Steel Soviet Union

Kotin may not quite understand, but it is impossible for Malashenko not to understand.

It can be said that the most surprising thing is that the Germans used anti-aircraft missiles modified by magic to attack the heavy tanks of the Red Army.

The beginning of all this stems from the serious lack of high-efficiency anti-tank weapons on the German front lines, as well as the efforts to effectively utilize increasingly tense military resources in the later stages of the war.

I don’t know who originally proposed this idea, but in short, these failed test anti-aircraft missiles that were originally to be destroyed have been valued and reused.

At first, the Germans tried to transform it into something similar to the V1 missile to carry out bombing operations against targets at longer distances.

But soon, the Germans discovered that this was somewhat unrealistic because the missile itself had too many inherent design flaws.

It is different from the large land-based fixed position deployed anti-aircraft missiles that are generally understood and defined by later generations.

Although this failed experiment made by the Germans was very big, they built a launcher as big as the 88 gun mount, mounted it on it and made it pitch up and down.

In essence, this thing at this stage has neither search/fire control radar linkage nor any over-the-horizon strike capabilities, nor does it have any automatic guidance and tracking system that ignores fire and ignore it.

Although the Germans began to try to develop epoch-making weapons and equipment, they still did not break out of the thinking inertia and design logic of existing weapons and equipment. Although it is indeed a large anti-aircraft missile, the Germans designed it with the same thinking as designing an anti-aircraft gun. They just hope that it will be more efficient, more accurate and have a longer effective range than the anti-aircraft gun.

Therefore, this is actually a system that requires you to find the target within the visual range, control the direction and pitch of the launcher, roughly align the missile with the incoming direction of the enemy bomber, and then launch the missile and dynamically track it through the optical channel of the high-magnification zoom scope. Manually control the flight trajectory of the missile to continuously lock on the target until it finally hits the downed weapon.

Just as the German designer with a bit of a brain originally conceived, this is to enlarge the anti-tank missile used on the ground and extend its range into a surface-to-air anti-aircraft version. Other than that, all other design ideas and structural concepts are basically the same, and even the operation methods are similar.

It is obvious that the range of a weapon that can fight within visual range is destined not to be too far.

Even with the blessing of a high-magnification zoom optical sight fixed on the launcher, this thing is ultimately just a thing that does not jump out of the anti-aircraft gun combat concept.

It is also the same as how ordinary anti-aircraft guns are deployed for combat.

The limited range means that it does not have the potential to be transformed into a longer-range weapon like the V1 missile. In its seemingly huge body, in addition to carrying limited fuel to support flight within visual range and a wire-controlled seeker, the rest of the space is filled with a huge amount of warhead charges for reinforcement. power.

According to the designer's original idea, this thing didn't even need to accurately hit Allied bombers.

Just send the missile to the Allied bomber formation, and then remotely detonate it through the electrical signal connected by the wire.

The blast impact and scattered fragments caused by the detonation of the huge warhead charge were enough to severely damage and shoot down several Allied heavy bombers under ideal circumstances. If used properly, only one missile can produce effects that dozens of heavy anti-aircraft guns could not produce in the past. It can be called a magic weapon to destroy bombs.

But then that’s what happened in the test.

The ideal is plump, the reality is skinny.

Maybe this thing still has some feasible room for improvement, but the troubles it caused and the extremely bad problems exposed on its first appearance, as well as the Germans' increasingly tight deadlines and little time left, no longer allow this product to have a very high level. There is no need to make any tentative improvements to weapons that have a high probability of failure in research and development.

Changing weapons like V1 missiles doesn't work, so what should I do? Are there any other modification options available? We cannot just destroy a batch of test bombs that have already been produced, so who will be responsible for the price and sunk costs involved? Nowadays, San Dezi can no longer afford to squander or waste. Even if it is a waste, he must turn waste into treasure and use it effectively.

After discussing and demonstrating several transformation plans, based on the urgent objective reality that must be faced and the huge actual combat needs on the front line, the Germans finally decided on a plan that they believed could best utilize the remaining value of this "scrap". The transformation plan to turn it into a treasure: transform it into an anti-tank missile.

In fact, sometimes, people should break out of the closed loop of inertial thinking and existing cognition, and try to think about certain things and solutions from different angles or in the opposite direction.

That's what the Germans are like in this matter. It's rare that their brains are enough.

The idea of ​​the German designer who presided over the transformation plan was: Since it is designed based on an anti-tank missile, can I reverse it and turn it back into an anti-tank missile? Anyway, both designs have the same origin, and the anti-armor combat pressure on the front line, especially on the Eastern Front battlefield, is so great now, there is no reason not to try it.

There are design possibilities and battlefield demands. This designer with flexible thinking is also a person who can do whatever he says. He immediately led a group of people under his command to plunge into the actual trial.

At least for the Germans, the final result was a blessing in misfortune and relatively good.

At least this result indicates that these experimental waste anti-aircraft missiles finally do not need to be destroyed, but can be turned into treasure for other uses.

The transformation plan was carried out very quickly and successfully in both the design and actual engineering phases. It is precisely because of the same technical origin. This thing was originally designed based on the idea of ​​anti-tank missiles, and then worked backwards. It has become particularly easy to go back to the starting point of anti-tank missile design, and success on the test field is even predictable.

There is only one question left: how to deploy this thing effectively on the battlefield.

After all, the size of its original anti-aircraft version of the experimental launcher is too large. The entire set of deployment, aiming and launcher pitching mechanisms adds up to a volume of the entire launcher that is even more "tall and powerful" than the ordinary 88 anti-aircraft gun mount. fierce".

Because it was an air defense operation rather than a front-line ground defense operation, the issue of concealment was not considered at all when designing the launcher and deployment system.

Coupled with the huge size of the missile itself, if it is deployed on the front line with an experimental launcher as it is, it can be used as a fixed-position anti-tank missile. As long as the Russians have their brains intact, the first target they destroy on the battlefield will definitely be this "giant target."