QJC88A (12.7 mm)

The QJC88A on top of the ZTZ96A

Description

The QJC88A is a Chinese heavy machine gun used specifically on armoured fighting vehicles. It boasts an excellent rate of fire, and decent penetration, as it fires the 12.7 x 108 mm round seen on the Soviet DShK, NSVT, and 6P50. It is most commonly seen on main battle tanks at rank VI in the Chinese tree. Because it has a decent elevation angle, it can work as defense against a low-flying helicopter or aircraft in a pinch. Against ground targets, it won't penetrate as much as the M2HB, but can still pierce the armour of very light vehicles, such as anti-aircraft vehicles.

Vehicles equipped with this weapon

Vehicles equipped with this weapon
Light tanks	PTL02 · WMA301 · ZLT11
Medium tanks
ZTZ96	ZTZ96 · ZTZ96A · ZTZ96A (P)
ZTZ99	ZTZ99-II · ZTZ99-III · ZTZ99A
Export	MBT-2000 · VT4A1
Tank destroyers	PLZ83 · PTZ89

General info

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Available ammunition

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Comparison with analogues

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Usage in battles

Since the QJC88A fires a much larger round than the typical 7.62 mm machine gun, can be elevated independent of the main gun, and boasts a high rate of fire, it can provide a surprisingly effective air defence weapon at close range. It can also work well against very lightly armoured AFVs from the side, notably anti-aircraft vehicles. It also works well to mark enemy targets, even if you can't penetrate, and clearing out bushes.

Pros and cons

Pros:

• Decent rate of fire, superior to the M2HB
• Can elevate enough to be a threat to low flying aircraft
• Good belt capacity

Cons:

• Penetration is slightly inferior to the M2HB

History

The W85 heavy machine gun was an attempt to design a new heavy machine gun for use by infantry troops. The Type 77 heavy machine gun, then the current infantry heavy machine gun, had been designed to be lightweight, but did not perform as well as expected. This led to the W85, but the Type 85, an improved version of the Type 77, was selected instead. However, years after its rejection, the W85 was readopted for use on a pintle mount on armoured fighting vehicles, and renamed the QJC88. It proved to be much more successful, and today it is used on many of the People's Liberation Army's vehicles, such as the ZTZ96 and ZTZ99 series of main battle tanks, as well as a number of other main battle tanks and AFVs.

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See also

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• reference to the article about the variant of the cannon/machine gun;
• references to approximate analogues by other nations and research trees.

External links

• [Wikipedia] W85 heavy machine gun
• [Weapon Systems] Norinco QJC88

Tank machine guns
USA
7.62 mm	M37 · M60D · M73 · M240 · M1919A4 · Mk.52
12.7 mm	FN M3P · M2HB · M80 · M85
Germany
5.56 mm	MG4
7.62 mm	C6 · MG3A1
7.92 mm	MG13 Dreyse · MG34 · MG37(t) · MG42
12.7 mm	S.MG.50
USSR
7.62 mm	DT · PKMB · PKT · PKTM · RP-46 · SGMT
12.7 mm	DK · DShK · 6P49 · NSVT
14.5 mm	KPVT
Britain
7.62 mm	Browning MG4 · L3A1 · L8A1 · L8A2 · L37A1 · L37A2 · L94A1
7.7 mm	Vickers
7.92 mm	BESA
12.7 mm	L21A1
Japan
6.5 mm	Type 91
7.62 mm	Type 74
7.7 mm	Type 97
12.7 mm	Type 60 (B)
China
5.8 mm	QJT
7.62 mm	Type 55 · Type 59 · Type 86
12.7 mm	QJC88A · Type 54
14.5 mm	QJG02
Italy
7.62 mm	Beretta MG42/59 · FN MAG 60-40
8 mm	34/40M · Breda Mod. 38
13.2 mm	Breda Model 31
France
7.5 mm	AAT-52 · MAC 31
7.62 mm	A-A-F1N
8 mm	Hotchkiss Mle 1914
Sweden
6.5 mm	ksp m/14-29
7.62 mm	ksp 39 C · ksp 58 · ksp 94
8 mm	ksp m/36 · ksp m/39B
12.7 mm	ksp 88