P150G1P Mogryon-po

P150G1P Mogryŏn-po
The five major variants of the Mogryŏn-po.
Type	Self-propelled howitzer
Place of origin	Menghe
Service history
In service	1975-present
Used by	See "Operators"
Wars	Polvokian Civil War Innominadan Crisis Innominadan Uprising
Production history
Manufacturer	Northwestern Armored Vehicle Plant
Produced	1974-2003
No. built	3,450
Specifications
Weight	27.2 metric tonnes
Length	7.77 m (including gun)
Width	2.8 m
Height	3.35 m to turret roof
Crew	4
Caliber	150mm
Breech	Vertical sliding block
Elevation	-5° to +65°
Traverse	360°
Rate of fire	4 rounds/min (max) 1 round/min (sustained)
Maximum firing range	18,400 m (standard ammunition) 25,000 m (base bleed ammunition)
Armor	15-30mm
Main armament	150mm L/27 howitzer
Secondary armament	12.7mm GCh-75 HMG
Engine	440 hp
Power/weight	16.2 hp/ton
Suspension	torsion bar
Ground clearance	440mm
Operational range	450 km (road)
Speed	55 km/h (road)

The P150G1P Mogryŏn-po, also sometimes known by its former designation JJP-152/27, is a type of self-propelled howitzer developed in Menghe during the 1970s. It has a fully-enclosed turret which can traverse through 360 degrees and is armed with a 150mm L/27 howitzer with a range of 18.4 kilometers. Until the 2000s, it was the main divisional self-propelled gun of the Menghean Army. Starting in 2004, it has been replaced by the P150G2P Songsu-po, though it remains common in reservist divisions and in the regimental artillery battalions of many active divisions. The name Mogryŏn-po means "Magnolia gun."

Design

Chassis

The P150G1P uses a unique tracked chassis, with the transmission in the front of the hull and the engine in the front right. It has an internal crew of four personnel: a driver seated in the front left hull, and a commander, gunner, and loader in the turret. Two additional loading assistants can pass ammunition into the vehicle through a hatch in the side of the turret (P150G1P1) or the rear of the hull (P150G1P2), though these assistants cannot ride inside the vehicle and instead follow behind in a supply truck carrying additional ammunition.

Armament

The vehicle's main armament is a 150mm howitzer specially developed for the P150G1P. A towed variant, designated the PG-150 Type 75 howitzer, was developed as an offshoot of the P150G1P program. The gun can be elevated from -5 to +65 degrees, and the turret can traverse freely through 360 degrees. On the P2 and P3 variants, the gun is also fitted with dedicated direct-fire sights, allowing the artillerypiece to engage enemy vehicles or infantry in the event that the artillery position is overrun. On top of this, the P3 variant added an automatic gun-laying drive and an improved fire-control system, improving response time and accuracy.

Loading for the gun is semi-automatic: The loader places the projectile and charge behind the gun, and they are rammed into the breech by a chain mechanism. The maximum rate of fire is listed as 4 rounds per minute, but in a sustained barrage this would be reduced to 1 round per minute to limit gun wear and ammunition expenditure.

Additional self-defense armament consists of a single 12.7mm heavy machine-gun mounted on the commander’s cupola. On the P1 variant this is manually fired by the commander, requiring him to breach CBRN sealing and expose himself in order to fire. The P2 and P3 variants use a different cupola with remote-control fire capability. Also included on the latter two variants is an external box carrying one YDG-38 Bidŭl shoulder-launched surface-to-air missile. In the event of an attack by enemy helicopters, the commander can dismount, remove the loaded shoulder launcher from its stowage box, and fire it against the target.

Ammunition

Unlike most Western SPGs, which fire 155mm shells, or Letnian-derived SPGs, which fire 152mm shells, the Mogryŏn-po fires 150mm shells. This is the same caliber used by Menghean 15cm artillery during the Pan-Septentrion War. In 1942, Polvokia began producing Menghean 15cm Type 40 howitzers under license, and during the Menghean War of Liberation Polvokia supplied many of these weapons to Communist forces across the border. Thus, when the Menghean Ministry of National Defense standardized new ammunition types in the mid-1960s, it selected the 150mm caliber for new artillery and continued to produce the Type 40 howitzer under the new designation PG-150 Type 40. The P150G1P's gun was designed to be compatible with existing ammunition stockpiles, and is therefore able to accept wartime and prewar high-explosive shells.

All variants have internal stowage space for 35 150mm projectiles and their charges. A wide variety of ammunition types exist, including high explosive shells, smoke shells, illumination shells, and cluster munition shells with Chŏl-u bomblets. The P3 variant adds compatibility with laser-guided high-explosive shells, which can be used to attack precision targets or moving vehicles. Maximum range with all standard ammunition types is 18.4 kilometers. With RAP ammunition, this maximum range can be extended out to 26 kilometers. For direct-fire engagements with enemy armor, there is also a fin-stabilized HEAT round, with a rated penetration performance of 900mm RHAe and an effective range of 2 kilometers. Direct-fire sights, however, were only added on the P2 variant.

Organization

When originally brought into service, the P150G1P howitzer had the designation JJP-152/27 and was an independent armored vehicle, receiving fire-control commands from a battery headquarters unit in a soft-skinned logistics truck. In the 1980s, alongside the introduction of the improved variant, the Menghean Ministry of National Defense gave the vehicle a new designation, reclassifying it as part of the P150G1 system (System 1 for 150mm artillery). As with other Menghean system designations, P150G1P is the artillery vehicle, P150G1JS is the battery command vehicle, P150G1DS is the battalion command vehicle, and P150G1JG is the forward observer vehicle used at the battery and battalion levels. All of these supporting vehicles use the same chassis as the self-propelled gun, and all carry a 12.7mm heavy machine gun for self-defense.

Variants

• P150G1P1 - Original production variant.
• P150G1P2 - Improved variant introduced in 1983. Features direct-fire sights, a remote aiming system for the cupola-mounted machine gun, and a semi-automated ammunition re-stocking system in the rear of the hull.
• P150G1P3 - Improved variant introduced in 1992. Adds an improved fire-control system for greater accuracy, and is able to fire laser-guided ammunition.
• P150G1P4 - Modernized version of the P150G1P1 introduced in 2012. Uses a CSNS navigation unit to achieve greater accuracy, and a MChGJ-0800 radio for secure communication.
• P150G1P5 - Designation used for P2 and P3 base variants upgraded to P4 standard. Unlike the P4, which retains the large rear hatch for reloading, the P5 retains the P2/P3's small rear ramming tubes.

Operators

• Dzhungestan
• Menghe
• Polvokia

See also

• 2S3 Akatsiya (Letnia)
• AMX-30 AuF1 (Sieuxerr)
• Type 75 155 mm self-propelled howitzer (Dayashina)