In recent years, China's domestic armed helicopters have been relatively active. AVIC has brought the newly produced Z-19E export armed helicopter model to the Paris Air Show, and even the high-end WZ-10 armed helicopters participated in Pakistan's independent military parade. , as for the PLA's own armed helicopters, they have performed exceptionally well in various exercises and training, reflecting the gradual formation of "new combat capabilities."
Among all Chinese military helicopter models, the WZ-10 has attracted the most attention from all countries. This weapon platform that changed the form of the People's Liberation Army's land warfare has improved the People's Liberation Army's field firepower. In particular, it has strong firepower, wide field of vision, and transcends terrain restrictions. It has higher capabilities than tanks. With several times the speed of , in addition to supporting ground troops in anti-armor operations, implementing rapid battlefield reconnaissance, and covering special operations, it can also play an irreplaceable role in highly complex amphibious landing operations.
Wuzhi-10 fleet
Japan's "Military Research" and other magazines stated that for the Taiwan authorities with "Taiwan independence" tendencies and Japan, which has island disputes with mainland China, if the threat from low-altitude helicopters cannot be eliminated, its ground troops will lose freedom of movement and will lose their freedom of movement. suffered heavy losses, so seizing battlefield air supremacy is a trend in modern land warfare. At present, regardless of whether Taiwan The Army is also the AH-1W and AH-64 series armed helicopters of the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force. Although its performance is only "on par" with the Wuzhi-10, due to the increasing emphasis on long-lasting endurance and consumption replenishment in the form of warfare, it has never Considering the strength advantage, China's Wuzhi-10 helicopter, which can be completely self-produced and upgraded, will gain huge advantages.
"references" foreign models
"Military Research" stated that as early as the 1990s, the People's Liberation Army, which learned everything from the Russian army, did not choose the development route of the meter-24 combat transport helicopter in the development of armed helicopters. Instead, they chose a medium-sized dedicated armed helicopter. This may be because China came into contact with a meter-24 helicopter in good condition through Pakistani channels. It felt that this kind of helicopter used by more than 50 countries was too expensive and did not meet its own needs.
In fact, the Chinese military considers that the use and maintenance costs of medium-sized armed helicopters are low, and field maintenance and transportation are simple and reliable. At the same time, medium-sized aircraft have a large combat radius, good maneuverability, and long range, so the development direction has been determined. In China's "Ninth Five-Year Plan", it is included in the "Zhuanwu-10" development project. In 2010, the WZ-10 began production and was delivered to the Chinese Army Aviation Force, becoming the People's Liberation Army's first dedicated armed helicopter.
Japanese aviation expert Junichi Ishikawa analyzed that the overall design and layout of the WZ-10 borrowed from the successful experience of Europe and South Africa. At the same time, it sought help from the Russian Kamov Design Bureau in terms of concepts and experience, so that it can absorb European Russia has mature experience in various types of armed helicopters, so it feels familiar to some extent.
"Aviation Enthusiast" believes that the People's Liberation Army positions the Wuzhi-10 as a "medium-sized dedicated armed helicopter" equipped with two high-thrust turboshaft engines . The body adopts a tandem two-seater layout, with the weapons controller sitting in the front and the pilot sitting in the back. . The main systems such as flight and fire control are designed to be connected between the front and rear seats. If one person is injured or killed, the other person can take over the work. Therefore, the front seat weapons controller has to learn to fly the helicopter. Similar to the European "Tiger" armed helicopter, the Wuzhi-10 is also equipped with an ejection device, which can blow away the main blades in an emergency and then eject the cockpit to ensure the safety of the crew.
In addition, in addition to the limited stealth capability of the WZ-10, its fuselage has a large load capacity. At the same time, the WZ-10 uses composite materials and stealth coatings that can absorb radar waves to shorten the distance detected by radar.
WZ-10 fleet took off
"Power problem" was once in trouble
Japan's "Chariot" magazine said that the WZ-10 prototype uses two PT6C-67C turboshaft engines from Pratt & Whitney Canada, with a power between 1,600 and 2,300 horsepower. between. But the United States prevented Canadian companies from continuing to export. In order to get rid of the technological blockade, China switched to the domestic turboshaft-9 engine with a power of 1,340 horsepower on the Wuzhi-10 that has been finalized and put into production.
According to the analysis of Japan's "Aviation Intelligence", in terms of weapon power, the WZ-10's weapon configuration for ground attack is 8 anti-tank missiles , 2 rocket launch nests, and 1 maiden aircraft gun. This configuration is theoretically Can suppress one The beach defense force of the squadron (company level), the Blue Arrow-7 missile has a range of 8,000 meters, and can launch attacks beyond the range of the existing individual shoulder-fired missiles of the Taiwan Army or the Japanese Self-Defense Forces, and it is not only anti-tank , can also be used to attack fixed fortifications and firepower points.
Judging from the WZ-10's quadruple air-to-air missile launcher, the People's Liberation Army hopes that the aircraft will have the tactics to suppress enemy helicopters when necessary. Whether it is the Taiwan Army or the Japanese Self-Defense Force, the anti-tank missiles mounted on the existing AH-1W/S and AH-64E/A helicopters all use four-unit launchers. This is on a par with the WZ-10, but they are the best. At most, they can only hang one AIM-9S "Sidewinder" air-to-air missile on the left and right sides of the short wings. If the two aircraft confront each other, the Taiwanese and Japanese helicopters will obviously be at a disadvantage.
What is even more sensitive is that the WZ-10 is by no means only serving the People's Liberation Army Army Aviation Force, and island warfare and landing warfare will not be absent. It can be seen from the Zhuhai Air Show in 2016 that with the mass production of the WZ-10 army version, the air force version obviously prepared for airborne troops has also come out, and the marine version is not expected to be too far away. The WZ-10 has a range of more than 800 kilometers and a combat radius of nearly 300 kilometers, which meets the needs of operations across the Taiwan Strait. If used in operations against Taiwan, it can support ground troops landing operations or special operations.
The Chinese Navy's current 071 dock landing ship and the requisitioned modified large freighter can both carry the Wuzhi-10, thus further shortening the combat radius of the aircraft and extending the airborne time. Japanese scholars analyze that in the future, China will consider allowing the Wuzhi-10 to carry YJ-71 class light anti-ship missiles for anti-surface warfare.
Wuzhi-10
The People's Liberation Army Army Aviation Force Expansion
As early as May 1987, the Central Military Commission of the Communist Party of China issued the order "Notice on the Establishment of the Army Aviation Force" and formally decided to establish an aviation force affiliated with the Army. After decades of development, in addition to the aviation training brigade directly under the Joint Staff, many group armies now have regiment-level helicopter units.
It is worth noting that several armies in the eastern theater of mainland China facing Japan and Taiwan all have army aviation regiments, showing that the tasks undertaken by these units are much higher than those in other theaters. The Chinese Army Aviation Corps is affiliated to the Army Group. Its main tasks are tactical airlift, air assault, anti-tank operations and special operations. Cooperative training between helicopters and infantry is very frequent, and air-ground coordination capabilities have been significantly improved.
It is foreseeable that China will make greater efforts to purchase more helicopters in the future. (Shipborne weapons)
[Subscribe and follow "National Defense Times Vanguard", more exciting content will be with you! ]
