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| According to Norinco, this AH-4 weighting in about 3,000kg, just a bit lighter than the US M777 counter part and chambered to fire all standard NATO 155mm rounds. |
Hmm. Lighter than the M777? I wonder how many rounds it can fire before it breaks. Confidence is not high.
Looks like the chinese like the japanese are also heading towards a quick heli transport island hopping force with this kind of a light howitzer. Spells trouble in the Himalayas as well. The most direct face off this gun will do will be against the M-777's in the Himalayas.
ReplyDeleteCrew training, gun/ammo quality, chopper lift capacity and chopper quantity will decide which gun will rule the battlefield and make life hell for opposing Infantry.
The M777 gained 1200 pounds in the quest for reliability and required the development of special procedures to take care of the hydraulics. It will take the Chinese a few years to figure that out.
ReplyDeleteAlso, without DFCS or a similar system of self laying, employing the gun in a mountainous terrain as a distributed piece (two gun fire bases) becomes much more difficult. It will take the Chinese years before they can employ it properly unless they keep doing bilateral exercises with us and steal our techniques
The trails do not look nearly as beefy as on the M777A2 and losing that extra cross section will lighten it but will also significantly weaken it.
ReplyDeleteThe M777A2 has as many components as possible made out of aircraft grade aluminums and titanium. I do not know if the chinese are using same materials but i did not think they were advanced enough use these materials in a large industrial scale.
If they had to use large amounts of steel it would make it much heavier than the M777A2. So unless they cut the muzzle velocity significantly i just do not see how the chinese could make this work. Or they are more advanced with manufacturing technology than i am giving them credit. I do not know.
Don't underestimate Chinese money, they could have paid someone overseas to do the design work for them or bought the manufacturing equipment overseas, not to mention buy the amounts of rare metals needed to make it work.
DeleteIt may be weakened, but all you need is one round to ruin your day. Best thing to do is kill it as soon as you can, just in case.