In the mid-80s, in the midst of the Cold War, the German industrial group Krauss Maffei Wegman, associated with the Bundeswehr, the Federal German Army, produced a promotional film for its new heavy tank. Leopard 2, showing the armored vehicle moving on uneven terrain while holding a glass of beer on a small base placed at the end of the barrel, without spilling a drop. The Chinese manufacturer Norinco, today the world's largest company specializing in the construction of armored vehicles, was most likely inspired by this 35-year-old campaign to demonstrate the performance of its new Type 15 light tank, which recently entered service in the People's Liberation Army.
This time, it was not a glass of beer, but a 30mm shell which was placed at the end of the barrel, while the tank moved and its turret maintained a fixed aim. And if a shell cannot discharge, its base of only 3 cm made the exercise more difficult. The objective of this demonstration was naturally to show that the gap between Western tanks and Chinese productions had been bridged, so as to remove the last apprehensions of potential customers for the export of these armored vehicles, to whom the armored vehicle is marketed under the designation VT-5.
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