couple of decades.

The problem was their old and obsolete requirements and doctrine, not the product itself.



I wouldn't be surprised if there were more designs under evaluation than what have been revealed. It's also possible for the Chinese to consider upgraded QBZ-03s, CS/LR-14s, QBZ-95 Flat-tops, and possibly AR-derivatives in addition to clean-sheet designs.

I guess the two rifles will become clearer with time, as more information comes to light.
Click to expand...

It's possible, but I think it makes sense for them to have a tender for replacing the most of the current range of small arms with a single modular type.
If this programme or tender falls through for whatever reason, then adapting a previous existing off the shelf solution might be viable.
 
MwRYum

MwRYum

Major
In any case, the contestants for the "new AR bid" seems to be traditional layout with not that much frills so it'll all boiled down to actual performance, as such by next year we should hear more about them...that is, if the PLA really serious about replacing their assault rifle even though the 95-1 only public debuted in 2013...sure, if the bid is finalised next year, plus environmental torture trials typically last 2 years, QBZ-95 family will be 20 years old by then.
 
Blitzo

Blitzo

Lieutenant General
Staff member
Super Moderator
Registered Member
AssassinsMace said:
Here's Skywatcher's article on the new assault rifle.

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!
Click to expand...

@Skywatcher, it may be worth clarifying that the CGI from Weihao tactical does not show the new rifle, but rather depicts what the artist himself thought a rifle could look like... if one checks the date of when that CGI was created it was well before we got pictures of this new rifle a few weeks back.

Otherwise it may cause readers to think the CGI could have an official relationship to the new rifles in any form, which from what we know most definitely is not the case.


Also, why not include the more-likely-to-be-official study screenshot that Hongjian posted on CDF and which I posted in #896 in this thread? It's a far more legitimate looking indicator about the modular nature of the rifle and the possible intended variants... more relevant than the CGI from Weihao tactical at least...
 
by78

by78

General
Some high-resolution photos of various small arms out of China...

30003184156_dc6e18e0ce_o.jpg

30003186106_1ed18477e0_o.jpg

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!
 
MwRYum

MwRYum

Major
SinoSoldier said:
Interesting to note that there are two different 8.6 mm rifles, likely competing for the same military tender.
Click to expand...
There's just one 8.6mm and it looks more like dressing up the ballistic rig, plus the PLA still as yet make a decision on the new "proper" sniper system, from the calibre to match-grade ammo to low-MOE optics and etc.

The rest are on the export catalogue.

The gatling gun would be quite a something, if the PLA adopt it, from the RHIB boats to the (perhaps) future Z-20...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top