The rise of great powers: starting from military industry

"Develop a 60mm mortar?"

Liu Tao was a little surprised to get a task after visiting the China Ordnance Industry Corporation.

People respect artillery as the 'God of War', and its status and role in war are self-evident.

The People's Army has always attached great importance to the construction and combat use of artillery in various historical periods since its founding, and has spared no effort in developing artillery weapons.

Since its advent in the early 20th century, mortars have been an effective suppression weapon to support and accompany infantry operations.

With the advancement of technology, the role of mortars has been continuously expanded, and its status cannot be replaced by other artillery, but can only be strengthened and developed.

According to Liu Tao's understanding, my country is mainly equipped with 60mm, 82mm, 120mm and 160mm mortars.

Mortars can be divided into three types according to caliber: light, medium and heavy. Mortars with a caliber of less than 60mm are light mortars, mortars with a caliber between 60 and 100mm are medium mortars, and mortars with a caliber of more than 100mm are heavy mortars.

The main mortars currently equipped by the troops are still the Soviet-made Type 53 82 mortars, Type 55 120 mortars, and Type 56 162 mortars.

"The troops on the front line need 60mm mortars to strengthen their firepower." Wang Baoguo said: "Now in the national weapons industry system, you have the strongest scientific research capabilities, so this difficult task is given to you."

Liu Tao nodded.

The 60mm mortar is a small-caliber mortar equipped in large quantities by company-level units. Now the troops are equipped with a large number of Type 63 60mm mortars. The Type 63 60mm mortar was finalized in 1963. It is the first generation of light mortars independently developed and produced in my country. Its combat weight is 14.5 kilograms and its range is 1470 meters.

The advantages of the Type 63 60mm mortar are lightness and flexibility, but the disadvantages are also obvious, that is, poor shooting stability.

Therefore, from the early 1970s, the design was improved, high-strength steel was used, and the structure was further simplified, so that the total weight was reduced to 11.5 kg, and the stability of the launch was guaranteed, and the National Science Conference Award was won for this.

In the second half of the 1970s, science and technology developed rapidly worldwide, and a large number of new materials and new processes were continuously applied to the field of mortar production. Mortars with lighter weight, longer range, greater power and stronger mobility continued to emerge.

Now the country also feels the urgency of mortar development, coupled with the needs of the front battlefield, so a new generation of 60mm mortars must be developed.

"Okay, when I go back, I will arrange the development of a new generation of 60mm mortars." Liu Tao said.

Wang Baoguo said: "I'll leave this to you. The troops are in urgent need of advanced 60mm mortars, and the Type 63 mortar cannot meet the needs of the battlefield after all."

Wang Baoguo was also somewhat helpless. Other artillery factories or research institutions have suffered great damage in the past ten years, and they have not yet been completely on the right track.

And the artillery fire at the company level on the front line seems weak and urgently needs to be strengthened.

There is no doubt that mortars are the most suitable for the company level.

The 80-type rocket launcher developed by Panshan Machinery Factory is a good thing, but its range is too short after all.

For the troops, mortars have irreplaceable significance.

In the past, mortars were the only indirect fire weapons of infantry units, which could not only attack the enemy in front of them, but also shoot targets behind obstacles.

Even in today's world, infantry units of various countries and regions also use mortars as their main fire support weapons.

The importance of an advanced 60mm mortar to the troops can be imagined.

"Leader, don't worry, we have accepted this new 60mm mortar and will develop it as quickly as possible and hand it over to the troops for use." Liu Tao said.

Not only 60mm mortars, but also mortars of other calibers, Liu Tao plans to develop them.

The current conditions are much better than those of the past, and the upper limit of the weapons he can develop is also very high.

It is not a big deal to develop an advanced 60mm mortar.

In the past period of time, he was more focused on developing weapons and equipment needed by combined battalions and combined brigades, but he ignored the weapons needed by other infantry.

In terms of firearms, the development is almost the same.

But in terms of artillery, it is much worse.

For example, this mortar was ignored by him before.

He used to consider more about self-propelled mortars, which are large-caliber, but the weapons used by infantry were ignored.

At this time, after Wang Baoguo arranged the development task, Liu Tao realized that he still had a lot of things to do, and the development of these guns was equally important.

China has a large number of infantry, and it is particularly important to improve the combat effectiveness of infantry.

Among them, the cannon is the king of war, and cannons of various calibers and different types have their important roles.

"Leader, is there any major event in the world recently?" Liu Tao asked.

He is always relatively closed to news in Panshan Machinery Factory.

The way to get the news is nothing more than through television, newspapers and radio.

But these are all things that everyone can know, and those that are not reported, he doesn't know.

"The two sides of the Iran-Iraq War are still fighting fiercely, and there is no sign of a winner for the time being. Neither side intends to give up and negotiate," Wang Baoguo said.

The Iran-Iraq War has now entered a stalemate, and the Iraqi army can no longer push the front line.

The Persian army could not fight the Iraqi army head-on, but now they adopted guerrilla warfare, breaking up into small pieces and constantly attacking the supply lines of the Iraqi army, which caused Iraq to suffer great losses.

Both sides were consuming, and the war of attrition was the most terrifying.

Many weapons, ammunition and supplies were not destroyed on the battlefield, but were blown up.

The huge war between the two sides made major military factories across the country run at full capacity.

Now the military factories across the country are producing while reforming.

In addition, many factories are also busy, and clothes, shoes, etc. are exported to Iran and Iraq in large quantities.

Even food is being exported.

And these exported goods are constantly turning into US dollars, and then various goods are imported from abroad.

Both sides are consuming foreign exchange reserves every day, and the war of attrition here has advantages and disadvantages for both sides.

For Iraq, the daily export of oil is enough to make up for the consumption of foreign exchange, but you have to know that Iraq has a small population, only one-third of Persia, and the casualties of soldiers make Iraq very uncomfortable.

For Persia, the population is three times that of Iraq, and there is a constant supply of soldiers. For every soldier killed in battle, two soldiers may go to the battlefield. However, Abadan is the most important oil-producing area in Persia. It is surrounded by the Iraqi army, so exports are naturally out of the question. This has dealt a heavy blow to Persia's oil exports. After more than a year of war, Persia's foreign exchange reserves have only 22 billion US dollars.

Moreover, the rate of decline in foreign exchange reserves is still getting faster. It is estimated that in a few years, Persia's foreign exchange reserves will be exhausted.

Moreover, Persia's casualties are significantly higher than Iraq, and the war is mainly in Persia, which is a greater loss in itself.