Rebirth of the 1980s: The Military Industry Empire

"Then we need a completely new armor system," Qin Yang said.

Completely new? Old Zhu widened his eyes: "General Qin, what kind of completely new armor?"

The earliest armor was homogeneous steel. Whoever had the more advanced armor composition, their tank would be stronger. During World War II, German tanks used advanced nickel steel, and the protection it offered at the same thickness was much stronger than the armor of the old Soviets. By the Cold War, armor-piercing rounds could easily penetrate hundreds of millimeters, but armor couldn't be made hundreds of millimeters thick. For a long time, tanks were basically running naked. If they were hit, they would definitely be destroyed.

Until the advent of composite armor, if steel plates weren't strong enough, other materials were used, or even multiple materials were stacked together to achieve sufficient protection. American depleted uranium armor took this protection to the extreme.

However, what if armor-piercing rounds continue to increase their penetration? Then it's the armor's turn to have a headache again. Protection can't continue to be enhanced, so what should be done next?

It has to be changed structurally.

"That's right, electromagnetic armor," Qin Yang said. "This armor has three schemes: contact electromagnetic armor, electrothermal armor, and energy-storing electromagnetic armor, each with varying degrees of difficulty."

Qin Yang began to introduce them.

"First, the contact type has the simplest structure, including two steel plates separated by a certain distance, a power source, and a capacitor. When a shell comes, it will pass through the two steel plates, causing a short circuit between the two plates. The capacitor starts to discharge a large current, which will form a strong magnetic field and a discharge explosion shock wave, deflecting the incoming shell."

Old Zhu frowned. This technology was too advanced, and he had to think carefully and savor it slowly to understand the principle behind it.

"The structure of electrothermal armor is similar to that of electromagnetic armor, except that the distance between the two metal plates is very small, and a very thin layer of insulating material is added in the middle. During the high-current discharge process, this material is heated, vaporized, and expanded, causing the two metal plates to deform and deflect the incoming shell."

These principles sound wonderful, but in fact, they serve one purpose: to deflect incoming projectiles or jets, thereby avoiding being penetrated by the shell.

The armor-piercing ability of an armor-piercing round is fixed. When penetrating armor, the shortest route is perpendicular to the armor plate. If it penetrates at an angle, the distance will greatly increase. At a 60-degree angle to the normal, the distance will double!

Therefore, armor is trying to force the target to penetrate at an angle. Angled armor works on this principle, while armor-piercing rounds try to penetrate perpendicularly. For example, the blunt-nosed armor-piercing rounds of the past were designed to right themselves after hitting the armor and then penetrate perpendicularly.

Now, electromagnetic armor is not meant to provide a thick physical protection capability, but to deflect incoming shells or metal jets, thereby increasing protection. It is not the main armor of the tank, but like explosive reactive armor, it is installed on the outside of the vehicle.

Seeing this made Old Zhu ponder, so Qin Yang didn't continue to introduce energy-storing armor. This armor is a new concept armor protection technology that combines the characteristics of electromagnetic armor and electrothermal armor. It would be more complicated to explain, so forget it.

Old Zhu sighed: "General Qin, there are always strange things in your mind, as if you are taking unconventional approaches, but they happen to be very useful when needed. What you said may become the trend of the future."

When Qin Yang said electromagnetic armor, Old Zhu's subconscious reaction was energy shields. In fact, these only exist in science fiction novels. True energy shields are impossible. Any equipment needs to have basic physical principles, just like what Qin Yang said, which can be explained theoretically. Of course, if it is actually developed, there will definitely be many problems.

"The technical difficulty inside is not small, right?" Old Zhu asked.

"That's right, there are many technical problems, the biggest of which is the energy storage problem."

The effectiveness of electromagnetic armor completely depends on the capacitor. The energy that the capacitor needs to store must be strong enough to generate a strong current and produce a significant effect. How much energy is needed?

Only when the current is greater than 300 kA can it have an effect on armor-piercing rounds. To truly defend against them, at least 1 MA of current is needed, and the energy stored in the capacitor needs to reach the MJ level.

How much energy is that? The electromagnetic catapults used in later generations require only about 100 MJ of energy to launch a carrier-based aircraft, and the huge flywheel energy storage device under the electromagnetic catapult is larger than a tank. Even if it is divided into one hundred parts, each part cannot be installed on the surface of the tank.

Moreover, this energy does not come from nowhere. It needs to be generated by a generator. In other words, if you want to use this device, the tank needs a huge power supply.

Therefore, only electrically powered tanks have this possibility. Even if there is an engine, the engine must be used to drive the generator, and then the electric motor drives the vehicle forward, just like a warship, creating an integrated electric power system to effectively distribute power.

Therefore, the technology of electromagnetic armor sounds very simple, but it is very difficult to implement. Even before Qin Yang was reborn, it was not truly practical.

Of course, there were many tests. For example, in September 2003, the United Kingdom played a video at a conference showing the anti-ballistic performance shooting test of its "Warrior" infantry fighting vehicle test vehicle equipped with electromagnetic armor.

The Americans have also been working on it. In 2005, they also conducted live-fire shooting tests at the Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland, but these were all experiments and were not truly put into practical use.

However, this is, after all, a direction, and it is still a direction that is considered correct by later generations. Although there is no ability to do so now, perhaps there will be the ability to develop it successfully in the future? After all, Qin Yang's arrival in this era has promoted the research and development of many military industrial projects.

In the midst of the two men's reverie, the Type 99 tank had completed its handover. The crew of Vehicle No. 6 rumbled the tank into the formation, filling the gap left by the 59 tank.

"Report, we have completed the handover and request to continue training!"

This was not the first time they had come into contact with the Type 99 tank. They had already trained on the previous tanks, so receiving this new tank was also very easy. In the central driver's compartment, the driver's eyes were filled with excitement. On the turret, the commander and gunner stood tall and proud. As for the loader, he stood next to the 59 tank, equally straight.

"Continue training!"

"Yes!"

The roar of the tanks continued, and a new round of training began. For the parade, I don't know how many soldiers are like them, training hard in the cold winter and hot summer.