According to the June 12th, 2010 CCTV report, the Artillery Brigade, 54th Group Army, Jinan MR is now the fourth confirmed PHL-03 MRL equipped PLA artillery unit. The PHL03's 12 300mm tubes are capable delivering enough submunitions to cover at least 60 hectares in a single salvo out to a range of 150 km, making it one of the deadliest long-range MRLs in service today.
Together with the 1st Arty Div, 42nd Group Army, Guangzhou MR, the 9th Arty Div, 1st Group Army, Nanjing MR, and the Artillery Brigade, 31st Group Army, Nanjing MR, the PHL03 MRL equipped units are all stationed around an area that is close enough to hit a "target" 140km out to the East China Sea.
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There are some manual features of Chinese weapons systems that strike me as strange.
On the HQ-9 for example, in contrast to the Russian's S-300 PMU2, the data-link antennas are still set up by hand - by two men who have to climb out and install the antenna!
That takes them from other tasks and delays the deployment of the entire system - very little money is saved by automating this task - but much effectiveness is gained by doing so.
On the Russian system, they are just automatically deployed by a hydraulic arm.
The same many be said of this rocket artillery system - the soldiers' setting up the meteorological equipment should have a dedicated vehicle with a data link to the fire-control system.
That will speed up the task and reduce the time needed to make the system operational.
The same thing should be done with the soldiers on top of the telemetry truck - the one with the 2 pairs of saucer-shaped antennas.
It's little things like these that will diminish the system's potential against an capable opponent.
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