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Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Cloudy With a Chance of Armor

The Chinese are equipping their airborne forces with an air-droppable infantry fighting vehicle modeled after the Russian BMD series. The ZLC2000 appeared in 2005:

Featuring a box shaped hull with a centrally positioned angular turret, the vehicle is operated by a crew of 3, a gunner in the turret, commander in the hull and a driver in front of him to the left of the engine. In the turret, a 25mm cannon is mounted along with a .30 caliber machine gun. Outside the turret, an Anti-Tank Guided Missile launcher is affixed as well as smoke dischargers.

Back in the hull, there are positions for 4 paratroopers in the rear with observation windows and firing ports (3 right, 2 left and 1 rearward). Entry and exit is provided by top mounted hatches or a rear door.


Expect to see this in the first wave of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan, dropped near Taipei to facilitate a rapid march on the capital to decapitate the government and install a puppet regime quickly.