Recently, the Type 07B self-propelled howitzer of the artillery battalion of a brigade of the PLA Army 74th Group Army suddenly became the focus of discussion on the Internet.
As a type I equipment that is not very new, it is obviously not normal that the Type 07B self-propelled howitzer will suddenly attract the attention of the whole network. Because at a time when the PCL-181 155mm truck gun and the PCL-171 122mm truck gun have become the new quality combat force of the PLA artillery unit, Western military experts often focus on these "new quality equipment" that applies a large number of informationized and intelligent systems.
【PLA PCL-171 truck gun】
In this case, although the Type 07 self-propelled howitzer is a piece of equipment that was publicly unveiled only in 2009, it is still in the youth of its service career. However, in the context of the era when the back waves of the Yangtze River pushed the front waves, this type of artillery quickly gave way to a series of newly developed truck guns after maintaining a heated discussion on the Internet for just a few years.
Especially after the discovery of the latest modification of the Type 07 self-propelled howitzer 07B, which did not change significantly in appearance. This type of veteran who participated in the military parade for the 60th and 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China has almost disappeared on the Internet.
If this is the case, then why is the 74B howitzer of the 74th Army again the focus of discussion? The reason is also simple. That is, from a training detail exposed by "China Military Television Network", people were able to find that although the Type 07B self-propelled howitzer is not good on the outside, its internal performance may reach the world's advanced level.
【PLA Type 07B self-propelled howitzer for live-fire training】
This detail is that during the training, a team of three 07B self-propelled howitzers that were traveling at high speed immediately stopped and fired after receiving a strike request from friendly troops on the front line, completing this temporary support mission in a very short time.
What the CCTV scene shows is not only the housekeeping skills of the PLA's digital artillery, but also the rapid reaction ability that the Russian artillery that has fought in the Russian-Ukrainian conflict for more than a year has not mastered until now. But now it has appeared on a fleet of "outdated" self-propelled guns, which has surprised many Western military experts.
Of course, if we look at this from the perspective of the PLA, we will find that it is not surprising.
You know, since the PLA began to implement large-scale military reform in 2014, the PLA Army has always regarded "establishing an information-based joint operation system" as one of the main reform goals, and has worked hard to build it for several years.
It was just that the PLA at that time did not have much experience in establishing a joint combat system. Therefore, in the construction process, it is inevitable to refer to some mature foreign military models, such as the US Army's air-ground integrated joint operation system.
[NATO soldiers who are guiding the air force to strike]
As a set of combat systems that showed their talents during the Gulf War, the essence of the Air-Ground Battle System is to let the Air Force serve as the artillery of the Army and the Army as the eyes of the Air Force. In this way, the army unit can abandon the large and bulky artillery unit and improve the overall strategic mobility of the campaign, while the air force can be more flexible and accurate to hit targets under the guidance of the army. The two are strong and strong to jointly improve combat efficiency.
However, when the PLA transferred this system to use, it found out. Although this combat system has many advantages, it also has several obvious shortcomings, the most typical of which is fire continuity and response time.
Because in this system, the air force military aircraft, which is the backbone of the army's firepower, is not on call, but needs to be deployed after the army has agreed on the combat time and combat area in advance.
This has led to the fact that in the actual combat process, it is difficult for front-line army combat units to call available air force military aircraft to provide support at the first time when encountering unexpected situations. Even if there were, due to the small number and low bomb load, its strike effect and suppression effect were not ideal.
[U.S. soldiers guiding A-10 attack aircraft to hit targets]
In contrast, the army's own artillery, although bulky, can be on call and have a strong ability to continuously suppress and kill enemy targets. Therefore, after several years of exercises and evaluation tests, the PLA finally used air-ground coordination as a backup solution, and focused on improving the strike efficiency of artillery units.
It is precisely under the influence of this clear strategic need that the PLA has begun to continuously exert efforts in the field of artillery, not only developing a series of automated and intelligent advanced self-propelled artillery, but also beginning to build an informationized joint combat system customized for artillery.
[Type 07B self-propelled gun under training]
The 07B's ability to respond to the strike requests of front-line troops in a very short time is based on this informationized combat system.
Because although the appearance of the 07B self-propelled howitzer has not changed much, a series of informationization upgrades have long been completed inside it. This allows the 07B crew to intuitively see its own coordinates, friendly coordinates and target coordinates on the on-board system, and quickly adjust the shooting elements of the artillery according to this information to complete aiming and strikes.
It is worth mentioning that although in this interview video, the officers and soldiers of the army did not disclose the specific time required for this emergency stop strike.
【Intelligent artillery indication system at Zhuhai Air Show】
However, judging from the parameters provided by a set of intelligent artillery command systems displayed by the China Military Industry Group at the Zhuhai Air Show, under the condition that friendly units on the front line maintain good communication with rear artillery units, this system can send target coordinates to the rear and input guidance parameters for satellite-guided projectiles when the front-line troops detect the target. From the discovery of the target to the firing of the artillery, the whole process took just over 1 minute.
This is only a foreign trade model, and the PLA's self-used version of the informationized artillery combat system will most likely be faster and more accurate than this system. And this also means that even the 07B, a self-propelled gun with an external appearance, has the ability to exert powerful combat performance on the future battlefield and give a fatal blow to those enemies who look good.