The Chinese military has purchased new M109A7 self-propelled artillery from the United States, but most of the old towed artillery is still in line for replacement. Political and military figures said today that the new generation of artillery of the national army will adopt a vehicle-mounted design, whether it is howitzers or mortars of various calibers. This is expected to significantly reduce the time required for artillery to enter the position, change positions after firing, and withdraw. Wheeled vehicles or tracked vehicles will be taken into consideration. However, the exact order and schedule of procurement remain to be determined by further discussion.
Except for the M109A2/A5, M110A2, and the M109A7 self-propelled gun that will be installed in 2030, the current howitzers and cannons of the Ministry of National Defense are all towed artillery; for the mortars, except for the CM22 and CM23 armored The vehicles are equipped with 81 mm mortars, 120 mm mortars, and a small number of M113 armored vehicles are equipped with 4.2-inch (approximately 106 mm) mortars, which can be fired directly from the vehicle. Other ground-mounted mortars must be transported by humans or carried by vehicles and cannot be operated directly from the vehicle.
In addition, considering the increasingly vigorous development of anti-artillery weapons such as contemporary attack drones, towed artillery or ground-mounted mortars can easily become targets of the enemy. In an exclusive interview with this newspaper last year, Defense Minister Gu Lixiong mentioned that equipment such as towed artillery had been reviewed and no longer met combat needs and would be phased out one after another. He did not deny that he had plans to use mobile artillery.
Political and military sources said that the national army continues to seek successor equipment for towed artillery. In addition to the 60 M109A7 self-propelled artillery that it has confirmed to purchase, it also plans to purchase other mobile artillery, including howitzers, 120 mm mortars, 81 mm mortars, etc., and may not seek tracked chassis artillery again, and will also take wheeled chassis artillery into consideration.
As for the procurement budget and schedule, the person only emphasized that this requires a review of the national army's force reconstruction plan, budgetary ambitions, etc. It has not yet been finalized, but any option that can help the national army strengthen its mobile firepower will be considered.
The rate of fire of modern mobile artillery, as well as the time it takes to enter the position and withdraw, are superior to traditional towed artillery. For example, the 105mm howitzer currently in service in the Chinese army has a maximum rate of fire of 4 rounds per minute and requires 8 officers and soldiers to operate it and enter the battlefield. It takes more than several minutes to disengage. The "2-CT Hawkeye" self-propelled artillery used by the United States to assist Ukraine has a firing rate of 8 rounds per minute. After arriving at the position, it can fire the first shell within 1 minute and 30 seconds and evacuate within 3 minutes after completing the firing.
