Rebirth of the 1980s: The Military Industry Empire

Although Lu Feng is young, everyone can see that he is a good prospect. With focused training in the future, he will definitely become a backbone of Factory 617. Now, he's actually been poached by Chief Qin?

Indeed, Chief Qin shouldn't be allowed to wander around the factory!

If Chief Qin wanted someone, he could have declined, saying Lu Feng was unwilling to go. But now that Lu Feng has agreed, what can he say?

"Factory Director Wang, you've come at the right time. I'm borrowing Lu Feng from you!" Qin Yang said generously.

Once he goes to Factory 960, will he ever come back? This is definitely Liu Bei borrowing Jing Province. Wang Lin was unwilling in his heart, but he still wore a smile on his face: "Take him, Chief Qin. Whoever you fancy in our factory, you can take them. No matter where they go, it's all contributing to our military industry."

"Thank you, Factory Director Wang. Old Fang, you're here too?" Qin Yang began to greet Old Fang.

"Yes, we need to weld a brand new turret to modify that tank. I heard that the welding technology has been solved here, so I came over to weld the turret together with everyone, following the blueprints."

"Okay, I'll join in too. Lu Feng, you work here first, and we'll go back together when I leave."

"Alright, leave the most important weld on the front armor to me," Lu Feng nodded.

Although composite armor already exists and explosive reactive armor is being developed, the frontal armor of the turret is still quite thick. Even the physical thickness exceeds one hundred millimeters. It's not easy to burn through such thick armor steel. Lu Feng likes to take on the most difficult tasks.

"Okay, Engineer Lu, thank you for your hard work," Qin Yang nodded.

Old Fang and everyone were welding according to the blueprints, while also taking the time to chat with Qin Yang.

"Chief Qin, I have a question."

"What question?"

"The Pakistanis are supposedly in the Western camp. I can understand why they didn't like our 105mm gun, but why didn't they choose the Western standard 120mm caliber? As soon as you mentioned the 125mm caliber, they agreed?"

"Then do you know why they insisted on an 800 horsepower engine?"

"To improve mobility?"

"That's only one reason. The most important thing is that they are always comparing themselves to India in every aspect. The various indicators can't be weaker than India's T-72. The T-72 tank has a 780 horsepower diesel engine, so they want 800 horsepower. The T-72 tank has a 125mm gun, so of course they want that caliber too, it can't be smaller. The power of a 120mm gun is definitely not as good as a 125mm gun!"

Old Fang suddenly understood.

Yesterday, seeing that the Pakistanis were about to leave, they were persuaded by Qin Yang and immediately decided to purchase tanks, and even left a ten million dollar research and development fund. This had never happened before. Everyone was very surprised and couldn't understand many things. However, Chief Qin left with Nie Xiaoqian yesterday, so they couldn't conveniently call Qin Yang for a meeting.

Now, the mystery is finally solved.

The Pakistanis want to compare themselves to India in every way! They must have a powerful enough tank gun. Even the British have to buy armor-piercing technology from the East. Therefore, they trust Chief Qin's words and didn't hesitate about the caliber issue at all.

"Chief Qin, with our modification of the turret, the firepower should be about the same. But, that image-stabilized fire control system you mentioned..." Old Fang said with a frown, "Old Zhu and I have learned about it. The most advanced thing we have on hand now is the TSFCS simple fire control system with a digital ballistic computer, which introduced Marconi company technology, named Type 37 fire control. There is still a big difference between this thing and the image-stabilized fire control!"

During World War II, tank crew members needed to use optical sights to calculate firing data, and even relied on estimation and mental calculation. Hitting the target depended on skillful technique and a little bit of luck. After the Cold War, disturbed fire control systems began to become mainstream. Simply put, you have to aim twice, first to calculate the data, and second to correct the data. This process is called disturbance, so it takes more than ten seconds to fire a shell, and the tank has to stop.

When the 105mm gun was introduced, this fire control system was also introduced simultaneously. The tank's aiming technology can be considered to have undergone an upgrade. Looking at the West, it has already entered the era of commander's aiming.

It is also called image-stabilized fire control. Simply put, on a bumpy tank, the target and background seen by the gunner and commander through the sight are always still. It gives the tank the ability to fire on the move.

There are too many problems to be overcome in third-generation tanks, and the fire control system is also a major difficulty.

"We are going to develop advanced third-generation tanks, and there are too many problems we face." Just at this time, Old Zhu's voice came: "We lack capabilities in all aspects. We can only overcome the main difficulties first, which are the engine, the gun, and the armor. As for the fire control system, it cannot be solved in a short time. We need to take our time. Our 201 Institute's Optical Research Laboratory is currently only planning to develop a model improved on the Type 37 fire control system. Even if we know that image-stabilized fire control is more advanced, we don't have the energy to get involved."

Old Zhu heard that the turret was being welded here, so he came to join in the fun. After all, this turret is not only for the Type 85 tank, but also the turret needed for their third-generation tank. It can be said that they are now doing the groundwork before assembling the third-generation tank.

At this time, the welding of the turret has gradually taken shape. Old Zhu is very satisfied. However, hearing about the fire control system, Old Zhu also felt heavy.

"Our current fire control system is that the aiming line follows the gun, that is, wherever the muzzle points, the aiming line follows. The world's first-class fire control system is the opposite. The gun follows the aiming line. Wherever the gunner looks, the gun barrel turns. This is equivalent to a revolution in the gun aiming system, which is a big challenge for us," Old Fang also echoed.

"We don't necessarily have to use the advanced image-stabilized fire control of the West. If the technology is not available, we can first make a simple one," Qin Yang said, "Not only for foreign trade, but also for our own use."

"A simple one?"

After listening to Qin Yang's introduction, everyone was silent.

"Chief Qin, the solution you proposed has no precedent in the world. Can it be done?" Old Fang asked worriedly.

"Yes, Chief Qin, you have created many miracles. I have always trusted you very much, but I have no confidence in the fire control system you are talking about!" Old Zhu said.

The two major tank designers expressed their concerns. Looking at them, Qin Yang smiled: "If there is no precedent in the world, does that mean we can't do it? We Chinese are creative! We must base ourselves on our own industrial foundation and create things with our own characteristics! From now on, image-stabilized fire control will also be divided into two categories. The Western one will be called upper-reaction, and ours will be called lower-reaction!"

Upper-reaction, lower-reaction?

Left side upper-reaction, right side lower-reaction