Chinese Military Truck Maker released new logistic vehicles

From Dec.5 to Dec.11, an International Heavy Truck & Equipment Exhibition was held in Beijing Exhibition Center. Some domestic and foreign vehicle makers, like were involved in this expo. The most interesting one is that Chinese Sanjiang Space Wanshan Special Vehicle LTD demonstrated its WS series heavy vehicles, which are just close copies of U.S. armed forces' logistic vehicles.

Sanjiang Space Wanshan Special Vehicle LTD is a subsidiary of CASIC, (China Aerospace Science & Industry Corp.) and located in Hubei province. In the exhibition, "SanJiang-Wanshan Vehicle" promoted its several types of 4×4, 6×6, 8×8, 10×8, 10×10, 12×12 and 14×12 diesel powered off-road trucks.

6×6 cargo Truck

U.S. MTVR (Medium Tactical Vehicle Replacement)

For example, "SanJiang-Wanshan Vehicle" introduced a unnamed 6×6 cargo Truck, which is very similar to U.S. MTVR (Medium Tactical Vehicle Replacement) MK.23 standard Cargo Truck. In the promotion plate, "SanJiang-Wanshan Vehicle" announced that this 6×6 vehicle can be used as a mobile platform for rocket launcher, air-defense and land-based anti-ship missile system. The vehicle is installed with a powerful water-cooling electronic control engine, automatic transmission, 2-Speed transfer case and independent Suspension to realize high-speed off-road performance. Besides, this 6×6 cargo Truck has CAN (Controller Area Net) for self-debugging.

Its other specification includes:

Size (mm): 8050×2500×3090
Gross Weight (kg): 11000
off-road loading capacity (kg): 7000kg
high-way loading capacity (kg): 14000kg
Maximum Speed (km/h): 105
Maximum Range (km): 600

Sanjiang's New 8×8 cargo Truck
Another unnamed 8×8 heavy truck just looks like Oshkosh M997 A2 HEMTT. And its specification can be described as below:
Size (mm): 10100×2500×2580
Gross Weight (kg): 15000
off-road loading capacity (kg): 10000kg
high-way loading capacity (kg): 16000kg
Maximum Speed (km/h): 105
Maximum Range (km): 600

Oshkosh M997 A2 HEMTT


14×12 heavy truck

"SanJiang-Wanshan vehicle" also developed a 14×12 heavy truck for PLA Secondary Artillery ICBM transportation and launching. This most powerful one in WS series heavy truck is designed in divided driving axle, assisted by a multi-axle steering system and 1600×800-685 tires. Other characters are listed in below.

Size (mm): 18250×3350×3280
Gross Weight (kg): 38000
Maximum loading capacity (kg): 67000kg
Maximum Speed (km/h): 50
Maximum Range (km): 500

Now PLA's heavy logistic vehicles are mostly from 5 brands, including "HanYang Special Vehicle"(HY series), "North-Benz" (ND series), "South-west Vehicle" (XC series), "SanJiang-Wanshan vehicle" (WS series) and "Tai-an Aerospace Special Vehicle LTD"(TA series)

Actually, HY series, WS series and TA series occupy the main part of PLA heavy truck market. In 1999 national parade, 6×6 HY 4260S was the tractor for DF-21 missile system and 8×8 HY 4330 for DF-31 ICBM. Meanwhile, 8×8 WS-2400 was the mobile launcher of DF-11 and recently a mysterious DF-25 ballistic missile was found on a variant of WS-2500 10×8 chassis.

In TA series, 20-ton class 8×8 TA5380 is used in WM80 rocket launching system and FT-2000 anti-AWACS missile, 25-ton class 8×8 TA5450 and its variant are produced for DF-15 missile system and A-100 rocket system. And 30-ton class 10×10 TA5570 has been selected as the transportation vehicle for an unknown improved DF ballistic missile system, whose photos have appeared on Internet.

30-ton class 10×10 TA5570
Apparently, WS series' new products in exhibition are to expand its percent in market. It is usually known that the heavy truck technologies of "SanJiang-Wanshan vehicle" mostly from Russia and Belarus. But the face changing of WS series trucks possibly indicates a new direction of PLA logistic vehicle development.