JWCh-6
| Jiwŏncha-6 (JWCh-6) | |
|---|---|
 The two existing variants of the JWCh-6 with the years they entered service. | |
| Type | Tank support vehicle |
| Place of origin |  Menghe |
| Service history | |
| In service | 2012-present |
| Used by | Menghean Army |
| Wars | Innominadan Crisis |
| Production history | |
| Designer | Chikai Heavy Machine Building Plant |
| Designed | 2006-2011 |
| Produced | 2011-present |
| Variants | JWCh-6G, JWCh-6N |
| Specifications (JWCh-6G) | |
| Weight | 48.2 metric tonnes |
| Length | 8.82 m overall 7.23 m hull only |
| Width | 3.82 m including side armor |
| Height | 2.23 m to turret roof |
| Crew | 3 (driver, gunner, commander) |
| Armor | welded steel base Composite armor (turret face and hull glacis) |
Main armament | 57mm S-60Ch autocannon |
Secondary armament | YSB-38 automatic grenade launcher (commander) 7.62mm GCh-77 MMG (co-axial) |
| Engine | Taekchŏn D130 diesel 858 kW (1,150 hp) |
| Power/weight | 23.86 hp/tonne |
| Suspension | torsion-bar |
| Ground clearance | 43 cm |
Operational range | 800 km (internal fuel) |
| Speed | 65 km/h (road) |
The JWCh-6 (Menghean designation: 지원차-6 / 支援車-六, Jiwŏncha-ryuk), formally designated No.6 Tank Fire Support Vehicle (6호 전차 화력 지원 차량 / 六號戰車火力支援車輛, Ryuk-ho Jŏncha Hwaryŏk Jiwŏn Charyang), is a Menghean armored fighting vehicle based on the chassis of the JCh-6 main battle tank. It is designed to provide fire support for tanks and dismounted infantry fighting in built-up areas and on open terrain by suppressing ATGM teams and light tank destroyers.
Development
Inspiration for the JWCh-6 came from the FSR's BMPT concept, first dubbed Object 782. This vehicle was armed with a 100mm low-pressure gun and a co-axial 30mm autocannon, as well as two flexible automatic grenade launchers, and first appeared in the late 1990s. Menghean designers initially expressed interest in developing a similar vehicle on the JCh-5 chassis, but the Ministry of Defense pulled funds from the project before the initial round of design studies could be finished.
Menghean interest in a tank support vehicle returned after the Ummayan Civil War, where Menghean JCh-5 and JCh-6 tanks suffered heavy losses at the hands of RPG-armed insurgents in urban combat. While poor command and coordination lay at the heart of the defeats, the Menghean Army believed that a full solution would require introducing a dedicated urban combat vehicle with sufficient gun elevation to reach high apartment buildings and a high enough rate of fire to react to pop-up threats.
As the design process unfolded, the Army added new design requirements in response to rising tensions with Maverica and Innominada. Rather than an urban- or mountain-combat platform, the Army argued, the new fire-support vehicle would need to be capable of fighting on open terrain, with sufficient range to engage ATGM teams over three kilometers away.
The Chikai Heavy Machine Building Plant responded to these requirements with a straightforward and ingenious prototype, mounting a 57mm anti-aircraft gun in a modified JCh-6 tank. This weapon had a greater rate of fire than a 107mm or 125mm tank gun, but also a longer effective range and greater penetration capability than a 30mm autocannon, filling an intermediate space between Menghean tanks and IFVs. For faster development and greater training and maintenance commonality, Chikai also used the chassis of the proven JCh-6 main battle tank.
This initial prototype used the same turret as the JCh-6, with minor changes to the mantlet in order to allow greater elevation and leave space for spent cartridge ejection. It also fed ammunition from the turret bustle along a belt through the left side of the turret, requiring the gunner and commander to sit on the right side one in front of the other - a cramped arrangement in a turret designed to seat the crew on either side. In response to poor evaluation, the Chikai HMBP developed a new turret with side-by-side crew seating and an autoloader which fed 57mm shells up the center from a carousel-like arrangement around the turret basket. While less safe in the event of a penetration, this layout improved crew ergonomics considerably.
The second prototype design, designated JWCh-6, was approved for mass production in 2011, with the first service deliveries made during the following year. Production took place at the Chikai Heavy Machine Building Plant in Jinjŏng, which also manufactures the JCh-6 main battle tank.
Design
The JWCh-6 is based on the chassis of the proven JCh-6 main battle tank, which at the time of its development was the latest MBT in Menghean Army service. It is nearly identical in layout save for a few changes to the internal storage bins near the turret basket. In theory, any existing JCh-6 can be easily converted to a JWCh-6 at the factory, though in practice all JWCh-6s are new-build vehicles. Driver training for both vehicles is identical, and all automotive parts, including the entire powerpack assembly, are fully interchangeable.
Armament
Autocannon
The main armament of the JWCh-6 is a 57mm autocannon, essentially an anti-air gun withdrawn from active service and fitted with minor modifications for the in-turret mount. This has a cyclic rate of fire of 105 rounds per minute. It has a claimed maximum range of 2000 meters against point targets, 4000 meters against area targets, and 6000 meters against helicopters and low-flying aircraft. These figures are likely optimistic, but could be sufficient to suppress ATGM teams and light tank destroyers, providing cover for MBTs fighting nearby.
In contrast to the relatively more constrained main gun of the JCh-6, the 57mm autocannon on the JWCh-6 can elevate and depress through a range of -10 to +80 degrees, allowing the vehicle to more effectively engage targets in tall buildings.
The turret contains 300 rounds of 57mm ammunition. These are stored in a carousel arrangement at foot height, with the shells stacked two deep and leaning clockwise at 45 degrees. Shells are fed from the autoloader up to the left side of the autocannon, and spent cartridges are ejected out the right and then rammed forward through a hole in the mantlet. A steel cover on top of the autoloader reduces the risk that spall fragments will strike the stored ammunition after the vehicle is penetrated, but there are no blowoff panels to contain and divert the explosion, as on the JCh-6.
The JWCh-6 can fire four types of 57mm ammunition:
- P57-GP: high-explosive shell with timed fuse and tracer
- P57-DCh: APCBC-HE-T anti-armor round with 96mm RHAe penetration at 1000 meters range
- P57-NBYe: APFSDS-T anti-armor round introduced in 2010. Penetration at 1000 meters estimated at 400mm RHAe.
- P57-GPG: Smart-fused airbursting HE round introduced in 2014.
Aiming is accomplished through an electro-optical sight mounted on top of the turret. Like the gun, this can elevate to +80 degrees. It is also capable of autonomously tracking a high-contrast infrared target and determining the proper lead angle for the gun given the target's relative speed and range. This feature allows the JWCh-6 to engage moving helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft, albeit with less accuracy than a dedicated SPAAG.
ATGMs
In order to offset its poor armor-piercing capability, the JWCh-6 carries four YDCh-70 ATGMs, two on either side of the turret. These can elevate and depress through -10/+20 degrees. During the Innominadan Crisis, JWCh-6 vehicles were reportedly armed with a combination of two anti-tank and two anti-structure missiles, though this may have been a result of the war's asymmetrical character in its later stages.
The JWCh-6N variant, introduced in 2018, replaced these with YDCh-72 ATGMs, in upward-angled tubes on either side of the turret. While the YDCh-70 has a much longer range, it relies on SACLOS guidance, requiring the launch vehicle to remain stationary and keep direct line-of-sight with the target until the missile hits. By contrast, the YDCh-72 uses an imaging infrared seeker to pick out enemy vehicles from ground clutter, and can be fired while moving or from a turret-down position. In the lock-on-after-launch mode, the gunner first guides the missile manually using video feed from the seeker, then hands it off to an automatic terminal homing mode after acquiring an individual target.
Other armament
The commander's weapon on the JWCh-6 is a JSB-38 automatic grenade launcher, mounted alongside the remotely operated CCTV sight. This can traverse through 360 degrees, and has an effective range of 2000 meters against area targets. It fires from an ammunition belt stored within the external turret bustle.
There is also a co-axial GCh-77Ch 7.62mm machine-gun, with 2,500 stored rounds. In contrast to other Menghean MBTs, which carry the co-axial weapon on the right side of the main gun, this weapon is mounted on the left.
Protection
Hull armor on the JWCh-6 is identical to that on the JCh-6G MBT. The turret armor is slightly thinner, a move intended to lighten the turret and allow faster rotation. In response to concerns over vulnerability, the designers added "second-generation" ERA, the type used on the JCh-6N and JCh-5R, to the turret face. This improved protection against APFSDS rounds and man-portable ATGMs, but at least according to published estimates the vehicle's protection is weaker than that of the JCh-6R.
In response to concerns over ATGM and RPG fire, the designers introduced a new 2018 variant armed with the Jŏgran-un active protection system. This variant, designated JWCh-6N, carries the full four-array radar and IR/laser warning suite, giving it 360-degree protection against both missile and KEP threats. Defense analysts have observed that the added turret roof clutter from the Jŏgran-un system restricts the commander's field of vision from the manual cupola and the CITV sight.
Mobility
The JWCh-6 uses the same Taekchŏn diesel MTU as the baseline JCh-6, a move intended to streamline maintenance and production. Due to the lighter turret, it has a somewhat higher power-to-weight ratio, but the difference is very slight. The designers note that the JWCh-6 is able to match the speed and mobility of JCh-6-equipped units, allowing it to easily keep up with the units it supports.
Service
Original doctrinal proposals suggested that the JWCh-6 should operate in a 1:1 ratio with tanks in urban areas, and a 1:3 ratio in rural areas, with a high degree of integration alongside tank-armed units. To permit this, one company of JWCh-6 support vehicles would be added to each Tank Battalion, to be allocated in platoons among individual tank companies as needed. The Ministry of Defense, however, balked at the cost of re-equipping all tank battalions to this standard, and in the end the Army decided to adopt one JWCh company per Tank Regiment in Tank Divisions only. This allowed more units to adopt the new vehicle while retaining a low rate of production, but it also hindered common training between tank and JWCh crews, one of the main advantages of the JWCh-6 over autocannon-armed IFVs.
The JWCh-6 played a major role in Menghe's invasion of Innominada during the Innominadan Crisis, supporting tank formations in urban combat throughout the conflict. Crews praised the vehicle's heavy armament, noting that it surpassed the JCh-6 in its ability to engage soft targets at short notice. There was apparently one instance of a JWCh-6 shooting down an Innominadan Su-25 attack plane, though eyewitness accounts differ on whether the JWCh-6 or another anti-aircraft vehicle in the unit was responsible.
Some complained, though, that the long 57mm gun - though still 86 centimeters shorter than the JCh-6G's main gun - still hindered mobility in narrow streets. Protection-wise, the JWCh-6 suffered many of the same faults as the JCh-6G and N before it, especially after militants learned to treat it as a priority target. Its internal ammunition stowage and lack of blowoff panels made the vehicle particularly likely to burn once penetrated.
In the end, the Ministry of Defense scaled down production of the JWCh-6, and currently shows little interest in expanding deployment above one company per Tank Regiment. Part of this impetus came from the development of better-armed and better-armored IFVs, such as the "D" variant of the BSCh-9, and the move to improve MBT/IFV combined-arms operation. While a JWCh-8, based on the JCh-8 tank chassis, was rumored to be in development in 2016, it was apparently cancelled outright, its role handed to the prospective BSCh-12.