Overseas Market is 'Target' of China's WMD-7 Pod
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Minnick said the mock-up of the WMD-7 was displayed for the first time at the 2010 Farnborough Airshow and was shown there again in 2012, subsequently showing at the 2013 Dubai Airshow. The state-run China National Aero-Technology Import and Export Corporation displayed the first real WMD-7 during the Zhuhai Airshow in 2012. The Type OC2 laser/infrared-targeting pod produced jointly by Norinco Group and Harbin Jiancheng Group also made its first appearance at the Zhuhai show in southern China's Guangdong province.
Richard Fisher, an American expert on China's military development from the International Assessment and Strategy Center said, "That China can market two basically similar optical/infrared targeting pods is a result of their 1998 defense logistics reform decision to invest in a broadly redundant but competitive military production sector." This means that China will have the chance to offer the lowest price to its potential consumers when competing against Russian and Western systems.
The Luoyang Optoelectric Technology Development Center is the main producer of many famous weapons systems including the LS-6 Thunder Stone precision-guided bomb, the TY-90 surface-to-air and air-to-air missile system, and the PL-5, PL-9 and PL-12 air-to-air missiles.
Pakistani air force JF-17 fighters and Nanchang Q-5 attackers are currently equipped with the WMD-7, however, it has not yet been exported to other nations.
