The Chinese Marine Corps is the elite unit of China's amphibious operations, and one of its important missions is to carry out the task of landing across the sea and liberating Taiwan when necessary. However, for a long time, the level of equipment of the Marine Corps has been unsatisfactory, which seriously restricts its combat capability.
As early as the 50s of the last century, the Marine Corps began to be formed, but its equipment was basically inherited from the army, and even some of them were old Soviet ones from World War II, such as the T-34 tanks of the tank regiment. It was not until the 80s that the Marine Corps successively replaced some vehicles specially designed for amphibious operations, such as the Type 63 amphibious tank and the Type 77 amphibious armored transport vehicle, but these vehicles were also developed in the early 60s of the last century, with backward technology and low performance.
The Type 63 amphibious tank is developed with reference to the Soviet Union's PT-76 amphibious tank, and its design idea is to adapt to the crossing of inland waters, and the requirements for sea navigation are not high, so it can only sail for a short distance on the calm sea, unable to cope with complex sea conditions, and unable to achieve long-range sea assault. It is reported that the Type 63 amphibious tank has a sea speed of less than 10 kilometers per hour, and can only resist level 3 winds and 1A wave of 2 meters is equivalent to a level 3 sea state. This means that if it were to launch a flooding landing from a landing ship 10 kilometers away from the coastline, it would take more than an hour to reach its destination, which is too slow.
The firepower and protection of the Type 63 amphibious tank was also not ideal, with only one 85 mm main gun and a maximum armor thickness of 20 mm. With such firepower and protection, there is no chance of victory at all in the face of the main battle tanks such as the M48 M60 of the Taiwan army, and even the M41 light tank may not be able to beat it. Although the Type 63A amphibious tank was later developed, the main gun was replaced with a 105 mm rifled gun, and the performance of sea navigation was improved, these improvements were limited, and there were still problems such as weak protection and slow speed.
The Type 77 amphibious armored transport vehicle was modified on the basis of the Type 63 amphibious tank, and its main role was to transport infantry and artillery, and not to participate directly in combat. Thus, it also inherited many of the shortcomings of the Type 63 amphibious tank, and in small numbers, there was only one amphibious combat vehicle battalion per Marine brigade. Therefore, the Marine Corps at that time was basically still dominated by infantry and lacked sufficient firepower and armor support. An American scholar once ridiculed China's amphibious force as a 200,000-strong swimmer, which is somewhat exaggerated, but it also reflects a certain reality.
In such a situation, the landing method of the Marine Corps is still at the level of the World War II period, that is, to rush onto the enemy's beach with a large number of infantry units, which is not only insufficient in firepower in the face of the modern coastal defense system, but also extremely heavy. In some large-scale landing exercises in the 90s, many problems were exposed, among which the problem of amphibious vehicles was a prominent shortcoming.
To change the situation, the Marine Corps urgently needs updated amphibious combat vehicles to increase their combat capabilities and efficiency. And at this time, the United States is hyping its new generation of amphibious combat vehicle AA**, whose high-speed water navigation capabilities and powerful firepower have put the Chinese Marine Corps under tremendous pressure.
In the first half of 2000, the military issued an urgent task to the China North Industries Corporation, that is, to develop as soon as possible a new amphibious combat vehicle capable of long-range maritime assault.
The most important performance indicator of the new amphibious combat vehicle is its speed on the water, and the requirements of the troops are to be significantly improved compared with the Type 63A amphibious tank. The speed on the water directly affects the combat effectiveness and survivability of the amphibious combat vehicle. From the development history of the amphibious vehicles of the United States Marine Corps, it can be seen that the improvement of water speed is the goal it has been pursuing, from the LVTP5 during World War II to the A**7 in active service, and then to the AA** EFV that has been canceled, its water speed has increased from 10 per hour9 kilometers increased to 13 per hour5 km/h, then 46 km/h.
The reason why the United States attaches so much importance to speed on the water is because of a change in its maritime strategy. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the United States became the world's only superpower and began to adopt the strategic idea of "from the sea" to "from the sea to the land", that is, to use its powerful sea and air forces to quickly project troops and equipment from amphibious warships to the enemy's coastline and inland, so as to complete the landing before the enemy could react and defend. The AA** EFV's high-speed water navigation capability was designed to accommodate this strategic thinking.
For China, there is also a practical need to increase the speed on the water. On the other side of the Taiwan Strait, a dense coastal defense system has been established, and its ability to strike at sea and its attack range have been greatly improved. If a landing operation is to be carried out, amphibious ships must not get close to the coastline, but must stay in the sea area 30 kilometers away from the coastline, which requires the amphibious combat vehicle to be able to start the flood impact from a greater distance, and to reach the destination as soon as possible to reduce the risk of being detected and attacked by the enemy. In addition, the direction and speed of the sea flow will also affect the course of the amphibious combat vehicle, and if the speed is too slow, it is easy to deviate from the intended position, which happened many times during the Normandy landings in World War II. Therefore, in order to achieve high-speed water navigation, it is necessary to change the design of traditional amphibious combat vehicles.
Traditional amphibious combat vehicles mostly use a displacement hull, that is, when they are in the water, they rely on the buoyancy of the water to support the weight of the hull, therefore, a large part of their hull must be immersed in water, which will produce a large water resistance. In order to increase the water speed of such a vehicle, it is necessary to significantly increase the power of the powertrain, but this is not realistic. According to calculations, in order to double the water speed of the displacement body, it would need to increase the power by a factor of eight. At the moment, no armored vehicle is capable of using an engine of such great power.
Therefore, new amphibious combat vehicles must use a gliding hull, that is, when they are in the water, they rely on the power and shape of the hull to generate lift, so that the hull rises to the surface, thereby reducing water resistance. The American AA** EFV amphibious assault vehicle adopts this design, and its water speed reaches 46 kilometers per hour, which is currently the fastest amphibious combat vehicle in the world. The Chinese design team was also inspired by this successful example, but instead of copying the American proposal, they made their own innovations and came up with many unique designs.
For example, the new amphibious combat vehicle has a skateboard on the front and rear of the hull, which can adjust the angle according to sea conditions and speed to achieve optimal lift and stability. The tracks of the vehicle body can also be retracted to reduce drag when navigating in the water. There are also two sets of directional control systems, one for the water spray at low speeds and the other for the side rudder at high speeds, to ensure flexible steering at any speed.
In addition to the hull, the power system of the new amphibious combat vehicle has been improved, it is modified on the basis of the engine of the new domestic main battle tank, the power is adjustable, up to 1600 horsepower. Although it is not as powerful as the 2,700 horsepower of the American AA** EFV amphibious assault vehicle, it has been greatly improved from the previous amphibious combat vehicles, which not only enables the water speed to reach more than 30 kilometers per hour, but also greatly enhances the ability to maneuver on the ground.
Since the American AA** EFV amphibious assault vehicle was canceled for various reasons, China's new amphibious combat vehicle has become the world's fastest active armored vehicle on water, creating a "world first". Moreover, this vehicle has also repeatedly demonstrated its excellent performance in international military competitions held in Russia, which has amazed Russian servicemen and even influenced the design of Russian amphibious combat vehicles.
Although the new amphibious combat vehicle is fast on the water, its firepower should not be underestimated, and it can even be said that it is the most powerful amphibious combat vehicle in the world. There are two main models of the new amphibious combat vehicle, the Type 05 amphibious infantry fighting vehicle and the Type 05 amphibious assault vehicle, both of which far surpass the amphibious vehicles of the US Marine Corps in terms of firepower.
The amphibious vehicles of the U.S. Marine Corps are mainly used to transport personnel, because they have strong sea and air support forces, and do not need to rely too much on the firepower of the amphibious vehicles themselves. But the situation of the Chinese Marine Corps is different, they need to rely more on their own landing platforms to provide direct fire support, so the fire requirements for amphibious vehicles are high. Back in the era of the Type 63A amphibious tank, our country equipped it with a 105-mm rifled gun, which allowed it to go head-to-head with the enemy's main battle tank.
The Type 05 amphibious infantry fighting vehicle also has a strong firepower, its turret is equipped with a 30mm cannon and two Red Arrow 73C anti-tank missiles, which can easily destroy common armored vehicles, and the Red Arrow 73C anti-tank missile can also deal with the frontal armor of early third-generation main battle tanks. Such a firepower configuration has reached or even exceeded the level of the world's mainstream infantry fighting vehicles, while the A**7 amphibious fighting vehicle of the US Marine Corps has only one 40-mm grenade launcher and one 127 mm machine gun, which looks weak in comparison.
The firepower of the Type 05 amphibious assault vehicle is even more amazing, its main gun is a 105 mm rifled gun, which is a very advanced tank gun, the technology is the best than the British L7 105 mm rifled gun, and our country has also improved it on the basis of digestion and absorption. At a distance of 2,000 meters, this gun can penetrate the frontal armor of the M60, M48 and other main battle tanks of the Taiwan army, and also poses a certain threat to the third-generation main battle tanks. Moreover, this kind of cannon also has a variety of ammunition types, which can deal with various targets, and even a special anti-fortification shell has been developed to destroy the enemy's pillboxes, bunkers and other fortifications. It can be said that the Type 05 amphibious assault vehicle is an all-round support combat vehicle, whether it is a tank, an armored vehicle, a fortification or an enemy man, it is within its strike range.
The fire control system of the Type 05 amphibious combat vehicle is also advanced, it is similar to the fire control system of the main battle tank, and there are many standard features of modern armored combat vehicles. Moreover, it also takes into account the peculiarities of amphibious operations, which makes it possible to fire at enemy targets in the course of flooding, with guaranteed accuracy. Such a fire control system gives the Type 05 amphibious combat vehicle a strong firepower advantage in landing operations.
To sum up, the Type 05 amphibious combat vehicle is a very advanced amphibious combat vehicle, which has reached the world's advanced level in terms of water speed, firepower, protection, and maneuverability, and has even created a number of "world firsts". Its appearance has greatly enhanced the combat capability and efficiency of the Chinese Marine Corps, and has also opened up a new situation for China's amphibious operations. It is the pride of the Chinese Marine Corps and a sharp weapon for China's amphibious operations.