Zhuhai Air Show's land equipment, the new VN-22 armored vehicle, can compete with the German "Boxer Dog"

The 2021 Zhuhai Air Show opened, and many new weapons appeared, such as the Wuzhen-7 UAV, which was previously nicknamed the "Xianglong" UAV, the Wuzhen-8 UAV, the J-16 electronic warfare aircraft, the Rainbow-6 UAV, etc. However, compared to these previously rumored equipment, this time it is just a "real hammer" equipment. The author is more interested in the VN-22 armored vehicle, which is a brand new equipment.

VN-22 armored vehicle

Let me start with the conclusion: the technical level of this vehicle far exceeds the ZSL-92 series wheeled armored vehicles and ZBL-08 series wheeled infantry fighting vehicles currently in service in the People's Liberation Army, and is even higher than the new eight-wheeled vehicles that are still being tested. It can be said that it is the highest level of wheeled armored vehicles in my country at present. It can be compared to the German "Boxer" armored vehicle. It is at the forefront of the world's first-class level.

The picture shows the Lithuanian version of the German "Boxer" armored vehicle

The Australian version of the German "Boxer" armored vehicle. Although the "Boxer" is expensive, the Germans always get what you pay for, and the performance is very good, so it is quite popular internationally. If there is a disadvantage, it is that it is a bit heavy.

The new eight-wheeled armored vehicle that is still being tested has a considerable technical level, but due to demand (there are also floating requirements and the weight limit is stuck) and the troops' pursuit of stability (not adopting too many new technologies and forming combat effectiveness as soon as possible), although it is a great improvement over the 08 vehicle family, it is still some distance away from the world-class wheeled armored vehicle such as the "Boxer".

The VN-22 integrates the most advanced technologies in related fields in China, which truly demonstrates that "it is not that my country does not have technology, but it is not used". To some extent, it can be regarded as a technology demonstration vehicle. The latest technology was used a bit hastily for the first time, and it will definitely be more mature in the future.

Let's talk about the turret first. First of all, this is a non-penetrating unmanned turret. The new 30mm machine gun (power and accuracy are greatly improved compared to the old 30mm gun, and it is positioned against the US Mk44 machine gun), lifting twin missile launcher + fourth-generation missile (probably Hongjian-12, it is estimated that it can also be replaced with Hongjian-16, which is the fourth-generation anti-tank missile, half of the cruise missile), commander/gunner universal optoelectronic gimbal fire control (unmanned turret commander and gunner two-in-one), and main defense system, this turret basically reaches the world's first-class level.

The reason why it is called optoelectronic gimbal fire control is because it can really rotate up and down, left and right, just like a handheld gimbal.

This is another turret, which is the same as the VN-1C turret exported to Thailand, which means that this is a non-penetrating unmanned turret, modular and replaceable, with an operating table underneath, which means that it can be replaced with a better one in the future, such as a buried missile turret.

That's probably it.

This is the launcher of the active defense system. It is not news that my country has developed active defense systems, but this is the first time that it has been installed on a vehicle for display - although it may be a model. And this should be a small active defense system for armored vehicles, which is different from the large active defense system for tanks. For example, Israel's "Iron Fist" system is for armored vehicles, and "Trophy" is for tanks.

GL5 is a large active defense system for tanks

Anti-tank missile rack is similar to this

The effect is similar to this

In terms of chassis, it has professional lightning protection design and integral additional armor, fully electronically controlled automatic transmission, fully hydraulic and pneumatic lifting body suspension, V-shaped hydraulic jump-type protective tailgate, and lightning-proof suspended seat.

The rear of the vehicle has an irregular V-shaped hydraulic tailgate with a hand-pull door for emergency use. This is the latest tailgate design. The way soldiers step on it has been designed to protect against lightning impacts (their feet are not grounded to prevent the impact force from being transmitted and causing concussions), and the V-shaped chassis has an obvious explosion-proof design.

The vehicle should be able to accommodate six people, and because the vehicle is relatively tall, it seems to have ample space.

Also note that there is no propeller propulsion device at the rear of the vehicle, which means that it does not pursue floating capabilities, so the weight limit is relaxed, so more weight can be allocated to strengthen defense.

This is a demonstration of the full hydraulic and pneumatic lifting suspension

In terms of defense, since there is no weight limit, you can see that the whole vehicle has thick additional armor (refer to the two towing points at the bottom). Of course, you can also replace it with better armor if necessary. Due to the large angle of the front, the defense will be higher. It is estimated that the front can defend against 30mmX173mm tail-stabilized armor-piercing projectiles (NATO level 6 defense), and the strange direction can defend against 14.5X114mm armor-piercing projectiles (NATO level 4 defense). The turret is unmanned, so it will be weaker. In addition, there is an active defense system.

The vehicle is very compact, but very tall. The host compared it to the vehicle, and estimated that it is over 2 meters tall. The weight is estimated to be over 25 tons due to the cancellation of the underwater propulsion device, plus the turret and armor. The corresponding power must be good, it must be the power system, with a horsepower of 800 horsepower.

It has a fully electronically controlled automatic transmission and drives like a real sedan, and it also has new headlights and cameras all around the car, which is awesome.

Overall, the VN-22 demonstrates the highest technical level of my country in wheeled armored vehicles, which is completely in the world's first-class position. It has all the advanced technologies of foreign countries and is even slightly better. However, as mentioned above, the PLA does not need so many new technologies. What it wants is stable performance and the troops can form combat effectiveness as soon as possible. Therefore, the technical level of the new eight-wheeler is slightly worse than that of the VN-22, but if the 08 vehicle family and the new eight-wheeler need to be upgraded in the future, the VN-22 will be the technical route reference.

The author estimates that according to the PLA's rule of "equipping one generation, developing one generation, and pre-researching one generation", there are new wheeled armored vehicles with the technical level of VN-22, but they are the next generation of the new eight-wheeled vehicles, and belong to the third generation of wheeled infantry fighting vehicles (08 is the first generation, the new eight-wheeled vehicles are the second generation, and 92 is an armored transport vehicle so it is not included in this list). It will take until the 2030s to equip them, so for now, we will equip them with the new eight-wheeled vehicles first, which are also good. .