News from the baddies
Well, let’s start with the Chinese. They have added a transport base to their PCL-181 howitzer. The gun is now on a 6-wheeled 6×6 truck, making it faster and more maneuverable that a bulky track system. The howitzer itself breaks with most Sov-style systems, too, in that fires standard NATO 155mm rounds rather than the more usual Russian 152mm rounds.
The howitzer is mounted on a wheeled 6×6 truck, not a tank-like track system, making it faster, lighter, and more mobile.
Its mount enables the gun to allegedly travel at speeds of over 56 mph (90 kph) with an operational range of more than 373 miles (600 kilometers). The howitzer platform can carry 27 rounds of ammunition. Interesting Engineering
The article cites a fair number of key points, like a semi-automatic loading system that allows them to fire up to 6 rounds per minute along with advanced targeting systems, satnav, digital communications. The wheeled chassis is able to be sited and fire within three minutes, and reposition accordingly (which I suspect will make counter-battery operations more difficult.)
Me, I am thinking their choice of caliber and loads means they are anticipating the use of captured ammunition without needing to modify the gun. Recent testing of the gun at high altitude mountainous conditions points to its versatility. It’d be nice to get some expert tube-arty commentary?
And it looks like it is time to say goodbye to an old friend. Sadly, the world’s biggest self-marking target may be leaving us – the Admiral Kuznetsov, Russia’s smokin’ aircraft carrier (and I do mean that smokin’ literally!) may be taken out of service and broken up for scrap. Gone will be the days when she could be spotted below the horizon by her plumes of black smoke.
The pro-Kremlin Russian newspaper Izvestia recently reported that the Russian military might be giving up on getting its troubled and only aircraft carrier back into service. Citing high ranking “informed sources,” they said the carrier might be decommissioned and broken down for scrap. The reason? The high costs of repairs and the greater focus on smaller, automated weapons systems in war. Now the military is weighing if the need to have an aircraft carrier, like other world powers, is worth the costs already sunk into the Admiral Kuznetsov.
Powered as she is by burning a Russian crude called mazut, the Kuznetsov spews fumes – externally as smoke, internally as unventilated fumes. Being posted to the Russian navy’s sole aircraft carrier should be a plum, prestigious assignment, no? Well, no – more like a punishment assignment, retribution for having screwed up elsewhere in the fleet.
It’s also been plagued by malfunctions, mechanical failures and fires. It often needs to be pulled by a tugboat. One sailor died when a fire broke out in 2009. In 2017, the ship went to dock for a major overhaul meant to extend its lifespan and address some of its major challenges. That process has had its own issues. In 2018 the floating dock sank, causing a large and heavy crane to crash into the Admiral Kuznetsov. There were multiple fires onboard the carrier, including one that killed two crewmembers. The overhaul was meant to be done in 2021 but it has continually pushed back its timeline, including notable claims from USC it would be back in service in 2024.
That last sounds like their shipyards were trained by ours, doesn’t it?
But if this is the end of the line for the Admiral Kuznetsov, then it is going out as it lived: at port and constantly broken. Task & Purpose
Glad it’s them and not us (cough cough Littoral Combat ship cough cough)
