The QJS-161 Paratrooper Machinegun (), also known as the QJB-201 Squad Machinegun (), is a Chinese

light machine gun A light machine gun (LMG) is a light-weight machine gun designed to be operated by a single infantryman, with or without an assistant, as an infantry support weapon. LMGs firing cartridge (firearms), cartridges of the same caliber as the othe ...

designed and manufactured by

Norinco China North Industries Group Corporation Limited, doing business internationally as Norinco Group (an abbreviation of "North Industries Corporation"), and known within China as China Ordnance Industries Group Corporation Limited (), is a Chinese ...

for the

People's Liberation Army The People's Liberation Army (PLA) is the military of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the People's Republic of China (PRC). It consists of four Military branch, services—People's Liberation Army Ground Force, Ground Force, People's ...

Ground Force ''Ground Force'' is a British garden makeover television series originally broadcast by the BBC between 1997 and 2005. The series was originally hosted by Alan Titchmarsh, Charlie Dimmock and Tommy Walsh. Production The series was created b ...

and Airborne Corps.

Development

The QJB-201 and QJS-161 are designed to replace China's QBB-95 series squad automatic weapon and

QJY-88 The QJY-88, also known as the Type 88 LMG (), is a 5.8x42mm Chinese light machine gun designed in the late 1980s by China North Industries Corporation, otherwise known as Norinco. It was intended to replace the obsolete Type 67 machine gun in se ...

light machine gun.

Design

The QJS-161 features two types of barrel varied in length, presumably for different requirements from the

PLA Ground Force The People's Liberation Army Ground Force (PLAGF), also referred to as the PLA Army, is the land-based service branch of the People's Liberation Army (PLA), and also its largest and oldest branch. The PLAGF can trace its lineage from 1927 as ...

and the PLAAF Airborne Corps. As an open-bolt machine gun, the QJS-161 uses

5.8×42mm The 5.8×42mm / DBP87 ( zh, p=Dàn, Bùqiāng, Pŭtōng, 87, s=弹，步枪，普通 87, ) is a military bottlenecked intermediate cartridge developed in the People's Republic of China. There is limited information on this cartridge, although ...

ammunition that can feed either from a disintegrating belt in fabric container loaded into the feed port on the left side of the weapon, or a standard Chinese 5.8×42mm

box magazine A magazine, often simply called a mag, is an ammunition storage and feeding device for a repeating firearm, either integral within the gun (internal/fixed magazine) or externally attached (detachable magazine). The magazine functions by holdi ...

inserted vertically into the magazine well at the bottom of the weapon, and the non-reciprocating charging handle is located on its right. A

picatinny rail The 1913 rail (MIL-STD-1913 rail) is an American rail integration system designed by Richard Swan that provides a mounting platform for firearm accessories. It forms part of the NATO standard STANAG 2324 rail. It was originally used for mount ...

is located behind the short feed tray cover above the feeding port. The squad automatic machine gun features a weight reduction design, such as lightweight material for the gun body and the fabric detachable box magazine, reducing the empty weight to . The side-folding stock features a fully adjustable buttpad and cheek rest. The barrel change requires the opening of the feed tray cover, which is a safety feature ensuring ammunition is removed before barrel replacement process.

Users

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References

5.8 mm firearms Light machine guns Machine guns of the People's Republic of China {{machinegun-stub

Development

Design

Users

See also

References