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| The ZBD-05 OR VN-18, Amphibious IFV Infantry Fighting Vehicle Armored China |
International Military - China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) is building a sizeable amphibious force. China's current amphibious vehicles are of modern design. The design on this Chinese amphibious vehicle is basically a mix and match base hull (wheeled or wheeled).
Not to mention, it is added with different turrets (combat vehicles, assault rifles, APCs, etc.) The highlight of this tank is the Type 05 tracked amphibious vehicle family. More precisely, the ZBD 05 infantry fighting vehicle (formerly ZBD-2000) and rifle assault ZTD 05.
Quoted from 19fortyfive.com, the ZBD is probably the fastest amphibious tank in the world. This tank is capable of swimming 18 miles per hour. This is even more than twice the speed of the AAVP-7 carrier used by the US Marine Corps. It can also keep troops defending in less than half the time normally expected.
Eventually, this can be used to catch the attacker's vehicles before they slide ashore. To achieve this, the ZBD and ZTD use a 550 horsepower dual-mode diesel engine. It is this engine that can almost triple the output to 1,475 horsepower to power their twin water jets.
In terms of protection, the Type 05 has a reinforced aluminum hull with a steel front plate guard and welded turret. This ZBD-05 fighting vehicle also weighs 29 tons and can carry eight infantry down.
Quoted from Military Today, the first ZBD 2000 was in 2006. The ZBD 2000 was launched at sea from an amphibious assault ship and swam at high speed over long distances to shore. The IFV is launched 10 km from the coast, thereby reducing the threat faced by amphibious assault ships.
This IFV is a considerable improvement over other amphibious armored vehicles, such as the US AAV7 amphibious armored personnel carrier. It is also armed with a fast-firing, effective 30-millimeter automatic cannon.
Instead, the ZTD-05 had a 50-caliber anti-aircraft machine gun and a 105-millimeter ZPL-98A gun, a light derivative of the British L7 tank gun. The ZTD-5 arguably qualifies as a 'tank' in technical terms. This is done because it combines a closed turret with a large gun on a tracked vehicle.
Functionally, it was designated as an 'assault weapon'. This was because it was intended to provide direct fire to hard targets to support accompanying infantry, not lead a breakthrough into enemy lines.