Two authors say China's Mengshi surpasses the US Hummer

Due to their similar looks, China's Mengshi (Brave Soldier) military workhorse vehicle, launched in 2007, has often been regarded a knockoff of the American Humvee, with both featuring a crouching-tiger profile, hungry-looking hood scoop, boxy body, enormous tyres and an air of aggression.

But two authors, from the People's Liberation Army and its National Defence University, wrote a lengthy article in the China Youth Daily last week arguing that the Mengshi had surpassed the Humvee.

They said thousands of Mengshis were already in service with the military, civilian police and the paramilitary People's Armed Police.

The Mengshi's top speed was 130km/h, easily beating the 113km/h of the A2 series Humvee, which AM General produces for the US military. Even on rough terrain, the Mengshi could maintain a speed of 40km/h.

They said the Mengshi's nimbleness came from its domestically produced, four-cylinder diesel engine, which was 25 per cent more powerful, but a third less thirsty, than the Humvee's 6.5 litre V-8 diesel.

Test runs on rugged terrain on the Tibetan plateau and in the Gobi desert showed the Mengshi could travel 18,000 kilometres without needing to be serviced, 2.6 times further than the Humvee, the authors wrote.

Chinese soldiers might also have a greater sense of security in the Mengshi, they said, because the vehicle was painted with heat absorption material to fool the sensors of guided missiles. Its interior also featured light, high-performance armour.