What's so special about China's best infantry tank?

At the NORINCO Armor Day 2017 exhibition, the VN17 tracked infantry fighting vehicle was officially introduced to target the export market.

In 2017, a completely new infantry fighting vehicle (IFV) was “launched” by China with the designation VN17, the symbol “VN” showing that it will be intended for the world arms market and not for the Chinese army.

The VN17 is a completely new, Chinese-made IFV design, not a copy of an existing Russian or European product. The chassis of the VN17 is said to be that of the VT5 light main battle tank (also intended for export).

Chinese VN17 infantry fighting vehicle

This new IFV weighs about 30 tons; is 7.5 m long; 3.2 m wide; 2.5 m high; has a crew of 3 and can carry 7 soldiers with full weapons, these parameters are similar to many other infantry vehicle models.

From the outside, it is easy to see that the VN17 has been integrated with a secondary armor capable of withstanding 30mm bullets fired directly at the front, making its level of protection higher than the best IFV of the Chinese Army, the ZBD-08. This vehicle follows the current trend of emphasizing the level of safety for soldiers.

Mounted on the chassis of the VT5 light tank, but NORINCO engineers moved the engine block forward to create a troop compartment, so it is essentially an "upside down" VT5, the door to the troop compartment is located at the rear to minimize casualties.

Close-up of the 30mm cannon of the VN17 infantry fighting vehicle

The VN17's weapons include a 30mm automatic cannon with an extremely modern optical-electronic aiming system made in China with a "Western look". It is unclear whether it will be equipped with a coaxial machine gun or not?

However, the most notable thing on the VN17 turret must be the 2 new generation HJ-12 anti-tank missiles, which are said to have similar features to the American FGM-148 Javelin. It uses a launch-and-forget mechanism, attacking the roof in the thinnest armor position. The effective range of the HJ-12 is up to 4,000 m during the day or reduced to 2,000 m at night.

The VN17 infantry fighting vehicle has extremely high mobility.

The maneuverability of the VN17 is also extremely impressive, it is equipped with a FX0012 turbocharged diesel engine with a capacity of up to 1,000 horsepower, which is even more powerful than the 950 horsepower V-92S2 of the T-90A/S main battle tank.

The high thrust-to-weight ratio allows the VN17 to reach a maximum speed of 70 km/h, a range of 500 km, climb a 60% slope, overcome obstacles 0.85 m high, cross a 2.7 m wide trench and wade through water 1.1 m deep. Due to its heavy weight, this IFV cannot swim.

Overall, the VN17 is a good infantry fighting vehicle, possessing many impressive technical and tactical features, it is just unclear whether its price is "impressive" or not.

According to BaoDatviet