Global Courant 2023-05-02 11:58:09
Taiwan’s front-line islands could be besieged by China’s new super-heavy artillery guns designed to destroy the toughest field fortifications and underground tunnels, adding a new firepower dimension to any invasion scenario.
Defense One reported last month that the People’s Liberation Army – Strategic Support Force (PLA-SSF) awarded a contract to produce 203-millimeter artillery guns, larger than any such weapon in known US or Chinese arsenals.
The report notes that the contract was awarded to Nanjing University of Science and Technology (NUST), China’s leading advanced artillery development institution.
The PLA-SSF Northwest Institute of Nuclear Technology (NINT) in Xian is tasked with developing the project, which the Defense One report suggests could be capable of firing tactical nuclear rounds.
The same report notes that China can use 203 millimeter artillery to hit strategic targets far behind enemy lines, blast through enemy defenses, break enemy advances, demolish urban enemy strongholds, and even as a weapon of terror against the civilian population.
The report also says it could play an intermediate role between 155-millimeter artillery and longer-range rocket artillery.
At the same time, China’s new 203-millimeter guns will face the same limitations as all heavy artillery pieces, including a slow rate of fire, limited mobility, and difficult logistics.
China has previously developed 203 millimeter artillery, but those efforts stalled until recently. Global Security Notes that Cold War border tensions between the Soviet Union and China made it imperative for the latter to develop artillery that could outperform and outmaneuver the most powerful 203-millimeter Soviet artillery pieces.
The source notes that the collaboration between Chinese and Western companies working with the well-known designer of superweapons, Gerald Bull, produced the VSP-203/W90 203 self-propelled gun, ranging from 37.5 to 50 kilometers depending on the round type, with the gun first tested in 1995.
Although Global Security notes that the end of the Cold War eased border tensions between China and Russia, making improvements to China’s 155-millimeter guns, missile artillery and super-heavy artillery such as the VSP-203/W90 203 seemingly obsolete. It also suggests that Bull’s assassination in March 1990 may have ended China’s super-weapons development program.
A Ukrainian 203mm self-propelled gun 2S7 Pion captured by Russian forces. Image: Twitter
However, Global Security notes that China’s fast-growing economy means it could easily resume development of super-heavy artillery, such as the VSP-203/W90 203, should the need arise.
The ongoing war in Ukraine has reaffirmed the relevance of heavy artillery The Los Angeles Times notes in a June 2022 article that artillery caused 80-90% of the casualties in the war in Ukraine, and the rest by bullets.
Conventional artillery has so far played a more decisive role than high-tech weapons in Ukraine’s ongoing war. In a December 2022 article for Business InsiderMichael Peck notes that mass artillery fire last year drove back the advance of Russian tanks into Kiev, not the anti-tank guided missiles (ATGM) touted in international media.
In terms of value for money, Harry Lye notes in an article for Global Defense Technology that artillery is cheaper to use than precision-guided weapons, making it more economical to break up enemy concentrations.
Aside from cost, Lye cites payload limitations and weather conditions can hinder aircraft’s ability to deliver large-scale firepower, just as concentrated artillery fire can.
Emerging technologies can improve the responsiveness, precision and reliability of artillery. For example, in a March article in the peer-reviewed Bulletin of the Atomic Scientistsnotes Dominika Kunertova notes that small drones have revolutionized artillery capability in Ukraine’s ongoing war, with their tactical reconnaissance cutting time-critical aiming and firing cycles from half an hour to three to five minutes, while also reducing blind fire.
Global Courant reported last month that China has been testing AI-powered laser-guided artillery rounds that hold the potential for faster targeted data processing speeds compared to traditional mathematical models. The AI-guided weapons reportedly bypass demanding calculations by using data from fire tests or real-life scenarios and improve accuracy through AI applications that handle advanced trajectory adjustments on the fly.
Space-based assets have also greatly improved the reliability of artillery on the modern battlefield. For example, in an article in March, Defense One noted that Starlink had become the hub of a Ukrainian artillery chain consisting of drones and video chat software connecting Ukrainian artillerymen to Russian targets.
It noted that successful artillery strikes would become impossible without Starlink, as mobile networks in combat zones are often out of order or unreliable.
China could try to use its super-heavy artillery to crack open the defenses of Taiwan’s front-line island in a conflict scenario, reenacting the vicious artillery duels between China and Taiwan over Kinmen and Matsu in the 1950s and 1960s.
‘Peacefully Uniting China: One Country, Two Systems’ – propaganda sign in Mawei opposite Taiwan-controlled Matsu. Photo: Wikipedia
Global Courant noted the strategic value of these islands in July 2022, which can play an essential role in Taiwan’s strategy of deterrence by prolongation by mounting a layered defense aimed at inflicting heavy casualties on a Chinese invading force, thereby they are theoretically forced to retreat.
Just three kilometers away from mainland China, Kinmen houses several World War II 240-millimeter M1 guns in fortified bunkers and Taiwan’s Kinmen Defense Command (KDC), the self-governing island’s front line against a Chinese invasion.
Likewise, Matsu has several field fortifications and underground tunnels. These defenses provide overlapping arcs of fire against mainland China and neighboring islands, with anti-tank and anti-aircraft guns for coastal defense, with the 1,100-strong Dongyin Area Command there using Hsiung Feng II anti-ship missiles and Sky Bow II surface weapons. air missiles.
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