Chinese soldiers too big for their tanks

Chinese soldiers are "too big and too fat" for some of their equipment which has created a need for newer armaments for the world's largest standing army.

Research institute with the People's Liberation Army's General Armament Department has found that the average Chinese soldier is two centimetres taller and their waistline five centimetres larger than 20 years ago.

The findings come from a data-gathering survey among more than 20,000 in-service ground-force soldiers with different ages.

Initiated in 2009, the survey measured and analysed the personnel's size, strength and other indicators of different body parts.

Because of the changes in physique, there is urgent need for equipment with larger models for the 2.3 million strong military, the PLA Daily report said.
 

A soldier with a normal body figure can even feel "cramped" in some commonly used tanks, with the vehicle designs based on average physiques 30 years ago.

Firearm buttocks that are too short can also affect firing accuracy, the article warned.

"The configuration of armaments and military personnel's physique should be matched, because that is the only way to ensure handy use of the equipment," Ding Songtao, the director of the survey said.

The research measured 28 items of basic human body data compared to seven items before.

The new database has also collected ergonomic parameters, such as data on hand muscle strength, which can be used to determine the optimum sensitivity of triggers.

According to Ding, the findings of the survey have been used in the designing of weapons and equipment for artillery, armoured force, engineer corps and chemical defence corps.

The changes in physique have other positive consequences, Wang Ya'nan, a military expert in Beijing said.

"The improvement of Chinese people's physical condition makes it easier to recruit military personnel," he said.

"Although soldiers do not have to do much manual labour requiring physical strength, unlike their predecessors, many jobs in the military and especially the army still require strong soldiers," he told state run China Daily.

For instance, he said, though designers have been striving to reduce the weight of foot soldiers' individual equipment, the overall load carried by each soldier is not significantly lighter than before.

"That is because the army wants to add more functions to soldiers' backpacks to diversify their roles in combat," Wang said.

"Soldiers must be strong to carry this equipment. So the fact that Chinese people are becoming taller and stronger provides more options to the military.