The PLL-01, also known as the WAC-021, is a type of 155 mm

howitzer A howitzer () is a long- ranged weapon, falling between a cannon (also known as an artillery gun in the United States), which fires shells at flat trajectories, and a mortar, which fires at high angles of ascent and descent. Howitzers, like ot ...

Gerald Bull Gerald Vincent Bull (March 9, 1928 – March 22, 1990) was a Canadian engineer who developed long-range artillery. He moved from project to project in his quest to economically launch a satellite using a huge artillery piece, to which end he des ...

and built by Chinese defense manufacturer Norinco.

History

In 1980s, Chinese military industry acquired the license to produce GHN-45 howitzer from

Noricum Noricum () is the Latin name for the Celts, Celtic kingdom or federation of tribes that included most of modern Austria and part of Slovenia. In the first century AD, it became a Roman province, province of the Roman Empire. Its borders were th ...

, subsidiary of the Austrian company Voest-Alpine, whom developed CHN-45 based on the design of the

GC-45 howitzer The GC-45 (''Gun, Canada, 45-calibre'') is a 155 mm howitzer designed by Gerald Bull's Space Research Corporation (SRC) in the 1970s. Versions were produced by a number of companies during the 1980s, notably in Austria and South Africa. The ...

. GHN-45 (Gun, Howitzer, Noricum) featured several improvements to the original GC-45, such as better ammunition and fire control systems. Due to the design improvement, GHN-45 had considerably longer ranges than other 155 mm cannon systems used by NATO and Western countries. This capability initially caused worry for allied forces in the

Persian Gulf War The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a Coalition of the Gulf War, 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Ba'athist Iraq, ...

. The designer Gerald Bull was contacted by China to develop his work for them, which he agreed. China also purchased extended-range ammunition technology from him. The Chinese production designation of the GHN-45 is WAC-021 and PLL-01, which entered service in 1987. China continue to acquire and develop other technologies for the PLL-01, such as precision guided projectiles GP1. China also mounted the PLL-01 onto an indigenous-designed tracked chassis, resulting in the

PLZ-45 The PLZ-45 or Type 88 is a 155 mm self-propelled howitzer designed by Su Zhezi of 674 Factory, and developed by Norinco, 123 Factory (Heilongjiang Hua'an Industry Group Company), 127 Factory (Tsitsihar Heping Machine Shop), 674 Factory (H ...

(also known as the Type 88) and an ammo-carrier based on the same chassis. The PLZ-45 did not enter service with the

People's Liberation Army Ground Force The People's Liberation Army Ground Force (PLAGF; ) is the land-based service branch of the People's Liberation Army and the largest and oldest branch of the entire Chinese armed forces. The PLAGF can trace its lineage from 1927 as the Chine ...

because China still use the doctrine developed for the Soviet-standard 152 mm ammunition at the time. However, two major batches of PLZ-45s were sold to Kuwaiti in 1997 and to Saudi Arabia in 2008.

Design

The PLL-01/WAC-201 is license-produced variant of the Austrian NORICUM GHN-45 howitzer, thus two systems are compatible in the choice of ordnance. The NORINCO Type WA-021 has an auto-frettaged barrel 45 calibers long, fitted with a multi-baffle muzzle brake, which has an efficiency of 30 percent. A screw-type breech mechanism opening to the right is employed and the chamber volume is 22.95 liters. The rifling employs 48 grooves with a twist of 1 in 20 calibers, and the grooves are understood to be three times deeper than the rifling depths found on comparable Western 155 mm designs. The weapon also accepts locally made Chinese ammunitions and

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

-compatible ammunitions.

Deployment

The weapon system is used by

Iranian army The Islamic Republic of Iran Army Ground Forces ( fa, نیروی زمینی ارتش جمهوری اسلامی ایران, ''Niroo-ye Zamini-ye Artesh-e Jomhuri-ye Eslâmi-ye Iran''), acronymed NEZAJA ( fa, نزاجا, NEZEJA) are the ground forc ...

towed artillery Field artillery is a category of mobile artillery used to support armies in the field. These weapons are specialized for mobility, tactical proficiency, short range, long range, and extremely long range target engagement. Until the early 20 ...

. The PLZ-45 self-propelled howitzer was sold to Kuwit, Saudi Arabia and Algeria.

Variants

;WAC-201: Export version, towed ;PLL-01: Domestic production, towed ;AH-1: Export version based on PLL-01, towed ;AH-2: Export version based on AH-1, 52 calibers with longer range, towed ;FGT-203: Experimental 203 mm towed howitzer. Based on PLL-01, this artillery system was developed by Norinco in cooperation with Space Research International of Belgium. ;

: Export, self-propelled version introduced in 1997 ;

PLZ-05 The PLZ-05 or the Type 05 is a 155 mm self-propelled howitzer developed by the People's Liberation Army of China to replace the Type 59-1 130 mm towed gun and Type 83 152 mm self-propelled gun. The PLZ-05 was officially unveiled at ...

: Domestic production, self-propelled version introduced in 2005 ;SH-1: Export, truck-mounted version introduced in 2002

References

{{Iran-mil-stub Artillery of the People's Republic of China Artillery of Iran Artillery of Iraq