Is the US self-propelled artillery sold to Taiwan "foreign garbage"? Expert: Has been in service for nearly 30 years

　　The self-propelled artillery sold by the United States to Taiwan is "foreign garbage"?

Mainland experts: Or a refurbished version of the US Army’s active artillery, serving in the US Army for nearly 30 years

　　[Global Times Special Correspondent Zhang Jie] According to Taiwanese media reports on the 5th, the US government on the 4th Eastern Time, including the M109A6 self-propelled artillery and other equipment, on the US$750 million arms sales to Taiwan, the process of informing the Congress is expected to come into effect in one month. This is the first arms sales to Taiwan after US President Biden took office.

Taiwanese media generally refer to this self-propelled artillery as the main equipment of the US military, but mainland experts say that it has been equipped with the US military for nearly 30 years, and Taiwan has used "foreign trash" as its treasure.

　　The United Daily News and the British BBC website reported on the 5th that the arms sale includes 40 M109A6 self-propelled artillery and supporting precision guided artillery shells, 20 M992A2 series field artillery ammunition supply vehicles, and an advanced field artillery tactical data system. And other equipment.

"Central News Agency" reported on the 5th that based on the "Taiwan Relations Act" and the "six guarantees", the United States continued to provide Taiwan's defense weapons, which is "the basis for maintaining regional stability."

The US agrees to the arms sales project this time, which will help to enhance the rapid response fire support capabilities of Taiwan's ground forces and enhance Taiwan's defense capabilities.

According to reports, in April this year, it was reported that the Biden administration would sell arms to Taiwan for the first time. The project was the M109A6 self-propelled artillery.

According to the report, the current main artillery forces of the Taiwan Army’s artillery units include M109A2, A5 self-propelled artillery, M114 wheeled towed artillery, and M110A2 203 mm self-propelled artillery.

Among them, the M109A5 self-propelled artillery was purchased from the United States in 1996 and delivered to Taiwan in 1998. It has been in service for more than 20 years.

　　According to Taiwan media, the M109A6 is the main artillery of the American artillery. It is equipped with a M284 type 155mm, 39 times caliber howitzer, capable of firing M203/M203 A1 ammunition, with a maximum range of 30 kilometers, and it is ready to fire about 60% of the first round. Second, the maximum rate of fire for continuous shooting can reach 8 rounds per minute. Taiwan’s military describes that "a vehicle can produce an artillery company" and it is "an extremely advanced artillery firepower system."

　　According to reports, the M109A6 is equipped with an automatic firing control system (AFCS), a global positioning navigation system, a single-frequency ground-to-air radio system, an automatic artillery firing control system, etc., as well as a bulletproof lining.

If the shell explodes near A6, it can strengthen the protection of the members. Therefore, "not only the firepower is strengthened, but the survivability of A6 to officers and soldiers is higher than the current A5."

　　However, mainland experts said that Taiwan media boasted that the artillery was very advanced, but in fact, this artillery is already a second-line product.

The US military first equipped the gun as early as 1994, and it has been nearly 30 years now.

The U.S. military has been purchasing the updated M109A7 self-propelled artillery since 2013.

The M109A6 self-propelled artillery has a 39-caliber barrel and has a maximum range of 24 kilometers when launching a grenade. It can reach 30 kilometers with rocket extended-range projectiles, and it can reach 40 kilometers with the precision-guided M982 "Excalibur" projectile.

At present, the 155 self-propelled howitzer, including the mainstream of the People's Liberation Army, generally has a caliber of 45 times or even 52 times. It uses bottom-row extended-range projectiles with a higher accuracy than rocket extended-range projectiles. The maximum range generally exceeds 40 kilometers.

The so-called "a vehicle can produce the effect of an artillery company" is actually a standard function of mainstream self-propelled howitzers.

Since the M109A6 has been discontinued, this batch of artillery may be a refurbished version of the US military’s active artillery.

Taiwanese media are very excited about the US export of this artillery, obviously using foreign trash as treasure.

　　According to the United Daily News, a US State Department spokesperson stated in a background statement that this arms sale will help modernize Taiwan’s self-propelled artillery system and strengthen Taiwan’s self-defense capabilities to deal with current and future threats; US Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) stated that it will not only help upgrade Taiwan’s military capabilities, but also enhance military interoperability with the United States and other allies.

Interoperability refers to the ability to work together between different organizations and systems.

　　Experts say that under pressure from China, the US arms sales to Taiwan cannot be "normalized, timely, and normalized" as the chairman of the US-Taiwan Chamber of Commerce said.

In addition, although the performance of the M109A6 is much higher than that of the Taiwan’s active artillery, it will become scrap metal under the firepower of the People’s Liberation Army.