The People’s Republic of China is the largest and most self-sufficient manufacturer of firearms in Asia. China is also the only nation in the world to have decided to introduce a new intermediate cartridge across their armed forces. Fromthe 1990s, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) started to field new weapons using 5.8x42 mm ammunition, beginning with the experimenta bullpup Type 87 assault rifle, followed by the Type 88/QBU-88 semi-automatic sniper rifle.
QBS-95B AND QBB-95 Assault Rifle
In the mid-1990s, the bullpup Type 95 rifle family was introduced, consisting of the Type 95/QBZ-95 assault rifle, Type 95B/QBZ-95B carbine and Type 95/QBB-95 automatic rifle. The export counterparts of these weapons use the 5.56x45 mm cartridge. The Type 95 family is now standard issue weapon for the first line units in China.
QBU-88 |
QYJ-88 AND QBS-03
The next element of the 5.8mm weapon system is the Type 88/QJY-88 machine gun introduced around 1999. The latest one is the Type 03/QBZ-03 assault rifle, a classic design introduced in early 2000s. It is China’s just in case weapon, because some of high ranking officers and officials are still mistrustful of bullpup designs.
QBB-95 |
QBS-95B |
launcher. The major change is ammunition the assault rifle will be fed by the 5.8x42 mm heavy round, used in the Type 88 sniper rifle and Type 88 machine gun. The Chinese have also discovered the Picatinny mounting rail and the Type 95G will most probably use this universal rail system, which is already commercially available in China.
QJY-88 |
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