Recently, we mentioned the new domestic large-caliber artillery "Gorge Artillery", the meaning of which everyone understands, so we will not say more. Of course, some friends are still very unconvinced, based on the fact that the artillery is now going to hit 400 kilometers, how exaggerated the barrel is, how big the recoil is, is it possible to drive backwards to engage in "Karl mortar guns" and restore them to World War II train guns? There are also those who believe that the W90 type 203-mm gun developed in the 80s was eventually replaced, so the large-caliber gun was useless. So is that really the case? In fact, the domestic 300-mm cannon is not only being demonstrated, but also theoretically feasible.
According to the paper of two scholars of Nanjing University of Science and Technology on "Aerodynamic Analysis of Ultra-long-range Guided Projectiles", large-caliber and ultra-long-range guided projectiles have been studied. According to the content, the shell used in this gun has a diameter of 300 mm, a full length of 4 meters, a maximum speed of Mach 4, and most of the time after firing is supersonic flight. So how much range is there?
The analysis in the paper concluded that it can fly 280 kilometers without control and 420 kilometers if it flies with a maximum lift-to-drag ratio. At the same time, the text also gives a schematic diagram of the shape of this shell, the Kármen type bus used in the warhead, so that the head is slender to reduce resistance, and at the same time, it can also obtain better space to install the guidance components. At the same time, there are ducklings on both sides of the warhead, and there is also a drag reduction and range extension design in the tail section.
So looking back, what exactly is the concept of this 4-meter shell? A 155mm howitzer is about 0.8 meters long, while the PHL-03 fires a 300mm rocket with a length of 7.3 meters, so a 4-meter shell is completely acceptable, not as exaggerated as everyone thinks.
And through this thesis, the range and practicality of 300 mm caliber shells are basically explained. The submission date is 3 years ago in 2021, and there is a dedicated source of funding, and it is by no means an expert who is idle and bored to verify this technology. So the question is, since they are all working on artillery shells, do you say that users will not be interested in 300 mm caliber guns?
Then the problem of artillery shells is solved, about the problem of 300 mm artillery, in fact, there are currently two technical schemes, the first way is to launch gliding extended range shells from conventional artillery, this scheme is relatively low in technical difficulty, but the size of the artillery itself is not small, and it needs to work miniaturization. The second solution is to use the electromagnetic gun scheme, which can be miniaturized by the length of the barrel and the volume of the gun body. In the May 2024 issue of the South China Morning Post, it was reported that the electromagnetic gun winged shell developed by Lu Junyong's team has reached Mach 5 in the test and the launch altitude has reached 15 kilometers. In fact, this winged design and the gliding shell mentioned above also have technical similarities.
It is not difficult to see that now there are not many technical obstacles to 300-mm artillery and artillery shells, and users are also of a certain interest, so why do you have to go back to large-caliber artillery at the stage of such diversification of rockets, 155 artillery and tactical missiles? There are four main reasons for this: The first is that the ability of rockets to penetrate and attack fortified positions is insufficient, and there is no way to damage the enemy's solid permanent buildings, underground buildings, and deep tunnels, which is easy for the enemy to preserve its combat strength, and even artillery bombardment knocks down 1 meter on the mountain, but as a result, there is no large number of killing and injuring the enemy's vital forces.
The second is that although the rocket is low-cost, large-caliber, and long-range, if you look at the Fire Dragon 300, you will know that the rocket that can hit 300 kilometers is not small, and it can't hit the depth of the island. The really easy to use "Gorge Cannon" Fire Dragon 480 can fight 500 kilometers, and its size is even larger. In this way, compared with a 4-meter shell, the advantage of rocket artillery is not obvious.
The third is that the rocket is inertial plus Beidou guidance, but the accuracy is heavily dependent on satellites, and in a high-intensity war, the two sides will suppress and interfere with each other's satellites, so they must be prepared for no satellite guidance. Therefore, with the simplest artillery gliding range, inertial guidance may be simpler and more effective.
Fourth, in the chain of command, if tactical missiles and large-caliber rockets are not decentralized, then there may be problems that cross the arms and services. And if it is a 300 mm large-caliber artillery, at most it is an artillery brigade directly under the group army, it is very convenient to decentralize it to a composite battalion, even if it is not decentralized, it is also a system, and it is much easier to call firepower.
On the whole, the 300-mm gun has disadvantages, but many of them can indeed be improved through technology, but its advantages as an artillery are incomparable with rockets and tactical missiles. Especially as the characteristic battlefield environment of "Gorge Artillery", it is completely possible to wrap dumplings for this bit of vinegar, after all, in order to win the first battle, it is necessary to make the most perfect preparations, even if it is not necessary to waste 10,000 tons of steel, it is worth shedding a drop of blood!