Rebirth of the 1980s: The Military Industry Empire

Qin Yang touched his nose with some helplessness. "You were all counting on me. But since you have this idea, I can't let you down."

"Okay, since everyone trusts me so much, I'll be direct. First of all, our project plan must be an eight-wheeled vehicle, with eight tires, a total weight of about 20 tons, a length of about 8 meters, a width of about 3 meters, and a height of about 2.1 meters, including 3 crew members and 7 personnel. It can just carry an infantry squad."

"This vehicle is slightly larger than the BTR-80, it should be closer to the Western standard."

A technician at the scene said.

"This is not just a little bigger, this is much bigger."

After Qin Yang finished speaking, he suddenly thought of something: "It seems that I didn't make some key data clear, which caused this impression."

If you look at the old Maozi's infantry fighting vehicle alone, you can't see anything. Only when compared with the Eastern ones can you know how cramped the old Maozi's vehicle is.

Take their tracked BMP-1 infantry fighting vehicle as an example. The height from the ground to the infrared searchlight at the top of the turret is only 2.15 meters. If only the vehicle body is counted, it is only 1.6 meters. You must know that the infantry fighting vehicle cannot fly close to the ground, and there must be a certain height reserved to the ground. In this way, the height left inside the vehicle body is only 1.2 to 3 meters. This height is almost the same as sitting in a car. Squatting inside and having to fight with a gun is not an enjoyable thing for the tall and strong old Maozi.

Therefore, the old Maozi generally doesn't like to sit inside. They would rather sit on the roof and be sniped by snipers than be cramped inside.

As for the old Maozi's wheeled infantry fighting vehicle BTR-80, it is slightly larger, with a length of 7.65 meters, a width of 2.96 meters, and a height of 2.35 meters. It sounds like it should be much more comfortable. However, this height is still calculated to the top turret. Comparing the old Maozi's infantry fighting vehicle with the Eastern 09-style infantry fighting vehicle, you can immediately see the difference in size. One is a sedan, and the other is an SUV.

"If the size becomes larger, will it lead to an increase in the hit area?"

Someone asked.

Bigger is more spacious, but bigger is also easier to be attacked. The old Maozi's infantry fighting vehicle is so cramped, isn't it just to reduce the chance of being hit?

"What kind of ammunition are you talking about? Armor-piercing rounds? Can it withstand them?"

Qin Yang asked rhetorically.

Different weapons have different missions. The role of the infantry fighting vehicle is to carry infantry to accompany the tank to charge, following behind the tank. When needed, the soldiers get off the vehicle to protect the tank's surroundings and avoid those hateful rocket attacks.

As for rushing to the front line? It is impossible.

The weight of the infantry fighting vehicle is there, making it impossible to defend against anti-tank ammunition.

The old Maozi's infantry fighting vehicle is made so small, but it can only defend against the shooting of a 12.7mm machine gun. Even if an RPG rocket launcher comes, it will have to kneel. There's no way, a twenty-ton infantry fighting vehicle, how much more protection do you want?

Looking at those pictures on the battlefield, some infantry fighting vehicles are directly riddled with holes by large-caliber machine guns.

"The protection of the infantry fighting vehicle is good enough to block 12.7mm machine gun bullets."

Qin Yang continued, "As for our model, adding a layer of ceramic armor on the front, strive to block 14.5mm armor-piercing incendiary bullets or even 20mm armor-piercing incendiary bullets, and the side only needs to be able to block 12.7mm armor-piercing incendiary bullets from 100 meters away."

The protection index must be determined in advance. If the required protection is strong, the vehicle body must be heavy enough, and the engine, etc., must be large enough. If the required protection is weak, the survival ability on the battlefield will decrease. Therefore, this index must be carefully considered.

Generally speaking, it is enough for an infantry fighting vehicle to defend against a 12.7mm machine gun. Some are even lower, such as the domestic Type 63 armored vehicle. The front of the vehicle body uses 14mm thick armor steel, which can block the shooting of 7.62mm caliber weapons, that is, it can block the strafing of AK rifles. The sides use ordinary thin steel plates, and even AK rifles may penetrate it.

So it is called an armored transport vehicle, not an infantry fighting vehicle, because it simply does not dare to go to the battlefield for a walk.

The kind that is going to be built now must have strong enough protection, side protection against 12.7, and front protection against 14.5 or even 20mm caliber weapon attacks, which is already very heaven-defying.

"That's right, this level of protection is sufficient, so that the infantry fighting vehicle can be limited to a weight of about twenty tons. Achieve the best balance in terms of protection, mobility, and cost."

There are also heavy infantry fighting vehicles, such as Israel's heavy infantry fighting vehicle, which is directly modified from a T-55 tank, weighing more than forty tons. The protection is naturally very strong, but the operation is complicated and the cost is high, which is not affordable for ordinary countries.

Under normal circumstances, twenty tons is enough. If you continue to strengthen it, you will be driving the infantry fighting vehicle as a tank. It is mainly used for urban warfare. The army does not yet have this requirement. The army's main mission is still to defend against the attack of the northern bear, and it is still a field warfare route.

At this time, hearing Qin Yang's words, everyone nodded in agreement, expressing satisfaction with this indicator.

"The chassis weight of twenty tons also makes it convenient for us to conduct cross-sea landing. When needed, we can install pontoons on both sides to give it the ability to navigate on water."

Everyone's eyes lit up.

Every country has its own special national conditions. The equipment of the East needs to have amphibious functions in order to complete that mission.

Twenty tons, and the size is still very large. Adding pontoons can make it float. If it is larger, there may be problems.

"However, our chassis must have a load-bearing capacity of more than 30 tons. This will not only reserve enough space for future protection upgrades, but also facilitate the use of this chassis as a variant for various improvements."

"Improvements?"

"Yes, improvements. This infantry fighting vehicle mainly carries a 30mm automatic cannon, but depending on the needs, it can also carry a 105mm rifled gun, a 122mm howitzer, a 120mm mortar dual-purpose howitzer, a 6-barreled 30mm Gatling gun, a remote weapon station, etc., forming a huge family of wheeled armored vehicles."

The British who invented the L7 tank gun would never have imagined that their artillery would blossom and bear fruit in the East, creating a series of magical modifications, used in many equipment, main battle tanks, amphibious tanks, and even a large eight-wheeled vehicle may be running with such a turret on top, simply becoming a wheeled tank.

If a 105mm tank gun is modified, the weight will increase by seven or eight tons, heading towards the direction of thirty tons.

Everyone widened their eyes: "President Qin, if we install a 105 gun, will it overturn when firing?"