Have you ever wondered, just what if the US and China cooperated together in a joint military program?
TL;DR: You’d end up with a type 86 equipped with an American 25mm M242 Bushmaster
History
It’s probably safe to ask yourself, “man wtf is this aren’t China and the US meant to be enemies?” And honestly, it’s a fair question to ask, however, historically it hasn’t always been like this. Following the death of Joseph Stalin and the subsequent rise of Nikitia Khruschev, the ideological differences between China and the USSR began to clash against eachother. Khruschev believed in a reformist approach to communism and wanted to move the country away from the policies of Stalinism. This in turn caused China who was still under Mao’s leadership during that time, to denounce soviet revisionism. In turn, seeing the rise in tension between these 2 nations, the US saw this as a great opportunity to swing in and improve relations with China to put more pressure on the Soviet Union. By the 1980s thanks to the diplomatic efforts between both countries, the relationship between China and the US became the closest it has ever been. With China opening it’s market to the world, several US private firms began working with Chinese firms with the goal of producing military equipments for the overseas market, with one of these projects being a joint development project between China’s NORINCO and the US’s FMC. The resulting vehicle that was created was the NFV-1. The vehicle utilised the Type-86 chassis, provided by NORINCO and the FMC Electric Drive turret that was provided by FMC. The turret was a one man turret armed with a 25mm M242 bushmaster autocannon. In 1986 the NFV-1 was publicly unveiled at ASIANDEX’86 that was held in Beijing, and was again publicly displayed in the 1987 international defense exhibition in Egypt. Overall the vehicle was positively received from attendees at ASIANDEX’86 and the 1987 international defense exhibition. So you may wonder, hey this is all going pretty well, surly nothing bad happens. RIGHT? Well, for those that knows history you’ll know that 2 years later, in the June of 1989, the tiananmen square massacre happened. Following the massacre, the US would impose an arms embargo on China and the production was ultimately halted, both NORINCO and FMC would withdraw from the project, ultimately leaving the NFV-1 unfinished.
Specifications
Main armament: 1x25mm M242 Bushmaster autocannon
Secondary armament: 1x FN M240 MG
Weight: 13.6 Tonnes
Max road speed (KM/H): 65
Max water speed (KM/H): 7
Traverse arc: 360 degree
Elevation: 47 degree
Depression: -7 degree
Engine power output (h.p): 293
Crew: 2
Troops: 10
Ground pressure (kg/sm2): 0.63
