Rebirth of the 1980s: The Military Industry Empire

"This first test firing must have just been an accident," Wei Man muttered, squatting on the ground. He tightened the screws on the second shell with a screwdriver, though he couldn't actually turn them. This act of self-reassurance helped his confidence return. "This second shot definitely won't have any problems, it definitely won't!"

Wei Man stood up and looked at Wang Liqun.

Wang Liqun sighed. "Old Wei, should we send a telegram back and have the factory stop production for now?"

"No, no need. It's just a small mistake."

"Mistakes aren't acceptable either," Wang Liqun said. "Old Wei, we've been working with ammunition for half our lives. When shells leave the factory, we have to guarantee their quality. Otherwise, it's a crime on the battlefield!"

A shell that should have flown 23 kilometers only flew five kilometers before falling to the ground. It would definitely explode on our own people! Fortunately, this is just an experiment, and the shell isn't loaded with explosives.

"Well, this isn't the battlefield, it's just a test firing. There definitely won't be a second time!" Wei Man said, watching the shell being loaded. "I'll pull the firing cord myself!"

Everyone retreated.

Ptooey, ptooey! Wei Man spat into his palms as if preparing for some heavy labor. He picked up the firing cord and leaned back.

Boom!

The shell fired again.

"Good, we have experience this time," Yang Zhenhua said, listening to the report from the radio. "This time the impact point is closer, just four kilometers."

"What? How is that possible?" Wei Man couldn't believe his ears. He had made sure to tighten all four protruding screws this time. How could there still be a problem?

Could it really be a design issue? If it was a design problem, then the first batch of thousands of shells being produced at the factory would all be scrap metal?

That's worth millions! If they all became scrap, then their 9123 factory would be finished!

"Don't believe me? Should we go to the impact point and take a look?" Yang Zhenhua suggested.

"No need. Let's go watch the video analysis!" Wang Liqun said.

Fortunately, they had prepared in advance. A high-speed camera accurately recorded the shell's flight, providing data for the technicians to study.

In the target range office, Wei Man's eyes were glued to the flickering screen, watching the repeatedly played video, once, twice, three times…

Impossible, how could this be happening?

"Within the first second after the shell leaves the barrel, the protruding parts are already falling off. Even if only one protrusion falls off, the shell will change its original state of motion and begin to tumble forward. It's already pretty good that it can fly four or five kilometers," Wang Liqun said. "Now, I understand what these protrusions are."

"What?" Wei Man's eyes were red.

"Centering bands. Our ordinary howitzer shells have centering bands. This newly designed shell also has them, except they're designed as four protrusions. After they fall off, the shell's center of gravity changes significantly. Looking at this process, it's somewhat similar to what happens when a bullet enters water."

"What centering bands? This thing clearly has no use at all!" Wei Man swallowed. "I've decided, I'm going to remove these four troublesome things and see how far our shell can fly!"

"Sigh."

Wang Liqun sighed.

"Old Wang, what do you mean? You don't believe in us?"

"Old Wei, continuing to stay here will only waste time. You should quickly stop production and then ask for help from Engineer Qin."

"Ask him for help?" Wei Man glared at Wang Liqun. "Old Wang, I'm certain now that those four protrusions are useless. They're just there to fool us, to deliberately set a trap for us. That Engineer Qin likes to do this kind of thing. Now, as long as we remove those four protrusions, our shells will fly further!"

"Old Yang, it's not even dark yet. Let's fire another one and try!"

Boom!

The third shell flew out.

"How is it? Where's the impact point?" Wei Man asked Yang Zhenhua excitedly.

Yang Zhenhua shook his head. "Not yet."

Time slowly passed. Yang Zhenhua picked up the radio again. "Everyone who doesn't have a task, come to the target range! We must find the shell before dark."

This time it was even weirder. The shell had flown off course and couldn't be found!

Wei Man frowned, his face pale.

The sun slowly set in the west. Just as it was about to get dark, a voice finally sounded on the radio: "Report, target found!"

"Where is it? What's the range?" Wei Man snatched the radio and asked eagerly.

"The range is approximately eighteen kilometers."

"Did you hear that? As long as we remove those four damned obstacles, the range increases by a large margin!" Wei Man finally felt relieved. "We just need to optimize it a bit more, and the range can definitely be increased to over twenty kilometers!"

Even if the performance isn't as good as that shell from Factory 960, as long as it's better than what we have now, the military will want it!

Wang Liqun wasn't relieved. "Since the range is only eighteen kilometers, why did it take so long to find it?"

Normally, they should have found it much sooner at eighteen kilometers!

"Report, the shell wasn't on the predicted straight line. We expanded the search area and found it 800 meters to the left, in an old impact crater."

"What?" The radio slipped from Wei Man's hand, and his hand began to tremble uncontrollably.

The indicators for measuring artillery include not only range but also accuracy!

The accuracy of a shell's impact point is generally described using circular error probable. Under the same conditions, multiple shells are fired at the same target. Due to various factors, the shells' impact points will be scattered around the target. The average impact point is the center of the scatter. There will be a deviation from this center to the aiming point. This is a systematic error. When selecting, the radius of the circle centered on the average impact point that contains half of the impact points is the circular error probable. The smaller this radius, the higher the shell's accuracy.

Generally speaking, the circular error probable of the Type 66 howitzer at maximum range is about 200 meters. But now, the shell has deviated 800 meters from the firing line. How high is that error?

Moreover, this is the lateral error. What is the longitudinal error? If it's based on its imitation target, that is, the shell that Qin Yang came up with, then the longitudinal error would be as high as three or four kilometers!

Originally, the range was around twenty kilometers, but the error was three or four kilometers. Who could use that?

"Those four protrusions not only serve as centering bands but also ensure stability during flight. Engineer Qin is amazing!" Wang Liqun analyzed the reason and exclaimed.

As an ammunition expert, Wang Liqun greatly admired Qin Yang.

"No, they not only ensure stability during flight but also reduce friction inside the barrel, otherwise it wouldn't be able to fly that far!" Realizing something, Wang Liqun continued to exclaim.