SP, MLRS and SPAA Developments

[Imp]

10 rounds a minute from a 152MM gun that's rapid, wonder how long it could realistically keep that up. The loader would not be the issue I would guess overheating & wrecking the barrel would be the issue.
Then there's the logistics of actually supplying the ammo, they are big shells.

Changing tack a bit I do wonder how much of this stuff will actually make it into mainstream service.
Russia seem to be waving the flag saying look we can still make good stuff.
My guess though with perhaps the exception of the Armata platform most will see a handful to 30 odd produced & assigned somewhere.

[Suhiir]

I recall a "truism" from days as an Intel Weenie:
"The Soviets can make one of anything but can't mass produce a thing."

[blatsas]

hi here i have some more info from greek version of bmp-zu23.
greek army made about 100 vehicle and the rest of bmp1 i thing sold in egypt
http://veteranos.gr/wp-content/uploa...2/DSC_5708.jpghttp://http://www.army.gr/default.ph...0043&cat_id=14

[MarkSheppard]

Chad now apparently operates a license built version of the Chinese PTL-02 Tank Destroyer (Chinese OBAT unit 744) as the WMA301 Assaulter.

http://below-the-turret-ring.blogspo...in-africa.html

Differences between it and the PTL-02 in service with the PLA(N) are the use of a 105mm Rifled Gun instead of the Chinese 100mm Type 86 Smoothbore gun.

The WMA301 is already in combat against Boko Haram in some areas of Chad.

[MarkSheppard]

From a brief look at SIPRI:

http://armstrade.sipri.org/armstrade...e_register.php

From 2010-2015 China supplied the following weapons to: (very abbreviated version, skipping a *lot* of countries or weapons already in the OBATS):

OBAT050 ALGERIA:
18 x WA-021/Type 88 155mm Towed Gun in 2010.

OBAT062 CHAD:
42 x WMA-301 Assaulter Mentioned Earlier in two batches in 2010 and 2013.

OBAT085 PERU:
27 x Type-90BM 122mm Self Propelled MRL, delivered 2015.

OBAT089 TANZANIA:
10 x PLL-05 120mm SP Mortars delivered 2014.

OBAT054 THAILAND:
18 x WS-1 302mm SP MRL delivered 2011-2013. Desigated "DTi-1" in thai service.
UNK x WS-2 400mm SP MRL delivered 2012. Designated "DTi-1G" in thai service.
4 x SR-4 122mm SP MRL delivered 2013. Designated "PR-50" in Thai Service

[MarkSheppard]

China in 2015 announced that they were to begin retiring their Type 89 / PTZ-89 Tank Destroyers (Unit 513 in chinese OBAT).

Link

The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) will retire its armada of Type 89 (aka PTZ89) tank destroyers, Asia One reports based on information published in the PLA Daily, the official newspaper of the PLA.

The PLA Daily published a picture of 18 self-propelled guns that look like Type 89 tank destroyers departing a military base of the PLA Shenyang Military Command’s 39th Group Army.

The newspaper said that an official retirement ceremony for the obsolete armored vehicles was held on November 3.

The Type 89 tank destroyer entered the PLA’s service in 1989. From 1989 to 1995 around 100 vehicles were produced. The tank destroyer’s main armament is a 120-mm/L50 smoothbore gun, equipped with a semi-automatic gun loader. Since the gun is not stabilized, the armored vehicle cannot fire accurately on the move.

“With its good mobility and a high automation level, the Type 89 tank destroyer can easily pierce the armor of enemy tanks using a 120-mm smoothbore gun,” according to Senior Colonel Wang Kai, a land armaments expert at the PLA Academy of Armored Forces Engineering in Beijing. However, the gun has a relatively short range, one of the Type 89’s many shortcomings.

With thin armor (less than 50 mm), the Type 89 only provides protection against small arms fire and artillery shell splinters and would not survive a direct artillery hit. In addition, maintenance costs for the weapon are relatively high. Furthermore, the tank destroyer, as the name suggests, can only be used against enemy armored vehicles and not for much else.

The Type 89 was “brought into service by the PLA around the early 1990s to close the loopholes in the PLA’s anti-tank capability that existed in the 1970s and 1980s,” according to Wang.

“Thanks to the past 20 years of modernization, our armored forces have acquired a large number of advanced tanks equipped with large-caliber, powerful guns, which means specialized tank destroyers such as the Type 89 will no longer be needed,” Wang added.

The PLA already concluded in the late 1970s that attack helicopters armed with anti-tank missiles would be the best weapon against large enemy tank formations, a conclusion that was reinforced with the U.S. military’s success during the Gulf War.

Wang acknowledges that “anti-tank missiles and helicopters represent the trend of anti-tank warfare. They can form a three-dimensional anti-tank firepower network.”

The PLA has been slowly building up its arsenal of HJ-10 anti-tank missiles, which, along with the WZ-10 and WZ-19 attack helicopters, are much more effective weapons against tanks in the 21st century. The HJ-10 anti-tank missile is purportedly the equivalent to the U.S.-made AGM-114 Hellfire air-to-surface missile.

Photo attached of retirement ceremony.

[FASTBOAT TOUGH]

Well it appears Finland has a surprise for it's neighbor to the east. I suspect a show of force to demonstrate "we're confirming what maybe you knew and we just wanted to demonstrate to you that we know how to use it and aren't afraid to use it", of course that's conjecture on my part however, we don't fully know what the relationship will be with Russian here. I don't know that I had any information on Nextar's Bonus Mk II round before this however, Finland has had it since 2014. This is a fairly new round, if you will, a more potent, updated version of "STRIX" containing two warheads within the shell. What's note worthy from the Nextar ref. is the search area of the shell @ 32,000m2 per charge. It's GOING TO FIND SOMETHING AND TAKE IT OUT.
http://www.janes.com/article/65616/f...for-first-time
http://www.nexter-group.fr/nexter/Fl.../index.html#69

Haven't had a chance to verify if Bonus Mk II is in the French, Swedish or Finland's OOB yet.


The holiday season is upon us and there's nothing more peaceful than a beautiful winter scene in a clearing in the forest with fresh snow on the ground. Except maybe for what lurks on the other side of those trees about 30km's away. But it does just put you in the Holiday Spirit, well maybe not but it is a great shot.



Regards,
Pat

[dmnt]

Originally Posted by FASTBOAT TOUGH

I don't know that I had any information on Nextar's Bonus Mk II round before this however, Finland has had it since 2014.

It's been on my radar for a while, but as there is no official confirmation of being accepted for live firing practices, it's been withheld. Some other submunition ammo is there, but AFAIK the penetration values in OOB10 still apply.

[152H55]

The Finnish purchase of used South Korean 155mm K9 Thunder self-propelled howitzers seems to be getting closer, a memorandum of understanding is to be signed shortly and the formal contract in the beginning of the next year. From KBS, the national public broadcaster of South Korea: http://world.kbs.co.kr/english/news/....htm?No=123440

[152H55]

Originally Posted by 152H55

The Finnish purchase of used South Korean 155mm K9 Thunder self-propelled howitzers seems to be getting closer, a memorandum of understanding is to be signed shortly and the formal contract in the beginning of the next year. From KBS, the national public broadcaster of South Korea: http://world.kbs.co.kr/english/news/....htm?No=123440

Deal done, 48 K9's purchased for 146 M€. Delivers and staff training to start this year, conscript training begins in 2019 so first units are combat ready in 1/2020.

Link to the official FDF release (in Finnish): http://maavoimat.fi/artikkeli/-/asse...ikuttamiskykya
Somewhat intelligible Google translation of the same:https://translate.google.com/transla...kya&edit-text=