In the recent CCTV news report, the picture of the Marine Corps just installed the 
5 light tank training exercise appeared again. Although the Type 15 light tank will only be officially installed in the Marine Corps in mid-2021, after less than a year of actual combat drills and running-in, the Type 15 light tank is now able to cooperate well with the 5 amphibious combat vehicle And when the Type 15 light tank and the Type 05 amphibious assault vehicle work together, they work together like a big brother and a little brother.
However, judging from the many heavy armored vehicles previously installed by the Marine Corps, the Marine Corps can obviously choose the 99A or 96B main battle tanks with higher levels of mobility, protection, firepower, and information technology. Why not? Instead of choosing the first two, why did you choose a Type 15 light tank that is inferior to the first two in every aspect? After all, the Marine Corps has already installed Type 08 and Type 11 wheeled combat vehicles with similar positioning before this.
The Type 05 amphibious assault vehicle currently in service by the Marine Corps has a stronger amphibious combat environment and better firepower. Why is it still equipped with a Type 15 light tank?
Because the Marine Corps basically performs amphibious operations missions based on beach landing operations, its main heavy armor equipment is mainly the early Type 63 and 63A, and the later family-style Type 05 Mainly amphibious combat vehicles. But why did the Marine Corps also quickly replace the Type 15 light tank after it was finalized and fielded? Mainly because the Type 63 and Type 05 amphibious heavy armored combat vehicles have excellent amphibious combat performance, but in order to improve their amphibious combat performance, especially the Type 05 amphibious combat vehicle, the entire body is designed to be relatively wide, which can provide sufficient interior space and greater buoyancy advantages.
Although this design makes the Type 05 amphibious combat vehicle, it has become the "world's most advanced amphibious combat vehicle" that is faster than the U.S. Marine Corps VV7 amphibious combat vehicle at sea. However, the overly large and high body structure is made of a large amount of aluminum alloy materials. This causes the Type 05 amphibious combat vehicle to have a higher speed at sea, but once the beach landing operation is successful, it will suffer from insufficient protection due to its lack of protection. Qianghe's own vehicle body is wide and has a high probability of being shot, making it unable to fight further into the enemy's interior.
So although the 5 light tank at this time does not have the ability to sail at sea, its smaller size and total combat weight, as well as its very powerful mobility, protection and firepower strike performance, can completely ride on the Marine Corps. Any type of amphibious landing ship, after arriving directly at the beach, relies on its strong mobility, protection and firepower capabilities to operate deep inside the enemy and successfully complete the "total annihilation of the enemy" combat mission.
At the same time, compared with the Type 08 and Type 11 wheeled combat vehicles previously installed by the Marine Corps, although the total combat weight of the Type 15 light tank is nearly 1.5 times heavier, it is stronger than the former. Off-road mobility and greater protection. It can be said that in future beach landing operations, the Type 05 amphibious tank only needs to directly destroy the shore defenses at sea, and then the Type 15 light tank and the Type 11 wheeled tank will work together to continue to penetrate into the enemy after a successful landing. Internally, and with the help of the speed of the Type 11 wheeled combat vehicle and the off-road mobility and protection of the Type 115 Type , the "success of comprehensive beach landing operations" was successfully achieved.
Why did the Marine Corps not choose the 99A and 96B tanks with stronger firepower, protection, mobility, and information capabilities, but insisted on choosing the Type 15 light tank?
In fact, after the Type 63 and 63A amphibious tanks previously equipped by the Marine Corps were retired, although the Type 05 amphibious tank developed at the same time derived from the same platform as an infantry fighting vehicle and an assault version with a 105 mm howitzer, its thin and light The aluminum alloy body structure makes it only suitable for rapid beach landing operations, but cannot independently penetrate deep into the enemy's interior to conduct deep operations.Therefore, the Marine Corps originally planned to purchase a batch of Type 96A main battle tanks to fill the vacancies after the retirement of the Type 63A. However, the Type 96A tank is a heavy tank second only to the 99A. Although its mobility, protection and fire strike performance are very Yes, but its total combat weight exceeds 45 tons, which means that even after successfully landing on the beach, it will not perform well in the swamps, tributaries and other environments inside the tidal flats.
Although the Type 08 or Type 11 wheeled combat vehicle with a lighter overall combat weight has good maneuverability and firepower strike performance, especially its amphibious ferry capability, it also has a very good advantage in beach landing operations. However, both the Type 08 and Type 11 tanks have limited combat weight due to their wheeled chassis, and thus have shortcomings in terms of protective performance.
So after the Type 15 light tank was put into service in batches, the Marine Corps quickly saw the best choice. Because the Type 15 light tank is specially tailored for swamp areas and plateau environments such as the Southern Water Network. Not only is the total combat weight much lighter than the 99A and 6A/B, only over 30 tons, but it is also equipped with a high-power The engine also makes it have stronger ability to pass through plateaus and swamps. These advantages are advantages that the 99A and 96B, which are full combat weight main battle tanks, do not have; in addition, the Type 15 combat weight is greater than the Type 11 infantry fighting vehicle. The advantages of the Type 15 also allow it to not only carry the same 105mm rifled gun, but also be equipped with auxiliary equipment such as an automatic loader. Coupled with the Type 15 tracked chassis design, it also allows it to have stronger protective armor coverage. Advantages. It is said that although the total combat weight of the Type 15 light tank is lighter, its protective performance far exceeds that of the Type 05, Type 11 and early Type 96A main battle tanks. The basic and total combat weight is close to the 50-ton Type 96B main battle tank. Tanks approach.
So for the Marine Corps, why did it remain indifferent to the 99A and 96B with stronger protection and firepower capabilities, but chose the Type 15 light tank? It is because the Type 15 light tank has similar mobility and protective advantages to the 99A and 96B, but its mobility advantages are more obvious than those of the 96A and Type 05 in beach landing operations. Especially in the face of the six Type 071 amphibious dock landing ships installed in batches by our army, its advantages are even more obvious. After all, one Type 071 can carry almost 40 Type 15 light tanks and other amphibious combat vehicles, and one Type 071 can also carry four 26A air-cushion landing craft . In this way, in amphibious beach landing operations, the Type 071 alone The amphibious dock landing ship can deliver nearly a hundred Type 15 light tanks and dozens of Type 05 amphibious combat vehicles to the shore in just one hour, and this does not include the newly built Type 075 amphibious assault ship in the past two years. Can carry heavy armor equipment.
