Rebirth of the 1980s: The Military Industry Empire

Tank Platoon Leader Zhang Yong and the others got up early. They cleaned the tanks again, wiping the exteriors spotless, making the August 1st symbols shine brightly. With everything prepared, this Type 59 tank, with its modified cannon, was driven onto the tank transporter and hauled back to the garrison.

The tank transporter had just stopped when a large group of leaders surrounded it.

“This tank cannon looks longer than ours!”

“What is that bulge in the center? Why didn’t our tanks have that before?”

Qin Yang jumped down from the cab of the tank transporter, looking at the crowd on the scene. He was also filled with emotion, this Leader Pan really put in the effort, actually managing to fool so many people into coming! These people are all here to cheer me on!

Yesterday he drank so much Maotai from Leader Pan, and today he saw the people Leader Pan had fooled into coming. How should he thank him? He’ll thank him with a slap in the face!

“Reporting to all leaders, Factory 960 has completed the modification of the Type 59 tank cannon and is ready to conduct a target shooting test!” Qin Yang ran in front of the group of leaders and answered loudly.

In fact, this kind of report was originally Director Zhu’s job, but seeing so many leaders on the scene, Director Zhu’s legs were a little weak. He stayed next to Leader Dong the whole time, and even stuttered a bit when speaking.

This kid Qin Yang, don’t look at how young he is, he’s not afraid of anything. He can still be calm and composed in this kind of situation. He’s not simple!

“Qin Yang, you’re quite capable!” Secretary Song looked at Qin Yang. He remembered the first time he saw Qin Yang was at the Capital Steel Plant. At that time, he felt that Qin Yang was extraordinary. Now, hearing that Qin Yang was the one who worked on this project, the emotion in his heart grew even stronger.

“It’s alright, this is just the beginning.” Qin Yang said, “I will continue to work hard so that our military industrial technology can better catch up with and surpass the world’s advanced level.”

“Platoon Leader Zhang, please drive the tank down!”

“Yes!”

Zhang Yong immediately stood below the trailer, directing the tank off the trailer, then jumped into the tank and drove it rumbling towards the target range.

A huge steel ingot appeared in the target range.

“For this target shooting, we specially prepared a three-hundred-millimeter-thick steel plate.” The tank regiment commander said, “The cutting machine is also ready. After the shooting, we’ll cut open the cross-section to see the armor-piercing process.”

“Steel plate? It’s a steel ingot, right?” Qin Yang shook his head, “No, the quality of this kind of target is too poor to reflect the performance of our armor-piercing projectile.”

Qin Yang actually disliked the poor quality of the target?

Everyone was surprised for a moment.

“That’s right, the density of the steel ingot is too poor. It should be a discarded steel ingot cast by the steel plant, with scars and scale on the surface, and even possible sand holes inside.” Zhuang Shuren said, “Its penetration depth data may be inaccurate. Cold-rolled steel plates should be used to better reflect the true level of the armor-piercing projectile.”

The penetration depth data of armor-piercing projectiles from various countries are kept secret. Until actual combat, no one knows how strong the performance really is. At the same time, this data is also closely related to the target.

During World War II, the old Maozi tank crews suffered this kind of hardship. They went to the battlefield in tanks with sufficient penetration depth, only to find that they couldn’t penetrate the enemy tanks whose thickness was within the penetration depth range! Later, they learned that the armor steel used by the Germans was hard and the penetration depth data had to be greatly reduced.

“Find us a dozen medium-thick plates that are thirty millimeters thick, spaced half a meter apart.” Qin Yang continued to make demands.

A dozen steel plates that are thirty millimeters thick can be found, but what’s with the half-meter spacing?

Robert, who came to investigate with them, gave a thumbs up: “Qin, placing the targets like this is equivalent to spaced armor! This kind of shooting data is more realistic than our data! On behalf of the British armored forces, I acknowledge that your shooting data is authentic and valid!”

Ten steel plates stacked together would be three hundred millimeters thick, but it’s different with a half-meter air gap in the middle. This is the principle of modern spaced armor, using different materials stacked together to improve the armor’s protection, except that what’s filled here is not rubber, nor is it ceramic, but air.

In short, this is increasing the difficulty.

Qin Yang’s face was filled with pride: “Of course, we will absolutely not cheat.”

What spaced armor? Qin Yang didn’t consider these things. The only reason he did this was for the spectacle!

So many laymen came over, this can’t be considered a formal test at all, but a performance! Since it’s a performance, of course it has to be spectacular!

Leader Pan was a little confused. What’s going on? Is Qin Yang trying to show off? Deliberately increasing the difficulty for himself?

The troops immediately went to prepare. The crowd surrounded the tank with the modified cannon, and Qin Yang introduced it endlessly. Leader Pan was on the periphery of the crowd, his mind heavy with worry.

Time continued to pass quickly. Soon, the targets were erected.

“Reporting to all commanders, the targets are ready!” The tank regiment commander ran over to report.

“Okay, then let the test begin!” Secretary Song said, then looked at Qin Yang: “Engineer Qin, you can begin!”

“Yes!” Qin Yang turned to look at Zhang Yong: “Platoon Leader Zhang, please drive up to the target. The first test item, zero-range penetration depth!”

Leader Pan, who was outside the crowd, couldn’t hear very clearly, but he had an ominous premonition.

A plume of black smoke billowed from the rear of the Type 59 tank. The tank rumbled forward and soon drove up to the target, the muzzle poking in front of the first target, less than two or three meters away.

What’s going on? What is this doing?

Leader Pan widened his eyes, watching all this in disbelief. A surge of anger welled up in the depths of his heart. Cheating, isn’t this cheating?

Is this how you fire a cannon? Whose tank would let someone press it against their forehead to shoot? Shouldn’t tanks be firing from hundreds of meters away?

However, with so many leaders present, he, a small leader, couldn’t lose his temper. He swallowed a mouthful of saliva, then looked at the person next to him: “Old Zhuang, this test is very interesting. If this were on the battlefield, you’d have to get up close to the enemy’s tank before you could shoot, right?”

“This time, we’re testing the penetration depth of the armor-piercing projectile. This penetration depth data is related to the range, so during the test firing, it always starts from zero range.” Zhuang Shuren explained to him.

This test firing isn’t testing accuracy, it’s testing penetration depth! Penetration depth data is in a table, and this table must have penetration depth data when the range is zero, and this data is also the largest!

Leader Pan was, after all, a layman and didn’t understand so much. At this time, hearing Zhuang Shuren’s introduction, he realized: After all this trouble, it was all for nothing! Even if they don’t calibrate the cannon, they can still hit it!

So much Maotai wine, all drunk for nothing?