PL66 Gai (152 mm)

Description

The 152 mm PL66 Gai (PL66式152毫米加农榴弹炮 改) is the vehicle-mounted version of PL66-152 howitzer specifically for PLZ83 SPH with modifications for vehicles; due to the long recoil distance for the D-20/PL66 howitzer, engineers redesigned the recoil mechanism of the gun and served as the main cannon of PLZ83. Although it lacks the varieties of ammunition from its Soviet counterpart, with careful aiming and knowing the weakspots of enemy vehicles, the 152 mm shell can still eliminate most non-heavy tank targets given the shot hits the weakspots.

Vehicles equipped with this weapon

• PLZ83

General info

Note: based on PL66-152

Specifications
Caliber	152.4 mm
Combat weight	5650 kg
Barrel length	4240 mm
Traverse limits	-5° to + 65° vertical ± 180° horizontal
Muzzle velocity	655 m/s

Available ammunition

Although the gun was certified in 1966, due to the lack of plans for more powerful shells until the late 1980s, both shells, DDB1 and its VT variant, are equivalent of the already obsolete OF-540 shell in Soviet service, thus it needs more careful aiming for maximum efficiency as enemies can sometimes survive a direct hit and fire back at the PLZ83.

DDB1/PL66, Stock - the DDB1 shell is identical to the OF-540 used in the Soviet Army since the 1940s on the ISU-152 and 2S3M. Although the calibre sounds fearsome, due to the insufficient explosive filler in DDB1 (the 3OF25 has almost twice the TNT equivalent), players should always aim for weak spots i.e. optics, top of vehicle etc. to achieve a one-hit knock-out. If the gun on the enemy vehicle survives the hit and remains operational, chances are this will be a death sentence for the PLZ83.

DDB1/PL66 (VT), Tier III - the researchable DDB1/PL66 (VT) is identical to its stock counterpart with the addition of an MD81 radio fuse; while this enables the gun to be used as a huge anti-aircraft cannon, the shell should only be considered if enemy aircraft are coming straight at the PLZ83 without any manoeuvres, considering the 3 m trigger radius of the MD81 fuse and its relatively high trajectory. Remember to switch back to the stock DDB1/PL66 before hitting ground targets as the trigger radius is very unlikely to do any damage to armoured targets.

Penetration statistics
Ammunition	Type of warhead	Penetration @ 0° Angle of Attack (mm)
		10 m	100 m	500 m	1,000 m	1,500 m	2,000 m
DDB1/PL66	HE	49	49	49	49	49	49
DDB1/PL66 (VT)	HE-VT	49	49	49	49	49	49

Shell details
Ammunition	Type of warhead	Velocity (m/s)	Projectile mass (kg)	Fuse delay (m)	Fuse sensitivity (mm)	Explosive mass (TNT equivalent) (kg)	Ricochet
							0%	50%	100%
DDB1/PL66	HE	655	43.56	0.3	0.1	5.86	79°	80°	81°

Proximity-fused shell details
Ammunition	Type of warhead	Velocity (m/s)	Projectile mass (kg)	Fuse delay (m)	Fuse sensitivity (mm)	Arming distance (m)	Trigger radius (m)	Explosive mass (TNT equivalent) (kg)	Ricochet
									0%	50%	100%
DDB1/PL66 (VT)	HE-VT	655	43.56	0.3	0.1	300	3	5.86	79°	80°	81°

Comparison with analogues

Give a comparative description of cannons/machine guns that have firepower equal to this weapon.

Usage in battles

Although the PL66 is quite similar to Soviet 152 mm D-20 howitzer, due to the introduction of only the early ammunitions without any type of anti-tank capabilities, PL66 Gai lacks the flexibility of 2S3M with only ISU-152 equivalent firepower minus the APHE shell; this also means that players has to be extremely careful when engaging enemy vehicles. While light vehicles have no chance surviving a direct hit from such a huge shell, tanks above medium tanks/MBT have to be considered well for where to shoot - aiming for the copula, coaxial machine gun port or road wheels directly are always good ideas to end enemies' service at once, if not disabling their main cannon for extra time to eventually finish off them by yourself or with the help of teammates.

Pros and cons

Pros:

• Devastating firepower if penetrated/over-pressured
• Slightly faster gun vertical speed than most same-BR equivalents
• Slightly better depression angle at -5°

Cons:

• Relatively long reload
• Lacks modern HE shells with only WWII equivalent shells
• Lacks HEATFS or APCBC for reliable anti-tank missions

History

By early 1960s, after the introduction of the licensed PL60-122 (D-74) and PL56-152 (D-1) and the subsequence worsening of Sino-Soviet relationships, PLAGF aimed for an improved howitzer over the already obsolete WWII design; to address the halt of any further licensing of Soviet guns, engineers adopted the design of PL60-122 and further upscaled the gun into the 152.4 mm caliber with interchangeable gun mount between the two guns. Factory 127 (now NORINCO Qiqihar Heping Heavy Industries) finalized the new 152 mm howitzer as the PL66 in 1966; although aimed to be the supporting fire for the Sino-Soviet border conflicts by late-1960s, the gun were most famous for its impressive performance during the 1979-1989 Sino-Vietnamese conflicts where the sheer firepower and abundance of ammunition for PLAGF artillery corps stopped waves of VPA assaults.

Meanwhile, by 1980s; to replace the better-than-none PLZ70 based on ZSD63 chassis with a completely-open combat compartment, PLZ83 was also in progress as the new mechanized artillery for PLAGF. Due to the needs to fit PL66 into the chassis of WZ321 and its turret, engineers revised the design of PL66 with inverted recoil hydraulic pistons (from over the breech to below the breech), addition of bore evacuator and an assisted-loader system (to replace the ambitious but failed mechanical autoloader), leading to the introduction of what's known as the PL66 Gai.

Media

Excellent additions to the article would be video guides, screenshots from the game, and photos.

See also

Links to the articles on the War Thunder Wiki that you think will be useful for the reader, for example:

• reference to the article about the variant of the cannon/machine gun;
• references to approximate analogues by other nations and research trees.

External links

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• topic on the official game forum;
• other literature.

China tank cannons
30 mm	ZPL02 · ZPZ02
73 mm	Type 85
76 mm	M32K1
85 mm	Type-62-85-TC · Type 63
100 mm	PTP86 · Type 59 · Type 69 · Type 69-II · ZPL04
105 mm	Type 83 · WMA301 · ZPL94 · ZPL98A
120 mm	122TM · PTZ89
125 mm	Type 88C · Type 99A · ZPT98
152 mm	PL66 Gai
	Foreign:
20 mm	KwK30 (Germany)
37 mm	M6 (USA)
45 mm	20-K (USSR)
47 mm	Type 1 (Japan)
57 mm	Type 97 (Japan) · ZIS-2 (USSR)
75 mm	M2 Howitzer (USA) · M3 (USA) · M6 (USA)
76 mm	D-56T (USSR) · F-34 (USSR) · M1 (USA) · M7 (USA) · ZIS-3 (USSR)
85 mm	ZIS-S-53 (USSR)
90 mm	M3 (USA) · M41 (USA)
100 mm	D-10S (USSR)
105 mm	M68 (USA) · M68A1 (USA)
115 mm	U-5TS (USSR)
122 mm	A-19 (USSR) · D-25T (USSR)
152 mm	ML-20S (USSR)