According to the US media "Sandbox News", former US national security adviser General McMaster said that with the tension in the Taiwan Strait, the People's Liberation Army seems to be preparing for a war, and some senior US officials also believe that the possibility of a war in the Taiwan Strait is getting higher and higher. James Clapper, retired lieutenant general of the US Air Force, deputy secretary of the Department of Defense and director of national intelligence during the Obama administration, believes that the People's Liberation Army currently has no confidence in unifying Taiwan. Clapper believes that the PLA currently has insufficient landing capabilities, Taiwan Island has a natural barrier in the Taiwan Strait, and the weapons in the hands of the Taiwan army will cause greater damage to the PLA.
Moreover, the PLA has not fought a war for 40 years, and the Himas rocket launcher, which posed a major threat to the Russian army, can also cause major casualties to the PLA. Coupled with the support and deterrence of the United States, if the PLA now conducts unified action, it will be a disaster for China itself. US media reports also stated that if there is a military conflict between China and the United States, China will be subject to sanctions in many fields such as food, semiconductors, chips, etc., and China's manufacturing industry will also be seriously affected. The United States should also strengthen the military strength of the Taiwan military and export more weapons to the Taiwan military.
It should be said that there are big problems with the US media's statement, especially Clapper's view, which has obvious mistakes in the situation in the Taiwan Strait. On the one hand, the Taiwan Strait issue belongs to China's internal affairs. If the United States exports weapons to the Taiwan military and attempts to interfere with China's unified actions, it will bear all responsibilities and consequences. China and the West have very close political and economic ties. If the West initiates comprehensive sanctions on China similar to Russia, the West will inevitably be affected and cannot be immune.
On the other hand, China's current military strength is fully capable of solving the Taiwan issue. Although the People's Liberation Army has not fought a war for 40 years, it has always kept pace with the development of the times in military construction. Even if an army that follows the trend of military development, its combat effectiveness should not be underestimated. Although the Russian army has participated in war operations for many years, there is a certain gap between the overall development level and the current first-class army, which has led to the poor performance of the Russian army in the Russian-Ukraine war.
The United States has not launched a large-scale war in nearly 20 years since the Vietnam War, but after years of research and reform, it made a stunning success in the Gulf War and brought modern wars relying on high-tech weapons into people's vision. As for Clapper's statement that the Himas rocket launcher will pose a great threat to China, it is actually still to be discussed.
M142 "Haimas" rocket launcher is currently the main rocket launcher system in service in the US military. The Haimas rocket launcher was born from the US M270 general multi-barrel rocket launcher and belongs to the improved model of the M270 rocket launcher. The full name is High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, which is the high-mobile rocket launcher system. While inheriting the advantages of M270 rocket launcher's powerful and fast response, Himas focused on improving his maneuverability.
Himas combat weight is 10.89 tons, with a maximum speed of 86 kilometers per hour. It can be quickly transported and airdropped with the C-130 transport aircraft. The combat preparation can be completed 15 minutes after landing. The Himas rocket launcher consists of two parts: a launch vehicle and an ammunition supply vehicle, both of which are high-motorized wheeled vehicles. The launch vehicle has a total of 3 occupants. The launch device is a metal cabin structure, which can achieve flexible rotation within ±100° azimuth angle and high and low angles 0°~60°. The metal cabin has two bullet bays, each bullet bay can be equipped with a 6-connected rocket launcher or a missile launcher. The ammunition supply vehicle also has three crew members and can be loaded with 8 6-mounted rocket launchers.
Haimas rocket launcher has its fast reaction, high accuracy and great power. Among them, Himas' fast reaction is mainly reflected in two aspects. One is that it loads ammunition quickly. Since Himas adopts a modular design, the rocket launcher module equipped with the launch vehicle can be replaced directly, and ammunition loading can be completed within 5 minutes. Instead, there is no need for the Russian BM-21, BM-27 and BM-30 rocket launchers to take dozens of minutes to load ammunition.
, on the other hand, is fast maneuvering, and can achieve the ability to run away after fighting.The Himas can be deployed quickly by a C-130 transport aircraft, and with a maximum speed of 86 kilometers per hour, it can quickly change the field within 8 minutes after entering the battlefield to launch rockets and leave the position before the opponent strikes back. The high accuracy is reflected in the ammunition used by Himas. It can use long-range guided rockets with a range of about 70 kilometers, and the hit accuracy can be guaranteed to be less than 10 meters. The Himas can also use 600mm long-range high-precision tactical missiles with a range of 300 kilometers, with an accuracy of about 50 meters.
In terms of power, Himas uses a 227mm rocket with a warhead weighing 154 kilograms. Different warheads can be selected according to the mission. The most common one is the dual-purpose comb warhead. This warhead can carry 644 M77 anti-armored killer ammunition, a Himas rocket launcher with this ammunition can cover 6 areas of football field sizes in one volley. In terms of power, a rocket launcher composed of 9 Himas rocket launchers is equivalent to the lethal power of 27 volleys of a howitzer battalion composed of 18 155mm howitzer.
In the Russian-Ukrainian War, the United States provided the Ukrainian army with about 20 sets of Haimas rocket launchers, focusing on long-distance strikes on the Russian army's ammunition depots, logistics stations, airports and other important facilities on the logistics supply lines, which gave the Russian army a headache. Many senior Russian generals have made it clear that they should give priority to destroying the Ukrainian Haimas rocket launchers. The reason why the Russian army suffered a considerable loss in the Ukrainian Haimas was, in addition to the outstanding performance of the Himas themselves, it also largely due to the Russian army's own problems and the support of the US military.
In fact, the limited number of Haimas rocket launchers in the Ukrainian army are difficult to fight against the Russian army on the front battlefield, but the Ukrainian army has exerted the advantages of high maneuverability of the Haimas rocket launcher, leveraging the support of the US military's intelligence reconnaissance and the weakness of the Russian army's lack of long-range tactical intelligence reconnaissance capabilities, and adopted the tactic of fighting and running, achieving good results. Since the Russian army currently lacks long-distance reconnaissance and attack integrated drones, a large number of reconnaissance satellites are still in a semi-scrapped state, which has led to the Russian army's unknown movements of the Ukrainian Himas rocket launcher, and the Ukrainian army's location is often unable to be discovered before being attacked.
In contrast, the Ukrainian army can not only obtain reconnaissance intelligence support from the US military, but also the reconnaissance and attack integrated drones of its own equipment can also provide accurate intelligence from the Russian army, which provides strong support for Himas' attack. At the same time, the Russian army currently equipped with the BM-21, BM-27 and BM-30 rocket launchers lag behind the Himas in terms of performance. BM-21 is already a product of the 1960s, and the most advanced BM-30 is also a product of the 1980s. Even after improvement and upgrade, it is far inferior to Himas in terms of accuracy, range and maneuverability. When the Russian army reacted and wanted to use rocket launchers to attack Haimas, Haimas had already escaped. Due to fear of the Ukrainian air defense system, it is difficult for the Russian Air Force to send fighter jets to attack the Ukrainian army's deployment of the Himas.
It is not difficult to see from this that the trouble caused by the Himas rocket launcher to the Russian army is caused by various reasons on the battlefield of Russia and Ukraine. If you are a simple analogy like Clapper to the Taiwan Strait, there are obviously big problems. First of all, in terms of reconnaissance and detection capabilities, the People's Liberation Army has now established a complete set of reconnaissance and detection systems for the Taiwan Strait. Whether it is air-based satellites, space-based reconnaissance aircraft and early warning aircraft, various large, medium and small drones and all-in-one drones, the People's Liberation Army is currently at the world's leading level. For example, the Winglong 3 drone exhibited at the Zhuhai Air Show has a range of more than 10,000 kilometers, and can last for 40 hours. It can carry 2.3 tons of weapons. It can be continuously monitored over the Taiwan Sea. Once Himas is discovered, it can launch a strike immediately.
Secondly, in terms of rocket launcher performance, the PLA's long-range rocket launcher technology level is in the leading position worldwide. At this Zhuhai Air Show, the foreign trade-type SR5 rocket launcher exhibited in China is considered to be no less than Himas in terms of technical level. The SR5 rocket launcher can use 122mm and 220mm rocket launcher ammunition, and the strike distance can reach about 70-100 kilometers.The SR5 can also launch Feilong-60B cruise missiles and precision guided ammunition, and can even use C705 anti-ship missiles with a range of 300 kilometers. The strike accuracy is undoubtedly very high. Especially after using precise guided ammunition with a range of 300 kilometers, it is known as a sniper rifle with a range of 300 kilometers. The SR5 also adopts a modular design and wheeled vehicle. It not only allows quick maneuvering, but also allows for direct replacement of ammunition modules, and ammunition loading can be completed in a few minutes.
And according to China's foreign trade weapons tradition, self-use weapons must be more advanced than foreign trade weapons. The PHL-191 rocket launcher currently equipped by the People's Liberation Army has a strike accuracy of no more than 10 meters when using precisely guided artillery shells, and a range of up to 500 kilometers. In terms of technical level, the PLA's long-range rocket launcher has the ability to fight and suppress Haymas. In addition, there are also many methods of strike. The People's Liberation Army relies on its excellent intelligence reconnaissance and detection system to use rocket launchers to attack Haimas, or use tactical aircraft, cruise missiles, cruise missiles, and even Dongfeng series missiles and other weapons.
At present, the Taiwan Army has equipped 11 sets of Himas rocket launchers and plans to purchase 18 additional sets of Himas rocket launchers. If the purchase increase plan can be successfully completed, the Taiwan military will be equipped with 29 Himas rocket launchers, equipped with 84 tactical regional ballistic missiles, and 864 227mm rockets with precise strike capabilities, for use by Himas rocket launchers. From this perspective, although both the US and the Taiwan military hope that the Himas can play an important role in the conflict in the Taiwan Strait, in terms of overall strength, these mere 29 sets of Himas still have a limited threat to China, and China is fully capable of suppressing and destroying the Himas rocket launcher of the Taiwan military.
From a tactical perspective, the Himas of the Taiwan Army will likely pose a certain threat to the PLA's operations, and it is necessary to eliminate and destroy it as soon as possible before logging in. According to reports from US media, the United States has profound plans and thoughts on interfering in the situation in the Taiwan Strait. For us, we must pay attention to it and actively improve our own strength to deal with various situations that may arise in the future.
