Norinco is a Chinese state-owned company that manufactures defense products, with the initials corresponding to North Industries Corporation. This company has been showcasing its offerings at various defense expos across the continent, providing ground products such as armored vehicles, tanks, and anti-aircraft systems for the Armed Forces.
Zona Militar had access to Meng Xin, the company’s Deputy Director for Latin America, who graciously granted us an interview. Within it, we aimed to extract for our readers the main products being promoted by the leading defense and security company in our region.
ZM: Could you briefly inform us about what Norinco is?
“Norinco is a state-owned company in China that primarily provides land equipment and gear for the Chinese Army, supplying up to 90% of what is used by the Chinese military. This includes ammunition and some equipment for our Air Force and Navy as well.”
ZM: In broad terms, what does Norinco offer in the defense sector for the Latin American Armed Forces?
“We are offering some of our flagship products, including armored vehicles, tanks, anti-aircraft systems, and also our artillery. Additionally, we offer security solutions, such as equipment for police forces.”
ZM: Colombia recently acquired some 8×8 vehicles with a 30mm cannon. Does Norinco manufacture vehicles of this type? What alternatives could you offer to the Colombian Government instead of the chosen LAV III?
“We consider one of our standout products to be a series of variants, not only the 8×8 vehicle with a 30mm cannon or a personnel carrier but also a family of 8×8 vehicles. Currently, Norinco includes personnel carriers, infantry fighting vehicles with a 30mm cannon, and a variant with a 105mm cannon, in terms of armaments. In addition to traditional turrets, we also offer options with remote-controlled turrets, as well as other logistical vehicles such as ambulances, recovery vehicles for engines, bridge layers, engineering vehicles, among others. As an official supplier to our Army, we continue to develop different variants for our clients. I believe the unification of this chassis is a great advantage and provides great ease for maintenance and logistics for the entire force and vehicle fleet.”
ZM: Could you provide information on the average cost of a Norinco 8×8 Infantry Fighting Vehicle?
“The cost would need to be investigated and depends on various requirements because it’s not only about the mounted armaments but also internal systems and subsystems that we tailor specifically for each of our clients.”
ZM: I am interested in the anti-aircraft systems you are presenting. Could you provide more information on those being offered, both short-range, medium-range, and long-range?
“The anti-aircraft products we are showcasing include two types or usage scenarios: one for the defense of a fixed area and the other for accompanying anti-aircraft defense. For fixed-area defense, we have the Sky Dragon system, which is already a family, featuring a launcher vehicle and the ability to utilize missiles with different ranges, including 30, 50, and 100 km. The other type is for accompanying defense, where we have several vehicles for this anti-aircraft missile, mounted on 8×8 or 6×6 armored vehicles, with missiles having a range of 20 km. Additionally, we have our anti-drone system, which includes laser destruction capability with adjustable power to counter different drone threats.”
ZM: I see two medium battle tanks among your products. Could you provide more information about these two vehicles?
“The two tanks we have are the VT-4 and the BT-5. The VT-4 is the main battle tank we offer, sharing the same base as the tank used by the Chinese Army as an MBT, weighing 50 tons and featuring digitized fire control systems. The BT-5, on the other hand, is a light tank weighing 30 tons, known for its better mobility and used in China for plateau areas.”
ZM: For countries using NATO standard calibers, do you manufacture weapons to meet their needs, such as 105mm or 155mm artillery, or 30mm rapid cannons?
“Yes, in terms of calibers, we can say that we already manufacture a wide variety of NATO calibers. For small calibers like rifles or pistols, we have 5.56, 7.62, and 12.7 NATO types. For artillery, we also offer 105mm and 155mm grenades with different barrel lengths, which we manufacture and are available for our clients, with some successful examples on NATO platforms.”
We thank Norinco for their attention, and we will publish further articles to inform our readers about some of the products offered by the Chinese manufacturer, their features, users, and their utilization within ground forces worldwide.
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