Beijing, Feb.03 (China Defense Mashup Report by Johnathan Weng) -- Since monday this week, China has begun to publicly display its newest PHL03 300mm MLRS systems in a artillery regiment in Nanjing Military Region. PHL03 MLRS has a exported name as AR-2 and  is usually believed as a Chinese copy of Russian 9K58 Smerch. But PHL03's manufacturer NORINCO denys it and announces AR-2 has greater performance than 9K58 Smerch.

In military structure, this regiment is the 201st artillery regiment of 9th Artillery Division under 1st Group Army. But in commanding sequence, this regiment is also directly deployed by the Group Army or even the Nanjing Military Region for its long-range striking ability. It is interesting that this regiment also has HJ-9 Heavy ATGM Vehicle battalion and 155mm SPH battalion for army-level anti-tankforce and surface-objects suppression firepower. Chinese Internet resources say that in Guangzhou Military Region there is also another similar Artillery Regiment: the 209th Artillery Regiment of 1st Artillery Division under 42nd Group Army.

Below the text are some PHL-03 videos and images. It is clear that China's PHL-03 still can not reload in module like U.S. M270 MLRS but its over 200km range, horrible firepower and terminal guided "smart" ammunition still make a very big threat to taiwan ground forces and airports.