Since the ZH-05 has entered service for sometime now and more importantly inspected by THE BOSS himself, the PLA Daily (
here) finally confirmed its in-service designation as the QTS-11 单兵综合作战系统 (Single-Troop, Comprehensive, Combat System).
Xi is like "I like what I saw!" Pow.
Reconnaissance Battalion, 112th Mechanized Infantry Division's fancy QTS-11
ZH-05 OICW seen with the PLA Marine SpOps
ZH-05 OICW
By Blitzo
In the past week, a rush of new information and photos have come to
light concerning the PLA's OICW (Objective Individual Combat Weapon),
dubbed ZH-05. Speculation is rife that the weapon is due to be
officially declassified and/or reveal an in service status.
Caption: You know a weapon is set for public knowledge when it's at the forefront of a stage commemorating the PLAMC.
Indeed,
previous rumours of Aden deployed PLAMC being armed with ZH-05 appear
to be substantiated in this latest round of "leaks".
An
OICW typically seeks to mate an assault rifle with an intelligent
grenade launcher in a complete package, with a computerised fire control
system to allow the small calibre grenade to burst at a predetermined
distance for maximum lethality. However, current and previous OICWs such
as the US XM-29 or Korean K11 are hindered by heavy weight and
cumbersome volume, and indeed, only the Korean K11 is currently in
service and represents the only OICW fully developed.
This
changes with the ZH-05, which not only features a sleek, assault
rifle-like profile, but is also remarkably light, at only 4.27kg
unloaded and 5kg fully loaded (compared to the K11's 6.1kg unloaded).
ZH-05 achieves its low weight through an innovative way of integrating
only the laser range finder and fire control system with the gun itself,
while keeping the optics modular and interchangable -- which not only
lightens the weapon dramatically but also confers greater flexibility
for the soldier who may wish to change between different scopes.
Caption:
An early picture of the ZH-05, possibly at an arms exhibit, which
surprised everyone both by depicting important specs, but also by the
ridiculously low total weight of 5kg, which weighs less than the K11
unloaded, and only a little more than a loaded battle rifle!
Caption: A leaked picture displaying the laser range finder and fire
control system integrated with the gun. Note the optics, which is
separable from the gun
But an even more ingenious -- and
pragmatic -- means of reducing weapon weight was through eliminating the
semi automatic grenade launcher and magazine for a single shot bolt
action mechanism. While at first glance this may appear a disadvantage
compared with other OICWs, it has been suggested the deletion of the
magazine was directed by the PLA itself after initial trials with
prototypes with five round magazines. This not only significantly
reduced weight, but also allowed users to fire different types of
grenades with greater ease.
The use of different grenade types is
significant, as the lethality of a 20mm round is greatly reduced with
the complicated electronics to allow a single grenade to perform
multiple functions from airburst, to impact detonation, whereas
separating individual grenades for airburst, impact, redues the
circuitry in each individual grenade, improving overall power.
Hongjian provides a succint summary of the ZH-05's 20mm development:
"1.
The first variant had a 5 round magazine, but the PLA requested the
single-shot, manually loaded bolt-action system not only because it
would be easier to change munition-type, but it also would enable the
designers to design single-purpose 20mm grenades. Compared to the XM-25,
XM-29 and K-11's multi-purpose grenades, each individual chinese 20mm
airburst grenade has only the airburst mode, the impact explosion
grenade has only the impact explosion mode and so on, which increases
the explosive load of those grenades as they reduce the room needed for
complex electronics. To compare, the XM1018 20mm grenade has both impact
and airburst modes, which consumes rougthly 60% of the grenade's volume
for electronics, battery, sensors, limiting the the size of the warhead
and reducing its destructive power.
The PLA has hence very high
confidence in the wounding effects of their single-purpose 20mm airburst
grenades during urban battle, as it apparently performed better in
tests than even hand-grenades and approaching that of infantry mortars
(as in higher killing co-efficiency; note that chart below).
2.
Due to the single-shot, manually loaded bolt-action system, the soldier
can very easily chamber the individual grenade type required for the
specific tactical situation at hand, without having to play around too
much with the electronic-fuse settings. This increases the reliability
of the grenades and reduces the weight of the weapon overall due to
simpler electronics.
3. There are three kinds of grenades for the
grenade launcher: The conventional impact grenade, the airburst
grenade, and, what is called as the 'secret weapon'; the
'shotgun'-grenade. Latter is described as a grenade which will explode
into a barrage of shrapnels to the forward direction at a customized
range as set by the user. One can think of a small AHEAD (Advanced Hit
Efficiency And Destruction) round to imagine its underlying principle.
According
to the users during field tests, this grenade is devastating in combat
and has a high suppression value in close urban battle.
With these three grenade rounds available for this system, it gained its "three-in-one-launcher" nickname by the PLA.
4.
TOE wise, the standard PLA squad is already divided into two fireteams.
Traditionally, it is the RPG fireteam and the Machinegun fireteam. Now,
each fireteam will receive one ZH-05, with two in total per infantry
squad, raising the unit's overall combat efficiency dramatically."
http://www.guancha.cn/Hong-Xibo/2014_02_23_208026_2.shtml
Caption: CAD image of the 20mm grenade launcher component with a preliminary magazine design, later removed
Caption:
Lethality rating of the 20mm airburst grenade compared with various
other weapons. It can be seen that the 20mm airburst has greater killing
co efficiency than a standard grenade, and approaches that of an
infantry mortar!
And some specs of the ZH-05's 20mm grenade, again translated by Hongjian:
"20mm caliber
1.2 grams of propellant
85 grams
119MPa chamber pressure
219m/s muzzle velocity
800m range and 29.46 meters vertical
reaching the distance of 800m in 4.446 seconds with an arc of 7.02 degrees
7.7 meters killing radius"
Pictures
depict ZH-05 armed soldiers with a new kit of body armour and a helmet
mounted eyepiece display suggest this is part of a greater drive for PLA
modernization. The eyepiece is thought to be connected to the weapon
via a cable, and possibly projects an image of the weapon's scope for
the soldier.
Certainly the PLA have experimented with such a function on existing rifles for many years.
Caption: the good old days
