Type 66 (152mm)

History

Every major army in the world uses some form of long-range 150mm caliber (or larger) howitzer - towed or self-propelled. The 155mm caliber is still popular in the West, while the East supports the 152mm form.

For the modern Chinese military, their 152mm battlefield needs are met by the "Type 66" - a lethal long-range system capable of firing various types of projectiles from 10 miles away. The Type 66 originated from the original Cold War-era D-20 developed by Soviet engineers.

The D-20 was first commissioned by the Soviet Army in 1955 to provide a long-range battlefield weapon system capable of firing nuclear warheads at a salvo rate of 6 rounds per minute. It was the first semi-automatic vertical sliding wedge breech gun designed and developed by the Soviet Union.

Thankfully, the Cold War never got "hot," and the nuclear aspect of this artillery system was never tested on war-weary European theaters. Nonetheless, the D-20 had a long, prosperous, and storied service life in the Soviet Union and its alliesa history of service that continues into the current decade.

Like other weapon systems, the D-20 was eventually adopted by China and produced locally, and continued to serve as the aforementioned Type 66.

The weapon has a conventional layout, faithful in many respects to the original Soviet design. The barrel is mounted on a trainable stand with built-in elevation and aileron controls for some tactical flexibility. The barrel is closed by a large multi-slotted muzzle brake and has a solid recoil mechanism to deal with the violent recoil encountered when firing such a large caliber cartridge. Access to the barrel through the rear shutter allows full access to the firebox.

Elevation and aileron controls are offset to the right of the barrel, as are the optics. The sides of the barrel are partially spanned by shields to provide basic cover for the eight-man rifle crew, each trained in specific aspects of the gun's function and overlapping training to play the role of the fallen comrade. The carriage is a single-axle two-wheel assembly with a split trailing arm that allows the gun to be towed behind a moving vehicle. The entire system can also be hoisted by helicopter or transported in the belly of a medium or very large transport aircraft.

Before firing, lower a piece of base plate below the center mass of the cannon while digging the legs into the surrounding dirt.

In practice, these weapon systems can be used for line-of-sight indirect fire at enemy positions miles away. The grenade has both area saturation and psychological effects, and can be used in conjunction with rocket artillery attacks and close support aircraft attacks.

This salvo usually continues the attack, with the attacker hoping to take enemy-held territory by displacing the defender. The available arsenal allows the Type 66 crew to fire high-explosive (HE), smoke, lighting, anti-infantry arrows, chemical, biological and nuclear munitions as needed all designed to crush an enemy army from a distance or completely eliminate it.

The Type 66-1 is a modernized/updated form of the recognized original (and base) Type 66 howitzer. Sri Lanka is a well-known foreign customer for the Type 66 howitzer system.

Currently, the Chinese Army has about 6,245 stand-by stand-alone towed artillery pieces, as well as 1,710 SPGs and 1,770 rocket launchers - all of different calibers designed to fulfill specific roles on the battlefield (area saturation, chemical, nuclear , biological attack, etc...).

Specification

Basic

Roles

Dimensions

Performance

Performance

for everyone else in our database)

Armor

Depends on ammo supply.

Changes