Changhe Z-10
The Changhe Z-10 (Chinese: 直-10, "helicopter-10") is a Chinese medium attack helicopter developed for the People's Liberation Army Ground Force. It is designed primarily for anti-tank warfare missions but has secondary air-to-air combat capability as well.
| Z-10 | |
|---|---|
| A Z-10 displaying at the 2012 China International Aviation & Aerospace Exhibition. | |
| Role | Attack helicopter |
| Manufacturer | Changhe Aircraft Industries Corporation (CAIC) |
| Design group | Kamov |
| First flight | 29 April 2003 |
| Introduction | December 2012 |
| Status | In service |
| Primary user | People's Liberation Army Ground Force Pakistan Army Aviation Corps |
| Produced | 2003-present |
Initiated by chief designer Wu Ximing, the project had early Russian involvement with Kamov Design Bureau of Russia under a contract with the Chinese government, but the collaboration was abruptly stopped due to fundamental design philosophy disagreements. The Chinese designers and their customer, the PLA General Armaments Department, preferred a lighter-weight, more agile airframe with less emphasis on armor. The helicopter was further developed by Changhe Aircraft Industries Corporation (CAIC) and is locally manufactured.
Nicknames of characters in the Chinese classic novel Water Margin have been used to name Z-10 and its light-weight counterpart, the Harbin Z-19: Z-10 is called Fierce Thunderbolt (Pi Li Huo, 霹雳火), the nickname of Qin Ming, while Z-19 is called Black Whirlwind (Hei Xuan Feng, 黑旋风), the nickname of Li Kui.
In September 2016, the PLA announced that all of its army aviation units had been equipped with the Z-10.