As a small country in Southeast Asia, Laos has developed under the protection and influence of Vietnam for a long time due to the special relationship between Laos and Vietnam. Its international presence, even in Southeast Asia, is relatively low. Major armed forces: The Lao People’s Army has received less attention in the international arena. However, with the development of the Lao economy and the improvement of foreign relations, the level of equipment of the Lao People’s Army has also quietly changed in recent years. In particular, the equipment of the artillery has advanced by leaps and bounds. 70% of its artillery models are imported from China. The overall level of modernization has surpassed Vietnam, which is second to none in Southeast Asia.
The SR-5 modular rocket launched by China’s foreign trade is currently the artillery with the longest range and the highest level of modernization in the hands of the Lao artillery. With lifting equipment, fast self-loading can be realized. At the same time, SR5 also uses multi-caliber co-frame technology, which can realize the co-frame use of 122mm, 220mm rockets and 610mm short-range ballistic missiles. In terms of ammunition types, in addition to ordinary rockets, it is also equipped with satellite guidance, laser semi-active guided rockets and terminal-sensitive missiles. However, the Lao Army has only shown the 122mm ammunition frame, and may not purchase the other two caliber ammunition due to funding reasons. But even for 122 caliber ammunition, Chinese manufacturers can also provide a wealth of options, such as BRE1 long-range bombs with a range of up to 50 kilometers and Fire Dragon 40 guided missiles, as well as 122mm Fire Dragon 40A terminal sensitive bombs, so even if you don’t buy large calibers Ammunition, SR5 can still play a variety of "tricks" on the battlefield.
CS/SH-1 122mm vehicle-mounted howitzer is the foreign trade version of our army’s PCL09 vehicle-mounted gun, and it is also the best barrel artillery in the hands of the Lao artillery. With complete fire control and various sensors, it can autonomously complete positioning, orientation, navigation and ground surveying in combat. It has fast position establishment and transfer speed. At the same time, it also has semi-automatic and automatic gun aiming under the guarantee of superior target information. ability. According to the manufacturer's information, the fastest time from entering the position to the completion of the withdrawal of the SH-1 can be no more than 3 minutes, and it can be quickly retreated when the opponent's counter-artillery forces have not fully reacted.
In addition to SH-1, the Lao artillery also has a 122mm truck gun, which is the HL-70 truck gun DIY by Laos. According to Lao media reports, the gun is a combination of the existing Soviet-made D-30 howitzer and imported Ural 4320 truck by Lao military technicians, but this combination is the most primitive hybrid, without any fire control and auxiliary equipment. The aiming system, so it only solves the problem of the inconvenience of maneuvering the D-30 towed gun, and the fire response speed is still very slow, but this is also in line with the current technological transformation capabilities of Laos.
In terms of towed artillery, the Lao artillery also has two equipment from China, one is the PL66-1 152mm howitzer in the picture, which is made by the Soviet Union. A copy of the D-20 152mm howitzer, but the type 60 122mm cannon mount is used, which is the same mount as the PL59 130mm cannon, so there are a lot of parts. It is universal, so it is very convenient in the logistics support of artillery equipment. PL66 has always been equipped with a large number of division artillery regiments and military artillery brigades in our army. After the reform, its equipment has been greatly reduced.
Another towed artillery is the PL59-1 130mm cannon, because the Lao artillery is not equipped with a 155mm caliber howitzer, while the surrounding Thailand and Myanmar are equipped with The 52-times diameter 155mm self-propelled howitzer (Thailand has imported Caesar, Myanmar has Serbian B-52 and China’s foreign trade 155 SH-1), so the Lao Army is still at an absolute disadvantage in terms of long-range barrel suppression of firearms. The PL59-1, as the longest-range barrel artillery of the Lao Army, is responsible for a very important long-range countermeasure.
As for the tractor of the PL59-1 cannon, the Lao Army chose the Ukrainian KrAZ-6322 truck.
The Laotian Army is also equipped with the Soviet-made hail 122mm rocket launcher that has been rotten in the third world countries. Because the 122mm frame launcher of the SR5 rocket launcher can use the ammunition of the gun, So it can be regarded as reducing the difficulty of guaranteeing the Lao artillery.
At present, judging from the hardware level of artillery in Southeast Asia, the artillery of Laos is already very advanced. In the Indo-China Peninsula, although it is still far behind the Thai Army’s artillery, it still has its own advantages compared with Myanmar, and it does not completely lag behind Myanmar. However, the local tyrant of the year, the Vietnamese artillery, has not improved in equipment these years. Although the number of artillery in its hands is huge, its technical level has fallen to the point where it competes with the Cambodian Army. Although it was also reported that Vietnam would import 108 Caesar truck guns to improve its predicament, it may be due to the embarrassment in the pocket, so there is no more information.
