China Appears To Move Ahead With 155 mm Naval Gun, Likely Implications For Naval Gunfire Support
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Note: The following text was originally posted on my X/Twitter account.
China appears to be moving ahead with a new 155 mm naval gun design, which I covered in a thread back in April (linked below). It remains to be seen which warship type(s) will receive this very large and heavy 155 mm naval gun design, which will not only take up a considerable amount of real estate on a ship's superstructure but also requires extensive deck penetration.
Assuming that naval gunfire support in the context of an amphibious landing is the primary motivation for fielding a naval gun that is significantly larger than the 130 mm H/PJ-45 gun used with the Type 055-class and Type 052D-class destroyers, we may eventually see a new PLA Navy warship class that is optimized for this specific role. While the Type 055-class—which are China's largest surface combatants—may be able to accommodate this new 155 mm naval gun, assigning such a very expensive high-end destroyer that is primarily an air defence—and ballistic missile defence—asset that is also equipped with a comprehensive anti-submarine warfare suite would be very unusual. Naval guns have limited range—more below—and force a surface ship to operate in a very specific—and rather predictable—area, which is to say that naval gunfire support is not a role that comes with much in the way of operational flexibility.
The new 155 mm naval gun is likely limited to a maximum practical range of around 40 kilometers when using standard rounds, with a maximum range in the region of 70-80 kilometers being feasible with the use of rocket-assisted rounds, with the latter having smaller and lighter warheads to accommodate the integral solid rocket motor. Should air-breathing ramjet-powered rounds become available, the 155 mm naval gun may be able to attack targets located some 120-150 kilometers away.
It is important to note that naval guns and artillery, more generally, are statistical weapons that are subject to dispersion that increases with range. The simplest way to counteract the inherent inaccuracy of such weapons is to fire a great many rounds in the hopes that at least one round will inflict the intended level of damage on the intended target. On land, artillery pieces are typically employed in batteries of 6-8 guns, with the crew of each gun typically expected to fire more than one round in each fire mission. It is difficult to imagine the PLA Navy committing 4-8 high-end destroyers equipped with a 155 mm naval gun to provide naval gunfire support at a single amphibious landing zone on Taiwan. As a result, this new 155 mm naval gun is likely to use guided rounds irrespective of whether it will primarily use standard rounds, base bleed rounds, rocket-assisted rounds, or ramjet-powered rounds. The most likely guidance options are fire-and-forget inertial navigation+global navigation satellite system, and semi-active laser-homing, the latter of which requires the intended target to be illuminated—"painted"—by a laser designator with a direct line-of-sight on the intended target that is either located on the ground or in the air. An infrared-band seeker may also be used, and it bears emphasis that fuzing modes—impact/contact, delayed impact/contact, and airburst/height of burst are likely to shape the effectiveness and appeal of this new 155 mm naval gun design.
It is also important to recognize that the more exquisite, longer-range rounds are considerably more expensive. Given the immense cost of a warship like the Type 055-class and the risk of placing it in the Taiwan Strait to provide naval gunfire support during an amphibious invasion of Taiwan, China may be better off doubling down on the likes of the PHL-191 large-caliber artillery rocket system deployed by the PLA Ground Force with new, smaller, lighter, and less expensive—relative to the 300 mm and 370 mm diameter missiles currently launched by the PHL-191— of comparable range to a 155 mm naval gun equipped with exquisite guided rocket-assisted or ramjet-powered rounds. Alternatively, China can deploy new, lower-cost warship designs that are optimized toward operations in the Taiwan Strait (i.e., lots of short-range air defence systems and one or more 155 mm naval guns for the naval gunfire support role).
A previous post:
One of the more interesting aspects of Chinese naval modernization is the emphasis given to naval guns. For most navies, naval guns have largely become an afterthought amid budgetary realities. The PLAN, on the other hand, appears to be going out of its way to field new naval guns
The pictures in the above post are from Chinese social media and appear to capture a previously unseen 155 mm naval gun design. This should not be confused with a railgun design that the PLAN tested some six years ago.
The PLAN currently operates a diverse array of naval guns. The most widely employed in recently built warships are the H/PJ-45 (pic 1) 130 mm (Type 055, Type 052D), H/PJ-87 mod (pic 2) 100 mm (Type 054B), H/PJ-26 (pic 3) 76 mm (Type 054A, Type 056A, others). The new 155 mm may join these. All naval gun designs reflect trade-offs in terms of range, rate of fire, payload, ready to fire ammunition, &total weight/volume among other considerations. The emphasis on larger-diameter naval guns is indicative of the PLAN's priorities and budgetary allocation.
A 155 mm naval gun offers a range of possibilities against terrestrial and aerial targets. Chinese industry offers a range of guided 155 mm options, including GNSS and semi-active laser. A "hypervelocity" round is also an option. All of these are important in a Taiwan invasion scenario. It should be noted that a 155 mm naval gun is likely to use one-piece ammunition, whereas PLAGF 155 mm artillery uses separate charges. The extent of commonality is therefore limited. On that note, this is a new naval gun and not an adaptation of a land-based design.
While a 155 mm naval gun may be used on larger warships like future Type 055 hulls, it may also be used in dedicated fire support ships to support an amphibious invasion of Taiwan. The PLAN used to operate a fire support configured Type 053H frigate (#516). While guided rockets are useful in naval anti-surface applications, rockets are very large and heavy. All else being equal, a much larger quantity of ammunition can be carried by a given ship for use with one or more naval guns. As it stands, this apparent 155 mm naval gun may be experimental.
