Eight Aérospatiale Gazelle armed with Euromissile HOT were procured for evaluation.īy the mid-1980s, the Chinese decided a dedicated attack helicopter was required. It concluded that the best conventional solution was to use attack helicopters. In 1979, the Chinese military studied the problem of countering large armour formations.
JSTOR ( July 2011) ( Learn how and when to remove this template message).Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. This section needs additional citations for verification. In September 2016, the PLA announced that all of its army aviation units had been equipped with the WZ-10. Nicknames of characters in the Chinese classic novel Water Margin have been used to name Z-10 and its light-weight counterpart Harbin Z-19: Z-10 is called Fierce Thunderbolt (Pi Li Huo, 霹雳火), the nickname of Qin Ming, while Z-19 is called Black Whirlwind (Hei Xuan Feng, 黑旋风), the nickname of Li Kui. The helicopter was further developed by Changhe Aircraft Industries Corporation (CAIC) and locally manufactured. The Chinese designers and their customer, the PLA General Armaments Department, preferred a lighter-weight, more agile airframe with less emphasis on armor. Initiated by chief designer Wu Ximing, the project had early Russian involvement with Kamov Design Bureau of Russia under a contract with the Chinese government, but the collaboration was abruptly stopped due to fundamental design philosophy disagreements. It is designed primarily for anti-tank warfare missions but has secondary air-to-air combat capability as well. The CAIC Z-10 ( Chinese: 直-10, "helicopter-10"), also called WZ-10 ( Chinese: 武直-10, " armed helicopter-10"), is a Chinese medium attack helicopter developed for the People's Liberation Army Ground Force. A Z-10 displaying at 2012 China International Aviation & Aerospace Exhibition.Ĭhanghe Aircraft Industries Corporation (CAIC)