China's 105mm Assault Gun Goes Global, What's The Secret To Selling Well Overseas?

Among the wide variety of domestic foreign trade ground weapons and equipment, in addition to main battle tanks, 155mm artillery and rocket launchers, there is also a star series product that can be called a "rising star". Although this series of products has only been exported for a short period of ten years, it has been exported to more than ten countries, with a total volume of more than two hundred vehicles. It is China's foreign trade 105mm assault gun family.

A wheeled assault gun equipped by the Djibouti Army.

Developed from 100mm assault gun

After the war, Western countries developed multiple types of wheeled assault guns equipped with 105mm rifled guns according to the needs of their own army development. The most famous of them are the Italian "Centaur" and the American M1128 "Stryker" mobile artillery system. . The development of our country's weapons industry in large-caliber wheeled assault guns is actually not much later than that of foreign countries. As early as the 1980s, relevant units in my country's arms industry began research, development and demonstration work on large-caliber wheeled assault guns. However, scientific researchers at the time still did not have a unified understanding of the design and positioning of this emerging land combat wheeled equipment. Because in the armies of Western countries, this type of weapon is generally used as high-mobility reconnaissance equipment. Due to its weak armor protection, it is not suitable for frontal combat with enemy armored forces.

The situation faced by the Chinese Army at that time was different. In order to make up for the shortcomings in anti-tank as soon as possible, the large-caliber wheeled assault gun was actually developed as the main anti-tank weapon of the artillery unit at the beginning. Therefore, although the domestic large-caliber wheeled assault gun looks similar to similar weapons in Western countries on the surface, it actually follows two technical routes. In the end, the first generation of domestically produced large-caliber wheeled assault guns adopted a design model that combined the Type 86 100mm high-bore pressure smoothbore anti-tank gun with the WZ551 6×6 wheeled armored chassis. From this, the Type 02 100mm wheeled assault gun was born. assault gun.

The overall design of the Type 02 assault gun was relatively successful. After the design was finalized, it was equipped in batches with the Chinese Army Artillery Force. On this basis, relevant units in my country's arms industry intend to promote it to the international arms trade market. However, since foreign users rarely equip and use relatively special weapons such as the 100mm high-bore pressure smoothbore anti-tank gun, logistical support and ammunition supply are problematic. To this end, relevant units in our country's arms industry, based on the overall design of the Type 02 assault gun, replaced the firepower part with a 105mm rifled gun that is more widely used around the world, and can be compatible with Western standard ammunition of the same caliber. As a result, the domestic foreign trade 105mm assault gun family, which has been widely praised by foreign users so far, was born.

A wheeled assault gun ready for delivery.

The "big brother" of this family is the 105mm 6×6 wheeled assault gun. This type of assault gun uses the same WZ551 chassis as the Type 02 assault gun, but in order to adapt to the use requirements of the 105 mm rifled gun, many details of the vehicle's design have been greatly improved and optimized. At the same time, in terms of navigation, positioning and radio communications, the wheeled assault gun has also been improved accordingly to meet the needs of foreign users. Especially for the hot climate in African countries, the Type 02 assault gun is specially equipped with on-board air conditioning, while the domestically equipped Type 02 assault gun is not equipped with air conditioning.

Since then, thanks to the successful experience of the wheeled assault gun, relevant units in our country's arms industry have successfully developed the ST1 105mm 8×8 wheeled assault gun and the ST2 tracked 105mm assault gun.

From the perspective of technological development, the ST1 wheeled assault gun is a greatly upgraded version of the wheeled assault gun. Its most obvious improvement is to replace the chassis from the original WZ551 chassis to the latest domestically produced 8×8 wheeled version. Highly mobile armored chassis. The 8×8 wheeled chassis is not only far superior to the WZ551 wheeled chassis in terms of load-bearing capacity, maneuverability, and protection performance, but is also more in line with the development trend of the world's wheeled assault guns. Therefore, after replacing the new chassis, the overall technical performance of the ST1 wheeled assault gun has become comparable to similar foreign advanced equipment, making it more competitive.

Compared with the ST1 and ST1 wheeled assault guns, the ST2 tracked assault gun appears to be more alternative, and it is a foreign trade equipment specially developed according to the needs of foreign users. The ST2 assault gun no longer uses a wheeled chassis, but is replaced by a domestically produced Type 89 tracked armored chassis. This brings many benefits, such as metal tracks without the risk of punctured tires like wheeled chassis, better adaptability to battlefield environments, stronger off-road capabilities, and better protection. Since the turret used by the ST2 assault gun itself has strong firepower and fire control system, if its protection capability is greatly improved, it will basically be a veritable light tank.

The ST2 assault gun no longer uses a wheeled chassis, but is replaced by a domestically produced Type 89 tracked armored chassis.

Tips for beating foreign competitors

In the international military trade market, the domestic foreign trade 105mm assault gun actually faces many similar competitors. However, the impressive results of successfully exporting more than 200 vehicles so far are enough to make foreign counterparts "envious and jealous". So what's the secret?

First of all, the design of the domestic foreign trade 105mm assault gun captures the two performance cores of firepower and maneuverability, and appropriately relaxes the requirements for protection capabilities. The so-called "give or take" means that it is in the "trade-off" of the three major performances that the domestic foreign trade 105mm assault gun can succeed. Regarding the combat environment of user countries, taking African countries as an example, indicators such as preemptive strikes, precise strikes, and rapid maneuvering are often more in line with actual combat requirements than heavy armor protection.

In the battle against anti-government armed forces and terrorist armed forces, the Chinese-made foreign trade 105mm assault guns equipped by the government forces of African countries can rely on their excellent fire control system to launch salvos without the opponent being aware of them, destroying the opponent first. Heavy equipment, such as main battle tanks, infantry fighting vehicles, etc. When an opponent is attacked by a surprise attack, he or she often collapses without a fight. After that, the African government forces relied on the excellent mobility of the Chinese-made foreign trade 105mm assault guns to pursue the remaining troops of their opponents.

A high-end wheeled assault gun equipped by the Angolan Army.

In fact, on the African battlefield, the mobility of combat vehicle equipment is often more important than the firepower part. Africa has a large number of deserts, Gobis and plains, and the continuous war has given rise to a new guerrilla warfare model called "Pickup War". The biggest feature of this combat mode is that one or both parties use a large number of civilian pickup trucks equipped with various weapons as the main combat equipment. They move quickly and hit and run. Traditional main battle tanks, infantry fighting vehicles, etc. are often attacked. There was no time to pursue him. The emergence of the Chinese-made foreign trade 105mm assault gun finally made the "Pickup Truck War" encounter its natural enemy - when the armed pickup truck attacked, the Chinese-made foreign trade 105mm assault gun with its advanced fire control system and 105mm rifled gun , able to destroy the opponent outside its range. During the pursuit, the wheeled chassis equipped with the Chinese-made foreign trade 105mm assault gun is far more maneuverable than a civilian pickup truck. It is not an exaggeration to describe it as "a falcon catching a rabbit".

Secondly, the Chinese-made foreign trade 105mm assault gun has strong firepower. Whether it is second-generation main battle tanks such as the M60 and T-62, or some early third-generation main battle tanks, their frontal armor cannot withstand a fatal blow from the Chinese-made foreign trade 105mm assault gun. Nowadays, relevant units in our country's arms industry have even developed artillery-launched missiles specifically for the foreign trade 105mm assault gun. Its maximum range is as high as 5 kilometers, and its armor-breaking power is enough to deal with the most advanced third-generation main battle tanks in the world. It is no exaggeration to say that in terms of firepower, the Chinese-made foreign trade 105mm assault gun can sweep through any main battle tank currently on the African continent.

The most important point is that when designing the foreign trade 105mm assault gun, the relevant units in our country's arms industry have already developed three configurations with different prices and technical levels from the user's perspective, namely the standard version, the simple version and the high-end version. . The high-end version is equipped with a complete set of technical equipment, can launch artillery-launched missiles and has dynamic shooting capabilities, which is equivalent to the flagship phone in mobile phones; the standard version cancels the artillery-launched missile launching capability and three-defense system, and some core equipment also has some changes. Simplified, it is equivalent to the main model in mobile phones; the configuration of the simplified version is further reduced, it can only perform static shooting, and even the central charging and deflating system has been cancelled, which is equivalent to a cheap version of mobile phones. Interestingly, these three configurations of foreign trade 105mm assault guns have all received orders from foreign users, proving the foresight and wisdom of scientific researchers from relevant units in our country’s arms industry.

Type wheeled assault gun supporting command vehicle.

All five continents and four seas are brothers

At present, the countries equipped with domestically produced foreign trade 105mm assault guns mainly come from Africa and Southeast Asia, including Chad, Nigeria, Cameroon, Senegal, Djibouti, Angola and Myanmar. It is worth mentioning that Angola, as an emerging oil-producing country in southwest Africa, has become the first country to purchase and equip a high-end version of the domestically produced foreign trade 105mm assault gun, which is indeed beyond many people's expectations. However, the country with the largest number of domestically produced foreign trade 105mm assault guns is our neighboring country, Myanmar.

These domestic foreign trade 105mm assault guns exported to foreign users not only exchange a large amount of foreign exchange and resources for our country, but also promote the development of domestically produced equipment of the same type through their performance in actual combat. As we all know, our country's army has not experienced large-scale land operations for decades, so many new main battle equipment in active service have not been tested in actual combat. Then, the experience of participating in foreign trade weapons in user countries can also provide certain reference for the development of domestic equipment.

A wheeled assault gun equipped by the Myanmar government army.

For example, in conflicts between Myanmar government forces and local armed forces in the north, stray bullets often fly into our territory, killing and injuring our citizens. Later, the Myanmar government army put the foreign trade 105mm assault gun purchased from our country into the battle, which greatly reduced accidental injuries and the strike effect exceeded its expectations. During the battle, the Myanmar government army summarized many effective assault gun mountain combat tactics based on combat experience, such as using grenades to hit enemy fire points beyond the range of the opponent's large-caliber sniper rifle. These tactics also have very good reference significance for our country's army.