Infantry Combat Equipment (non-firearm): Vests, Body Armor, NVGs, etc.

Hvang

New Member
Registered Member
There was a CCTV segment that showcased Marines on night exercise and in that the NODs in use have the correct silhouette of the Jerry-FB along with other indicators such as the correct UI/Overlay and fused thermal picture shown. I don't have any photos on hand from that segment though.
I believe you were referencing this. The thermal overlay seems closer to the
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rather than the
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. The clip seems to show some sort of binocular night vision goggles being used. I would hesitate to claim the Jerry FB is being used from what little information there was.
 

polati

Junior Member
Registered Member
Ah awesome. I simply wish more priority was placed upon getting gear like this standardized across all chinese special forces units, surely there is the budget to equip them with better gear like these thermal fusion NVGs, qbz 191s with IR lasers and possibly the new AR system with the scope sight overlayed onto the optics, I would expect that this would be relatively achievable whilst the rest of the PLA can be equipped with the digital NVG and standardized digital combat system

I understand that the PLA has a lot of personnel and giving them all top tier equipment is currently unfeasible, but wouldn't it be quite the opposite to get at least all the special forces up to the latest tech? Or is there a specific reason why this isn't done?
 

Michaelsinodef

Senior Member
Registered Member
Ah awesome. I simply wish more priority was placed upon getting gear like this standardized across all chinese special forces units, surely there is the budget to equip them with better gear like these thermal fusion NVGs, qbz 191s with IR lasers and possibly the new AR system with the scope sight overlayed onto the optics, I would expect that this would be relatively achievable whilst the rest of the PLA can be equipped with the digital NVG and standardized digital combat system

I understand that the PLA has a lot of personnel and giving them all top tier equipment is currently unfeasible, but wouldn't it be quite the opposite to get at least all the special forces up to the latest tech? Or is there a specific reason why this isn't done?
It's likely that special forces or the likes are prioritized, but what the actual stage of fitting them out is, I don't think we really know.

Moreover we might also see it fitted out to atleast the 'sniper' in each infrantry squad or something like that.
 

polati

Junior Member
Registered Member
I personally feel like it should be of a higher priority to get SF fitted out with the new tech because it's a day and night difference between thermal fusion and normal NVGs, similar in disparity to nothing at all vs NVGs, at the moment not all Chinese SF even have NVGs so this should really be addressed to bring them up to standard. Chinese SF needs to be equipped to the same standard as western SFs.

Of course it might be that the real deal have these types of equipment already and they just aren't willing to show them.
 

kwaigonegin

Colonel
Unlike say the US or some NATO forces which are actively engage in combat, these types of gear are extremely expensive to equip your forces with especially in the case of PLA which numbers in the high hundreds of thousands (combat troops).
Also with the US/NATO forces many of their gears are brought by the individuals themselves .. not NVG but certainly better knives, gloves etc.
I'm not sure if the avg PLA soldier has the financial means to do so nor if there are certain policies in place for forced standardization of equipment.
I've seen many pictures of PLA troops with ill-fitting or 3rd rate gear and equipment (by modern standards). This is a non issue thus far partly due to the inexperience of the military and the political leadership as a whole of never being engaged in combat and wars in modern times.
This is not slight against the PLA or any country but the truth is until you are actually involved in modern warfare, personal equipment is always put on the back burner as the expense is never justified.
Gears especially with electronics involved also become obsolete very quickly therefore needs upgrading en mass constantly especially if you intend to face a peer or near peer rival.
 

A potato

Junior Member
Registered Member
I personally feel like it should be of a higher priority to get SF fitted out with the new tech because it's a day and night difference between thermal fusion and normal NVGs, similar in disparity to nothing at all vs NVGs, at the moment not all Chinese SF even have NVGs so this should really be addressed to bring them up to standard. Chinese SF needs to be equipped to the same standard as western SFs.

Of course it might be that the real deal have these types of equipment already and they just aren't willing to show them.
Special Forces' public appearance is extremely rare because Chinese SF are heavily classified.
 

tankphobia

Senior Member
Registered Member
Unlike say the US or some NATO forces which are actively engage in combat, these types of gear are extremely expensive to equip your forces with especially in the case of PLA which numbers in the high hundreds of thousands (combat troops).
Also with the US/NATO forces many of their gears are brought by the individuals themselves .. not NVG but certainly better knives, gloves etc.
I'm not sure if the avg PLA soldier has the financial means to do so nor if there are certain policies in place for forced standardization of equipment.
I've seen many pictures of PLA troops with ill-fitting or 3rd rate gear and equipment (by modern standards). This is a non issue thus far partly due to the inexperience of the military and the political leadership as a whole of never being engaged in combat and wars in modern times.
This is not slight against the PLA or any country but the truth is until you are actually involved in modern warfare, personal equipment is always put on the back burner as the expense is never justified.
Gears especially with electronics involved also become obsolete very quickly therefore needs upgrading en mass constantly especially if you intend to face a peer or near peer rival.
Western military has a emphasis on infantry equipment because that is all that is really needed for COIN, for modern combat the most useful piece of kit the infantry would receive is good body armour, since 90% of kills are from artillery, not from small arms, shapnel protection will provide a much better and cheaper return on investment than expensive night fighting equipment (for infantry).
 

CrazyHorse

Junior Member
Registered Member
I am not sure I am a big fan of those US design helmets with no ear protection. They provide pretty much zero protection in that area to shrapnel.
Which is by design, it’s a trade off they find useful. However, it’s most useful when wearing headphones and such if I’m correct, so without some additional headgear, the high cut helmet doesn’t offer any benefits aside from slightly lighter weight.
 

BoraTas

Captain
Registered Member
Unlike say the US or some NATO forces which are actively engage in combat, these types of gear are extremely expensive to equip your forces with especially in the case of PLA which numbers in the high hundreds of thousands (combat troops).
Also with the US/NATO forces many of their gears are brought by the individuals themselves .. not NVG but certainly better knives, gloves etc.
I'm not sure if the avg PLA soldier has the financial means to do so nor if there are certain policies in place for forced standardization of equipment.
I've seen many pictures of PLA troops with ill-fitting or 3rd rate gear and equipment (by modern standards). This is a non issue thus far partly due to the inexperience of the military and the political leadership as a whole of never being engaged in combat and wars in modern times.
This is not slight against the PLA or any country but the truth is until you are actually involved in modern warfare, personal equipment is always put on the back burner as the expense is never justified.
Gears especially with electronics involved also become obsolete very quickly therefore needs upgrading en mass constantly especially if you intend to face a peer or near peer rival.
Not really. Infantry is mostly for observing, holding ground and mopping up nowadays. It doesn't do major defensive or offensive ops unless the army is desperate. Armored vehicles and arty do those. The most important skill of infantry is concealing themselves on the battlefield. You can equip your infantry with WW1 equipment (radio excluded from this) and still do just fine if other things are good. I am personally satisfied with what PLA is doing. They are spending money on networking and communications instead of 2000 USD rifles and 10k NVGs.
 
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