Hamas' missile hoax: Paint shop masquerades as weapon factory
Hamas has released another propaganda video online showing an anti-tank missile production line. However, it was just a paint shop for Chinese Type 75 missiles. We present their features.
Hamas fighters are very active in posting videos online of attacks on Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) vehicles or soldiers. Most of them depict unsuccessful attacks (videos cut off right after the hit and do not show the effects) on Merkava tanks or heavy Namer transporters. Still, there are also videos showing Israeli soldiers being eliminated by Hamas snipers.
Additionally, Hamas has already released several videos showing alleged production of Iranian large-calibre rifles or clumsily tried to accuse IDF snipers of firing on a hospital. Now, another video from an ammunition factory has appeared online, where the only thing being done was painting Chinese Type 75 missiles.
Chinese Type 75 missiles – what they are and where they might come from
The missiles presented by Hamas are, as seen in the film fragment, Chinese Type 75 calibre 105 millimetres. They are used in Type 75 recoilless rifles introduced in the Chinese armed forces in the 1970s.
Interestingly, the Chinese design was a copy of the American M40 recoilless rifle obtained by the Chinese through contacts in the Viet Cong, who acquired some of these rifles from the Americans. So here we have a design with a mass of about 200 kilograms meant for mounting on light off-road vehicles.
The armour-penetrating capabilities are highly dependent on the ammunition used, but the American M344A1 case was even over 400 millimetres with a 1.26-kilogram explosive charge. According to the cat-uxo database, the Type 75 missile weighing 8 kilograms has an explosive charge of exactly 1.26 kilograms, so the penetration capabilities will be similar.
The question remains how Hamas fighters want to use these missiles. The options could include fortified positions with recoilless rifles hidden, for example, in buildings or using them to produce charges attached with magnets to tanks. Hamas fighters have previously tried to sneak up on Israeli tanks, utilising a network of tunnels to place such charges on them.
Most of these attempts failed, but there have also been successful actions, such as the destruction of a heavy Namer transporter. As for the origin of the Chinese missiles, their source is most likely Iran, which has been a client of China for decades in the context of weapons or parts necessary for their production.
