China's new mortar absorbs the advantages of antiaircraft gun automaton and howitzer in structure, and retains the special curve trajectory of mortar which is different from other ground suppression artillery. The instantaneous suppression strike capability of a new type of rapid-fire mortar in China is equivalent to the operational effectiveness of all traditional mortars deployed by a company in the past.
At present, China has successfully developed new mortars, including 82mm rapid-fire mortar, SM4 8 1mm vehicle-mounted rapid-fire mortar (see another article in this issue) and 120mm wheeled self-propelled howitzer (photo). In recent years, these new mortars have been widely introduced in our magazines and other national defense popular science publications, and some new mortars under research and pre-research in China have also been "pre-announced" to readers by introducing foreign military equipment.
Among the new mortars newly developed in China,1.20mm self-propelled howitzers include wheeled howitzers and tracked howitzers. This self-propelled howitzer adopts fully enclosed turret structure. The gun is installed on the bracket in front of the turret, which is equipped with aiming device, gunner observation mirror, fire control electrical equipment and so on. These devices form the top of the self-propelled howitzer. According to the principle of modularization, serialization and generalization, topcoat is a basic topcoat, which can be installed on the chassis of different domestic wheeled or tracked armored vehicles to form a self-propelled howitzer suitable for different combat tasks. The gun body of self-propelled howitzer is mainly composed of gun body, bolt, cradle, pneumatic ammunition feeder, recoil device, recoil mechanism and safety plate. Self-propelled howitzer is a rifled gun, which can fire mortar shells and grenades at the same time, and has the ballistic characteristics of both guns.
Looking at the development of new mortars in China during this period. We can see that the new mortars in China have the following characteristics. First, the ballistic characteristics of mortars determine the irreplaceability of such guns. Secondly, single-tube continuous firing, multi-tube simultaneous firing and automatic loading in the breech improve the combat capability of simultaneous multi-bomb instantaneous strike suppression. Third, new technologies and missiles such as direct aiming, indirect aiming, infrared imaging and laser guidance have improved the impact accuracy of mortars. Fourth, the combination of two artillery pieces, one artillery piece with multiple functions, and one artillery piece broadens the field of mortar to perform various combat tasks. Fifth, the integration of artillery, vehicles and guns has enhanced the mobility of mortars. Sixth, the design idea of armored protection and rapid evacuation embodies the concept of humanization. In addition to these characteristics, some products of China's new mortars have strong wading ability, even amphibious combat ability, some products can be maneuvered from a long distance, and some products have the pertinence of military trade, which is also conducive to cooperation with friendly forces.
The development and equipment of new mortars in China have greatly shortened the "generation gap" between standard mortars in China and developed countries, and accelerated the pace of infantry mortars in China from backpack to mechanization. In the process of developing new mortars in China, information technology has been widely used, realizing the double-leap-forward ability of our army's equipment mechanization and information synchronization, which has been demonstrated in the reform of new mortars.
Looking forward to the future of mortars in China, the development trend of new mortars should include informationization, digitalization, automation, lightweight, modularization and internationalization.
The war under the condition of modern technology is mainly dominated by information technology. The higher the degree of informatization, the greater the certainty and initiative to win the battle. The application of information technology in the development of new mortar is mainly in the command and control of fire control system. This command and control fire control system is based on autonomous and reliable global navigation satellite positioning (GPS), and will be equipped with advanced information receiving and sending system, positioning and orientation device and electronic map, so as to improve the combat response capability of the weapon system and shorten the response time, thus having higher autonomous combat capability. On this basis, single guns and group guns are interrelated to form a reliable, flexible and powerful firepower network. In the guidance of new mortar shells, a higher level of controllable mode of terminal-sensitive and laser-guided mortar shells will also be realized.
Digitalization, automation and informatization are both different and related. The digitalization of new mortars is mainly reflected in improving the digital display of observation, aiming, fire control and electrical appliances, so as to reduce the number of operators and improve the ability of rapid response in combat. The digitization ability of single gun and combined gun depends on the high-end information technology platform to some extent.
Automation mainly refers to the automation of mechanical movement. Mortar automation includes gun self-propulsion, automatic fire control, ammunition supply and transportation automation and troubleshooting automation. The new mortar is a complex system. In the process of realizing the automation of the whole system, the "double backup" in the "redundancy" design and the necessary semi-automatic or manual operation are the guarantee for the reliable work of the gun.
The traditional "three-piece" structure in mortars. The mobile combat performance of vehicle-mounted and self-propelled mortars will be lighter in terms of airdropping and landing. Adopting anti-recoil design and reducing gun recoil resistance technology will effectively realize the overall weight of vehicle-mounted and self-propelled mortars. The light vehicle-mounted mortar without armor protection adopts the evasive design of "hit and run". So that we can perform some combat tasks more flexibly and more.
The loading system of vehicle-mounted mortars and self-propelled mortars will make better use of modular design to facilitate docking with different carrier platforms. In order to form a "basic" standard, standardized and serialized equipment that is convenient for docking with different carrier platforms is formed.
Internationalization (or regionalization and collectivization) also has a certain degree of standardization. The reduction of mortar caliber types will be beneficial to the exchange of ammunition types, as well as to the layout transformation of flexible production lines and joint logistics support. Double-barrel, multi-barrel mortars and forced howitzers have also become a new international trend, and China has also made some achievements in this field. While seeking political and economic diversification, it is also the need of big countries to maintain some characteristics of mortars in China. It is also the international trend of mortar development to realize missile launching artillery and change "wide planting and rare harvesting" into precision strike.
In addition to the development trend of these new mortars, according to the needs of special operations. Mortars with special functions have also become a bright spot. These mortars include: ship-borne or vehicle-borne stealth mortars, silent mortars, single-tube mortars (without seats and legs) and so on. Because the muzzle velocity and bore pressure of the mortar are very low. With the application of new materials, simpler mortars followed by infantry operations and self-propelled mortars hidden in ordinary vehicles have also begun to enter people's sight.
The development of mortars in China has found a new application field in the process of military conversion. These achievements are shown in 82mm, 105mm caliber forest fire extinguishers and 122mm forest (grassland) exterminators. These three new products of military technology are all positive contributions made by mortar military scientific research institutions to protect the ecological environment by self-financing according to the new requirements of national economic development and building an environment-friendly society. At present, these three new civil distributors have passed the "actual combat" test, passed the design finalization, and applied for the national patent of China. These new equipment have filled a gap in the standard equipment for forest (grassland) fire fighting and pest control in China, and the export of a large number of products will also be a new contribution to human society. The new civil distributor will also develop in the direction of self-propelled and urbanization, and then form a series.