The People's Liberation Army (PLA) has made no moves to replace the HJ-8 (Red Arrow-8), the main anti-tank guided missile (ATGM) used by Chinese infantry, despite knowing the weapon's ineffectiveness against modern tanks such as the U.S. M1 Abrams and China's own Type 96.

To illustrate the argument the HJ-8 is obsolete, a video released a few years ago shows PLA soldiers firing an HJ-8 at a Type 96 tank during a test. The tank survived the hit, and its composite armor apparently prevented complete penetration by the missile's HEAT (high explosive anti-tank) warhead.

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While the armor thickness of the Type 96 is classified, it's known to be less effective and not as thick as the Chobham armor protecting the M1 Abrams.

Battlefield experience in Eastern Europe in the 1990s and in Syria and Iraq today, however, shows the HJ-8 can penetrate most first and second-generation tanks like the Russian T-62; the U.S. M60 Patton; the British Centurion; the German Leopard 1 and the French AMX-30.

The HJ-8's ability to consistently smash through 800 mm of rolled homogenous armor seems to have convinced the PLA of its enduring effectiveness.

The three decades-old HJ-8 is held in such high regard by the PLA that the PLA website in 2015 praised the missile as having the "World's No. 1 destruction capability."

That statement isn't accurate, however.

Western analysts say the HJ-8, a second generation ATGM, can be shot down by the Active Protection Systems protecting main battle tanks such as Israeli Merkava. The reason for the missile's vulnerability is its slowness.

The HJ-8 speeds towards its target at only 220 meters per second compared to the 330 meters per second of the U.S. BGM-71 TOW.

The HJ-8 also has a small chance of penetrating the frontal composite armor of the top Western main battle tanks like the M1 Abrams and those used by NATO.

The Chinese missile, however, has proven effective in destroying older tanks and armored fighting vehicles still widely used across in battlefields worldwide.

TagsPeople's Liberation Army, HJ-8, anti-tank guided missile, ATGM, Type 96 tank, M1-Abrams, Active Protection Systems