Steel Soviet Union

Having stronger protection is certainly a good thing, but Malashenko still wants more, such as super firepower that can penetrate the German iron bastards on the opposite side.

Fortunately, Polyshev, who came fully loaded, had enough inventory to not disappoint Comrade Lao Ma, and more powerful firepower was already an established arrangement.

"Regarding the new type of artillery shell, the discarding sabot armor-piercing projectile you proposed. The actual research and development work is more difficult than expected. This brand-new armor-piercing projectile is an area that has never been touched before, and it involves too many first attempts. We must Finding key points to break through will take longer than expected, and it is still not perfect at the moment.”

""

Malashenko suddenly felt that he was a little confused. Why did Bolyshev suddenly become the Riddler?

What does it mean that what we are currently doing is not perfect enough? Is the actual research and development work more difficult than expected?

Malashenko just wanted to know whether the goods were manufactured or not. Whether they could be used or not were two completely different things. Whether there were armor-piercing shelling shells available would have a huge impact on the outcome of the battle. Malashenko did not want to be there. I kept guessing over and over again on such an important issue.

"Wait, Comrade Polyshev, wait a moment. Just tell me directly whether there are any new armor-piercing bullets available. The rest is not important. This is the first thing I care about."

""

Polyshev's expression was a little unnatural, even embarrassing. Malashenko felt that this might indicate that the next result would not be good.

"There are indeed armor-piercing bombs, and I have brought them with me, Comrade General."

"But this batch of new armor-piercing bullets should not have been allowed to leave the factory. Strictly speaking, they are unqualified and have not even passed the target shooting test."

"We have encountered a very serious problem. The accuracy of the new sabot-piercing projectiles is unsatisfactory. We have never been able to stabilize the ballistic trajectory at the optimal level. The drop fluctuation value during the actual test firing is very unstable, especially Shooting at longer ranges exposes serious problems."

"For a target the size of a tank at a distance of one kilometer, this new type of armor-piercing discarding sabot can only achieve about 60% of the first hit accuracy. This is still the target range test data corrected for precise aiming. There will be more in actual combat. Affected by unpredictable factors, this means that the hit rate will further decline. Comrade Kojing believes that this is unacceptable, but "

Polyshev raised his hand and stopped in mid-air. The words in his mouth stopped abruptly, as if he was choked.

"When he thought about the excessive pressure on the front line and the serious lack of firepower that could stably penetrate the frontal protection of the enemy's heavy armored tanks within conventional combat distances, Comrade Kotin decided to send this batch of artillery shells over. At least it does have higher armor-piercing power. . If the distance is shortened and used, the accuracy will be improved, but we are not sure what distance is appropriate. This needs to be measured and judged by people with experience in the battlefield. The military industry team in the rear does not have this capability. "

"Comrade Kejin has another consideration. He wants to know your suggestions and opinions after trying this new armor-piercing projectile, Comrade General. If there is room for improvement and upgrading and any opinions and suggestions in this regard, please tell us, General. Comrade. We will also work hard to solve the problem of accuracy of artillery shells, but for now, only these substandard products can be used."

""

Malashenko, who was speechless, realized that he had overlooked a big problem. Due to process design problems, the accuracy of early discarding sabots when shooting at long distances was almost the same as that of flintlock rifles in the queuing era.

Where you aim is your business. Where the sabot-piercing projectile actually hits after being discharged is another matter.

It cannot be said that there is no causal relationship between the two, but the accuracy performance is so bad that it makes people want to cry without tears.

Similar problems are not exclusive to the Soviet military industry. The British who invented the armor-piercing discarding sabot and first put them into actual combat also encountered the same problem. It is not uncommon for early armor-piercing sabots to be troubled by pee-like accuracy problems.

how to solve this problem?

Malashenko doesn't have a clue yet. He will have to wait until he actually sees this armor-piercing projectile and actually uses it, and roughly understands its performance.

"Show me the cannonball. No matter what it is, at least reality has to be faced."

""

Polyshev didn't say much, he just turned around and took Malashenko to the back of a GAZ truck not far away, and opened the cover of a shell box to reveal the contents: A shiny silver armor-piercing projectile and its matching propellant cartridge.

Malashenko didn't say anything immediately. He just stepped forward and picked up the heavy warhead, placed it in his arms, twisted the body of the warhead and carefully observed the tip of the warhead.

"Perhaps there is something wrong with the internal structure of the warhead itself. I will give you feedback after I have used it in actual combat. I cannot give you an accurate answer until I have used it. How many shells are there in this batch?"

Malashenko did not boast on the spot, but chose a more prudent answer. Although the discarding sabot is not a fin-stabilized discarding sabot commonly known as a steel needle bullet, the complex structure inside its warhead is more complicated than any previous one. There are fundamental changes in armor-piercing bullets, and it’s really hard to make a conclusion before actually using them.

"Because it is a trial production of artillery shells, there are only 76 rounds. Originally, a full 200 rounds were produced in the first batch, but most of them were consumed during the target shooting test. The results were mixed. The armor-piercing power was very satisfactory but the accuracy was Not good. Comrade Ke Jing believed that this was a substandard product that needed to be improved, so he did not continue to increase production using this design specification.”

"The remaining 76 rounds are the surplus of test bombs. I know that this number is far from enough, Comrade General. But we are already thinking of a solution, and Morozov's Second Special Design Bureau has also joined in. We are working together to try to solve the problem.”

"I believe that all problems will eventually be solved. There are already several improvement plans, but it will take some time. Comrade General, please believe us."

""

Malashenko, who put the shells back in the box, did not answer directly. Instead, he leaned on the tailgate of the car with one hand and looked sad. After being silent for a long time, he could only sigh longly. Take a breath.

"Hey, let's do this for now. Something is better than nothing, isn't it?"