The Rise of Australia

Chapter 906 Long-distance ship-based missiles

After driving for more than two hours, the group finally arrived at their destination, which was the missile and rocket experimental base located on the outskirts of the Capital District.

Yes, the missile and rocket experimental bases are both here, but as two research projects and groups, they are adjacent to each other but do not interfere with each other.

Of course, the initial theories of rockets and missiles are the same, and many principles and concepts can be learned from each other, so there are also exchanges between the two experimental bases.

It's just that Arthur paid more attention to militarized missiles compared to civilian-oriented rockets.

However, these two bases receive a large amount of research budget every year, and Arthur has not lost one because of this.

Fortunately, missile and rocket experiments do not require nuclear weapons at all. This is why they can be built in the suburbs of the Capital District, instead of moving to the interior of the Australasian desert like the nuclear weapons research and development project team.

The nuclear weapons research and development experimental team is located in Carnegie, with large deserts to the north and south, uninhabited plateau mountains to the east and west, and basically a desert zone for hundreds of miles nearby.

Such terrain is perfect for the development and testing of nuclear weapons. On the premise that countries do not have satellites, it is completely possible to conceal nuclear tests from all countries.

This trip was much grander than the last one. In addition to dozens of guards, more than a dozen high-ranking military officials went together.

After all, this is a new generation of missile technology. The name of the cruise missile sounds very high-end, so it is not surprising that it attracts these top military officials.

But what was different from last time was that Chief of the National Defense General Staff Malone did not come. After all, the staff had to plan the entire war and really couldn't spare the time.

But at any rate, he was accompanied by Defense Secretary Thomas. Thomas is the highest ranking member of the military and can fully reflect the military's emphasis on missiles.

Entering the missile research base, Herman, the chief designer of missile research and development, introduced everyone respectfully: "

Your Majesty, everyone. This is our latest development of a new generation of cruise missiles, equipped with our most advanced radar technology, which can achieve an accuracy exceeding that of pigeon-type missiles without the need for pigeons at all.

At present, our cruise missiles are divided into land-based missiles, air-based missiles and sea-based missiles, corresponding to ground launch, air launch and sea launch respectively.

The warhead of the cruise missile is detachable and can be replaced with any kind of special warhead we want. There are currently two more conventional warheads, namely explosive warheads and anti-personnel warheads.

Of course, if nuclear weapons can be made into warheads, such nuclear warheads can also be installed on cruise missiles. "

Because the worst people who come to the missile research and development base are lieutenant generals and above, and they belong to the highest level of the military in Australasia, so there is no need to hide the news about nuclear weapons.

After all, according to their height, information related to nuclear weapons is not too secretive.

Of course, Arthur also believed in his subordinates. After all, the three major intelligence bureaus are not vegetarians. If there are really people who are cheating, they will never escape the mutual supervision of the three major intelligence bureaus.

"Mr. Herman, what is the hit rate of such a missile? Can it achieve an effective hit rate similar to that of the Pigeon missile?" Lieutenant General Ma En, the director of the Army Logistics Department, asked impatiently.

Judging from Herman's current introduction, compared with the previous generation of pigeon missiles, the purpose and power of the new generation of cruise missiles have been greatly improved.

At present, the military is most concerned about the accuracy of cruise missiles. After all, it is impossible for all cruise missiles to be equipped with a unified nuclear warhead. Most cruise missiles must be used as conventional weapons, which also means that accuracy is still very important.

"Of course, Mr. Lieutenant General." Herman nodded and said with a smile: "Please believe in our most advanced technology, which cannot be replaced by animals. Currently, according to our calculations, in the worst Under this circumstance, our new generation cruise missile can also achieve accuracy similar to that of the Pigeon missile."

Ma En nodded, quite satisfied with the content of Herman's answer.

The accuracy guarantee of the new generation of cruise missiles is equivalent to that of pigeon missiles, which also means that cruise missiles are almost comprehensively improved compared to pigeon missiles.

"I believe you all know that without the influence of weather factors, the highest hit rate of the Pigeon missile can reach about 60%, which is already an extremely high number.

However, according to our calculations of the new generation of cruise missiles, without the influence of external factors, the maximum hit rate of the new generation of cruise missiles can reach about 65%, an increase of five percentage points. "Herman looked proud and no longer concealed, telling the effective hit rate of the current new generation of missiles.

Although the increase from 60% to 65% seems to be only a 5% improvement, for missiles, this 5% improvement requires the accumulation of a lot of technology to achieve.

It is no exaggeration to say that the 5% gap between 60% and 65% is more difficult than the 10% gap between 50% and 60%.

The highest point of the hit rate is only 100%. As the hit rate gets higher and higher, a small improvement will also require a lot of time and technology accumulation.

Because of this, although Herman said that the new generation of cruise missiles only improved the hit rate by 5%, there was still no objection from the military, and most officers even had expressions of joy on their faces.

"Mr. Herman, when can we start the test?" Arthur was much calmer than these officers. He looked at Herman calmly and asked.

"If your majesty is willing, the test can start at any time." Herman nodded and said respectfully.

"Then let's start. I am also curious about how good our latest missiles can perform in the test?" Arthur nodded, indicating that the missile test could begin.

Before the outbreak of the war, the average annual research funds allocated to the missile research and development base were as high as more than 3 million Australian dollars.

After the outbreak of the war, the annual research and development expenses of the missile research and development base have reached about 7 million Australian dollars, more than twice as much as before.

Such a high research and development fund already represents Arthur's emphasis on missile technology. Missiles can attack targets in three directions of sea, land and air, and can also carry nuclear warheads to achieve nuclear strikes. This is definitely the strongest conventional weapon besides nuclear weapons.

Arthur also deeply understands that the current investment in missile research will be a powerful trump card for Australasia after the war.

Once nuclear weapons are put into the battlefield, all countries will experience the powerful power of nuclear weapons and work hard to develop their own nuclear weapons.

After each country has its own nuclear weapons, it becomes very difficult to use nuclear weapons unless it is prepared to fight to the death with other countries.

But it is obvious that no country will be prepared for such a situation unless it is already facing the risk of national extinction.

Under the premise that nuclear weapons cannot be used, missiles, the most powerful conventional weapons, become very important. As long as it has sufficiently advanced missile technology, Australasia will be able to sit firmly on the throne of world hegemony and achieve Arthur's biggest ambition.

The new generation of cruise missiles, like the previous missiles, are divided into multiple series.

The most mainstream one, that is, the version developed by Herman, is a more traditional land-based missile.

The land-based missile is larger in size, and the warhead it can carry is larger in size and more powerful.

But this also means that it is difficult for land-based missiles to hit air targets, and their greatest role is to achieve ground-to-ground strikes.

In other words, the greatest role of land-based missiles is actually to attack enemy ground targets, or to carry out nuclear strikes on enemy facilities and cities, etc.

In addition to ground-based missiles, there are also air-based missiles and sea-based missiles.

Air-based missiles are actually a combination of Tester missiles and cruise missiles. The overall size is smaller, but it also means that the aircraft can carry more missiles.

Compared with the ground and sea versions, the missiles carried by the aircraft are the best means of attacking enemy aircraft.

Finally, there is the sea-based version. The sea-based version of the missile can be carried on main warships and submarines, which is almost the most effective missile version.

It can be used as an air defense to attack enemy aircraft, and it can also be used as a version similar to land-based missiles to attack enemy ground targets.

Of course, it can also be used as the main killing method of main warships to attack enemy warships.

For different types of missiles, there will naturally be different types of test methods to effectively test the specific performance of the missile.

The first missile to be tested is the current main version of the cruise missile, that is, the land-based cruise missile developed by Hermann.

The code name of this missile is the H-36 land-based cruise missile. There are two versions. The H-36A is a close-range rapid strike missile. The effective killing distance of the missile is closer, but the missile is faster.

H-36B is a long-range large-scale strike missile. The missile is larger in size and has a longer strike range.

In order to test these two missiles, the missile research base also specially designed a car that can be unmanned for a short period of time.

Of course, this unmanned driving is very simple. In fact, it can only drive forward without thinking.

This unmanned driving can hit the wall when it encounters a wall, and it hits people when it encounters people. It is just a test car specially made for missile testing.

The content of the test is very simple, that is, by launching missiles to see whether the missile can hit this carefully made test car, to get the specific hit rate of the missile.

Because it is a test, the power of the missile does not need to be too large, and it can be determined to hit the test car within a certain range.

After all, if the test car is destroyed, it will delay the entire test for a certain period of time.

The final test results are still relatively reasonable. There are two versions of the Herman land-based missile. In clear weather and no wind, the hit rate can reach the range of 61%-65%, which is quite good.

Among them, the small-volume H-36A missile has a higher hit rate, with an average hit rate of about 63% to 64%.

The hit rate of the large-volume H-36B missile is slightly worse, but the hit rate can also reach 61% to 63%.

The number of tests of these two missiles is 20, which can basically reflect the specific hit rates of the two missiles.

Of course, if you encounter bad weather, the hit rate will definitely be affected.

For example, the previous generation of Dove missiles, although they can also achieve a hit rate of nearly 60% when the weather is bright and good, as long as they are affected by the weather, the hit rate will drop below 50.

The next test is the air-based missile.

The air-to-air version of the previous generation of Dove missiles performed quite well in actual wars.

Australasia also relied on a large number of air-to-air missiles to quickly destroy a large number of island aircraft and win the air battle when the number of aircraft was the same or even behind.

The islanders have been suppressed by Australasian aircraft so far. In addition to the fact that Australasian aircraft are indeed ahead in performance, air-to-air missiles are also one of the most important reasons.

There are two ways to test air-based missiles, one is to test air-to-air combat methods, and the other is to test air-to-ground bombing methods.

After all, the missiles carried by the aircraft also have two uses, one is to attack enemy aircraft, and the other is to bomb ground targets on a large scale.

The test method of air-to-air combat methods is still the test method of the previous generation of missiles.

After all, the previous generation of dove missiles measured in this way performed quite well in actual wars. A carefully crafted aircraft model was transported to high altitude, and then several aircraft took off, ready to use the latest version of air-to-air missiles to attack the aircraft model that fell from the sky.

These missiles were also specially modified, and the gunpowder inside was basically hollowed out, so the missiles would not explode after hitting the aircraft model.

Because the air-based version of the missile is smaller, more missiles were used in this test, and a full 100 missiles attacked the plane that fell from the sky at the same time.

The final test results were quite gratifying. As Herman expected, the missile hit rate remained at around 65%, and the worst was 60%.

In the end, 67 of the 100 missiles hit the aircraft model. Although most of the reason was due to the windless and sunny weather, this was indeed a very good test result.

After the air-to-air test, it was the turn of the air-to-ground test.

Still using the previous test method, the specially modified vehicle on the ground started running again, and the plane in the sky was ready to bomb the car.

In addition, the air-to-ground version also tests the bombing of stationary targets, that is, drawing a specific open space and dropping a large number of missiles to test the hit rate.

60 missiles were launched in each of these two tests, and the results obtained are almost the specific data of air-based missiles.

In the end, in the air-to-ground link, there were 11 missiles that hit dynamic targets, 17 missiles that hit within two meters around dynamic targets, and 5 missiles that hit within two to three meters of dynamic targets, totaling 33 missiles, with a hit rate of about 55%.

There were 39 missiles that hit static targets, and the hit rate just reached 65%.

Such a gap is actually acceptable, after all, it is more difficult to hit dynamic targets.

Moreover, if it is equipped with a more powerful warhead, it can cause relatively effective damage if it hits the target within three meters.

Especially for those warships, the size of the warships is much larger, and as long as the deviation is within five meters, it can basically ensure 100% hit of the warships.

This also means that the new generation of missiles poses a huge threat to both ground targets and marine targets, and the combat effectiveness of the Australasian Air Force has been further improved.

Of course, the current missiles are only in the testing stage. If you want to achieve large-scale production and put them into war, I am afraid that one year is not enough.

Even in extremely ideal circumstances, it may take until the second half of 1937 to see the use of such missiles by the Air Force.

In fact, from the tests of land-based and air-based missiles, it can be seen that the new generation of cruise missiles has improved over the previous generation of missiles.

You know, this is based on the premise of the diversification of the role of the missile, and it can also effectively improve the hit rate. This improvement is more than a little bit.

It is no exaggeration to say that under the premise of the same aircraft, the combat effectiveness and destructive power that can be exerted by carrying pigeon missiles and carrying new generation cruise missiles are definitely not at the same level.

It is precisely because of this that Arthur is undoubtedly more curious about the ship-borne missiles carried by main warships and submarines.

Since its birth, the ship-borne missile has only one role and goal, that is, to attack the enemy's large targets.

Whether it is the enemy's important facilities or city ports, or the enemy's large main warships, they are all within the strike range of ship-borne missiles.

This also means that the size of the ship-borne missile is absolutely the largest among all missiles. When equipped with a nuclear warhead, the effective strike distance and strike power are also the strongest.

Of course, the testing of ship-borne missiles will be more complicated than other types of missiles. Because according to Herman's design of ship-borne missiles, the effective killing range of the largest ship-borne missile is as high as 560 kilometers, which is already a very long distance.

You know, as a country with a narrow and long land, the width of the entire country is only about 300 kilometers.

For ship-borne missiles, it is completely possible to launch missiles in the deep sea more than 200 kilometers from the coastline of the island country and hit any land in the island country.

Of course, Arthur is not too happy about such a long killing range. Because for the current biggest enemy of Australasia, the killing range of the previous generation of dove missiles of 320 kilometers is enough to cover their homeland.

There are also two types of current ship-borne missiles, namely medium-sized short-range missiles and large long-range missiles.

The names also reveal the specific uses of these two missiles. The main target of medium-sized missiles is ground and sea targets within a short range, and the biggest role and purpose is to effectively kill enemy warships.

The target of large-scale long-range missiles is ground targets at a longer distance, and their main function is to strike important enemy facilities and cities at a long distance.

I believe that from these two uses, it can be seen that the most suitable for carrying nuclear warheads is actually large-scale long-range missiles.

This also means that if ship-borne missiles can be mass-produced, Australasia can completely achieve nuclear strikes on the island country's homeland more than 500 kilometers away.

It is not even an exaggeration to say that if Australasia conceals its whereabouts, such a long-range strike will make it impossible for the island country to determine the source of the strike.

In the midst of expectant eyes, the test of ship-borne missiles officially began.

There are also two ways to test ship-borne missiles, corresponding to medium-sized missiles and large-sized missiles.

A total of 20 medium-sized missiles were launched, mainly attacking mobile targets on land to imitate enemy warships advancing in the ocean.

A total of 10 large missiles were launched, mainly attacking the open space marked on the ground, imitating the enemy's cities and important facilities.

Because of the size and cost of the missiles, the cost of the 30 missiles participating in the ship-borne missile test has far exceeded the more than 200 missiles tested before.

Of course, their lethality is also different. The lethality of a ship-borne missile is equivalent to the lethality of more than ten air-to-air missiles. The two have different functions and are not comparable.

Air-based missiles cannot do the work of ship-borne missiles, and ship-borne missiles cannot do the work of air-based missiles.

If ship-borne missiles are used to attack aircraft in the sky, it would be like using a cannon to hit a mosquito.

Soon, the test of ship-borne missiles began.

The first to be tested were medium-sized missiles, a total of 20 missiles, and 13 of them hit within ten meters of the test vehicle.

Of course, the speed of the test vehicle also imitated the speed of the warship, which was completely different from the speed of other missile tests before.

After all, the speed of the fastest warships is far slower than that of airplanes. Warships are big guys, not to mention that they are traveling on the sea with great resistance.

A 65% hit rate is quite good for medium-sized missiles. If it is in a real naval battle, the hit rate will naturally drop to a certain extent, but it is almost possible to sink an enemy's main warship with two or three medium-sized missiles, which is absolutely a sure win.

After all, the cost of any main warship is as high as millions or even tens of millions of Australian dollars, while the cost of a missile is no more than 100,000 Australian dollars at most, which is a difference of dozens or even hundreds of times.

For Australasia, let alone 2 to 3 missiles for an enemy's main warship. Even if 10 missiles are exchanged for an enemy's main warship, it is definitely a bigger loss for the enemy.

The test data of large missiles is still quite good. Because it is attacking stationary targets on the ground, the hit rate is actually higher than that of dynamic targets attacked by medium-sized missiles.

A total of seven missiles hit the target out of ten large missiles, and the remaining three missiles are not far from the target range.

If it is equipped with conventional warheads, these three missiles that did not hit the target will basically not work.

But if it is equipped with nuclear warheads, the error is only two or three hundred meters, so it doesn’t matter whether it hits or not.

Anyway, after the nuclear explosion, the surrounding area within a few kilometers is absolutely a purgatory. What does it matter whether it is hit by a missile or not?

Of course, the specific difference between them may only be felt by people who truly experience the explosion of missiles and nuclear warheads in the future.

The most promising ones should be the islanders. Maybe they can be interviewed about their feelings of being hit by nuclear bombs in the future, provided that they are not in the center of the explosion and have survived the cruel torture of nuclear radiation.

After watching the entire test, the missile hit rate data is no longer so attractive.

Because compared with the hit rate data, the obvious improvement of cruise missiles in other data is the reason why it has become the new generation of main missiles.

According to previous data, the maximum flight distance of the previous generation of Dove missiles is 320 kilometers, the maximum flight altitude is 19.7 kilometers, and the maximum flight speed is 480 kilometers per hour.

Such data is still quite exaggerated. Although the flight distance is relatively short, it is the longest strike distance for a weapon.

In terms of maximum flight altitude and flight speed, it even exceeds the aircraft of Australasia, which is why the Dove missile can easily destroy enemy aircraft.

After all, only when the missile flies faster than the aircraft can the missile effectively hit the enemy aircraft. If it flies slower than the aircraft, I am afraid that the enemy aircraft can easily react.

The data shown by the new generation of cruise missiles is even more exaggerated.

The maximum flight distance of the land-based version of the cruise missile is 380 kilometers, the maximum flight altitude is 21.6 kilometers, and the maximum flight speed is 525 kilometers per hour.

The maximum flight distance of the ship-borne version of the cruise missile is similar to the 560 kilometers predicted by Hermann, and can actually reach about 575 kilometers.

The maximum flight altitude can also reach 22.5 kilometers, which has exceeded the highest limit that the current aircraft can reach.

In terms of flight speed, although a more advanced jet engine is used, the overall size and weight have become larger, so the speed increase is not obvious, and it only barely reaches about 515 kilometers per hour.

However, considering that the ship-borne version does not need to deal with aircraft, and the main targets are enemy warships and ground facilities, this speed is completely sufficient.

At present, the navigation speed of warships is less than one-tenth of that of ship-borne missiles, and ground facilities and targets are completely immobile. This speed is fully capable of dealing with all targets.

In the smallest air-to-air missile, because of its smaller size and weight, the missile speed is close to 600 kilometers per hour, which is a weapon that can truly deal with aircraft from all over the world.

Even the most advanced aircraft in Australasia has a maximum flight speed of only more than 600 kilometers per hour.

According to current intelligence, the maximum speed of aircraft in various countries in the world is still maintained at around 300 to 400 kilometers per hour, and the fastest is only maintained at 450 kilometers per hour, which is still a long way from the most advanced aircraft in Australasia.

Of course, the biggest gap is actually the power system of the aircraft, which is the jet engine that is currently very important to Australasia.

Whether it is missiles, rockets, or aircraft, jet engines are currently used in large quantities. This latest type of engine not only provides extremely powerful power, but is also more stable than previous engine types.

Before other countries developed jet engines, Australasia was invincible in the field of aircraft, and it can be proud to say that it has been far ahead of other countries.

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