November 2, 2026
A Chinese defense company revealed an advanced 40 mm ammunition that uses “telescopic casing” technology, in a move that reflects Beijing’s strategy aimed at developing highly efficient weapons capable of dealing with a wide spectrum of threats, including armored vehicles, fortifications, and low-sized aerial targets.
Changan Wangjiang, a subsidiary of the South China Industries Group, announced the new innovation via a video clip broadcast on its official account on the WeChat platform, confirming that the ammunition had entered the active service phase on board a number of Chinese combat platforms. The Global Times newspaper quoted the company as saying that the ammunition has a penetration capacity of up to 130 mm of homogeneous armored steel at a distance of one kilometer.
The new telescopic design relies on placing the entire projectile inside the cartridge casing, giving the bullet a more integrated shape that aims to improve the exploitation of the limited internal spaces of military vehicles and tanks, and enhance storage efficiency and combat performance.
The new ammunition operates through three main types designated for various combat missions: It is the “Armor Penetration” mode for dealing with armour, the “High Explosive Fragmentation” mode directed at fortifications and protected areas, and the “Programmed Air Burst” mode designated for neutralizing small and slow aerial targets such as drones, which eliminates the need to use separate types for each mission.
Visual materials published by the company showed the use of ammunition on the “Type 100” fire support vehicle — which is a support platform for tanks in dealing with complex targets — as well as on new generation airborne combat vehicles that appeared at the “Victory Day” military parade in September 2025.
For their part, military experts, including expert Song Chong, pointed out that adopting this technology meets an urgent need to increase the ammunition stock inside armored vehicles without exceeding the design size restrictions, stressing that expanding the scope of the use of telescopic ammunition falls within Beijing’s comprehensive efforts to modernize its military system and enhance its operational integration amid the acceleration of international competition in the armament sector.
