Changhe Z-10
The CAIC Z-10 (Chinese: 直-10 for 直升机), also called WZ-10, is an attack helicopter developed by the People's Republic of China. It is designed primarily for anti-tank warfare missions but has secondary air-to-air capability as well. It was designed by Kamov design bureau of Russia under a contract with the Chinese government. It was further developed and flight tested by the 602nd Research Institute under Wu Ximing (吴希明) and is being built by the Changhe Aircraft Industries Corporation (CAIC).
Nicknames of characters in the Chinese classic novel Water Margin have been used to name Z-10 and its smaller comrade, 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 ground force aviation units had been equipped with the WZ-10.
Users[edit | edit source]
- Pakistan
- Pakistan Army - 3 for trials and evaluation with a follow up order of 7 more units.
- People's Republic of China
- People's Liberation Army Ground Force x 96 - 24 more on order
