In the competition of crews of infantry fighting vehicles "Suvorov onslaught", which will be held at the Korla training ground in China, Russian BMP-3 will compete with the ZBD-86A. In addition to the People's Liberation Army team, representatives of the armed forces of Belarus and Venezuela will also perform on such equipment.
The "Eighty-sixth", which has another designation-WZ-501, at first was a complete clone of the Soviet BMP-1, received in the 1970s from Egypt. Like the original, it had a single-seat turret armed with a 73-mm 2A28 "Thunder" cannon, a 7.62 mm twin machine gun and a Red Arrow-73 anti-tank guided missile, which is a copy of the 9K11 "Malyutka" developed in the USSR.
After many years of operation, the ZBD-86 has undergone a serious modernization. The old tower was replaced with a new one, although also designed for one fighter, the gun is now small-caliber, rapid-firing, this is a variant of the Russian 2A72. It has a stabilization. The rate of fire is 330 rounds per minute.
The initial velocity of the projectile, depending on the type of ammunition used, is from 960 to 1120 meters per second. The enemy's manpower is destroyed at a range of up to 4000 meters, light armored vehicles - up to 2000 meters, air targets - up to 1500 meters.
The HJ-73C ATGM now has semi-automatic guidance and is equipped with a tandem warhead, which gives it the ability to hit tanks equipped with mounted dynamic protection.
The sighting system has a laser rangefinder and allows you to shoot in motion. It was reported that the engine power was increased to 310 hp. The maximum speed is 70 km/h. The power reserve is 450 km. Weight - 1360 kg. The crew is 3 people, the landing party is 8 military personnel.
Interestingly, the released old turrets with 73-mm guns were not disposed of, but began to be installed on export armored personnel carriers WZ-523.
Alexey Moiseev
