preface: The PLZ-45 self-propelled howitzer is a famous brand product exported by China. It has been successfully exported to many countries and has won a good reputation in the user countries. However, in recent years, it has been repeatedly defeated by the K9 self-propelled howitzer in the international military trade market, which is known as the "machine goods of all countries".
1： Origin of PLZ-45 155mm self-propelled howitzer
The PLZ-45 self-propelled howitzer originated from the GC-45 155mm howitzer designed by Canadian artillery expert Dr. Boer in the 1970s. Dr. Boer innovatively proposed the design of a 45 caliber, 23 liter large chamber gun, and created its own elongated projectile with rudder piece, making it the longest range 155mm howitzer at that time. In 1981, Dr. Boer came to China to promote it, The design of the semi-automatic screw bolt, latch opening cam plate, cartridge charge, smoke cartridge and flare secondary ejection of the GC-45 howitzer is also very unique, which makes the Chinese military industry, who have been accustomed to the Soviet style design theory for a long time, have a bright vision. Although the technology of the GC-45 howitzer is not mature enough, the quotation is very low.
Compared with the 59 type 130mm cannon and 66 type 152mm cannon equipped by China, the maximum range is equivalent to that of the 59 type 130mm cannon, the minimum range is only 1 km farther than that of the 66 type 152 cannon, and the full weight is only 100 kg heavier than that of the 152 mm cannon. One cannon can be used as three cannon, greatly simplifying the type of ammunition. The date core shaped grenade is loaded with 8.2 dry grams of B explosive, It is 1.8 kg more explosive than China's 152 mm howitzer. The bottom bleed projectile invented by Boer is 30% more than the 130 mm howitzer. Although the 152 mm cannon has high shooting accuracy, its range and power are far less than those of GC-45 howitzer.
But there are also many opposition voices. Some people think that GC-45 howitzer is not suitable for shorter Chinese soldiers and the accuracy of nuclear bombs is not high. Some people think that the original caliber should continue to be used. The new caliber will change the factory production management and equipment and military logistics support. Also, the military does not have funds to support it. It is too risky to spend so much money to buy some drawings and materials, Some people think that Buhl just makes money from some design drawings that can't be realized at all, but Dr. Buhl also promises to send 30 artillery ammunition experts to China to teach western artillery design theory, as well as to provide digital artillery production line, automatic charge production line, barrel autofrettage and precision forging equipment.
This is very attractive to the Ministry of Weapons Industry, which is preparing to import a full set of design drawings including artillery, ammunition, propellant, fuze, sight, etc. from the surplus of export profits of the military trade itself. In 1981, the "922 Project" was launched. To be prudent, the Ministry of Weapons Industry first bought two finished GHN-45 artillery products from the Austrian VA Company in 1982, and then bought 1100 full bore bullets from Spain, The gun was tested in the national shooting range, and it was really good. Experts were sent to the factory for field investigation. Finally, an import contract was signed in 1983. After the contract was signed, drawings and data were translated first, and the production standards of gun factories, blank factories, casting and forging factories, hydraulic pipe fittings processing factories, ammunition factories, pharmaceutical factories, and equipment manufacturers were unified.
Many of the designs were designed according to Western manufacturing and processing standards. China's industrial level at that time had not yet reached, so many related equipment was introduced. In order to speed up localization, the Ordnance Department added 155 cannons to the military parade plan. After the military ordered 20 cannons, it successfully built a first-class production line of cannons. The drawings and data were not complete enough, and the production technology was not mature enough, When many technical problems of the date bomb were still solved, Chinese engineers corrected their own mistakes and solved the problems that had not been solved in the original design, especially the accuracy of the date bomb, which was unacceptable to the military. It took 53 firing tests to pass the accuracy test in 989.
2： The success of PLZ-45 155mm self-propelled howitzer
The production line was completed, but the military did not purchase in large quantities, so it was proposed that the military trade first, then the interior decoration, and then the export first. When the military recognized the advantages of 155mm artillery before equipment, it set up a project to develop 155mm self-propelled howitzer in 1986, GC-45 howitzer is a tractor gun. At that time, the ordnance industry believed that there was no market for tractor guns and self-propelled guns should be developed. Some people believed that the development of wheeled self-propelled howitzers with low cost was necessary. However, at that time, the chassis of Chinese cars was not high enough to meet the load requirements, so they decided to develop crawler self-propelled howitzers. 69 tanks and 152 mm self-propelled howitzer chassis with large exports were selected as the chassis.
The 152 mm self-propelled gun chassis with better market prospect was finally determined to be used. In 1988, the first prototype vehicle was manufactured, and it ran only 12 kilometers. Then it was hurriedly loaded onto the train and pulled to Nankou Shooting Range to participate in the second Beijing International Defense Exhibition. At the time of the exhibition, because the processing accuracy of the gearbox gear has not been solved, it only dared to run 30 kilometers per hour. The dynamic operation aiming system was a copy of the 122 mm rocket, The 155mm gun is not suitable for heavy weight, and there are also some problems with the firing accuracy. In addition, the firing speed of the screw breech used for the towed gun is only 4 rounds per minute, which does not meet the requirements of 5~6 rounds per minute. Later, it was changed to the wedge breech, and the shooting demonstration was not conducted at all.
However, several countries were surprised by this gun and offered to buy it. Kuwait was most interested in it. They invited 155mm self-propelled howitzers to perform in Kuwait. However, the plan was canceled when the Gulf War broke out two days ago, and the ships transporting artillery had to turn around and return to China. After the war, China tried to connect with China, which was blocked by the United States until 1995, During this period, China sent 9 delegations to Kuwait and invited 8 delegations from Kuwait to visit China to visit the weapons show. State leaders also contacted and included them in the memorandum of understanding on military cooperation between the two countries.
In 1995, the 155mm self-propelled howitzer went to Kuwait again to compete with the 155mm self-propelled howitzer such as M109 from the United States, AS90 from the United Kingdom and G5 from South Africa. Although the performance of the 155mm self-propelled howitzer exceeded that of these similar products, some problems occurred during the period, such as early fuze explosion and chamber jamming. However, after explanation and re demonstration, it was determined that it was only an accidental problem, For the first demonstration abroad, there was only one gun, and fire control and command had only one radio station, several talkers, a GPS locator and a front observer, which were temporarily installed in jeeps. In 1996, it had already included a full set of systems such as reconnaissance vehicles, ammunition vehicles, weather radars, detection and correction radars, and rescue vehicles.
In 1997, Kuwait signed a procurement contract at a unit price of US $7.1 million to order a complete set of equipment for an artillery battalion, including 27 PLZ-45 155mm self-propelled howitzers, 27 PCZ45 ammunition support vehicles, 1 ZCY45 battalion command vehicle, 3 ZCY45 company command vehicles, 3 GCL45 company reconnaissance vehicles, 1 704-1 artillery positioning and fire correction radar, 1 702-D weather radar station, and 1 W653-1 recovery and repair vehicle, There are six kinds of shells, including full bore extended range shrapnel, full bore extended range bottom bleed shrapnel, full bore extended range bottom bleed rocket propelled grenade, full bore extended range bottom bleed submunition, full bore extended range flare, full bore extended range smoke bomb, and full bore extended range yellow phosphorus bomb.
However, ten of the 11 items of equipment of the system have not been finalized, some have only one sample vehicle, some have not even had a sample vehicle, which requires technical research and design finalization tests. The artillery production line and ammunition production line have also been shut down for 8 years, which requires technical transformation. Nevertheless, the delivery was completed in 2000, and the orders came one after another. By 2010, nine orders were received and exported to Kuwait, Saudi Arabia Algeria and other countries have exported nearly 200 pieces of artillery. The price of a full artillery battalion is up to 200 million dollars. The tens of millions of dollars invested at the beginning have now earned billions of dollars.
3： The success of K9 self-propelled howitzer
But this kind of good day is no longer popular with the emergence of Korean K9 self-propelled howitzer, K9 self-propelled howitzer is the second generation self-propelled gun developed by South Korea with reference to the German PZH-2000 155mm self-propelled howitzer. Since South Korea does not have much artillery design experience, the self-developed KH179 towed howitzer often explodes, so the collector is used to reduce development risk and save research and development time. The barrel and engine of the gun are imported from Germany with original packaging, transmission device and orientation system, The automatic fire control system, artillery pitching drive device and turret slewing system are imported from the United States with original packaging. The chassis technology is also American. South Korea is only responsible for welding each shell.
The K9 self-propelled howitzer saved weighs 46.3 tons, and its maximum speed is 67 km/h. It can fire within 30 seconds when it stops, and within 60 seconds when it travels. The explosive firing speed is up to 3 rounds/15 seconds, and the continuous firing speed is 6-8 rounds/minute. The maximum range of cylindrical projectile launching is 18 kilometers, the maximum range of rocket extended range projectile launching is 30 kilometers, and the maximum range of bottom bleed projectile launching is 40 kilometers The maximum range of the base bleed rocket extended range projectile is 50km, and the ammunition carrying capacity is 48 rounds. There are also two improved models, K9A1, which upgrades the automatic fire control system, and K9A2, which is equipped with a full-automatic loader. They are equipped with K10 ammunition supply vehicle and K11 shooting command vehicle, which usually form a gun team in a 6:3:1 ratio.
The ammunition, fire control and communication of K9 self-propelled howitzer are all NATO standards. It is the self-propelled howitzer in the international market that most conforms to the NATO ballistic agreement, the Western combat system and training system, and the artillery shells and spare parts inventory. It is much cheaper than the German PZH2000 self-propelled howitzer, which costs tens of millions of dollars, and much better than the British AS90-52 self-propelled howitzer in accuracy and shooting stability, It is much better than the G-6-52 self-propelled howitzer of South Africa with poor mobility, and it is much farther than the American M109A6 self-propelled howitzer with old technology, so it is favored by countries that originally used NATO artillery.
In 2001, Turkey first introduced K9 self-propelled howitzer technology and produced more than 300 T-155 "Storm" self-propelled howitzers. In 2014, Poland purchased 24 K9 howitzers and 96 K9 howitzer chassis, and installed As90 turrets on the chassis to become "crab" self-propelled howitzers. In 2017, India introduced K9 self-propelled howitzer production lines, and produced 00 K9 "King Kong" self-propelled howitzers. Norway purchased 24, Finland has purchased 48, Estonia has purchased 12, and Australia has purchased 30. At present, South Korea has exported 1400, accounting for 60% of the world's self-propelled artillery market, which is the best selling self-propelled artillery in the world.
In addition to the good performance of K9 self-propelled howitzer, South Korea's dumping at low cost is also the secret of success. Turkey only spent $1 billion to buy a full set of technology, with a unit price of only $3.5 million, and a modern car production line was also included. The chassis purchased by Poland was only $2.667 million, and the unit price purchased by Finland and Estonia was not more than $3.5 million, Norway spent 226 million US dollars, which is a high price. India bought a full set of technology at a price of only 6.46 million US dollars. Such a low price dumping makes very little profit. However, South Korea has always been OEM first, taking advantage of the cost performance ratio to occupy the market, which is not a problem.
4： Failure of PLZ-45 self-propelled howitzer
Compared with K9 self-propelled howitzer, The technology of PLZ-45 self-propelled howitzer has lagged behind, such as low power, backward transmission system, no modular charge, no automatic loading system and other problems. The engine of the chassis is the imported German air-cooled engine technology, with a power of only 386 kW and a speed of only 50 km/h, which is inconvenient to maintain. It is also the best military engine in China, In the 1990s, China had not mastered the modular propellant technology, so it could only use traditional cartridge bags for semi-automatic loading, and did not use the mainstream 52 caliber barrel, so China upgraded the PLZ-45 self-propelled howitzer.
The new PLZ-45A4 self-propelled howitzer uses a domestic 500kW 150HP engine, and its transmission system has also been replaced by a hydraulic automatic transmission. Its speed has been increased to 60 kilometers per hour. It also uses modular propellant and automatic loading. Its maximum sustained firing speed has reached 4 rounds per minute, and it uses high-speed broadband data link. However, because the 52 times diameter barrel technology is not yet mature, the barrel is still 45 times diameter, However, China's modular charge technology can improve the range by 20%. The range of ordinary projectiles is 25km, the range of base bleed extended range projectiles is 39km, and the rocket/base bleed extended range projectiles are nearly 50km. Compared with the 52 times diameter 155mm howitzer, it is not inferior at all. However, due to the full weight of the chassis, there are only 30 rounds of ammunition.
However, it still lost the battle against K9 self-propelled howitzers. The Egyptian army is a country whose heavy equipment all depends on imports. The military has used Soviet weapons and American weapons. In the mid and late 1980s, Egypt turned to the United States and continued to receive military assistance from the United States. The United States provided 565 to 680 M109/A2/A3/A5 155mm self-propelled howitzers to Egypt, In addition, 124 SP-122 self-propelled guns were saved with M109 car body and Soviet made D30 122mm howitzer to replace these 124 SP-122 self-propelled guns and simplify the logistics support system. Egypt started the bidding for new guns. The bidding participants included the French "Kaiser" wheel howitzer, the Russian 2S35 self-propelled gun, K9 and PLZ-45 howitzer.
The Russian 2S35 152 mm howitzer is incompatible with the western equipment system of the Egyptian army. The first one is out, and the second one is the PLZ-45A4 self-propelled howitzer. Because the PLZ-45A4 self-propelled howitzer is sold by battalion, a standard artillery battalion includes hundreds of ammunition supply vehicles, command vehicles, reconnaissance vehicles, weather support vehicles The weather radar, rescue vehicle, artillery reconnaissance radar and other support vehicles as well as mechanical maintenance shelter, electronic maintenance shelter, training simulator, maintenance simulator, the total price of an artillery battalion is 300 million to 400 million dollars, Egypt needs to buy at least 7 battalions to buy 200, the total price is at least 2.6 billion dollars, the average is 13 million dollars a door, Egypt is not rich enough to think it is too high.
The unit price of the "Kaiser" wheeled self-propelled gun is almost 10 million dollars, and the total price is more than 2 billion dollars, not counting the supporting ammunition supply vehicles. Moreover, only 12 rounds of ammunition are carried. The wheeled chassis is not suitable for the desert terrain of Egypt, so it is the third to be out, Finally, Egypt announced that South Korea's K9 self-propelled howitzer won the bidding with a total price of $1.65 billion for 200 artillery and dozens of ammunition supply vehicles. South Korea also agreed to transfer the production line to be assembled and produced by Egypt's 200 state-owned military factories. For Egypt, the continuous firing speed of K9 self-propelled howitzer. The ammunition carrying capacity is obviously more than that of the PLZ-45 self-propelled howitzer. After the same production technology as that of Turkey is available, Egypt can get rid of South Korea, a middleman, and directly purchase parts from Germany for production and export, which is really cost-effective.
5： Conclusion
Although the PLZ-45 self-propelled howitzer failed in the competition with the K9 self-propelled howitzer, China has the world's largest 155 gun family, including traction guns, self-propelled guns, self-propelled guns, vehicle mounted guns, shore defense guns, ultra light guns and other varieties, 39/45/52 times different calibers. Although it cannot enter the European market, it is still very popular in South Asia and Africa, Compared with the Korean K9 self-propelled howitzer, it has a long way to go.
