The ZBD04A also got its engine buff. So it’s a bit faster now. I would say it’s perfect at 9.7 - but I would like it if they added its spall liners and then moved it to 10.0. China’s main lineup is at 10.0 so you’d be using it at 10.0 anyway.
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LWS is not very helpful at present times, they have same 4s reload, but BMD4 has 9m117m1, which has 150mm more pen. 150mm does not seem a lot, but it means that Abrams’ hull + leopard 2 A4 hull can not go through. This is critical at 9.7, you will be facing such vehicles. BMD 4 also enjoys a better mobility.
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Zbd has like 450 mm heat protection if you count engine transmission as armor. It’s a big advantage. Bmd less than 50?
but at the cost of 150 mm pen
it is quite helpful it does tell you when a tank is rangefinding
they don’t the bmd has a 5s reload.
it is not a lot, not to mention that you have 4 extra missiles, btw you can pen the hull of the leopard 2a4 with the aps 03 and even if you cant pen the lfp of the abrams you just need to shoot at the turret neck or the ufp and you will one shot it thanks to overpressure unlike when you shoot at the hull with the 9m117m1 which would only kill the driver.
I don’t know what you are talking about, but the 9m117m1 is clearly the better missile, and that target selection is very critical for light tanks, since if you can not quickly fire off the missile, you will get one shot. The thing I don’t understand about aps03 is that there is already a chinese 9M117M1, under the name of GP-105 for the 105mm light tanks like the WMA301, why don’t they just give it the identical one. I think it does not really break the balance of the ZBD04a by giving it 150mm extra penetration that’s all.
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marginally, the zsd is clearly a better tank even with the 600mm tandem, so the br difference is justified.
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But is the 0.7 BR increase really worth the LWS and better protection, the reload and rounds carried only make the ZBD04 slightly better. The worse mobility and bigger silhouette makes it less good. I would argue if it is the same as the BMD in the mobility or at least similar with the same missile, it should be 9.7, but it currently stands in a quite precarious spot.
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no matter how you look at it, it is much better than the BMD, more ammo, apfsds, lwr, better reload and much better protection, the bmd gets mowed down by .50cal
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Yes but the better protection bit does not help when it is as big as a MBT, the size matters as well. Also the 600 pen results in less spalling, as it is directly proportional to the penetration.
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it does, again you can kill the bmd from the front with a .50 cal, you will die way more easily from the artillery, dude, the front arc can easily stop 30mm apds, protection does matter, besides it isnt like the bmd is not an small tank either.
they have nearly the same spalling in practice, they perform very similar overall.
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That 150mm difference is pretty major when going up against most common 10.0 range tanks
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You can not penetrate leopard 2a4 turret, t72AV hull, abrams hull or turret, and ztz96a turret, this means it is virtually a weak round, you have to aim, and this is not friendly for a light tank.
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