Beijing boosts Taiwan-facing firepower with brigade-level 155mm howitzer deployment

Beijing has reinforced its military firepower facing the Taiwan Strait by deploying more 155mm PLZ-05 self-propelled howitzers, according to state media reports.

Replacing its older 122mm artillery, a heavy combined-arms brigade under the People’s Liberation Army’s 71st Group Army has been equipped with a batch of the 155mm self-propelled howitzers over the past two months and conducted its first live-fire test of the weapons, state broadcaster CCTV reported on Sunday.

The 71st Group Army belongs to the Eastern Theatre Command, which has the main responsibility for operations facing Taiwan, the East China Sea and Japan.

This marked the first time the PLZ-05 had been assigned at the brigade level. The powerful artillery system was originally operated at the group-army level as a long-range suppression weapon.

“For us, receiving 155mm self-propelled howitzers for the first time has significantly improved our overall combat effectiveness,” brigade officer Sun Xialong said.

Painted in brown desert camouflage, the batch of tracked howitzers appeared to have been relocated from the Western Theatre Command, which has instead received lighter, wheeled PCL-181 155mm self-propelled howitzers better suited to the plateau and mountainous terrain it covers.