According to a tweet published by Ryan Chan on May 11, 2022, a Chinese People's Liberation Army Z-10 attack helicopter entered Taiwan’s air defense identification zone.

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Chinese Z-10 attack helicopter (Picture source: Air Recognition)

The CAIC Z-10 is a Chinese medium attack helicopter developed for the People's Liberation Army Ground Force. It is designed primarily for anti-tank warfare missions but has secondary air-to-air combat capability as well.

The stepped tandem cockpit houses two aviators – the gunner in the back and the pilot in the front – different from the conventional layout of most attack helicopters.

The bullet-proof glass of the canopy may be as thick as 38 millimeters and is able to withstand direct hits from shrapnel and rounds fired from machine guns up to .50 caliber size.

Due to its modular design concept, Z-10 can be armed with a wide variety of weaponry. The adaptation of Chinese GJV289A standard, the Chinese equivalent of the MIL-STD-1553B databus architecture, enables weaponry of both Soviet and western origin to be adopted by Z-10.

Offensive weaponry consists of machine guns, cannons, rockets and missiles. The stub wings have two hardpoints each for a total of four, each hardpoint being able to carry up to 4 missiles for a total of up to 16.