China has an extensive domestic defence industry that covers the research, development and manufacturing of land, air, sea and cybertechnology products. The country's ability to create entire platforms at a competitive cost has turned China into one of the world's largest exporters of defence products, with a particularly strong presence in South East Asia, Africa and Latin America - including Uganda, Nigeria, India, Malaysia, Costa Rica and Uruguay. Norinco is one of China's main exporters of arms, with its Main Battle Tank 3000 being a key product. This third-generation battle tank has very similar capabilities to the US-manufactured Abrams tank, but is nearly USD3mn cheaper, and has been ordered in large volumes from a range of African states. Reports of interest in the product from the Middle East have also surfaced. Norinco also expanded its armoured vehicle portfolio towards the end of 2016 and start of 2017 with the development of the ST2 tracked 105mm Tank Destroying Vehicle (TDV), developed specifically for the export market rather than the People's Liberation Army (PLA).The Main Battle Tank 3000 is an example of the domestic defence sector's key competitive advantage - namely affordability.