The VT4 tank is an advanced main battle tank exported by China, and Thailand, Pakistan and other countries have purchased VT4 tanks in different configurations from China.
However, recently on a foreign military forum, a technical manual of the Thai army's VT4 tank, many technical information of the VT4 tank was leaked, and many data were made public for the first time.
The leak of this Thai technical manual has caused some negative effects on the VT4 tank, but it has also made many people reacquaint themselves with this advanced Chinese main battle tank, and many preconceived opinions have been changed.
Why was this manual leaked to the public?What will be the impact of the leak on us?Will we be able to continue to get orders for our VT4 tanks in the future?
How do technical manuals leak?
The Thai Army purchased a batch of VT4 tanks from China a few years ago, about the equipment of two tank battalions.
One of the characteristics of China's foreign trade is that it can provide different configurations according to the needs of customers, of course, different configurations are not the same, which is also reflected in the VT4 tanks purchased by the Thai army.
The Thai version of the VT4 tank is draped in Reactive 2** reactive armor, equipped with a 1,200 hp engine, and has no anti-attack roof armor. For comparison, Pakistan's VT4 tank was draped in Reactive 4 armor, equipped with 1300 1500 hp engines, and had anti-attack top armor.
According to the VT4 tank configuration we exhibited, the VT4 tank configuration of the Thai army is considered to be a medium configuration, which is the most advanced level in China in terms of fire control and other aspects.
But the technical data of such an advanced main battle tank has been leaked, what is going on?
This leak first occurred in 2022, when a Thai soldier made money to make a technical manual for the VT4 tank, which was distributed to every armored soldier in the army.
It is not known how the Thai military handled the leak, but in the more than a year since the leak, the manual has not been widely disseminated.
Until the last few weeks, a foreign military game appeared on our VT4 tank, which caused discussion among military fans at home and abroad.
Some people have questioned the data of the VT4 tank in the game, arguing that the Chinese tank should not perform so well, which has caused a lot of controversy.
Just as domestic and foreign netizens were arguing, a foreign netizen released the technical manual of the VT4 main battle tank he obtained, which showed a lot of technical parameters of the VT4 tank.
The discussion about the game was no longer important at this time, and domestic and foreign military forums turned to the discussion of the real Chinese VT4 tank.
Many of the data disclosed in this manual are surprising, such as the frontal protection of the VT4 tank against armor-piercing shells, and the manual says that it is equivalent to 750 mm of homogeneous steel, while the outside world has been analyzing that it is more than 600 mm.
Including the VT4 tank's fire control system, maneuverability, etc., many data are also made public for the first time.
Many friends are worried that this leak will cause obstacles to the future foreign trade of VT4 tanksWill it expose the performance of our PLA's own equipment?
What are the implications for China?
Objectively speaking, this leak incident will indeed have a certain adverse impact on our VT4 tank to expand the market and win new users in the future. However, for countries that have already purchased VT4 tanks, it will not affect their additional purchases.
However, the main leak of this leak is the technical manual of the VT4 tank, although this is classified information, but because it is distributed to grassroots soldiers, it does not involve much classified information.
This is a "manual" that teaches soldiers how to operate a tank and provides basic information about the tank, and does not cover the various advanced technologies used in the tank.
Judging from the situation of the world's leading teams, there are not a few cases of technical manuals being leaked, but most of them have not caused serious consequences.
It is not difficult for a country interested in obtaining information about an adversary to obtain a technical manual through covert channels, so the leakage of the technical manual of the VT4 tank this time generally does not cause much trouble.
As for some of the data in this manual for the first time, to be honest, what if it is known to the outside world?
Like the protection data of the VT4 tank armor, even if the opponent of Thailand knows the 750 mm data, can it still come up with armor-piercing shells that are enough to penetrate the VT4 tank armor?
When you are strong enough, even if you accidentally leak secrets, your opponent will not be able to catch any points that you can exploit.
The leakage of the data of the VT4 tank will expose the problem of our own equipment?This is debatable.
In the international arms trade, how to avoid being inferred by the opponent from the export of the best equipment for their own use has always been a problem considered by the major arms trade countries. The United States, Russia, and China have their own approaches to this issue.
The U.S. approach is to downgrade critical equipment and avoid this problem by using equipment that is different from its own equipment and has a lower performance. The Russians have a similar idea, but they are developing a foreign trade version of the equipment, downgrading it as a whole and using it as a new model.
China has gone further, due to the special development history of our foreign trade, we have been directly developing special foreign trade products, and in most cases there is no direct relationship with our own products.
For example, the technical route of the VT4 tank, which is different from our 99A tank, is a product developed by our foreign trade tank, but it uses part of the technical achievements of the development of the 99A tank.
Of course, we also have learned Xi from the practices of the United States and Russia, such as the J-10CE fighter jet in our foreign trade, which we learned from the practice of the Americans selling fighter jets and replacing them in key equipment.
Frequently Asked Questions about Arms Trade?
In general, the leak mainly affected the Thai army, since this is the VT4 tank they are equipped with.
For China, this will not have much impact on our international promotion of VT4 tanks, because we can easily improve and upgrade VT4 tanks, replace some key equipment, and then take out products that will be different from the VT4 tanks of the Thai army.
In other words, the leaked technical manuals of the Thai army will have little impact on the VT4 tanks that we will take out in the future.
In fact, the United States and Russia, the two major military trade countries, have seen a lot of this kind of thing, and our China's arms trade is still in the process of opening up the market, and there are not many high-tech equipment sold, so there are few such things.
In the future, our advanced ** will be sold everywhere, and we will not be surprised by things like technical manuals being leaked out by foreign troops.