Type 81 assault rifle
Produced by Manufactured by: Various state arsenals Marketed by: Norinco Emei Licensed by: Bangladesh Ordnance Factories
The Type 81 (Chinese: 81式自动步枪; literally; "Type 81 Automatic Rifle") is a Chinese-designed selective-fire, gas-operated 7.62×39mm assault rifle. It replaced the semi-automatic Type 56 carbine as the standard service rifle of the People's Liberation Army during the 1980s. It was also designed as a replacement to both the Type 56 assault rifle, as well as the Type 63 assault rifle, mostly being a further development and design improvement over the Type 63. Later, the Type 81 would be used under the designation Type 87 as testing for the PLA's new 5.8×42mm firearms, namely the QBZ-95. It is a small arms family that consist of the Type 81, the Type 81-1 and the Type 81 LMG. It was primarily in service in the mid to late 1980s during the height of the Sino-Vietnamese border conflicts.