China builds a lighter cousin of the U.S. HIMARS

China has developed a new light, highly mobile rocket launcher built on an upgraded version of the Dongfeng Mengshi MV3 tactical truck, carrying a 20-round launch pod that can fire guided or unguided 122 mm rockets out to 40 km (25 miles), according to images and details shared by Chinese military commentator DS北风 on X.

The launcher uses a modular, box-shaped launch pod mounted on the rear of the truck, a design that lets crews swap out a spent pod for a fresh one instead of reloading individual tubes.

The 20 rockets in each pod can be a mix of guided and unguided types, and the maximum range of 40 km puts it in the same class as the 122 mm rocket launchers that make up much of China’s tactical rocket artillery.

The Mengshi, built by Dongfeng Motor, is China’s equivalent of the Humvee, a four-wheel-drive tactical vehicle used across the People’s Liberation Army, and the MV3 is the third generation of the family. Putting a rocket launcher on a light truck lets airborne, air assault and light infantry units take their own rocket artillery into terrain where heavier trucks cannot go, and lets crews fire and move away quickly before enemy counterfire arrives.

The concept is similar to the U.S.-made HIMARS, which mounts a pod of six 227 mm GMLRS guided rockets on a five-ton truck and has been widely used in Ukraine. China’s new launcher carries more but smaller rockets with a shorter range, trading reach for volume of fire at shorter distances. The PLA already fields 122 mm rocket launchers on larger trucks and tracked vehicles, as well as the PHL-16, a long-range modular system that fires heavier rockets and missiles from interchangeable pods.