The Chinese military began to receive the latest third-generation anti-tank missile system. Such weapons came, in particular, to the units of one of the combined-arms brigades of the 78th Army Group (Army) of the PLA Northern Combat Command. Photos from the test site where this advanced weapon is being developed have appeared on the China Daily news.
Russian expert Yuri Lyamin said, a new generation of ATGMs operating on the principle of “fire and forget” entered service with the PLA, and prototypes of new ATGMs were presented back in 2014. Chinese companies showed two different types of ATGMs of the new generation.
Norinco demonstrated the Red Arrow 12 (HJ-12), a copy of the American FGM-148 Javelin that eventually entered the PLA’s service. Also, ATGM TS-01 was offered by Poly Technologies, but its differences are even more noticeable.
“It is known that some difference between prototypes, export modifications and what goes into service for its army is not uncommon for China,” Lyamin said.
Unfortunately, Russian manufacturers of guided anti-tank weapons already lag behind the United States, Israel, France, Germany, South Korea, China, and even Iran. Iran adopted the third-generation Almas ATGM, an unlicensed variant of Spike-MR that entered service with Iran’s Revolutionary Guard last summer, said Russian expert Yuri Lyamin.
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