[Military & Weapon Section] Author: Golden Bomber

On April 27th, a photo was suddenly exposed on foreign social media, showing that the 05 amphibious combat vehicle equipped by the Chinese Marine Corps has been fitted with the Hongjian-10 anti-tank missile system, significantly enhancing its strike capability against tanks and armored vehicles.

▲The ZTD-05 has been installed with Hongjian-10, source: network

The ZTD-05 is a currently service amphibious vehicle of the Chinese Marine Corps, developed by Norinco. It belongs to the 05 vehicle family. The design goal of this vehicle is to replace the previously equipped 63A amphibious tank, Type 77 amphibious armored personnel carrier, and Type 86 naval infantry fighting vehicle. One of the most significant features of the 05 amphibious infantry fighting vehicle is its relatively high water maneuvering speed. This feature references the "over-the-horizon landing" combat theory proposed by the US military. This theory considers the水上机动 speed of amphibious equipment as one of the core evaluation criteria.

The 05 uses a combination of semi-planing and jet propulsion technology. When the water speed exceeds 10 kilometers per hour, the front of the vehicle will rise, which not only avoids capsizing but also reduces resistance to improve speed. The bow of the 05 is equipped with a slide plate, and the rear also has a tail plate, providing excellent hydroplaning capability. The engine's water output power can reach up to 1600 horsepower, allowing the waterborne cruising speed to reach 20 kilometers per hour, and at its fastest, it approaches 30 kilometers per hour.

▲05 type, source: network

This vehicle can operate under sea conditions up to level 3, with a speed reaching 15 kilometers per hour. However, when maneuvering in different environments such as land and water, it needs to switch the operating mode. Specifically, when traveling in seawater, it can use its cooling function, so the turbocharger can be activated.

After landing, the engine disconnects from the jet propulsion device and connects to the combined hydraulic transmission gearbox. The turbocharger cannot be activated at this time, and the engine power drops to around 600 horsepower. For a land vehicle, this output power is relatively low. Therefore, like many other amphibious vehicles, the 05 type can only enhance its mobility by "reducing weight." It is estimated that the vehicle weighs about 25 tons, which also results in its armor protection being relatively weaker compared to general land-based tanks and armored vehicles.

▲05 type, source: network

All amphibious armored vehicles have this issue; the 05 type can only trade "lightweight" for speed and uses a lot of aluminum alloy armor. The frontal armor of the 05 type can resist 30mm autocannon fire at medium to long range, but the side armor is questionable. The design standard for the side armor is to withstand 12.7mm machine gun fire at medium to long range, and its defense against 30mm autocannon fire is very weak.

In addition, the size of the 05 type is quite large, which is also to meet basic troop-carrying requirements, leading to its larger target. Therefore, the obvious drawbacks of the 05 type are its thin armor and large target profile, which are common issues among almost all amphibious vehicles globally. There is no need for the 05 type to compare with ground vehicles' protection levels, as its key mission is to transport infantry to the beach as quickly as possible. In the "Caspian Horse Race" amphibious landing competition held earlier by Russia, the 05 amphibious armored vehicle had such an advantage in waterborne mobility that the Russian side had to modify the rules—originally, both sides agreed to race 8 kilometers in the water, but due to the 05 type's extremely fast speed, the competition method was changed to 7.2 kilometers on land followed by 0.8 kilometers in the water. This way, the BTR-80 used by the Russian team could win the race easily on land. Since it is benchmarked against the US military, the 05 type ranks among the top globally in terms of waterborne speed, which is beyond doubt.

▲New version of 05 type, source: network

Of course, in actual combat, the premise for the 05 type to go into action is that enemy forces on the shore should already be suppressed by other firepower; otherwise, if the 05 type were to charge alone, its casualties would undoubtedly be significant. The 05 type amphibious armored vehicle comes in two types: infantry fighting vehicle and assault vehicle. The infantry fighting vehicle is equipped with a 30mm cannon, coaxial machine gun, and 2 "Hongjian" 73D anti-tank missiles. The assault vehicle is armed with a 105mm rifled cannon, capable of penetrating 600mm homogeneous steel armor at a distance of 2 kilometers. It also has some striking capability against concrete fortifications and reinforced defensive positions. After landing, it can rely on its artillery advantage to continue fighting and cooperate with the 30mm cannon-equipped 05 type infantry fighting vehicle. The new version of the 05 type has clearly removed the previous turret and installed two groups of six-pack launchers totaling 12 "Hongjian" 10 anti-tank missiles, greatly increasing its anti-tank capability.

The "Hongjian" 10 was originally integrated onto the ZBD-04A infantry fighting vehicle, equipped with a 360-degree rotating launcher, consisting of two groups of four-pack eight launch tubes. After being transferred to the 05 type, two more were added. Each "Hongjian" 10 missile is 1.85 meters long and weighs 150 kilograms. It uses a tandem warhead with a shaped charge, with a penetration capability of up to 1500mm of homogeneous steel armor. All currently active mainstream main battle tanks in the world can be penetrated from the front by it. The "Hongjian" 10 uses fiber-optic command guidance combined with end infrared television composite guidance, connected through a fine fiber optic cable. The quality of the fiber itself is very low; 1 kilometer weighs only 150 grams. The maximum strike distance of the "Hongjian" 10 can reach 10 kilometers.

▲"Hongjian" 10, source: network

Integrating the "Hongjian" 10 into the 05 type is clearly aimed, among other things, at countering Taiwan's procurement of M1A2T main battle tanks from the United States. Earlier, Taiwan ordered 108 M1A2T tanks from the United States, with 38 delivered so far, mainly allocated to the 584th and 269th mechanized brigades of the Sixth Corps. According to the Taiwanese "tank company" formation, there are 14 tanks in each company. With the 05 type equipped with 12 anti-tank missiles, in theory, as long as they hit accurately, they can eliminate an entire armored company at once, making their formidable combat capability self-evident. The new version of the 05 type is a "painful blow" to the Taiwanese authorities' naive idea of "military adventurism." A large number of "Hongjian" 10-equipped 05 types will be a heavy punch to shatter the illusion of the Taiwanese army's "shoreline annihilation."

Original article: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7499768655090074147/

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