Chinese flamethrowers

[PlasmaKrab]

Originally Posted by redcoat2

Indeed. The year would be the year of classification. However, I think the Chinese may have been quick to produce and introduce a tried and tested weapon. 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. I would not be surprised if the PLA had the Type 74 in 1979 – five years after receiving the design.

The Russian Warrior link you posted earlier suggests that the LPO-50 may have been introduced around 1968. It could be correct. The Americans captured LP-50s in Vietnam. 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.

1968 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).

Regarding Chinese IOC, some also would have the Type-74 be improved over the LPO. In this case it wouldn't be a straight copy and would take longer to put through the motions.
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?

Anyhow, we could argue about dates for years, and I don't think it would change much at gameplay level.
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.