Why PLA’s laser-equipped Type 19 vehicle could matter in a Taiwan conflict

The People’s Liberation Army may be seeking to give its frontline mechanised units mobile protection against the kind of drone-saturated battlefield that could emerge in a Taiwan conflict. Unverified images posted on mainland Chinese social media on August 29 show a new variant of the Type 19 amphibious 8x8 combat vehicle featuring a turret-mounted laser weapon and extra sensors alongside its standard autocannon. Janes, an open-source defence intelligence provider, reported in 2023 that vehicles...