To welcome the arrival of the New Year, China's national defense and military industry has also shown the latest achievements to the people of the whole country at this special moment, so as to present a special gift to the motherland. Recently, NORINCO released an eye-catching propaganda **, showing China's latest research and development of foreign trade 155mm howitzer series, one of the high-profile improved models is known as the "Dongda version" of the "Archer" automatic artillery.
NORINCO's latest display of foreign trade artillery systems has attracted a lot of attention, including SH-4 155mm ultra-light towed howitzer, SH-15 155mm vehicle-mounted howitzer and other equipment. In addition, there are a variety of supporting vehicles such as forward observation reconnaissance vehicles, artillery company command vehicles, mechanized loading vehicles, artillery position reconnaissance radars, unmanned aerial vehicle launch vehicles, weather radar vehicles, and repair support vehicles.
Particularly striking was the debut of the 16-mm wheeled self-propelled howitzer of the SH-155 type. The new wheeled self-propelled gun has a high degree of automation, and its rear chassis is equipped with a modular, fully automatic unmanned turret, which enables autonomous gun handling and reloading, similar to the Swedish "Archer" wheeled self-propelled gun.
Although the tracked fully automatic unmanned turret self-propelled howitzer is still under development, it is expected to be available soon. In the future, the 155-mm self-propelled gun of the Chinese foreign trade type will cover four main styles, and different chassis can be selected according to the needs.
The SH-16 155mm wheeled self-propelled howitzer is a new generation of large-caliber self-propelled artillery developed by China, which uses many new technologies that have been applied for the first time. It uses a highly mobile wheeled off-road chassis with armor protection, weighs 32 tons overall, is equipped with a 52x diameter 155 mm plus howitzer, and the turret weighs 14 tons, and only two crew members are required to operate, including the driver and the gun commander.
The SH-16 155mm wheeled self-propelled howitzer is nicknamed the "Oriental version of the Archer" artillery by netizens, which is similar to the Swedish FH-77BW "Archer" artillery system.
The "Archer" artillery system is a Swedish technological achievement that combines large-caliber artillery technology with a wheeled off-road truck chassis and is considered a leader in the field of self-propelled artillery. Its most important feature is the use of a magazine-type automatic reloading device. With an overall weight of 26 tons, the "Archer" is based on the chassis of a Volvo A30D 6x6 truck and is equipped with a fully automatic loader with a capacity of 21 rounds and a magazine of 20 rounds, which can fire 20 rounds in a row with an excellent rate of fire. The FH-77BW "Archer" can empty the 20 shells in the magazine in just two and a half minutes, with a rate of fire of 8 rounds per minute.
The gun was equipped with a 25-caliber 155-mm gun with a chamber volume of 52 liters, which was 2 liters more than the NATO standard of 23 liters, allowing more propellant to be used. The maximum range is up to 40 km, and the maximum range of the bottom-row rocket extended-range projectile is up to 60 km. In addition, it is compatible with a variety of precision-guided munitions, such as the Swedish "Bonis" II terminal missile, and the American M982 "Excalibur" satellite-guided projectile.
In recent years, it has become a trend to equip self-propelled howitzers with fully automatic unmanned turrets, and Russia has also introduced 2S35"Alliance"SV self-propelled howitzer, but FH-77BW "Archer" and 2S35"Alliance"The unmanned turret of the SV is not modular and can only be mounted on a specific type of chassis.
The German RCH-155 wheeled self-propelled howitzer is considered one of the best wheeled self-propelled howitzers in the world, equipped with a modular unmanned turret. This artillery uses the Boxer 8x8 wheeled armored vehicle as a chassis and has excellent mobility and can reach a maximum speed of 100 kilometers per hour.
The RCH-155 carries an unmanned turret with only two crew members, the driver and the gunner. Armed with a 52-mm gun of 155 times caliber, it has a maximum firing range of 54 km and a rate of fire of up to 9 rounds per minute. Its modern fire control system and advanced artillery control system allow it to exchange data in real time with forward observers, reconnaissance teams, drones, as well as command centers. This gun is capable of fully automatic fire and can even fire while moving, which is extremely rare among self-propelled howitzers. It has the ability to "stop and fight", "fight quickly and withdraw quickly", and "fight while walking", making it almost immune to the attack of counter-battery radar. It can be said that this is a very good artillery.
Now a top-of-the-line self-propelled howitzer has also been introduced by the distant Eastern powers. The Chinese SH-16 155-mm wheeled self-propelled howitzer uses a similar modular unmanned turret design, which enables fully automated operations. Although the unmanned turret of the SH-16 was already ** in 2022, it was only a concept brochure at that time, and there was no physical **. Despite the fact that at that time ** was a CG diagram of a tracked self-propelled howitzer, it became clear that this unmanned turret system was also suitable for wheeled self-propelled howitzers.
To develop a fully automatic unmanned turret self-propelled howitzer, the key lies in an automatic loader that uses a fully modular projectile. Unlike the metal cartridges used in the previous Type 05 self-propelled howitzer and PCL-181 truck gun, this new fully automatic howitzer needs to be able to flexibly use a variety of different charge sizes to suit the needs of different ranges. Typically, a 52x diameter 155mm howitzer needs to have 6 different charges to meet the range change from short to long range.
The solution in the past was to adopt a two-module propellant, that is, to use a combination of two different propellants. However, the requirement for a fully automatic unmanned turret is to use a single propellant module for automatic reloading, so a key technology for advanced artillery has emerged - the all-equality module propellant. In short, this means that the number of propellant modules can be increased or decreased to meet all range requirements.
China's newest SH-16 155-mm wheeled self-propelled howitzer achieves fully automated operations. All firing actions are automated, from the fire control system receiving the target, to the immediate adjustment of the gun position, the loading of fuses and projectiles, to the loading of the propellant.
This artillery vehicle can use the road system to carry out a wide range of highly mobile guerrilla operations, use the advanced artillery system to implement the "hit and run" tactics, and can fire the most and most powerful ammunition in the shortest time. SH16 is considered to be a high-end product in China's current foreign trade artillery market, and its market reaction needs to be further observed and explored. We hope that it will be a global success like the PLZ45 type 155mm self-propelled howitzer.