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WZ-10 helicopter gunship might to have improved homemade engine
Posted on April 3, 2016 by buffalo — No Comments ↓
According to a recent report from Qiangjiang Evening, China’s homemade helicopter gunship will hopefully have new-type homemade WZ-16 engine, which features more power than currently used WZ-9C engine, of which the power is merely about 1,000kw.
WZ-16 engine is a medium thrust engine jointly developed by AVIC and France, and will be firstly equipped on Z-15/EC175 helicopter made by China and France, which has won over 100 global orders. WZ-16 engine is expected to improve WZ-10 gunship to the same level of Apache attack helicopter.
At present, WZ-10 gunship can only hang 8 antitank guided missiles, compared to 16 of Apache.
According to famous Chinese military expert Song Zhongping, WZ-10’s maneuverability is comparable with foreign counterparts, but its armors are thinner due to limited power of engine, and this could be fatal in battles.
WZ-10 helicopter was expected to use Canada’s PT6C-67B engine with full authority digital electronic control system and 1,250kw power, but was later obstructed by U.S.
It was reported that WZ-10 helicopter also tried Russia’s VK-2500 and Ukraine’s TV3-117, but finally adopted homemade WZ-9C engine, at the expense of compromising performance.
http://www.china-arms.com/2016/04/wz-10-helicopter-gunship-might-to-have-improved-homemade-engine/
Another thing to note is that an uprated engine would provide the helicopter the capability to carry a MMW radar (allowing over-the-horizon targeting and during poor weather conditions), thicker armor plating, and an exhaust shield to suppress its IR signature.
A helicopter?
