Commanders!

Today, we’d like tell you about the first vehicle of the upcoming Battle Path, which is inspired by the well-known Chinese epic Journey to the West. As you can therefore surmise, the vehicles featured in this Battle Path are all of Chinese origin, including the very first one you’ll have the chance to obtain, which is called ZBD-100.

First, a bit of history as usual.

Or that’s where there would be some. But the truth is that there’s a lot that’s unknown about this vehicle, including its official designation. But let’s start from the beginning.

The military parade that took in Beijing on September 3, 2025 was held in celebration of the 80th anniversary of the victory over Japan in the Second World War. The People’s Liberation Army used the opportunity to showcase a number of vehicles (over 80 vehicle types in total), including a brand-new Armored Fighting Vehicle for its airborne forces.

The People's Liberation Army Air Force Airborne Corps, as the branch is called, is currently equipped with ZBD-03 Infantry Fighting Vehicles. These are extremely light and fast air-deployable IFVs similar in concept to the Russian BMD series and offer a lot of firepower in a small package. However, that also means the vehicles suffer from similar drawbacks, including extremely poor protection.

The new airborne vehicle is clearly designed to remedy some of these while retaining the small size and low weight necessary for them to remain easily air-transportable. While some might argue large airborne operations are a thing of the past in the age of complete digital battlefield coverage, the Chinese clearly mean business.

Of all the new vehicles unveiled during the parade, this one is the least documented and some, if not most, characteristics have been speculated about since last year. They were therefore assembled from various reputable sources, including Chinese servers and military magazines, but, as always, you should take them with a grain of salt and as an approximation.

With that being said, the vehicle we’re discussing allegedly weighs around 14 tons. It has a crew of 3 men located in the hull, and an unmanned turret. The vehicle can carry 4 paratroopers. The armor is likely aluminum to keep the weight low with extra composite panels improving the protection around the most exposed areas. The vehicle is clearly still very vulnerable to pretty much any kind of fire, but, unlike older airborne IFVs, features both soft-kill and hard-kill active protection systems (JD-3 and JD-6 respectively) as well as Type 94 smoke grenade launchers.

The vehicle is allegedly powered by hybrid engine of an unknown type. Some sources claim it’s called HPD110 and produces 1500hp by assuming it’s shared between all new vehicles unveiled during the parade (most notably the ZTZ-100 Main Battle Tank and the Type 100 Fire Support Vehicle) but that is, of course, mostly a speculation. What is not a speculation is the presence of a hydraulic suspension, allowing the vehicle to lower its silhouette for transportation or in a stationary position. The maximum speed of the vehicle is said to exceed 80 km/h.

As for the armament, the vehicle is armed with a 30mm ZPT-02 autocannon (a rather classic choice) capable of very high depression and elevation, as well as a coaxial machinegun. The most interesting part, however, are its two secondary weapon systems:

• HJ-13 anti-tank guided missiles

• PF11E thermobaric unguided rockets

The HJ-13 guided missiles are launched from the two-tube missile launcher on the left side of the turret. They represent an evolution of the HJ-12 belonging to the Red Arrow missile series and are, in real life, fire-and-forget missiles that can be fired in top-attack mode (resembling the U.S. Javelins).

The PF11E thermobaric rockets are even more interesting. They are unguided and can be used to devastate soft targets, especially in urban environments where long-range combat is not expected that much. The vehicle carries four of these.

The Fire Control System and optics are likely shared with the Type 100 Fire Support Vehicle and are state-of-the-art.

And that’s pretty much all that’s known about this vehicle as it hasn’t appeared around all that much since the parade. The most interesting part is that not even its official designation is known. Why do we call it ZBD-100 though?

Back in 2025 when this vehicle first appeared, we knew we would add it to Armored Warfare basically straight away, it was just that interesting. But we were quite certain that by the time we’d get to implementing it, the official designation would definitely be revealed. As it turned out, it wasn’t. We therefore derived it simply from the designation for an earlier IFV (the ZBD designation stands for “armored vehicle, IFV, tracked”) combined with the number 100 used for other “next-gen” vehicles unveiled during the parade.

There’s of course the matter for the Type 100 Fire Support Vehicle being referred to as ZBD-100, but that one is not a true IFV – it is even designated as a fire support vehicle by the Chinese, so why would it be called ZBD-100? In any case, this is the compromise we made and we hope you’ll enjoy it no matter how it’s called.

And now to the gaming part.

In Armored Warfare, the ZBD-100 will be a Tier 10 Premium Armored Fighting Vehicle.

As you can probably guess from the description already, this vehicle will be pretty much the polar opposite of the current Battle Path’s AMPV 30. But worry not, despite its lack of armor it has a lot going for it.

Let’s start with the basics, of course. The baseline armor will be very thin, but augmented by state-of-the art APS (similar to the combined system used in the game by the T-14 Armata) as well as the supercharged hard-kill APS active ability.

Its agility, top speed and acceleration will be extremely good (even on off-road surfaces) because this vehicle is meant not just for scouting, but for fast combat. Get close to your opponents, hit hard, and disappear before they can react.

And speaking of hitting hard, we have three weapon systems for you:

• Powerful 30mm ZPT-02 autocannon

• HJ-13 guided missiles

• PF11E thermobaric rockets

The autocannon is tuned for not perhaps as high rate of fire as some other autocannons of this caliber, but with seriously increased damage per shot. While powerful, it’s also not too accurate – as we mentioned, this vehicle is meant for high-speed combat and you won’t be doing a lot of sniping with it. But it does have a long-range weapon system – the HJ-13 missiles. These are modern tandem HEAT warhead ATGMs with self-guidance. They can be used to engage targets at long ranges where the autocannon is not as effective.

But the most unusual weapon will be the thermobaric PF11E rockets. These are unguided and fairly inaccurate, but at closer ranges you can deal tremendous damage in a matter of seconds with them. We’re still tuning the details but the idea is to get close to your target, fire off the rockets and switch to autocannon to cover their (rather long) reload. After all, you can run circles around your target thanks to ZBD-100’s excellent mobility.

But the vehicle is more versatile than that. In its stock configuration, you will have the access to two active abilities:

• Active Suspension (allowing you to lower the vehicle for improved camouflage)

• Designate Target

You can upgrade the vehicle by completing Battle Path missions to unlock the following abilities:

• Supercharged hard-kill APS

• Assault Squad infantry (firing thermobaric rockets)

The camouflage and viewrange will both be excellent so it is possible to play the vehicle in a more passive role – the choice will be yours.

And one more thing.

The vehicle will be the first of three vehicles of this Battle Path to have access to the new passive ability called Synergy.

The short version is, all three vehicles of the Battle Path share the same super-modern Battlefield Management System, which allows them to work better together. Therefore, if close to each other, the vehicles will improve the performance of each other. ZBD-100’s contribution to this system is a mobility buff, but we’ll share the details later in a separate article.

For now, that’s all, but we’re already working on the next unveil and, as always:

See you on the battlefield!