Rebirth of the 1980s: The Military Industry Empire

"Zhuang Shuren, I didn't expect you guys to be so underhanded!" A middle-aged man roared, wearing the same denim work uniform as the people opposite him, but his work uniform had a blue badge on the left breast, with the traditional Chinese characters for "Harbin No. 1 Machine Factory" written on it, followed by his number: 2737.

At this moment, Zhuang Shuren also felt a surge of anger: "Xu Jianshe, don't slander people! This is an order issued by Leader Huang. You are responsible for providing the 321 chassis, and we are responsible for installing the anti-tank gun, and then assembling it into an advanced self-propelled anti-tank gun! What grievances do you have? Is there a difference whether the final assembly is at your Harbin No. 1 Machine Factory or our No. 2 Machine Factory?"

"Of course there is, a big difference!" Xu Jianshe said: "It's already the 1980s, and the country has started to promote competition. Whoever can undertake the final assembly task gets the meat, and whoever provides the parts gets the soup! This self-propelled anti-tank gun should be assembled by us!"

"That's right, if we knew you were planning this, we wouldn't have sent the chassis over to you!" Another person said angrily: "When we heard that you needed the chassis, we didn't say a word and sent the chassis on the train last night, taking a whole day to deliver it to you. Luckily, the chassis hasn't been unloaded yet. Now, detach the flatbed trailer and hook it up to another carriage to haul it back to us!"

"No way! This is a task arranged by the higher-ups, and you have an obligation to cooperate! In short, don't even think about taking this chassis away!"

"What? You want to fight?"

"Stop it!" A stern voice came.

Everyone had been so focused on arguing that they didn't even notice the 1224 gun mount being driven over. At this moment, following the voice, they looked over and saw a familiar face, and they were all shocked.

"Old Huang!"

"Old Huang!"

"Old Huang, you have to make a decision for us. You promised to let us develop the 120mm self-propelled anti-tank gun, and Harbin No. 1 Machine Factory would provide us with the chassis. Now, they are openly defying your order!"

"That's right, this decision was formally made at the meeting. Harbin No. 1 Machine Factory is extremely audacious!"

"Old Huang, the 321 chassis was developed by our Harbin No. 1 Machine Factory, and according to past practice, self-propelled artillery is assembled from our factory. Please let us assemble this 120mm self-propelled anti-tank gun as well!"

"You've been mounting the 152mm howitzer on the chassis for several years, and you still haven't figured it out. If we wait for you, we'll be waiting forever!"

"That's right, the troops urgently need powerful anti-armor capabilities. We can't afford to wait for Harbin No. 1 Machine Factory to dawdle!"

"We haven't figured it out because..." Xu Jianshe became anxious, wanting to say something, but this concerned a secret of Harbin No. 1 Machine Factory, and he couldn't say it in this situation.

After Old Huang arrived, everyone wanted Old Huang to make the decision and surrounded Old Huang, leaving no one on the chassis.

Taking this opportunity, Qin Yang climbed onto the chassis and raised a question.

Hearing this, Xu Jianshe was stunned: "How did you know?"

Harbin No. 1 Machine Factory specializes in self-propelled artillery. In the past, they made do with whatever chassis they had. When they decided to develop the 152mm self-propelled howitzer, the existing chassis were not enough, so they decided to develop the 60-1 tracked medium-sized artillery universal chassis. This is the first domestic medium-sized universal chassis. Although it was prepared for the 152mm howitzer, it can be equipped with other weapons to produce a large number of self-propelled artillery. Later, it was unified and this chassis was changed to 321.

Self-propelled artillery is used by the artillery, mainly to solve the problems of inconvenient movement and slow deployment speed of towed artillery, which is simply to install the cannon on a tracked chassis.

The artillery is a service that does not need to charge into battle, so self-propelled artillery only needs basic armor protection to block fragments and small arms fire. However, this chassis must have enough space to install large-caliber guns.

Therefore, unlike tanks, the engine of self-propelled artillery is generally arranged in the front, with the driver on the left and the engine on the right. The power is transmitted forward to the front drive wheel, so that the middle and rear of the chassis are freed up, which is enough for large artillery to use.

The 120 smoothbore shells are too large to be installed on a tank, but it is not a problem on a self-propelled artillery.

The overall design of the 321 chassis is quite satisfactory. As a self-propelled artillery chassis, it is qualified. However, it encountered a major problem during the development process that has been plaguing it.

That is heat dissipation.

There are not many types of domestic engines, so the 321 chassis had no choice but to use the tank's 12150L engine. This engine not only has a short lifespan but also generates a lot of heat.

On the 59 tank, the engine is in the back, so there is no need to worry about protection issues, and heat dissipation is easy to solve. However, when placed on the 321 chassis and stuffed into the side of the driver, the space is limited. Considering the protection issue, the heat dissipation window is very small, resulting in heat dissipation becoming a major problem.

The technicians of Harbin No. 1 Machine Factory racked their brains and tried various methods, but they couldn't solve the problem. Unexpectedly, it was seen by a young man.

"Who are you? Get down!" The person next to Xu Jianshe shouted.

"Me? I'm Qin Yang."

Qin Yang? Xu Jianshe felt his eyelids twitching wildly: "Are you President Qin of Fangbei Company?"

"That's right, it's me."

"President Qin, can you help solve the engine overheating problem?" Xu Jianshe immediately asked for help. It had long been rumored in the system that if there was a problem, find President Qin, President Qin's mind is extraordinary!

"Of course, no problem." Qin Yang said: "Solving the heat dissipation problem is a piece of cake, but even if the heat dissipation problem is solved, are you confident that you can finalize the 152mm self-propelled howitzer as soon as possible?"

If someone else asked, Xu Jianshe would definitely nod, daring to underestimate us? We are the No. 1 self-propelled artillery factory! But since Qin Gong asked, he could only tell the truth: "There are still many problems, I estimate it will take another year and a half."

This 152mm self-propelled artillery not only has a dedicated chassis, but also the first domestic one with a closed fighting compartment, so there are many problems.

"Then, I'll help you solve the heat dissipation problem, and you bring the chassis to Factory 447 to let them install the 120 smoothbore as soon as possible, to provide the army with a powerful anti-tank weapon, are you willing?"

Xu Jianshe hesitated. In fact, even if Factory 447 assembled it, they would still have to purchase the chassis from Harbin No. 1 Machine Factory, and they could still make money, but they didn't want to lose control, but solving the heat dissipation problem was also very important.

"If you can agree, I will develop a brand new shell for your 152mm howitzer, increasing the range by another three to five kilometers, how about that?"

Everyone was surprised.