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PLA Experimentation with Armed Cargo Ships
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PLA Experimentation with Armed Cargo Ships
by Stephen Miles
Tactical Uses
Two categories of employment apply to the use of armed cargo ships. The first is in an offshore fire-support role, employing direct and/or indirect fire in support of a landing with the intention of keeping the ship afloat. The second use is a one-way run in on a beach or port facility, where the continued seaworthiness of the ship is not an issue.
In the first role, that of remaining at sea providing fire support, armed cargo ships would be employed similar to regular PLAN armed surface warfare assets. Armed cargo ships could be expected to remain offshore and bombard shore defenses, facilities, and reserve formations from a relatively safe stand-off distance. With their excellent range, variety of ammunition, and ability to saturate large area targets with munitions, the most likely weapons for this role would be MRLs.
122mm Type 81 Rocket
The most widespread rocket in the PLA inventory today is the 122mm Type 81, based on the Russian BM-21Grad MRL rocket design. The Type 81 and its derivatives are common to several different tracked and wheeled PLA MRLs as well as the navalized MRL variant. Typical warheads include HE, HE-FRAG, Incendiary, and ICM submunitions; however, a wide variety of warhead types are available worldwide. Also known are such diverse warhead types as smoke, illumination, antitank mines, antipersonnel mines, chemical, and even RF jammer [13]. This variety of potential ammunition types makes MRLs even more attractive for use aboard armed cargo ships.
Howitzers and guns mounted to cargo ships could also be used as offshore fire support. With the use of GPS and innovative techniques to point the guns, floating batteries could project accurate indirect fires ashore. Guns and howitzers commonly possess a spectrum of ammunition types that offer significant flexibility to commanders. One particular munition of interest is the laser-guided artillery round. Those produced in China include the 152mm "Red Earth" round, a license produced version of the Russian OF-39 Krasnopol round [14].
152mm OF-39 Krasnopol laser-guided artillery round
The "Red Earth" round is fired from conventional howitzers such as the 152mm Type 66 seen aboard some cargo ships, and directed on to the target by means of a laser. A forward observer equipped with special laser designation equipment illuminates the target with laser energy that is acquired by the artillery round in flight. The artillery round then adjusts its trajectory to strike the designated target. While unmatched for precision indirect fire, the use of these laser-guided munitions severely limits the ship's ability to approach the shore. The round must acquire the laser spot on the downward end of its trajectory at a point where it still has enough inertia to direct itself onto the target. This is called the "footprint" of the laser-guided round, and it requires a minimum range of several kilometers and a maximum range in the last third of its ballistic potential. Also, lasers are susceptible to battlefield obscurants such as smoke that can attenuate the laser, making it impossible to accurately designate a target. Any advantages of laser-guided munitions would have to be weighed heavily against the disadvantages of not obscuring the beach with smoke prior to an assault.
