The Type 11, () designated as QTS-11, is an air burst grenade launcher integrated with the

QBZ-03 The QBZ-03 (Mandarin: Qīngwuqi Bùqiāng Zìdòng—"light rifle automatic") assault rifle, also known as the Type 03, is a Chinese gas operated, selective-fire assault rifle designed and developed for the 5.8×42mm DBP87 round. Unlike th ...

assault rifle in service of Chinese military since 2015. Reporting on the weapon as early as February 2011 initially identified the weapon as the ZH-05.

History

Deployment

In early 2018, Chinese

state media State media or government media are media outlets that are under financial and/or editorial control of the state or government, directly or indirectly. There are different types of state and government media. State-controlled or state-run media a ...

announced the introduction of the weapon with the Sky Wolf Commando Unit, a branch of PLA Special Operations Forces from the Western Theater Command. The Sky Wolf Commando was publicly revealed recently on August 2, 2017. Chinese marines use QTS-11 in anti-piracy operations in the

Gulf of Aden The Gulf of Aden ( ar, خليج عدن, so, Gacanka Cadmeed 𐒅𐒖𐒐𐒕𐒌 𐒋𐒖𐒆𐒗𐒒) is a deepwater gulf of the Indian Ocean between Yemen to the north, the Arabian Sea to the east, Djibouti to the west, and the Guardafui Channe ...

Design

The QTS-11 system combines the

assault rifle with a 20 mm

airburst An air burst or airburst is the detonation of an explosive device such as an anti-personnel artillery shell or a nuclear weapon in the air instead of on contact with the ground or target. The principal military advantage of an air burst over ...

grenade launcher and weighs between 5 kg and 7 kg when fully loaded. This makes China the third country to develop an airburst infantry weapon, after the American

XM29 The XM29 OICW (''Objective Individual Combat Weapon'') was a series of prototypes of a new type of assault rifle that fired 20 mm HE airbursting projectiles. The prototypes were developed as part of the Objective Individual Combat Weapon p ...

Objective Individual Combat Weapon The Objective Individual Combat Weapon or OICW was the next-generation service rifle competition that was under development as part of the United States Army OICW program; the program was eventually discontinued without bringing the weapon out of ...

and

XM25 CDTE The XM25 Counter Defilade Target Engagement (CDTE) System, also known as the Punisher and Individual Semiautomatic Air Burst System was an airburst grenade launcher with programmable ammunition derived from the XM29 OICW. It was fielded to sol ...

, and the South Korean

S&T Daewoo K11 The S&T Daewoo K11 DAW (Dual-barrel Air-burst Weapon) is a multi-weapon resembling the earlier US Objective Individual Combat Weapon in concept, design and operation. It consists of two separate weapons combined into a single unit: a lower assau ...

. Unlike other nations' airburst weapons, the QTS-11 has a single-shot grenade launcher that requires each round to be manually loaded and reloaded after every firing, while the others are magazine fed. Initial PLA trials determined that a single-shot grenade launcher would make it easier to change the type of munitions fired. The PLA does not have multi-purpose munitions but instead has different munitions types, which reduce the electronics needed and increase the firepower of the munition. Additionally, only the laser range finder and fire control system are integrated with the weapon, leaving optics optional and modular. These changes make it the lightest, and least capable, of all the airburst weapons in its base configuration. The primary weapon of the system is the 20 mm grenade launcher, with the 5.8 mm rifle for secondary use. Grenades are pre-programmed through electronic sight with

fire control system A fire-control system (FCS) is a number of components working together, usually a gun data computer, a director, and radar, which is designed to assist a ranged weapon system to target, track, and hit a target. It performs the same task as a ...

and loaded manually through

bolt-action Bolt-action is a type of manual firearm action that is operated by ''directly'' manipulating the bolt via a bolt handle, which is most commonly placed on the right-hand side of the weapon (as most users are right-handed). Most bolt-action ...

. Five types of grenade rounds available: impact detonation, airburst,

armor-piercing Armour-piercing ammunition (AP) is a type of projectile designed to penetrate either body armour or vehicle armour. From the 1860s to 1950s, a major application of armour-piercing projectiles was to defeat the thick armour carried on many warsh ...

, improved fragmentation and shotgun-type rounds. The U.S. encountered problems with the

lethality Lethality (also called deadliness or perniciousness) is how capable something is of causing death. Most often it is used when referring to diseases, chemical weapons, biological weapons, or their toxic chemical components. The use of this ter ...

of small 20 mm grenades during OICW development, resulting in a switch to larger 25 mm grenades for the XM25. The PLA claims their grenades have less electronics in them to carry more explosives and fragments to cause adequate wounding capability. The grenades are reportedly capable of a damage radius and an range with 220 m/s

muzzle velocity Muzzle velocity is the speed of a projectile (bullet, pellet, slug, ball/shots or shell) with respect to the muzzle at the moment it leaves the end of a gun's barrel (i.e. the muzzle). Firearm muzzle velocities range from approximately to i ...

.China Builds A Lighter OICW
– Strategypage.com, 10 March 2014 The QTS-11 can be equipped with an additional eyepiece device mounted on the helmet allowing soldiers to shoot around corners. The video image will be streaming from the electronic sight to the single-eye goggle. The fire-control system can also be turned off for manual sighting without the airburst programming capability.

Users

References

{{Multiple barrel firearms, state=collapsed Assault rifles of the People's Republic of China 5.8 mm firearms Bullpup firearms Grenade launchers of the People's Republic of China Personal weapons Multiple-barrel firearms Military equipment introduced in the 2010s

History

Deployment

Design

Users

See also

References