EgonSpengler
Deity
- Joined
- Jun 26, 2014
- Messages
- 12,260
Spied this in the morning's newsfeed:
Wikipedia says the PLA Marines have two 6,000-man brigades that include units of armor, air defense, engineers, and artillery. No mention of aviation. A separate article on the deployment to Xinjiang notes that the marines will be exercising with a PLA infantry division. This looks to me like they're trying to assemble a unit that can be used a bit like our Special Operations Command, which combines Special Forces, Rangers, and a helicopter regiment. Obviously China has no reason to organize its units like ours, so a direct comparison may be misguided, but the article does claim they're inspired by our units and organization.
According to Wikipedia, China's marines use Type 95 and Type 03 assault rifles, which both uses a steel-cased 5.8×42mm round with a muzzle velocity of ~930 m/s. The 95 is a "bullpup" rifle (there's an export version, the Type 97, that's chambered for the NATO 5.56x45), while the Type 03 is a descendant of the Kalashnikov, with the classic curved magazine in front of the trigger. The Type 95 also becomes the marines' squad support weapon, with a heavier barrel, a drum magazine and a bipod, and the 5.8×42mm "heavy round" that has a steel core and a higher muzzle velocity. They also use some wire-guided AT missiles, and probably whatever shoulder-fired SAMs the PLA uses these days. The heavier weapons and vehicles all look a little old and unimpressive (their armor regiment supposedly uses the Type 59 MBT, which is a variant of the Soviet T-55), but I suppose if you're looking at pirates and terrorists, and armies such as Vietnam's and Indonesia's you don't need next-gen tech as much as well-trained infantry.
Wikipedia says the PLA Marines have two 6,000-man brigades that include units of armor, air defense, engineers, and artillery. No mention of aviation. A separate article on the deployment to Xinjiang notes that the marines will be exercising with a PLA infantry division. This looks to me like they're trying to assemble a unit that can be used a bit like our Special Operations Command, which combines Special Forces, Rangers, and a helicopter regiment. Obviously China has no reason to organize its units like ours, so a direct comparison may be misguided, but the article does claim they're inspired by our units and organization.
According to Wikipedia, China's marines use Type 95 and Type 03 assault rifles, which both uses a steel-cased 5.8×42mm round with a muzzle velocity of ~930 m/s. The 95 is a "bullpup" rifle (there's an export version, the Type 97, that's chambered for the NATO 5.56x45), while the Type 03 is a descendant of the Kalashnikov, with the classic curved magazine in front of the trigger. The Type 95 also becomes the marines' squad support weapon, with a heavier barrel, a drum magazine and a bipod, and the 5.8×42mm "heavy round" that has a steel core and a higher muzzle velocity. They also use some wire-guided AT missiles, and probably whatever shoulder-fired SAMs the PLA uses these days. The heavier weapons and vehicles all look a little old and unimpressive (their armor regiment supposedly uses the Type 59 MBT, which is a variant of the Soviet T-55), but I suppose if you're looking at pirates and terrorists, and armies such as Vietnam's and Indonesia's you don't need next-gen tech as much as well-trained infantry.
