Talk about being a soldier.

The 3-day defense exhibition in Thailand came to an end, and China enterprises that have business relations with the Thai military participated in the exhibition, such as North Industries Corporation, CSIC and China Electric Power Branch.

Interestingly, the AR-3 rocket launcher exhibited by North Industries Company used the domineering advertising words of "Take the lead, sweep the world, bring down the tiger and dragon, and be invincible", and the picture of launching tactical missiles appeared for the first time in the AR-3 propaganda film. Today, Northland Defense will talk about this AR-3 rocket launcher.

△ AR-3 rocket launcher exhibited at Thailand Defense Exhibition

AR-3 is an advanced foreign trade large-caliber rocket launcher developed and produced by China Ordnance Industry Corporation. The gun adopts the popular modular box launching unit, and each unit can accommodate four 370 mm or five 300 mm fully enclosed storage-launching integrated directors. Each AR-3 launch vehicle can be equipped with two modular box launch units, that is, eight 370mm or 10 300mm guided rockets can be launched at one time, or one launch unit with two calibers can be mixed.

Generally speaking, a large-caliber rocket launcher with modular box-type launching unit from the beginning should have the ability to launch rocket-guided rockets and short-range tactical ground-to-ground ballistic missiles. AR-3 rocket launcher has not exhibited short-range tactical ground-to-ground ballistic missiles since it participated in major defense exhibitions in China. It was not until this Thailand defense exhibition that the video footage of this type of rocket launcher launching short-range tactical ground-to-ground ballistic missiles appeared for the first time.

△ The picture of AR-3 launching tactical ballistic missiles was first made public.

From the appearance of the short-range tactical ground-to-ground ballistic missile launcher equipped with AR-3 rocket launcher, it is different from the same type of missile launcher exhibited by other domestic military enterprises such as China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation and China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation. The missile launching box of AR-3 rocket launcher adopts a more dense wave-like stiffener structure design, while the same type of foreign trade missile launching boxes in China, such as B6 1 1 series, BP- 12, M20, etc., have no such structural design. However, the short-range tactical ground-to-ground ballistic missile launched by the AR-3 rocket shown in the video is very similar to the M20 of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation.

△AR-3 launches tactical ballistic missiles, ready to hit the target.

Then, these findings also give us a bold guess, that is, the AR-3 rocket launcher is probably equipped with M20 of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation. There are two factors to support this assertion.

First of all, China Ordnance Industry Corporation and China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation have their own flagship products serving in the Royal Thai Army. In 20 16, the former exported SR4 122mm modular wheeled multiple rocket launchers to the Royal Thai Army in batches. The self-use version of the gun has also been used in PLA troops and will gradually replace the old 8 1 122mm multi-barrel rocket launcher.

△ The VT-4 main battle tank just sold to Thailand also appeared in the defense exhibition.

China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation exported WS-113 and WS-32 300 mm long-range multiple rocket launchers to the Royal Thai Army respectively. However, when these two kinds of large-caliber rockets were introduced to Thailand, they did not retain the original Chinese-made wheeled chassis, but were replaced by the better performance Western wheeled chassis selected by Thailand. Since our products are all in the service of the Royal Thai Army, it is also a win-win cooperation mode for the two arms giants to unite and integrate M20 short-range tactical ground-to-ground ballistic missiles on the AR-3 rocket launcher and continue to sell them to Thailand.

△ M-20 tactical ballistic missile developed by Aerospace Science and Technology Group

Secondly, China Ordnance Industry Corporation does not have the technical strength and talent team to independently develop short-range tactical ground-to-ground ballistic missiles. Then, with the help of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation's strong strength in this respect, it is one of the best choices for China Ordnance Industry Corporation to build an AR-3 rocket with stronger market competitiveness. Of course, China Ordnance Industry Company only adopted the bare ammunition of M20 short-range tactical ground-to-ground ballistic missile, and integrated it on the AR-3 rocket launcher, and made some improvements to the modular launching unit. This is also the reason why the shape and structural design of the missile launching box of the AR-3 rocket launcher is different from the original M20 launching box of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation.

There have been successful precedents of similar cooperation before. For example, China Ordnance Industry Corporation adopted aviation industry corporation of china's DK- 10 surface-to-air missile (land-based version of SD- 10 air-to-air missile) and developed its own "Tianlong" -50 air defense missile system.

△ Tianlong -50 air defense missile test

In fact, in recent years, with the variety of foreign trade products of China's major military industrial groups "infiltrating" into each other's fields, how to avoid vicious competition and achieve win-win cooperation has become a more urgent issue. Fortunately, there are many typical examples of foreign trade product integration among major military industrial groups.

For example, at the Tianjin Direct Expo held in September this year, when aviation industry corporation of china's Zhi-1 1WB foreign trade light armed reconnaissance helicopter performed an air show, four TL-2 laser-guided air-to-ground missiles from China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation and two CM-502KG TV-guided air-to-ground missiles from China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation were mounted on the pylons on both sides. In the future, similar win-win cooperation should be more and more.