The People’s Liberation Army Navy Marine Corps (PLAMC) has taken delivery of new 105mm assault vehicles.
The fire support vehicles in PLA Marine Corps camouflage was spotted on the road. According to Chinese military experts, the new assault vehicles is a NORINCO ZTL-11 amphibious fire support vehicle on the ZBL-09 wheeled 8×8 armored personnel carrier chassis. Some sources say that it is ZTL-09.
The ZTL-11 vehicle is armed with a 105 mm gun and compatible with anti-tank guided missiles. Missiles have a maximum range of 5 000 m and penetrate 550-600 mm of steel armor behind Explosive Reactive Armor (ERA) blocks. Missiles can also target low-flying helicopters.
Wheeled fire support vehicles are cheaper to produce and maintain than main battle tanks. Also these have high speed and mobility on hard surface roads and can respond rapidly to various threats. These wheeled vehicles do not need heavy equipment transporters in order to relocate them on long distances. In some cases the fire support vehicles can even substitute tanks. However these machines have only light armament.
