People’s Liberation Army takes large-scale military exercises with new AFT-10 optic fibre guided anti-tank missile.
The AFT-10 (also named HJ-10) is a Chinese land attack missile developed by China Aerospace Science & Industry Corporation (CASIC). AFT-10 was first revealed in its deployment in Peace Mission 2014 joint military exercise.
The AFT-10 has a length of 1,850 mm; width of 165 mm; weight, including launch system, of 150 kg; and a warhead weighing 43 kg. Its solid-rocket booster and micro turbojet engine confer a range of 10 km, a cruise speed of 150 m/s, and an attack speed of 230 m/s.
At the 2012 Zhuhai show China also revealed the Sichuan Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation’s WS-33 optical/imaging guided rocket, which is longer than the CM-501G at 3,300 mm and heavier at 200 kg, but has a similar 70 km range. From the missile’s brochure it is not clear whether it used fibre-optic guidance and it may use datalinks instead. The WS-33 uses folding delta wings compared with the CM-501G’s folding straight wings.
Two of these missiles were seen carried by and launched by a version of the new ZBD-04A armoured personnel carrier (APC), also fitted with a new optical/imaging guidance system. The ZBD-04A may be able to carry up to eight missiles.
