PLA commissions new type of infantry fighting vehicle

A new type of infantry fighting vehicle was recently spotted in service with the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA), official reports show. This new tracked armored vehicle will likely be used to transport troops and replace some of the less capable and obsolete equipment, analysts said.

A brigade attached to the PLA 81st Group Army recently held a commissioning ceremony for a batch of the new equipment, the PLA Daily reported on Monday.

Images show the brigade received delivery of the third generation Mengshi off-road wheeled assault vehicle and a type of tracked armored vehicle, eastday.com a Shanghai-based news website, reported on Tuesday.

While the new Mengshi assault vehicle is being commissioned into many units of the PLA and People's Armed Police Force recently and often showcased in media reports, the new tracked armored vehicle was never seen before, eastday.com noted.

Judging from the photos released with the PLA Daily report, the new armored vehicle is likely developed based on the chassis of the upgraded version of the Type 89 tracked armored fighting vehicle.

The curled reinforced ribs on its sides, a machine gun and two sets of smoke launching devices, make it a lightly armed vehicle, the eastday.com report said. However, this allows the vehicle to have a larger interior space and a reasonable production cost.

This means the vehicle's main function should be transport of infantry troops, an analysis by eastday.com predicted.