Tanks, tanks and more tanks . . .

One of the cool things about writing the Red Dragon Rising series is that we get to "play" with different Chinese weapons. The books being fiction (so far), we get to a) make improvements real cheap and b) make a lot more that than the Chinese actually have.

We don't stray too far from the actual facts, of course, but simply project a few years into the future. Of course, the Chinese seem to do the same. Here's an image of their main battle tank that's been widely circulated:

Notice anything special?

Perfect symmetry - or rather, someone has learned how to put the clone feature in Photoshop to good use.

Actually, they're probably using a Chinese knockoff program. But here's my favorite image:

Sure, that's a real amphib landing ship in the background, and undoubtedly a real tank. But the operation that got them together was undoubtedly computer-controlled.

The Chinese do have a potent army, but they've also mastered the art of good graphics.