Chŏnsŏ J107
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| Chŏnsŏ J107 | |
|---|---|
| Type | Infantry mobility vehicle |
| Place of origin | Menghe |
| Service history | |
| In service | 2008-present |
| Used by | See "Operators" |
| Wars | Innominadan Crisis Innominadan Uprising |
| Production history | |
| Designer | Chŏnso Automotive |
| Designed | 1999-2006 |
| Produced | 2008-present |
| Specifications (J107G 12.7mm) | |
| Weight | 7.1 tonnes |
| Length | 4.47 m |
| Width | 2.81 m (incl. spare tire) |
| Height | 2.16 m to hull roof 3.03 m overall |
| Crew | 2 |
| Passengers | 5 |
Main armament | 12.7mm GCh-75 HMG |
| Engine | Chŏnsŏ Gi-702 V8 turbocharged diesel 170 hp |
| Power/weight | 23.9 hp/tonne |
| Transmission | 4×4 |
| Ground clearance | 410mm |
Operational range | 750 km (road) |
| Speed | 110 km/h (road) 5 km/h (swimming) |
The Chŏnsŏ J107 is a type of 4×4 armored car developed in Menghe as an independent venture by the Chŏnsŏ Group. It combines the functions of a mine-resistant vehicle, scout car, weapons carrier, protected staff transport, and light APC, and comes in a wide range of variants specialized around different missions. Externally, it resembles the Sieuxerrian VBL or the Maverican Otokar Cobra, but its internal layout differs from that of either vehicle.
Development
The J107 was one of several concepts which emerged in response to lessons learned during Menghe's intervention in the Polvokian Civil War. Early on in that conflict, it became apparent that the Menghean Army was suffering far higher casualties than the Dayashinese or Hanhaean intervention forces, despite fighting the same opponent. While some of this disparity stemmed from the size of the Menghean intervention force and the scope of its operations, a critical examination of the conflict suggested that overly aggressive tactics and poorly protected light vehicles were also at fault.
Among the deficiencies in question was the Menghean Army's lack of a proper armored patrol car. Some mechanized units were equipped with the JJCh-1, but most lower-level patrol units, battalion reconnaissance units, and rear-area patrol troops still traveled in the Chŏnsŏ G242. This vehicle, in service since the early 1970s, was entirely unarmored and typically traveled open-topped, making it exceptionally vulnerable to ambushes, mines, and roadside bombs. Its lack of a roof also left the crew exposed to the elements, with weapons carrier variants lacking even a folding canvas cover, and its lack of a roll cage left the crew vulnerable to injury in the event of a crash or roll.
Several of Menghe's design bureaus launched independent armored car development programs in response to internal reports on the conflict, with Chŏnsŏ beginning work on the J107 in 1999. This preceded any official Ministry of National Defense request for a new vehicle. As such, the J107 was built to a deliberately open-ended and versatile set of requirements, to maximize its suitability for any future MoND design requests. The first prototype was unveiled in 2004, shortly before Menghe scaled up its intervention in Ummayah. With the surge in defense spending to meet the new threat from Maverica, however, the Menghean Army focused most of its procurement money on new combat vehicles, and only a small number of J107s were initially produced.
Description
The Chŏnsŏ J107 has a conventional engine-forward 4×4 layout, much like a civilian lorry or automobile. The driver sits on the left side of the cab, with one passenger on the right. Behind the driver and front passenger is a rear-facing center seat, typically occupied by the vehicle's gunner. The gunner can sit in this seat with the hatch closed, or open the hatch and stand on the seat to operate the machine gun. The rest of the rear compartment is filled by four inward-facing seats, two on each side, with storage space on either side of the gunner's seat. A typical vehicle crew consists of a driver and a gunner, with five dismounts: one in the passenger seat, and four in the back. This allows two J107 vehicles to transport a single Menghean infantry squad.
The four passengers in the rear typically dismount through a clamshell rear door. Two steps on the lower half help these dismounts to climb in and out. There are also two hatches on the roof over the passenger compartment, but these are typically used to fire from the move or let fresh air into the vehicle during peacetime operations. The driver and front right passenger enter through small trapezoidal doors in the lower half of the vehicle's sides.
The crew are seated inside a welded steel unibody chassis. The sides of the chassis angle inward at 18 degrees from vertical, with the lower underside angling inward at 45 degrees. This helps deflect the blast from mines, grenades, and roadside bombs. To further relieve the pressure and avoid flipping, the wheel arches are designed to detach when hit by a blast. The vehicle's armor is able to withstand rifle-caliber ball ammunition from the sides and rear, and rifle-caliber armor-piercing ammunition from the frontal 60-degree arc. It offers moderate protection against shrapnel, protecting against grenades, shrapnel bombs, and medium-range shell and mortar impacts but easily defeated by large fragments from nearby shell impacts.
The baseline variant of the J107 has a single ducted propeller in a protective metal shroud. This propeller is directly connected to the driveshaft to the rear wheels, and it pivots left and right based on steering input from the driver. Because the chassis is completely sealed but relatively light, the vehicle is full amphibious, and its hullform gives it reasonably good seakeeping. The single propeller, however, was found to impede mobility and maneuverability while offering little power. Subsequent variants for the Menghean Marine Infantry have two propellers, which replace the storage bins in the rear wheel arches.
Variants
- J107 - The initial baseline variant derived from Chŏnsŏ's 2004 prototype.
- J107G - The main production model. It has a cupola mount with a multi-purpose pintle and a closing semicircular hatch.
- J107G GCh-75 - Armed with a 12.7mm GCh-75 heavy machine gun.
- J107G GCh-96 - Armed with a 7.5mm GCh-96 general-purpose machine gun.
- J107G JSB-30 - Armed with a 30mm automatic grenade launcher.
- Y18B3 - Missile-armed tank destroyer. Has a single 9M134 Valtorna (YDCh-18) ATGM tube on the pintle mount, typically fired from an angle on the pintle to keep clear of the operator's body. The operator then manually loads a new tube, with reloads stowed inside the vehicle.
- J107N - A slightly improved model of the J107G with a bulletproof shield around the cupola and an adjustable gun shield which can be mounted forward of the weapon or onto it. This provides somewhat better protection to the gunner.
- J107-23 - Prototype vehicle armed with a 23mm cannon derived from the DGP-23-2 anti-air gun. The autocannon is mounted on a remote weapon system but has the same ammunition box as the anti-air version. Not ordered into production.
- J107PT - Prototype vehicle armed with a 12.7mm GCh-75 HMG in an enclosed turret of the type used on the BSCh-7N. This required removing the four rear passenger seats, reducing the capacity to 3 crew and no dismounts.
- Y70B2 - Missile-armed tank destroyer for the YDCh-70 ATGM. Unlike the Y18B3, it uses a flat-top base chassis with four ATGM launchers on an exposed array. The gunner sits underneath this mount on a rotating chair, and the commander sits in the front right passenger seat, searching for targets with an electro-optical overhead sight. The launcher can be reloaded manually out of battle, using reload missile tubes stowed inside the hull.
- Y70B2G - Original production model with an "exposed" launcher group.
- Y70B2N - Upgraded model with metal blast shields on either side of the launcher, to protect externally stowed missiles from shrapnel and small-arms fire.
- J107G - The main production model. It has a cupola mount with a multi-purpose pintle and a closing semicircular hatch.
- J108 - A "stretched" variant with an extra pair of seats in the rear passenger compartment, raising the total capacity to 2 crew and 7 passengers.
- J109 - A major modification which Chŏnsŏ introduced in 2009 in response to a request from the Menghean Marine Infantry. It has a short snorkel in the back of the cab and draws most of its engine air through the troop compartment, making it less vulnerable to being swamped by waves. It also lacks wheel arch covers, and has two propellers in the rear, one on each side. The smaller central propeller is removed, and the rear brake and turning lights are placed further upward, displaced from their original location by the new propellers. These changes give the J109 considerably better seaworthiness, allowing it to safely swim to land in rough seas.
- J109G - The standard Marine Infantry production model with a pintle-on-cupola mount capable of supporting a variety of machine guns and heavy weapons.
- Y70B3 - A version of the Y70B2 tank destroyer on the J109 chassis. All models feature the Y70B2N's protective side shields.
- J110 - A 6×6 prototype with a stretched hull and an extra pair of rear wheels. The rear compartment has five pairs of inward-facing seats, bringing the capacity to 2 crew and 11 passengers. The engine is replaced by a 210hp model to compensate for the added mass. Chŏnsŏ entered this vehicle into the Menghean MoND's BSCh-11 MRAP competition.
Designation
Because Chŏnsŏ developed the J107 as an independent venture, rather than as a response to a MoND request, the vehicle entered service without a formal designation. Due to its versatile capabilities, it was neither a recon car (JJCh) nor a squad carrier (BSCh), and the MoND designation scheme had no pre-existing category for an armored car or general utility vehicle. As such, it came to be known by its manufacturing designation, much like the Chŏnsŏ J288 utility lorry.
Within the designation J288, however, J denotes "heavy" (jung), for a heavy utility truck. The J in J107 instead denotes janggabcha, or "armored car." In Menghean, the short form designations are read jung-288 and jang-107 respectively, but in foreign literature the use of J for both abbreviations has been a source of some confusion.
In 2014, shortly before the introduction of the JSCh-3, the J107 retroactively received an official Menghean Army Ho-type designation, JSCh-1. Marine Infantry variants were designated JSCh-2. This acronym stands for jo susong janggabcha, or "fireteam transporting armored car," a counterpart to the BSCh designation used for APCs and IFVs. The reasoning behind the new designation is that BSCh-type vehicles are designed to transport an entire light or heavy infantry squad (7 or 10 dismounts), while JSCh-type vehicles split a light infantry squad across two vehicles. Furthermore, JSCh-type vehicles do not typically operate on the front lines, instead providing security behind the front lines or conducting deep reconnaissance amidst enemy forces. Nevertheless, the existing J107 and J109 designations remain widespread owing to their earlier adoption.
Operators
See also
 Menghean postwar armored fighting vehicles | ||
|---|---|---|
| Light tanks |  | |
| Medium tanks | ||
| Main battle tanks | ||
| Infantry fighting vehicles | ||
| Armored personnel carriers | ||
| Tank destroyers | ||
| SPGs | ||
| Multiple rocket launchers | ||
| Self-propelled anti-air guns | ||
| Self-propelled SAM systems | ||
Note: r = retired from service, d = in development, e = export only. All names use foreign designations. | ||