The PLL-05 is a Chinese
self-propelled gun-mortar in use by Chinese
mechanised infantry
Mechanized infantry are infantry units equipped with armored personnel carriers (APCs) or infantry fighting vehicles (IFVs) for transport and combat (see also mechanized force).
As defined by the United States Army, mechanized infantry is di ...
formations. Conceptually it is similar to the Russian 2S23 "Nona-SVK" (the turret and weapon system of the
2S9 Nona S9 may refer to:
Transportation
* SIAI S.9, a 1918 Italian flying boat
* Aircraft registration prefix of São Tomé and Príncipe
* USS ''S-9'' (SS-114), a 1920 S-class submarine of the United States Navy
* County Route S9 (California)
* Ran ...
mounted on a
BTR-80
The BTR-80 (russian: бронетранспортёр, bronyetransportyor, literally "armoured transporter") is an 8×8 wheeled amphibious armoured personnel carrier (APC) designed in the USSR. It was adopted in 1985 and replaced the previous ...
chassis) three of which China purchased for evaluation; at one time it was reported that China would purchase 100 of the Russian vehicles
however this failed to occur, nor does it appear that there was a formal transfer of technology to China. The Chinese system features a longer barreled weapon mounted on the Type 92 variant of the
WZ551
The WZ-551 is a Chinese wheeled infantry fighting vehicle family. The name WZ-551 actually covers two families of vehicles with the official designations in the People's Liberation Army (PLA) of Type 90 and Type 92. Over 3,000 WZ-551s are in se ...
armored personnel carrier.
The gun-mortar is a lighter and more compact artillery piece than the traditional
gun-howitzer
Gun-howitzer (also referred to as gun howitzer) is a type of artillery weapon that is intended to fulfill both the role of ordinary cannon or field gun, and that of a howitzer. It is thus able to convey both direct and indirect fire. Modern gun-h ...
at the expense of maximum range, and which has the advantage of better accuracy, higher rate of fire and capability of direct fire in comparison to standard infantry mortars.
Description
![Masters of artillery fire 20](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d8/Masters_of_artillery_fire_20.jpg)
The main armament of the PLL-05 is a 120 mm
gun-mortar
A mortar is usually a simple, lightweight, man-portable, muzzle-loaded weapon, consisting of a smooth-bore (although some models use a rifled barrel) metal tube fixed to a base plate (to spread out the recoil) with a lightweight bipod mount and ...
in a
turret
Turret may refer to:
* Turret (architecture), a small tower that projects above the wall of a building
* Gun turret, a mechanism of a projectile-firing weapon
* Objective turret, an indexable holder of multiple lenses in an optical microscope
* Mi ...
capable of 360° traverse, this turret being mounted on a
6x6
Six-wheel drive (6WD or 6×6) is an all-wheel drive drivetrain configuration of three axles with at least two wheels on each axle capable of being driven simultaneously by the vehicle's engine. Unlike four-wheel drive drivetrains, the configurat ...
WZ551
The WZ-551 is a Chinese wheeled infantry fighting vehicle family. The name WZ-551 actually covers two families of vehicles with the official designations in the People's Liberation Army (PLA) of Type 90 and Type 92. Over 3,000 WZ-551s are in se ...
armored personnel carrier
An armoured personnel carrier (APC) is a broad type of armoured military vehicle designed to transport personnel and equipment in combat zones. Since World War I, APCs have become a very common piece of military equipment around the world.
Acc ...
chassis
A chassis (, ; plural ''chassis'' from French châssis ) is the load-bearing framework of an artificial object, which structurally supports the object in its construction and function. An example of a chassis is a vehicle frame, the underpart ...
. The mortar has an
elevation
The elevation of a geographic location is its height above or below a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational surface (see Geodetic datum § Vert ...
range of -4° to +80° and is capable of both
direct
Direct may refer to:
Mathematics
* Directed set, in order theory
* Direct limit of (pre), sheaves
* Direct sum of modules, a construction in abstract algebra which combines several vector spaces
Computing
* Direct access (disambiguation), a ...
and
indirect fire
Indirect fire is aiming and firing a projectile without relying on a direct line of sight between the gun and its target, as in the case of direct fire. Aiming is performed by calculating azimuth and inclination, and may include correcting aim by ...
. It is fitted with an
autoloader
An autoloader or auto-loader is a mechanical aid or replacement for the personnel that load ordnance into crew-served weapons without being an integrated part of the gun itself. The term is generally only applied to larger weapons, such as nava ...
and can be fired in fully automatic, semi-automatic and fully manual modes, the maximum
rate of fire
Rate of fire is the frequency at which a specific weapon can fire or launch its projectiles. This can be influenced by several factors, including operator training level, mechanical limitations, ammunition availability, and weapon condition. In m ...
being around 8-10 rounds per minute, with a sustained rate of fire being about 4-6 rounds per minute. Ammunition capacity is 36 rounds and include mortar shells for indirect fire and anti-tank shells for direct fire, maximum range with standard mortar rounds being about . Secondary armament is a
12.7×108mm QJC-88 heavy machine gun mounted on the turret roof. The crew of four consists of the vehicle commander, gunner, loader and driver. Mobility of the PPL-05 is similar to that of that base WZ551 and the vehicle can swim by way of two rear-mounted
propeller
A propeller (colloquially often called a screw if on a ship or an airscrew if on an aircraft) is a device with a rotating hub and radiating blades that are set at a pitch to form a helical spiral which, when rotated, exerts linear thrust upon ...
s.
History
The existence of the PLL-05 was first revealed in 2001
with the system entering service some years later. The PLL-05 was one of the systems that participated in the military parade as part of the
60th anniversary of the People's Republic of China
The 60th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China took place on 1 October 2009. A military parade involving 10,000 troops and the display of many high-tech weapons was held in Tiananmen Square in Beijing and various celebrat ...
celebrations.
The turret of the PLL-05 was reused on the
Type 07PA, a self-propelled gun designed for export.
Operators
;
*
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 ...
- approximately 500 units of PLL-05 as of 2021.
References
*The Chinese and Russian articles on this subject were used as the basis for performance details in this article
External links
{{Use dmy dates, date=June 2017
Self-propelled artillery of the People's Republic of China
120 mm artillery
120mm mortars
Gun-mortars
Military vehicles introduced in the 2000s