Petrus

ACCESS: Top Secret
Senior Member
Joined
28 November 2006
Messages
699
Reaction score
636
In a e-book 'TUO MAO: THE OPERATIONAL HISTORY OF THE PEOPLE’S LIBERATION ARMY' I have information on a very interesting Chinese AFV:

Design of the WZ141 was started in 1970 but the project was cancelled in 1980 after two different versions were built. Both versions were armed with two 105 mm recoilless rifles which were a direct copy of the United States M40 106 mm recoilless rifle with a launch rail for a Hong Jian 73 anti-tank guided missile (ATGM) offset slightly on each barrel ahead of the breech.
With a fully loaded combat weight of 6.2 tonnes , the vehicle was 4.66 metres long by 2.44 metres wide by 1.86 metres high were crammed three crew, four HJ73 ATGM, 18 rounds of 105mm ammunition and 3,000 rounds of 7.62mm ammunition for the 7.62mm Type 56 light machine gun. The 140 kilowatt engine reputedly gave it a maximum road speed of 80 kilometres per hour, the engine giving a power to weight ratio of 30.7 horsepower to the tonnes.

The first version had a flat turret with one 105mm recoilless rifle either side of the turret with the second version having two different turrets. One had a sloped turret with slab sides, with the 105mm recoilless rifles in tandem and the ATGM rails on the gun barrels, in a cradle in the right side of the turret. The other had an enclosed turret that was wedge shaped all around, similar to the British Scorpion tracked reconnaissance vehicle, the HJ -73 ATGM rails on either side of the turret, with a gun cradle towards the centre of the turret. The missile rails appear to be mounted co-axially with the gun cradle.

And below you'll find two photos of both the versions of the WZ141, which I've just googled.

Perhaps somebody knows more on the subject. Any further info would be appreciated.

Best regards,
Piotr
 

Attachments

  • WZ-141_1.jpg
    WZ-141_1.jpg
    32.8 KB · Views: 695
  • WZ-141_2.jpg
    WZ-141_2.jpg
    28.5 KB · Views: 640
here
http://www.fyjs.cn/bbs/htm_data/26/0702/86057.html
 
Turrets like this were considered for the M113, and Japan built a tank destroyer with a fixed twin 106mm. This isn't like Ontos at all.
 
Seems to be under the influence м114 and Ontos .I just don't know why they didn't make it with an autoloader for the recoilless guns
 

Similar threads

Back
Top Bottom