PLA soldiers train with rapid-fire mortar in video for Hong Kong handover anniversary

Name: Hong Kong PLA garrison practises ahead of role in handover 25th anniversary events
Uploaded: 2022-06-30T05:00:22.000Z
Duration: 1 min 14 s
Description: Hong Kong PLA garrison practises ahead of role in handover 25th anniversary events

Footage of soldiers operating PCP-001 mortar during a training exercise was published on Hubei Communist Youth League website on Monday

The mortar is considered a weapon for specific environments, such as landing battles and urban warfare where the battlefield is just a few kilometres in depth

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Video footage showing two soldiers from the Hong Kong garrison operating PCP-001 self-propelled mortars during a training exercise was released to mark the 25th anniversary of the handover of Hong Kong. Photo: WeChat

Liu Zhen

Published: 1:00pm, 30 Jun 2022Updated: 8:47pm, 30 Jun 2022

The People’s Liberation Army Hong Kong garrison has been equipped with a new rapid-fire mortar that appears well suited to an urban environment and could provide troops with powerful fire cover.

New video footage shows two PLA soldiers from the Hong Kong garrison operating PCP-001 self-propelled mortars during a training exercise, with one of the soldiers controlling the auto-firing gun.

The vehicle was constantly shaken by recoil force but the shots appeared to be precise enough to hit targets on a mountain in the distance. More mortars could be seen in the background.

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Hong Kong PLA garrison practises ahead of role in handover 25th anniversary events

The footage was published on the official website of the Hubei provincial committee of the Communist Youth League on Monday, one in a series of videos to mark the 25th anniversary of the handover of Hong Kong from Britain to China, although it was not clear when the exercise took place.

Since its deployment in the 2010s, the PCP-001 has been widely rolled out to ground forces as well as to PLA airborne paratroopers, PLA Marines and People’s Armed Police.

The mortar is considered a weapon for specific environments, such as landing battles and urban warfare where the entire battlefield is just a few kilometres deep. In such circumstances the size and weight of a heavy howitzer could be restrictive.

But mortars could provide similar power and, when fired from a high angle, mortar shells could bypass high-rise buildings and other potential blockades in a city setting, according to the PCP-001 producer, Norinco.