"Modern PLA: Crossbows for riot-control?" Topic

Months after the initial coverage of the Urumqi riots, I just noticed that some PLA troops were equipped with crossbows for riot-control:

link

Are these pellet-crossbows?

no better way to KILL a leader of a riot with no gun fire/noise, it will also put the fear of pain into every one that sees it hit.

it looks like this one is designed as a sniping weapon, maybe firing a plastic rod or gas canisters.

with 200 dead and 1,700 injured I dont think they were using all non-lethal force

"In Asia, Chinese armed forces use crossbows at all unit levels from traffic police to the special forces units of the People's Liberation Army. One justification for this comes in the crossbow's ability to stop persons carrying explosives without risk of causing detonation. Furthermore, during the Xinjiang riots of July 2009, crossbows were used alongside modern military hardware to quell protestors."

Note also:
Turkish special ops: picture
Spanish: picture
Greek: picture

…I'm still thinking about the Chinese traffic police option… ( picture )

no better way to KILL a leader of a riot with no gun fire/noise, it will also put the fear of pain into every one that sees it hit.

with 200 dead and 1,700 injured I dont think they were using non-lethal force

[edit] Modern military and paramilitary use
In the Americas, the Peruvian army (Ejército) equips some soldiers with crossbows and rope, to establish a zip-line in difficult terrain.[28] In Brazil the CIGS (Jungle Warfare Training Center) also trains soldiers in the use of crossbows.[29][30] In the United States, SAA International Ltd manufacture a 150 ft/lb crossbow-launched version of the U.S. Army type classified Launched Grapnel Hook (LGH), amongst other mine countermeasure solutions designed for the middle-eastern theatre. It has been successfully evaluated in Cambodia and Bosnia.[31] It is used to probe for and detonate tripwire initiated mines and booby traps at up to 50 meters. The concept is similar to the LGH device originally only fired from a rifle, as a plastic retrieval line is attached.[32] Reusable up to 20 times, the line can be reeled back in without exposing oneself. The device is of particular use in tactical situations where noise discipline is important.[33]

In Europe, British based Barnett International supplied crossbows to Serbian forces which according to The Guardian were later used "in ambushes and as a counter-sniper weapon", against the Kosovo Liberation Army during the Kosovo War in the areas of Pec and Djakovica, south west of Kosovo.[34]. Whitehall launched an investigation, though the department of trade and industry established that not being "on the military list" crossbows were not covered by such export regulations. Paul Beaver of Jane's defence publications commented that, "They are not only a silent killer, they also have a psychological effect". On February 15, 2008 Serbian Minister of Defence Dragan Sutanovac was pictured testing a Barnett crossbow during a public exercise of the Serbian army's Special Forces in Nis, 200 km south of capital Belgrade.[35] Special forces in both Greece and Turkey also continue to employ the crossbow.[36][37] Spain's Green Berets still use the crossbow as well.[38]

In Asia, Chinese armed forces use crossbows at all unit levels from traffic police to the special forces units of the People's Liberation Army.[39][40][41] One justification for this comes in the crossbow's ability to stop persons carrying explosives without risk of causing detonation.[42] Furthermore, during the Xinjiang riots of July 2009, crossbows were used alongside modern military hardware to quell protestors.[43] Indian Navy's Marine Commando Force were equipped until the late 1980s with crossbows supplied with cyanide-tipped arrows, as an alternative to suppressed handguns.[44]

^Cut and paste from Wiki^

The real question is who is going to make a figure of it and in what scale?

The toll includes also street clashes between ethnich groups (civiolians tend to me much more unregulated than security forces) and not only army\police interventions.

^Cut and paste from Wiki^

Yes, you'll find that's the statement I copied above. The photos are from the original source references.

79thPA
Someone already does make one in 20mm take a look here set J2025 3rd man in,also some other special ops types in this set.
link

interesting :)

Russia uses poison-tipped umbrellas…..

Stan,

Glad to see you're on top of things!

Now that it's been mentioned, it seems to me that a crossbow or similar device would make a very satisfactory delivery mechanism for riot-controlly things like CS grenades, dye pellets, or, if you could get sufficient doosh behind it, baton rounds.

The great advantage of being able to deliver such things without any unpleasant BANG noises is that it makes it much easier to tell whether the situation has yet escalated to the point of live rounds; no bangs means no live rounds, bangs mean that the rioter in the red hat had better watch out.

Of course, this depends on your IS troops having a doctrine of never firing warning shots. That's how I was taught to do it; but I fear that in recent times the muddle-headed fashion of allowing warning shots has taken hold in many places.

All the best,

John.

IIRC in the 1960-70's, the British used a giant rubber band sling mounted on the back of a 'Pig' anti-riot vehicle to throw teargas canisters at rioters in Northern Ireland – made it very difficult to gauge where the the canister was going & the crew was sheltered by the vehicle.

"British based Barnett International supplied crossbows to Serbian forces"

We need to remember people like this and hold them accountable.

Where can I get some 28mm crossbows? I need some for near/dark future projects.

I've been partial to crossbows since I was a wee lad…

We need to remember people like this and hold them accountable

I am resisting pointing out who supplied weapons to several Middle Eastern countries over the last few decades…