Reportedly, an elite combined-arms brigade armed with new Type 99A tanks lost a mock battle in 2018 to an opponent who fought with older tanks
Beijing: China’s advanced technology in their new tanks seems far too advanced for its own soldiers, state recent media reports.
The new Type 99A are interconnected and have the potential to strike enemies who are out of visual range.
According to a report by the Global Times and China Central Television, an elite combined-arms brigade armed with new Type 99A tanks competed in a mock battle in 2018 with an opponent who fought with older tanks. Surprisingly, the Type 99A tanks lost.
"However, the elite brigade was heavily suppressed during the exercise because of obsolete ways of thinking," the Global Times added.
Most of the army leaders have attributed the result of this exercise to usage of inappropriate strategy and suboptimal usage of the new tank’s potential.
A CCTV reported Xu Chengbiao, a brigade battalion commander stating that the elite combined-arms brigade rushed with the Type 99A too close to the frontline, which did not optimise the use of the tank's combat capability.
However, Zhao Jianxin another battalion reportedly conceded by stating that they only studied the capabilities of older tanks but have not completely understood new ones.
Military experts believe that China has been dishing out impressive weaponry of late. China has made advanced world class weapons such as the Type 055 guided missile, J-20 stealth fighter jet and Type 99A battle tank.
A Beijing-based military expert spoke on the condition of anonymity to the Global Times, who opined that weapons alone cannot win wars as integrating the operator and weapons plays a very important role.
However, sources state that China, since the loss in the mock battle, has been training more frequently with the new tanks.
Read Exclusive COVID-19 Coronavirus News updates, at MyNation.