The Type 74 may be a straight copy of the LP-50. I'm not even sure the stats are that different between a new LPO-50 and the ROKS series, so if we assume the existence of a Chinese Type-58 based on wartime Soviet models, you can have a single "Flamethrower" weapon used since around 1960. Going out on a limb, there's also the fact that Sino-Soviet relations weren't at their best in '74, let alone '68, so the Type-74 flamethrower could even be a retroengineered copy from some samples loaned, why not, by the NVA?Īnyhow, we could argue about dates for years, and I don't think it would change much at gameplay level. In this case it wouldn't be a straight copy and would take longer to put through the motions. Regarding Chinese IOC, some also would have the Type-74 be improved over the LPO. A CIA Intelligence Memorandum entitled ‘Sources of Military Equipment to Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Military Forces’ - written in 1968 - shows that LP-50s were captured as early as that year.ġ968 would make the most sense as far as I have seen, though some sources unspecifically hint at earlier in the 50s/60s (the same Russian Warrior site has it referenced in the weapons of the earlier period). The Americans captured LP-50s in Vietnam.
The Russian Warrior link you posted earlier suggests that the LPO-50 may have been introduced around 1968. I would not be surprised if the PLA had the Type 74 in 1979 – five years after receiving the design. It may even be – and I am speculating now - that the Soviets gave the Chinese the design so that they could produce it for Communist forces in the ongoing Vietnam War. However, I think the Chinese may have been quick to produce and introduce a tried and tested weapon. The year would be the year of classification. Apparently no one has accurate info and it is just consistently described as "post-war" which could mean anything from 1946 to 1989.
OTOH the IOC of the LPO-50 itself (in USSR) is less and less clear the more I look into it. Given the notoriously long trial runs favored by the PLA, it may actually have been rushed into service in '79, or have been very shortly in service outside training units. Standard PLA practice AFAIK, but the Type-XX would generally be the year of type-classification, not IOC.
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