The PLL-05 is a Chinese self-propelled gun-mortar in use by Chinese

mechanised infantry Mechanized infantry are infantry units equipped with Armoured personnel carrier, armored personnel carriers (APCs) or infantry fighting vehicles (IFVs) for transport and combat (see also armoured corps). As defined by the United States Army, me ...

formations. Conceptually it is similar to the Russian 2S23 "Nona-SVK" (the turret and weapon system of the

2S9 Nona The 2S9 ''NONA'' () is a self-propelled and air-droppable 120 mm mortar designed in the Soviet Union, which entered service in 1981. The 2S9 chassis is designated the S-120 and based on the aluminium hull of the BTR-D airborne multi-purpose ...

mounted on a

BTR-80 The BTR-80 () is an 8×8 wheeled Amphibious vehicle, amphibious armoured personnel carrier (APC) designed in the Soviet Union. It was adopted in 1985 and replaced the previous vehicles, the BTR-60 and BTR-70, in the Soviet Army. It was first de ...

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) – Type 90 and Type 92. Over 3,000 WZ-551s are in ser ...

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 the roles of both an ordinary cannon or field gun, and of a howitzer. It is thus able to convey both direct fire, direct and indirect fire. Mo ...

at the expense of maximum range, which has improved accuracy, a higher rate of fire, and having the capability of using

direct fire Direct fire or line-of-sight fire refers to firing of a ranged weapon whose projectile is launched directly at a target within the line-of-sight of the user. The firing weapon must have a sighting device and an unobstructed view to the target, ...

in comparison to standard infantry mortars.

Description

The main armament of the PLL-05 is a 120 mm gun-mortar 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 * Optical microscope#Objective turret (revolver or revolving nose piece), Objective turre ...

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 config ...

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 a manufactured 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 (geography), ''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 equipotenti ...

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), ...

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 ...

. It is fitted with an

autoloader An autoloader or auto-loader is a mechanical aid or replacement for the personnel that load ammunition into crew-served weapons without being an integrated part of the gun itself. The term is generally only applied to larger weapons, such as na ...

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 (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 a working flu ...

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 celebra ...

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), also referred to as the PLA Army, is the army, land-based service branch of the People's Liberation Army (PLA), and also its largest and oldest branch. The PLAGF can trace its lineage from 192 ...

- 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 120 mm mortars Gun-mortars Military vehicles introduced in the 2000s