The Type 11 (), designated as QTS-11, is an

air burst 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 integrated with the QBZ-03 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. 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.

History

Appearance

The first pictures of the supposed rifles were shown as prototypes in 2006 and 2008.

Deployment

In early 2018, Chinese

state media State media are typically understood as media outlets that are owned, operated, or significantly influenced by the government. They are distinguished from public service media, which are designed to serve the public interest, operate independent ...

announced the introduction of the weapon with the Sky Wolf Commando Unit, a PLA Special Operations Forces unit from the Western Theater Command. It was also reported to be issued with the 76th Special Operations Brigade, 76th Group Army. The QTS-11 was reportedly used overseas during anti-pirate operations in the Gulf of Aden.

Design

The QTS-11 system combines the QBZ-03 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 when fully loaded. It can use magazines from the QBZ-95 and the QBZ-03. 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 (military), director and radar, which is designed to assist a ranged weapon system to target, track, and hit a target. It performs th ...

and loaded manually through

bolt-action Bolt action is a type of manual Action (firearms), firearm action that is operated by ''directly'' manipulating the bolt (firearms), turn-bolt via a cocking handle, bolt handle, most commonly placed on the right-hand side of the firearm (a ...

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

armor-piercing Armour-piercing ammunition (AP) is a type of projectile designed to penetrate armour protection, most often including naval armour, body armour, and vehicle armour. The first, major application of armour-piercing projectiles was to defeat the ...

, 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 term ...

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 t ...

. It is 93 cm long and weighs 4.27 kg. 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. 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.

Users

References