China’s People’s Liberation Army soldiers of an artillery regiment conducted a live shell drill on August 16, 2017.
The artillerymen assigned to an army brigade under the PLA 75th Group Army conducted a live shell drill with heavy PHL-03 300mm rocket launcher systems. The PHL-03, also known as AR2 in its export name, is the 12-tube 300mm multiple launch rocket systems (MLRS) developed by NORINCO for the China’s People’s Liberation Army.
The PHL03 is a highly digitized PHL96 with a computerized fire control system (FCS) incorporating GPS/GLONASS, similar to that of the Type 90A SPMRL, with a four-man crew (compared with three for the BM-30/PHL96), which entered service around 2004-2005, only a year or two after its predecessor, the PHL96. As with the PHL96, the PHL03 is not exactly a guided SPMRL because it is the submunitions that are guided, not the rockets themselves.
The PHL03 is a Chinese version of the Soviet heavy multiple rocket launcher BM-30 Smerch.
