Both variants featuring extrude aluminum receivers with steel reinforcement. Long receiver design w/ short feed cover for reliable optic mount behind. The 5.8x42 version has a bottom magazine well like that of the Negev. The 7.62 version has a combined short recoiling and gas operation, but no mag well. They have been testing this at least since 2014.
Carbine, rifle and DMR. The first two now standard issue the Type 171 prism sight with fiber optic illumination. The DMR is mounted with a variable magnification conventional scope instead of the 6x prism sight that they were working on a while back.
300 km range. Land and air launch-able. Capable of attacking naval or land targets. Satellite mid-course correction and multiple flight profiles. The air-launch version is small enough to be carry by light fighter such as the JF-17 export fighter
From the look of the side turret ERA array, the boxy laser weapon/jammer system on the left, and the tall dome shaped laser warring receiver on the right, it's definitely a ZTZ-99 Phase I model.
Which is odd, since only few dozens of the Phase I model were made, and it's not the main production variant. Probably better off making a Type 96A since that that's the most common Chinese MBT.
To the full article posted at the The Jamestown Foundation, click the link (here)
Introduction
The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has been responsible for conducting military diplomacy since the founding of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in 1949. In the 1950s, military cooperation was limited almost entirely to other communist nations and insurgent movements in Southeast Asia. In the late 1970s, the scope and tenor of China’s foreign military cooperation changed with the shift to commercial arms sales, attempts to gain some influence in Eastern Europe, and improvement in relations with the United States (U.S.) and Western Europe. By the 1980s, China had also developed close military ties with Egypt, Tanzania, Sudan, Somalia, Zaire, and Zambia in Africa. The change reflected China’s desire to counter Soviet influence, especially in Europe, as well as to develop relations with modern armed forces. Chinese military ties with Western European countries were strongest with Britain, France, and Italy. Chinese military relations with the U.S. developed rapidly in the 1980s and included exchanges of high-level military officials and working-level delegations in training, logistics, and education, as well as four foreign military sales (FMS) projects
