China developing world's fastest amphibious fighting vehicle

BEIJING: China is developing the world's fastest amphibious armoured vehicle that reach a top speed of 50 kilometres per hour when travelling in calm waters.

While there are many amphibious armoured vehicles in the world, most of them move very slowly in the water.

The North China Institute of Vehicle Research has built the armoured fighting vehicle (AFV) that can attain a top speed of 50 kilometres per hour on calm waters.

That speed would make the amphibious AFV the fastest amphibious military in the vehicle in the world.

Even with armour and weapons on a production version, it would still likely reach amphibious speeds of at least 19 to 28 kilometres per hour.

By comparison, the Iveco/BAE SuperAV, an amphibious AFV proposed by the US Marine Corps, has a top amphibious speed of about 9 kilometres per hour.

The Chinese amphibious AFV can retract its wheels against the underside of its hull. It has a v-shaped hull to reduce water drag.

It achieves its record-high speed with compact pumpjets, as well as retracting its wheels toward the hull to reduce drag, 'PopSci' reported.

The proof-of-concept vehicle has a light weight (about 5.5 tonnes without armour or installed weapons) that allows it to be particularly speedy.