The QJS-161 Paratrooper Machinegun (Chinese: 161式伞兵机枪; pinyin: Yāo liù yāo shì Sǎnbīng Jīqiāng), also known as the QJB-201 Squad Machinegun (Chinese: 201式班用机枪; pinyin: Èr líng yāo shì Bānyòng Jīqiāng),[2] is a Chinese light machine gun designed and manufactured by Norinco for the People's Liberation Army Ground Force and Airborne Corps.
[3] The QJB-201 and QJS-161 are designed to replace China's QBB-95 series squad automatic weapon and QJY-88 light machine gun.
[1] The QJS-161 features two types of barrel varied in length, presumably for different requirements from the PLA Ground Force and the PLAAF Airborne Corps.
As an open-bolt machine gun, the QJS-161 uses 5.8×42mm ammunition that can feed either from a disintegrating belt in fabric container loaded into the feed port on the left side of the weapon, or a standard Chinese 5.8×42mm box magazine inserted vertically into the magazine well at the bottom of the weapon,[4] and the non-reciprocating charging handle is located on its right.
[5] The squad automatic machine gun features a weight reduction design, such as lightweight material for the gun body and the fabric detachable box magazine, reducing the empty weight to 4.4 kg (9.7 lb).