Type 80 machine gun

The Type 80 (Chinese: 80式通用机枪) is a general-purpose machine gun (GPMG) manufactured by Norinco in China, based on the Soviet PKM. The machine gun was certified for design finalisation in 1980 and entered the PLA service in the mid-1980s, specifically in 1983.^[5] The Type 80 was intended as a successor to the Chinese independently developed Type 67, doing well in tests conducted in the Chengdu Military Region before it was dropped and instead, opted to keep the Type 67 GPMG in use.^[5]

Type 80 general-purpose machine gun
Type 80 GPMG in tripod mount
Type	General-purpose machine gun
Place of origin	China
Service history
In service	1983–present
Used by	See Users
Wars	Lebanese Civil War Second Sudanese Civil War[1] War in Darfur Sri Lankan Civil War Somali civil war (2009–present)[2] South Sudanese ethnic violence Sudanese conflict Syrian Civil War Boko Haram insurgency Islamic State insurgency in Iraq (2017–present)[3]
Production history
Designer	Mikhail Kalashnikov[4]
Designed	1980
Manufacturer	Norinco Changfeng Machinery (For CS/LM4 variant) Military Industry Corporation
Produced	1983–present[5]
Variants	See Variants
Specifications
Mass	12.6 kg (27.78 lb)
Length	1,192 mm (46.9 in)
Barrel length	658 mm (25.9 in)
Cartridge	7.62×54mmR 7.62×51 NATO (For CF 06 version)
Action	Gas-operated, open bolt
Rate of fire	700–800 round/min
Muzzle velocity	840 m/s (2,776 ft/s)
Effective firing range	1,640 yd (100—1,500 m sight adjustments)
Feed system	Belts in 100/200/250 round boxes
Sights	Open sights. Optical/Night vision scope can be outfitted.

Only a few Type 80s were used in the People's Liberation Army Marine Corps and airborne units, and a modified Type 80, named as Type 86, was then accepted by PLA armor units.^[6]

History

The development of the GPMG started when Chinese firearms engineers studied PKMs that were captured from Vietnamese forces during the Sino-Vietnamese War.^[6]

Changfeng Machinery was subcontracted to create the CS/LM4 in order to have it chambered to 7.62 NATO caliber.^[7] The CS/LM4 has been marketed to countries that have used Soviet/East European/Chinese-made small arms, but have oriented to use NATO-based ammo.^[7]

Design

The Type 80 uses the 7.62×54mmR round. It is a gas-operated, air-cooled, belt-fed, fully automatic firearm. It can fire on both the tripod and the foldable bipod on the gas tube below the barrel.^[8]

Belts are used from 100-round boxes in the light machine gun configurations, and from 200- or 250-round boxes in tripod-mounted applications. The machine gun uses an open iron sight, but can also be fitted with an optical or night-vision sight.^[8]

Variants

• Type 80 - The copy of the PKM GPMG, chambered in 7.62×54mmR. The modernized version is copy of PKP "Pecheneg"^[7]
• Type 86 - A machine gun only used for tanks as a secondary weapon.^[6]
• CF06 - An export-only version of the Type 80, which is chambered for 7.62 NATO ammunition.^[9][10] A study on creating the CF06 started with an evaluation from July to December 2006 with a prototype review in February 2007.^[7] Production started from April to May 2007 before the CF06 was officially formalized in January 2008.^[7] It's equipped with polymer furniture instead of the wooden furniture used in the original Type 80.^[11] The barrel life consist of 25,000 rounds, with 12,500 rounds for each one of two barrels supplied.^[12] It's also known as the CS/LM4 GPMG (Chinese: CS/LM 4型通用机枪) in 2008.^[6]

Foreign variants

• Mokhtar - A variant of the Type 80 made by Military Industry Corporation^[13] in 7.62x54R caliber.^[14]

Users

Syrian Soldier with Type-80

•  Cameroon^{[citation needed]}
•  China: Currently in service in small numbers with Chinese special forces.^[5][8]
•  Croatia: In service with Croatian police units during the country's war of independence.^[15]
•  India: Captured from various insurgents in the Kashmir valley and used by Indian troops.^[16]
•  Malta: Armed Forces of Malta^[17]
•  Niger^[18]
•  South Sudan^[1]

• South Sudan Democratic Movement: Mokhtar^[19]
• South Sudan Defence Forces: Type 80^[20]

•  Sudan: Manufactured locally as Mokhtar.^[21] Also Chinese-made Type 80s.^[20]
•  Somalia^[2]
•  Sri Lanka: In service with the Sri Lanka Army. Around 200 Type 80 GPMGs were supplied by Norinco as part of several defense agreements between China and Sri Lanka.^[22]
•  Syria^{[citation needed]}
•  Turkey: Purchased 2800 Type 80s for Border guards and Infantry Commando Brigades.^[23]

Non-State Actors

• Boko Haram^[24]
• Hamas^[25]
•  Islamic State^[26]
• Libyan National Army^[27]
• South Sudan Democratic Movement^[28]
• South Sudan Liberation Movement^[28]
• Nuer militias in South Sudan^[28]

See also

• PK/PKM: The original.
• UKM-2000: Polish version of the PKM for 7.62mm NATO.
• Zastava M84: Yugoslavian/Serbian copy of the PKM.

References

1. "Sudan - Global trade, local impact: Arms Transfers to all Sides in the Civil War in Sudan" (PDF). Human Rights Watch Report. 10 (4): 25. August 1998.
2. Noir, War [@war_noir] (July 18, 2024). "#Somalia 🇸🇴: Al-Shabaab (part of #AlQaeda) ambushed Somali Forces in El Dher, #Galgaduud. Militants captured #Chinese 🇨🇳 Type 56-2 rifles, rare LG2 grenade launcher, Type 69 RPG Launcher, Type 69-3 HEAT rounds, Type 80 MGs. The weapons were obtained by Somali Army in 2024/2023" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
3. https://twitter.com/war_noir/status/1747716616996171977. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)^{[better source needed]}
4. This is due to the Type 80's basis from the PK general-purpose machine gun.
5. 中国80式7.62毫米通用机枪至今仍大量出口(图) (in Chinese). Sina. Archived from the original on 2012-03-02. Retrieved 2010-05-04.
6. "深度：俄抱怨中国山寨太强 这么好的机枪都抄袭到手". mil.sina.cn (in Chinese). 10 May 2016.
7. "Firearmsworld.net" 80式通用机枪 (in Chinese). Archived from the original on 2015-11-15. Retrieved 2020-04-13.
8. "Type 80 7.62mm General Purpose Machine Gun". 2007-08-13. Archived from the original on 2007-10-16. Retrieved 2013-04-29.
9. "中国研制成功新型CF06式7.62毫米通用机枪(图)" (in Chinese). Sina. 2007-10-16. Archived from the original on 2012-03-02. Retrieved 2013-04-29.
10. "图文：国产CF06式7.62毫米通用机枪结构示意图" (in Chinese). Sina. 2007-10-16. Archived from the original on 2012-03-02. Retrieved 2013-04-29.
11. "中国CF06式7.62毫米通用机枪". 18 June 2017. Archived from the original on 2017-06-18.
12. "中国CF06式7.62毫米通用机枪" (in Chinese). 25 July 2017. Archived from the original on 2017-07-25.
13. Small Arms Survey 2014, p. 241.
14. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2017-05-20. Retrieved 2020-06-13.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
15. "Vojničke puške - mup.hr". 16 March 2014. Archived from the original on 2014-03-16.
16. Admin -. "Type 56 Assault Rifle: A Curious Case of Indian Army using Chinese Weapon". News Buzz India. Retrieved 2020-06-01.
17. Agius, Matthew (14 July 2018). "Personnel reveal shortcomings inside Maltese armed forces". Malta Today.
18. de Tessières 2018 (Small Arms Survey), p. 58.
19. Small Arms Survey 2014, p. 233.
20. Small Arms Survey 2014, p. 226.
21. Small Arms Survey (2014). "Weapons tracing in Sudan and South Sudan" (PDF). Small Arms Survey 2014: Women and guns (PDF). Cambridge University Press. p. 241. Archived from the original (PDF) on August 5, 2014.
22. "Chinese arms, radar for Sri Lanka military". 2007-06-05. Archived from the original on 2012-06-14. Retrieved 2010-05-04.
23. Kula, Mehmet Ali (13 September 2022). "Türkiye, Çin'den 3 binden fazla makineli tüfek aldı!". DefenceTurk (in Turkish). Retrieved 24 September 2023.
24. Savannah de Tessières (January 2018). At the Crossroads of Sahelian Conflicts: Insecurity, Terrorism, and Arms Trafficking in Niger (PDF) (Report). Small Arms Survey. p. 55. ISBN 978-2-940548-48-4. Archived from the original (PDF) on June 12, 2018.
25. "Hamas fights with a patchwork of weapons built by Iran, China, Russia and North Korea". ABC News. Archived from the original on 2024-01-19. Retrieved 2024-01-15.
26. Conflict Armament Research (September 2014). Islamic State Weapons in Iraq and Syria: Analysis of weapons and ammunition captured from Islamic State forces in Iraq and Syria (PDF). pp. 6, 9.
27. Mitzer, Stijn; Oliemans, Joost (23 March 2021). "Tracking Arms Transfers By The UAE, Russia, Jordan And Egypt To The Libyan National Army Since 2014". Oryx Blog.
28. "Reaching for the gun: Arms flows and holdings in South Sudan" (PDF). Sudan Issue Brief (19 April 2011). Small Arms Survey: 6–9. 7 January 2024.