I had a discussion about this system with an ex-US Army Sergeant on Quora. His comment has a lot of true points. The same number of trucks would be needed to supply it anyway. Because the loader can not go to the supply point on its own.
What this system achieves is it reduces the frequency of resupply and it should have great off-road mobility. It is a pure harsh and undeveloped terrain system. I can think of two scenarios in which China can benefit from this system. Fighting Indians in the Himalayas and fighting Taiwanese in the Taiwanese mountains. Other than that it is a needlessly complex MRL. Weight optimizations and crew member reduction (which can be a bad thing) are simply wouldn't worth it.
Another commentator wrote that it could be great for nations whose industrial capacity and population are small but the military is relatively large, like the UAE and Saudi Arabia.
The said comment:
Is there a shortage of trucks? Crew members to drive trucks? Have you ever seen how all vehicles go through transmissions and engines in military operations? And you think constant excess loads makes that … better?
You need spare crewmen because of casualties in war.
Hoe do you move ammo to the guns if you need to move the ammo and the guns? As it’s supply depot to guns that matter …
How do you separate the ammo from the guns for sustained fire? Or does you enemy just enjoy you making it easy to take out both at the same time?
This does nothing that just bringing in a second truck doesn’t already do. That truck can be any truck, any flatbed or cargo truck. It doesn’t have to be a specifically designed trailer.
That you break down a truck into its component pieces doesn’t magically make this a technical marvel. Trucks are cheap. Trucks are easy. Truck drivers are easy to train. If attaching a trailer made things better, then every tank would be towing a trailer. They don’t.
Articulated vehicles like the one you show, have been mostly retired. When they were in use, and as a case in point, do you know how they got their ammo? Trucks. With engines, transmissions, and crew members.
Articulated vehicles are far from the most common vehicles in any military. Which only adds to the ‘not a game changer’ critique.
