Thunder 2000 MRL - Evaluation
Thunder 2000 passed the live ammunition test in 2010 and was put into mass production. However, due to factors such as the essence of the case and the difficulty of obtaining land, the National Army’s procurement of Thunder 2000 has been reduced from 57 to 43. The launch vehicle of each rocket battalion has also been reduced from 18 to 14, and it was planned to be deployed on the island. Eighth, tenth army, and outer island units.
The National Army has successively received Thunder 2000 multiple rockets since June 2012, and conducted live ammunition verification at the "Hanguang 29 Exercise" held in Penghu in April 2013, demonstrating the effectiveness of the weapon. The Artillery 21 Command of the Sixth Army in Pingzhen, Taoyuan, was the first National Army unit to be equipped with Thunder 2000 multiple rockets.
Although the performance of the "Thunder"-2000 rocket launcher is mediocre, as a large weapon rarely used by the Taiwan Army in recent years, the arrival of the "Thunder"-2000 rocket launcher still made the Taiwan Army very happy. The Taiwan Army deployed "Thunder"-2000 rockets on the Matsu Islands. The Matsu Islands are located 25-40 kilometers away from the mouth of the Minjiang River in Fujian. There are 19 large and small islands. The main stations stationed by the Taiwan military are Nangantang, Beigantang, Gaoda and Datong. Qiu, Donggong, Xigong, Xiyin, Dongyin and other islands. Nangantang is the largest island in the Mazu archipelago. The Taiwan military has a core position, a first-line position and a second-line position on the island. It is a place where the Taiwan Army has a high probability of deploying the "Thunder"-2000 rocket launcher. In addition, in order to deter Pingtan Island and the Ningde Marine Police District of the East China Sea Fleet, Gaoxia, Dongyin, Donggong and other islands have also become the deployment locations of "Thunder"-2000.
The "Thunder"-2000 rocket lacks armor protection and easily exposes its position when firing. Therefore, its launch speed and its ability to "hit and run" are critical to its own safety, and is also a defense against enemy fire. In this regard, the level of "Thunder"-2000 in the 1990s may not be on the same level as the active long-range rocket launchers of the People's Liberation Army. The PHL-03 12-tube 300mm rocket launcher ("Far Fire") installed by the People's Liberation Army since 2004 already formed combat effectiveness in batches. The various types of 300mm rocket launched by it are equipped with the Simple Control Automatic Correction System (INS) for the initial stage, which can ensure a much denser impact point than traditional rockets; if the impact point density is doubled, the shooting accuracy is doubled, and higher probability of killing can be obtained with fewer rockets.
The rocket used by the PLA's PHL-03 adopts solid fuel engine propulsion technology, with a maximum range of 150 kilometers and a minimum range of about 20 kilometers, which roughly covers division artillery and army tactics. The firepower gap between the missiles, and the ability to directly strengthen the landing fleet, greatly squeezed the space for similar systems of the Taiwan military to function on the battlefield. More importantly, mainland China has already mastered the technical know-how of 300mm rockets and developed its own dual-band thermal imaging terminal-sensitive rockets, which has been put into tests of the PHL-03 rocket launchers.
The artillery chassis provided by South Korea’s Guanglin Company, which was making a lot of noise at the time, is after all modified from civilian models. Whether it can effectively adapt to the harsh environment of military vehicles remains to be tested by time; in addition, the limited core of South Korea With regard to the technological level, will it be possible in the future to transfer the HX81 truck production technology to the island of Taiwan in accordance with the provisions of the "Taiwan-Korea Purchase Treaty"? Furthermore, in the absence of technical support from the original manufacturer, how to ensure timely and reliable follow-up maintenance of the HX81 truck? Like many Taiwanese self-developed weapons, it was found that it was already weak when it was finally equipped with the army after going through ups and downs. Whether it is deployed on the "outer islands" of Taiwan to deter the mainland, or deployed on the island for anti-landing operations, the deterrence and actual combat capabilities of the "Thunder"-2000 rockets are relatively limited.
After 20 years of ups and downs, the "Thunder"-2000 rocket that the Taiwan military relied on finally came into force. Compared with the performance of similar weapons that lag behind on the mainland, the chaos in the research and development process has made the media on the island more worried about Taiwan's military industry.
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