New Type98/99 MBT thread
- Thread starter Dongfeng
- Start date
Maybe just for the parade, but in reality, it would probably take another 10 years to equip all the troops with body armor?
antiterror13
Brigadier
you don't really need to equip all the troops with body armour, it will be obsolete after a few years anyway. And why would you waste your $$$$, China is not at war with anybody
I think this pic answers your question. The actual turret ring is not that big. The tank seems to look big from the front but it is more or less squarish and the back end does not go down to the hull.
I guess the girls were onto something about 45 degree shots:
Looks less boxy as opposed to the front view.
The U.S. military replaces the Army and Marine's body armors every 5-10 years.
TerraN_EmpirE
Tyrant King
Modern body armor is made in two parts the plate that is the actual armor and the carrier that is a harness that holds the plates. The plates tend to change every few years well the carriers tend to last longer.
It should be noted that just because they are wearing a plate carrier doesn't mean that they are wearing armor. The plates can be dummies which are used in training because they are cheaper and the real ballistic plates can be damaged.
It should be noted that just because they are wearing a plate carrier doesn't mean that they are wearing armor. The plates can be dummies which are used in training because they are cheaper and the real ballistic plates can be damaged.
plawolf
Lieutenant General
Only the stripped down plate carriers favoured by special forces only have ballistic plates for protection.
Most general purpose body armour have a lot of integrated Kevlar, with hard plates acting as additional reinforcement for the chest and back.
The plates are easy enough to replace or switch with training dummies, but the Kevlar panels also degrade with time, and are far more difficult and costly to replace/simulate.
As others have said, China has an adequate stock of body armour it could issue at short notice in the event of sudden conflict. In addition, Chinese companies make and export a lot of modern body armour, so the capacity is there to meet big PLA orders fairly quickly.
Because of that, and the fact that China is not at war with anyone, it makes little sense to spend so much money on things that will, in all likelihood, never be used before they expire.
Chinese troops could just carry extra weights in their packs to simulate the additional weight of armour.
As time passes, and China's existing stores of armour date expires, you will probably see more and more PLA troops being issued with expired armour to train with regularly. But give the size of the PLA standing troop size and the modest number of sets the PLA is currently buying, it will be a long time before training with armour becomes common practice for the PLA.
plawolf
Lieutenant General
Come on! You know the western media is only allowed to report bad things about China.