Rebirth of the 1980s: The Military Industry Empire

"We can reduce the workload of the navigator by using an advanced inertial navigation system, combining the roles of the two navigators, the communicator, and the gunner into one person," Qin Yang said. "This way, a bomber only needs three people: the main and co-pilots, and the navigator/bombardier."

The current H-6 requires two navigators, which is a necessity because, at the time of its creation, advanced navigation methods were unavailable. Navigators had to memorize landmarks and rely on their own eyes to discern their location!

In fact, fighter pilots also identify their position in this way. However, the old Soviet fighters had a short range, with a combat radius of only a few hundred kilometers. When pilots transferred to a new base, the first thing they needed to do was familiarize themselves with the landmarks. Once they memorized the surrounding environment, they could glance at the ground after taking off and know their location.

Moreover, the base had radar; meter-wave radar could search for hundreds of kilometers without issue, allowing for ground-based guidance of the pilots.

The H-6 is different. It has a range of up to 5,800 kilometers and a combat radius of one to two thousand kilometers. Furthermore, it's a bomber that needs to fly into enemy airspace to bomb targets. The enemy certainly wouldn't allow daily flyovers to observe landmarks. Therefore, two navigators are necessary, so that if one gets confused, the other with a clear head can provide navigation.

Before the crew sets off, you can see people carrying briefcases containing aeronautical charts; these are the navigators.

Having six people on an aircraft, with several doing the same job, is undoubtedly a waste. Why so many? One person could handle it all!

In reality, even the three-person crew system is a waste. With two pilots, one is enough. The Americans' B-2 only has one pilot who flies and drops bombs, a two-person crew is sufficient.

"Chief Qin, we need two navigators. If there's a war in the future, and we need to fly into enemy airspace, having only one navigator might lead to getting lost," Li Chang said.

"How could we get lost? Before boarding the aircraft, we'll calibrate the inertial navigation system. Once airborne, we'll fly according to the data provided by the inertial navigation system. Even after flying a thousand kilometers, the cumulative error will be only a few kilometers, no worse than a navigator," Qin Yang said. "Everyone, times have changed, technology is advancing. You don't even know how advanced the navigation system of the French Mirage 2000 fighter jet is. The pilot only needs to input the data beforehand, and the plane can fly there on its own."

The H-6's nose is still the transparent navigator's compartment; it should have been phased out long ago!

Currently, we only have inertial navigation systems, but in the future, satellite navigation positioning systems will emerge, making navigation even more reliable. The navigator's job will eventually disappear.

"Fly there on its own? That's amazing!" Everyone was very surprised.

"Yes, our Tomcat fighter also has an inertial navigation system, which can be completely transplanted onto our bombers," Old Lu said from the side. "After the transplant, it can indeed greatly reduce the bomber's demand for navigators."

The production of the Tomcat fighter requires many subsystems, all of which are handed over to relevant domestic departments. Inertial navigation systems are not new. Ballistic missiles need inertial guidance, submarines also need inertial guidance. There are also domestic inertial guidance masters in charge, so surveying, mapping, and reverse-engineering the Tomcat fighter's inertial navigation system will not take much effort.

Moreover, when the J-7 introduced Marconi avionics, the country also planned to introduce Western advanced inertial guidance systems. At that time, Chief Engineer Tu felt that there were too many items to negotiate and not enough energy, so he handed over the introduction of inertial guidance to the J-8. After all, only long-range fighters like the J-8 needed inertial guidance, not small aircraft like the J-7.

Although it was not successfully introduced in the end, they had been in contact with the West for a long time and had a deep understanding of inertial guidance, which greatly promoted research and development.

At this time, hearing Old Lu's words, everyone nodded: "That's right, if we have this advanced inertial guidance, we can really reduce the number of navigators. However, the bombardier must be a specialist, right?"

The bombardier is also a very important person. How important? After the bomber begins to enter the bombing route, the command of the entire aircraft is not in the hands of the captain or the pilot, but in the hands of the bombardier!

The bombardier says how to fly, and that's how it flies! Even the American B-29 bomber had a special mechanism where the aircraft's heading would be fine-tuned as the bombardier adjusted the bombsight.

How could such an important position as bombardier be removed or held concurrently by someone else?

"Everyone, flying over the enemy's head to bomb them has gradually become an impossible mission," Qin Yang said. "Air Force bombers must also keep pace with the times."

In the past, during the World War II era, air fortresses were neatly arranged, flying blackly across the sky, and then carrying out carpet bombing. That scene was very spectacular.

However, there were reasons why they could do this at that time. For example, they used high-altitude bombing methods, which artillery could not reach, and the enemy only had high-altitude fighters to intercept. As long as the escort fighters drove away the enemy fighters, or the bomber formations could use their own firepower to take down the attacking fighters.

Of course, at that time, they also had to be unafraid of death. To give a specific example, during the European theater of World War II, the Allied forces dispatched a total of 1.44 million bomber sorties, losing 20,000 aircraft. On average, the lifespan of a bomber was only 160 days. No bomber could fly from the beginning of the war to the end. The worst was the British Air Force, whose bomber crew totaled 125,000 people before and after the war. By the end of the war, 55,000 people were killed on the spot, and adding those who were missing and captured, they lost 72 percent of their people.

That was just World War II, what about now? There are anti-aircraft missiles everywhere. If a bomber flies over to do carpet bombing, does it think the enemy's missiles are vegetarians? Unless it's dealing with African countries, in a normal war, if a bomber dares to fly over for carpet bombing, the entire crew is likely to be killed.

Therefore, don't even think about playing carpet bombing now, flying over the enemy's head to drop bombs. It's simply suicide.

"Then what should we do?" Old Lin asked.

"Yes, are our H-6s already outdated?"

"How could they be? The H-6 will never be outdated, but it must keep pace with the times," Qin Yang said.

The H-6 is a bomber that can use up the alphabet, how could it be outdated!

"Keep pace with the times?"

"That's right, flying over the enemy's head to drop bombs is impossible, but our H-6 can transform into a carrier for long-range cruise missiles."

"Cruise missiles?"

It's still the 1980s, and people don't have a deep impression of cruise missiles. After all, the Tomahawk missile didn't show its power until the 1990s. However, the H-6 still has a role model.