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Taiwan Armament Bureau 155mm Wheeled chassis self-propelled gun

The artillery of the National Army is the backbone of the anti-landing operations. But can bring it out the rapid and precise blazing fire at the right time? The artillery’s traditional manual firing command method has been unable to cope with the modern complicated and cumbersome operating procedures of chemical warfare should be executed by computer programs to transform traditional operations into "Digital" type.

With a high degree of flexibility: wheeled self-propelled howitzers use tires to drive, with low friction and fast driving speed, suitable for highway environments, and its speed can easily reach more than 60 kilometers per hour. In terms of steering, the steering system of the wheeled self-propelled howitzer is the same as that of ordinary cars, which is more flexible in terms of flexibility and can be more specific to realize the tactics of hitting and running. In addition, the main island of Taiwan is surrounded by the sea on all sides, and the coastline of the whole island is 1251 long.

Concentrated application is the highest principle of field artillery application, and firepower maneuvering depends on timely target acquisition and flexible firing command. Military field artillery troops currently used by the various types of artillery troops do not have the positioning and orientation (including GPS-assisted) and automatic driving control capabilities.

Modern warfare must achieve "rapid mobile deployment", "long-range efficient damage", and "improvement of self-protection"The goal is to rely on the assistance of automated systems to give full play to the effectiveness of artillery fire support. The transformation of digital warfare depends on the research and development of automation systems and the structure of the general capital network management architecture.However, the relationship between general capital equipment and automation systems is complementary, just like the military’s guidanceThe mechanism is the same. Without a stable communication network link, the functions of the automation system must be relatively limited; therefore,The current launching post and the platoon (company) shooting command post are linked to use the covered line (network route) to complete the line arrangement andBuried, seriously causing the artillery force communication to be blunt and heavy, it is recommended to consider the use of "National Military Secret Wireless Network Card" installed on a military computer to enable it to implement long-distance wireless data transmission to effectively reduce the artillery force’s burden.

Nowadays, all countries have developed new positioning, orientation and navigation systems. As far as artillery is concerned, it has become indispensable. The lack of necessities, equipped with advanced navigation and positioning, will expand the effectiveness of weapons, based on the army’s existing M109A2 and A5 self-propelled guns, by upgrading (or buying new American guns) to have a positioning system. It’s a top priority to reduce the preparation time for shooting with integrated and automatic fire control systems.

In the early 2000s, Lianqin Factory 202 began to develop self-propelled guns with trucks as the chassis at its own expense. Compared with the regular tracked chassis and closed turret self-propelled gun, the truck chassis self-propelled gun has a simple structure, lighter weight, and lower fuel consumption. The cost of purchase and daily operation and maintenance is greatly reduced, while wheeled trucks are on ordinary roads. Operational adaptability and economy are also far better than tracked chassis; in addition, wheeled truck self-propelled guns are also more conducive to tactical air transport due to their light weight, and it is not a problem to load them by transport aircraft such as C-130.

Although in terms of performance, the traditional tracked chassis self-propelled gun has high off-road capability, the choice of gun position is more flexible, the shooting stability is higher, and the armor protection benefit is better. The turret can be rotated 360 degrees freely (most of the gun bodies of truck self-propelled guns) It can only turn ten degrees left and right), which makes the shooting operation more convenient, and also allows a greater degree of automation (a fully automatic shell feeding system can be easily installed in the turret, and most truck self-propelled guns require the shells to be driven by manpower.

The ammo bay at the rear of the cabin is raised to the rear of the vehicle); however, after comprehensive consideration, the new truck self-propelled gun is equipped with a 155mm 52-caliber barrel, a semi-automatic loading system, a stabilizing aid for automatic placement, advanced information transmission/firing control, and automatic After aiming guns and other devices, the overall combat power is already quite strong, enough to meet the needs of most modern artillery, and its low price and excellent cost-effectiveness are even more commendable. Therefore, in the 2000s, several countries competed to develop self-propelled guns with trucks as the chassis. Among them, the French Caesar (Caesar) was the most typical design, and it was also the most successful in the export market.

In mid-2007, this new type of truck self-propelled gun was first exposed in the newspapers, and was publicly unveiled at the 2007 Taipei World Trade and Aerospace Exhibition at the end of August of the same year. According to the actual vehicle displayed at the scene, its gun mount and artillery parts still roughly follow the XT-69 architecture of the year. The 155mm 45-diameter gun body is still made up of two pieces of barrel material hot sleeves. The more obvious difference is the replacement of the muzzle brake. Joint Logistics claims that the body of this truck self-propelled gun uses more advanced manufacturing technologies than the XT-69 back then, including hydraulic self-tightening.

For the chassis, early test photos show that this self-propelled gun uses a previously built Huatong truck as the chassis, but the prototype unveiled in 2007 uses the same series of products as the "medium tactical wheeler" newly purchased by the Taiwan Army in recent years. The "Medium Tactical Wheel Vehicle" is a derivative of the International 7400 of the American International Truck & Engine Company (ITEC), and is authorized to be assembled by Taiwan Sanyang Industrial. It uses a straight-six engine and a 4X6 chassis configuration; in order to resist the vibration when the artillery is fired Unlike the muzzle blast, a protective panel is installed on the top of the cockpit, and a blind is installed on the front windshield, which can be closed to protect the windshield during launch. The national army purchased a total of 4,788 medium-sized tactical wheeled vehicles, which were divided into five batches and delivered over five years. The numbers in the five batches were 643, 1104, 1104, 1104, and 883 vehicles respectively. The 155mm wheeled self-propelled gun is the same series of products from ITEC, but it uses a 6X10 configuration chassis to cope with the larger vehicle weight; nevertheless, since this type of chassis is subject to civilian regulations like the medium tactical wheeled vehicle, There is only a pair of tail wheels, no all-wheel drive design, the chassis height is relatively high, the distance between the drive shaft and the car body is also too large (easy to be damaged), and the off-road performance is not ideal. Fortunately, Taiwan has well-developed industrial roads and short and shallow battlefields. The requirements for off-road capabilities are not particularly high, so the driving capabilities of this type of chassis should still be sufficient. The total weight of this new self-propelled gun is about 18 tons.

The numbers of the five batches were 643, 1104, 1104, 1104, and 883 respectively. The 155mm wheeled self-propelled gun is the same series of ITEC products, but it uses a 6X10 configuration chassis to cope with the larger vehicle weight; however, because this type of chassis is the same as the medium-sized tactical wheeled vehicle, it belongs to the civil standard. , There is only a pair of tail wheels, no all-wheel drive design, the chassis height is relatively high, the distance between the drive shaft and the vehicle body is too large (easy to be damaged), and the off-road operation performance is not ideal. Fortunately, Taiwan’s industrial roads are developed and the battlefield is short in depth, and the requirements for off-road capabilities are not particularly high. Therefore, the driving ability of this type of chassis should still be sufficient. This new type of self-propelled gun weighs about 18 tons.

The 155mm self-propelled gun that was publicly exhibited in 2007 only has a hydraulic servo drive for the body, and it has not been integrated with the fire control computer. After the shooting is calculated, the hydraulic device must still be operated by human control; and again at the 2009 World Trade Show. At the time of exhibition, the gun body servo device has been changed to electric drive, and it is integrated with the fire control computer. After calculating the shooting elements, it can automatically adjust the gun's direction/pitch angle to complete the aiming. If the digital data link is interrupted, the gun vehicle can obtain the parameters through voice transmission, and the gun crew can manually input the computer interface. The fire control system can still successfully complete the shooting solution and target aiming; if the shooting control computer fails, the gun crew can directly control it. The hydraulic system is used for gun aiming; if even the hydraulic gun control fails, the gun crew can adjust the pitch and position of the gun body in the traditional way of rocking the gun, and there is a spare optical direct sight on the side of the gun body.

The 155mm self-propelled gun which was exhibited again at the 2009 World Trade Center Aerospace Exhibition had a new electric servo drive device next to the gun mount. This type of 155mm self-propelled gun has advanced information transmission, fire control and gun control systems. It has a high degree of automation and can meet the need for rapid response. This type of self-propelled artillery has a digital and voice transmission system. Under normal circumstances, the artillery forward command post directly transmits relevant information to the artillery company using a digital data link, and then the artillery company headquarters unit transmits it to each artillery piece. This information includes the target's Position, engagement sequence, etc., can transmit attack plans for multiple targets at a time; after the ballistic calculation on the artillery vehicle obtains this information, the computer obtains its own position information through the GPS/INS on the gun barrel, and communicates with the command post The transmitted target orientation is compared, and the shooting parameters such as barrel orientation/pitch angle, charge, etc. required for shooting are immediately calculated. Then, the gun crew only needs to select the target to attack through the computer interface, and the computer gun control system will follow the instructions. Fire solver, automatically brings the gun to position (including azimuth/elevation adjustment).

The GPS/INS module on the vehicle is also responsible for the navigation function of the artillery vehicle itself. It can quickly guide the artillery vehicle into the firing position based on the gun position information transmitted by the superior unit. This type of artillery has closed-loop correction capabilities. A Doppler muzzle speed radar is installed on the upper part of the gun body. When the shell is ejected from the muzzle, the speed sensor immediately tracks the direction and speed of the shell, calculates the deviation, and then automatically feeds back to the ballistic calculation computer. As a correction basis for the next shell. In addition to the muzzle velocity radar, it is also installed with a satellite positioning/inertial navigation (GPS/INS) module, which is responsible for providing azimuth, elevation, position, altitude and other artillery parameters. The advantage of this configuration is that it does not have to be installed at each location. Axial installation of the tilt sensor can simplify the feedback design of the control system; however, the navigation/sensor module installed on the gun body is easily damaged by the vibration of shooting.

The gun truck is equipped with a total of two sets of computer operating interfaces, one is located in the cockpit, and the other is located near the rear left rear of the gun truck. The computer interface located in the cockpit also serves as the interface for the shooting control and vehicle navigation system. The one at the rear of the vehicle The system is specialized in artillery control. The vehicle's fire control computer and monitor all use civilian components and use the Window XP operating system to facilitate program development. In the future, the ARM operating system will be used as a platform, which is more stable, concise, and faster to boot. In terms of shooting stability, there is a hydraulic jack on each side of the vehicle body, and a hydraulic jack on both sides of the rear of the vehicle, which form a four-point support when the artillery is firing; compared with the French Kaiser self-propelled gun, which has a large station at the rear of the vehicle. The design of the hoe to prop up the body, the four-support point design of the domestic 155mm wheeled self-propelled gun has better shooting stability and allows for adjustment of the horizontal orientation. However, the structure is more complicated than the Kaiser, and the deployment speed is slower.

In addition to the advanced fire control system, the operation of this type of self-propelled artillery vehicle itself also has a high degree of automation: the sides of the vehicle body and the gun rear hoe are automatically retracted and retracted by the hydraulic system, and the barrel march lock is also hydraulically controlled, so It only takes one minute to drive into the artillery position, park, line up, and aim and fire (the process is completely automated). It also only takes one minute to retract and withdraw from the artillery position. Hit-and-run tactics can be carried out, which greatly increases the enemy's counter-artillery force. The difficulty of the assignment. Due to the high chassis height, in order to facilitate the crew to operate the gun, the rear of the gun carriage is equipped with a hydraulic lifting plate, so that the crew can stand on the plate for loading operations. The artillery shells on the vehicle are stored in two quick-detachable ammunition boxes behind the cockpit. The left magazine stores 17 rounds of artillery shells, and the right magazine stores 18 charges. This type of ammunition box can be replenished within 3 minutes.

The breech of the artillery is a concentric intermittent thread type, and ammunition loading is a semi-automatic operation. The ammunition hand takes the shells and charges from the magazine to the rear of the vehicle. There is a hydraulic loader on the lower left side of the breech ring. The crew first loads the shells Send the breech to the gun, and then rotate the loader to the breech. The push rod of the loader will push the shell into the correct position of the breech. After completion, turn the loader away from the breech. The loader manually places the charge and Close the breech block, which then automatically locks and can be fired. The gun body of this gun carriage can rotate 15 degrees left and right, with a maximum elevation angle of 60 degrees, and has the ability to fire multiple rounds at the same time (TOT) (preset in the computer program, there are several bullet drop modes to choose from). A skilled gun squad can display a maximum set rate of six rounds/minute in the first minute of firing (an average gun squad is about 4 rounds/minute), and the long-term sustained rate of fire is 3 rounds/minute. This type of artillery vehicle uses the existing 155mm ammunition and charges of the national army during the research and development stage.

In the future, it will be decided whether to develop new ammunition types based on demand; as for the charges, it will use the TC-92 and TC-95 modularized ones developed by Joint Logistics. Projectile charges have been used on the existing M-109A2/A5 self-propelled guns of the Chinese army. This charge has standardized sizes and can be adapted to different ammunition types or ranges by adjusting the number of charges (a maximum of 5 should be used) ), eliminating the trouble of having to carry four or five different specifications of medicine packages in the past. It not only facilitates logistics management, but also facilitates the development of automatic loading machines in the future. Lianqin 202 Factory claims that when using base extended range ammunition, the maximum range of this gun is 39km, and the range using standard ammunition is about 20km. According to the public test video, the chassis of this type of self-propelled gun almost does not move when firing, and the stability is very good. The gun body can also perform direct fire at a horizontal angle (Joint Logistics claims that the minimum range of direct fire is about 3km), even if the gun barrel is The cab also withstands storms when lowered to near the roof for launch. Due to the high degree of automation, the entire gun truck has only four personnel, including the gunner, gunner, driver and ammunition hand, and ammunition hand.

The main functions of this prototype gun truck are generally complete and keep up with the world trend. The only obvious shortcoming is that the front cockpit has been modified and expanded, making it difficult to accommodate the four personnel of the entire gun squad. This is also the future of this gun truck. If the vehicle is favored by the Army and put into mass production, it must be properly optimized. Since the Army hopes to increase the horizontal swing range to 20 degrees on the left and right, if it must be implemented, in addition to increasing the auxiliary hoe, it may be necessary to replace the vehicle with a larger and more stable chassis; however, based on the experience of the Thunder 2000, the Army may not be willing to part with it. Using a military-spec wheel-type load-carrying chassis with better performance but more expensive price.

In addition, if this type of 155mm self-propelled truck gun is to be integrated into the army, it must be coordinated with the artillery command and observation system and other related constructions. However, it is reported that the prototype of the 155mm truck self-propelled gun had not yet been equipped with the "tactical shooting command" of the artillery unit that began to be installed in 2008. Instrument" has been integrated, and the primary goal of the artillery unit at this stage was still to purchase the US-made M-109A6 self-propelled gun. Therefore, there are still many variables in whether this type of artillery vehicle can be actually constructed and purchased in the short term. In addition, Joint Logistics Factory 202 has also conducted research with artillery units to use various technologies of this type of artillery vehicle (including positioning, data transmission, fire control calculations, electric servo drive and even extended-range gun bodies) to improve the Army's current M-109A2 self-propelled gun.

The research and development process of this artillery carriage still reflects the old problems of domestic weapons in the past ten years. There is no high-level platform for overall decision-making and integration of the limited domestic military industry units. The research and development operations of each team often involve eight immortals crossing the sea or even a multi-headed carriage. Relevant horizontal units also failed to actively participate in assistance and exchanges. For example, the artillery school did not submit relevant research and development opinions to the Armaments Bureau, and the artillery school also criticized the 155mm prototype gun truck test firing data submitted by the Joint Logistics 202 Factory as incomplete, and even It does not provide a complete shooting sight as a basis for calculating the shooting elements, and only relies on automated fire control computer calculations (this move instead shows the rigid thinking and old-fashioned thinking of the military's actual combat units).

What’s more, artillery units are not thinking about this type of domestically-made 155mm self-propelled truck gun when planning for future army building. The user units (troops) often regard the weapons research and development units as the "Golden Light Party" competing for budgets to survive the team. Forced promotion of a bunch of "junk" that is useless and ineffective, not to mention the drawbacks caused by the competition between manufacturers and the political parties behind it after production, and the quality that has shrunk significantly after price-cutting competition; the R&D unit laments that the troops worship foreigners With limited resources, manpower and time, he managed to piece together certain results through research and development, but his superiors only favored American weapons and ignored their own products, and even lacked channels within the system to promote them to senior military officials. Taiwan's military-industrial system is already small enough and has not been properly integrated and unified. Each unit has its own complaints, and the state has always only provided a "half-baked" budget. In this environment, military R&D units cannot fully implement a R&D work from beginning to end, it’s really not surprising.