Laos Army Mechanizing Its 122mm D30 Howitzer

With the small artillery force, the equipment was not really good, but the Lao Army overcame by mechanizing one of the most powerful firepower in the service, the D30.

A number of recently released images have surprised Asian Military Forums when the Lao People's Army successfully mechanized the 122mm D30 howitzer model developed by the former Soviet Union. It is worth mentioning that there are only about 10 cannons of this type in Laos artillery.

In such a modest amount, it seems that the Lao Army decided to mechanize the entire number of D30 artillery they had on the active Ural-4320 3-wheel military transport chassis (6x6), Similar to what Vietnam has been doing with the 105mm M101 model of American artillery.

It is possible that Laos has referred to the mechanized and self-propelled artillery M101 solution that Vietnam has implemented to upgrade the D30 by placing it behind the Ural-4320 body on a fixed welding platform on the chassis and 3 more. Hydraulic legs, on both sides and middle of the rear.It is also worth mentioning that in the Lao Army staff, another model of self-propelled self-propelled gun could be used as a model for the country to mechanize the D30 howitzer, CS/SH-1 made by China. .

The way Laos improved the Ural 4320 and combined with the D30 cannon was quite similar to the CS/SH-1 design, especially in the more hydraulic position in the center of the body, more notably the Chinese 122mm model. for CS/SH-1 is the localized variant of the D30 cannon built by the country itself, the Type 86 or Type 96.

Thanks to mechanization and optimization of operation, the Lao D30 artillery shell after being upgraded can be pulled from 8 to 4 people, similar to CS/SH-1 and carry the number of bullets from 20-30. .

Meanwhile the range of the D30 cannon will be almost constant, reaching 15km with normal bullets and 22km with bullets that increase range and maintain the average rate of fire of the D30 from 5-6 transmitter/minute or maximum 12 plays/minute.
The total combat weight of this self-propelled artillery model after the upgrade can fall to around 12-13 tons, including the number of spare ammunition to carry, quite suitable for the ability to maneuver on Ural-4320 and The conditions of the field roads are as in Laos.

With the technical parameters - tactics of the D30 after being mechanized, the combat capability of this model will be significantly improved with faster and more dynamic deployment and recovery time on the field and just from 4-5 gunners to operate.

Basically, the combination of wheeled truck with ground cannon is considered a good plan for the military of countries with limited defense potentials to modernize or improve the fighting capacity of the force. Low-cost artillery, while being able to maximize the mobility of the weapons on the battlefield.

It can be seen that the solution Laos chooses to upgrade the D30 cannon is perfectly reasonable. In terms of their current level of defense industry, this can be considered a huge step forward. However, it is not clear at what stage the mechanized program of Laos's D30 122mm cannon has reached, and whether it is supported by foreign experts.