Siheyuan: I eat melons while doing scientific research

Chapter 1299 Doesn't this ship look like a tank? (5k)

In Beijing, at the National Defense Commission, Gao Zhendong strolled into the leader's office and handed him a bag of things.

"Look at you, you come all this way, why bring anything?" the leader said, but his hands were anything but polite, and he opened the package directly.

A pile of round, plump potato pods—the leader was no stranger to this. Back when the war was raging, he had eaten almost everything edible across the country, let alone something as ubiquitous as potatoes.

The leader was somewhat amused and exasperated. This thing had only recently left a unit under the National Defense Commission, and now it was back, albeit through a different means and with a different significance.

"Is this the one you got for Qianshan? Now it's not just Qianshan, other places are also introducing and hybridizing it."

Gao Zhendong nodded: "Yes, that's it. The last few times, because of insufficient production, there weren't many. This time, they distributed it completely and gave me a huge pile, which I can't finish. Besides asking them not to send any more next time, there's only one distribution point. My teacher, master, friends, and others all got some. And you know what, this stuff really tastes pretty good."

Now that it has been fully rolled out, the matter is considered complete, and there is no need to do anything more.

The leader happily accepted it; it was a meaningful item, and sharing some of the good fortune was a good idea.

"We invited you here today because there are some thoughts after the operation in the South China Sea. As you know, it is our glorious tradition to summarize in a timely manner after major events. As an important participant in the development of several new types of equipment, your presence is essential."

Gao Zhendong nodded; he could guess what was going on. But hearing about the operations in the southern seas, he still couldn't help but feel a little uneasy.

"You must have gained a lot from this trip, right? Hehe."

The leader smiled and nodded: "Yes, that's right. Let's put it this way, they can't cause any trouble, hahaha."

Gao Zhendong listened with a smug look on his face: "Well, I'll have to make the most of this meeting."

"The way you're talking makes it sound like you haven't done your meetings properly before." The leader patted him on the shoulder: "Let's go, the meeting's about to start."

The two men, together with the chief engineer, entered the conference room, which was already packed with people, mainly comrades from the military, all with smiles on their faces and looking heroic.

Gao Zhendong had just sat down and was looking at his colleagues in the conference room when he suddenly remembered something: "Boss, is anyone from this department here?"

He wrote a few words on the paper, and the leader's eyes lit up when he saw them: "Hey, you reminded me, they really haven't come yet. They should have come. Your idea is right. The comrades in the military are secondary; this department should come. Without their follow-up, many things won't be done perfectly!"

Gao Zhendong wrote it down because he was thinking that if there were other arrangements, it wouldn't be good for him to ask about it rashly.

However, he was overthinking it; he hadn't even considered it, rather than making any arrangements. The leaders of the National Defense Commission quickly summoned the communications officer and handed him the note written by Gao Zhendong: "Find someone immediately to invite the senior technical experts from this ministry to attend the meeting."

At the beginning of the meeting, Gao Zhendong mainly listened and summarized the experience; it wasn't time to make any demands yet.

"...In summary, we urgently need several pieces of equipment."

The veteran actors have arrived.

"First, there are supply vessels that can freely resupply regardless of the special terrain of the reef. Although the current island and reef supply landing craft can be used, they have shown some inadequacy in the face of the large number of shallow reefs, and their use is somewhat limited."

The comrades are now using the island-and-reef type landing craft that Gao Zhendong proposed back then with mixed feelings of satisfaction and dissatisfaction.

The good thing is that Comrade Zhendong was indeed ahead of the curve; when we needed to resupply a large number of islands and reefs, he was already there waiting.

Unfortunately, there are still certain limitations to its use. Reefs are subject to tides, and during low tide, landing craft cannot approach many of them, significantly restricting their use. Even outside of low tide, some reefs are large and shallow, further limiting the reach of landing craft.

The naval personnel were still explaining their ideas: "This kind of ship doesn't need to be very big; a load capacity of a few tons or a dozen tons is fine. Right now, the main issue is solving the supply problem for small reefs. After all, using kayaks and assault boats for transportation is too inefficient, and the load capacity is too small. It's okay for transporting some food, but it's a bit of a stretch for equipment and materials. In some places where conditions allow, we originally wanted to build a larger one, but due to limitations in material transportation, we can only build a small one for now. It's quite tough for the comrades."

Gao Zhendong didn't say anything when he heard this, "You guys have never heard of stilt houses."

However, our comrades are not without ways to solve this problem, but their methods are a bit clumsy and inefficient.

After listening, the colleagues from the Shipbuilding Institute thought for a while and said, "If that's the requirement, then any ship with a draft will be restricted; it's just a matter of how severe the restriction is."

The chief engineer of the National Defense Industry Commission asked, "Could we solve the problem using a helicopter?"

The naval officer shook his head: "We are also considering this, but firstly, we don't have any ships that can carry helicopters for the time being. But that's easy to solve; just because we don't have them now doesn't mean we won't have them in the future. However, the second problem is much more difficult to solve—the helicopter's payload and resupply methods are severely limited. There is almost no place for helicopters to stand on the reef, and the limited resupply methods restrict the types of supplies available."

The comrades thought about it and realized that this seemed to be the case, but the comrades from the Shipbuilding Institute remembered something.

"Hovercraft! We can use hovercraft!"

my country started researching hovercraft very early and achieved results early as well. However, it then seemed to stagnate. The reasons for this are twofold: firstly, the technology itself is technically sound, but there is still a long way to go before it can be truly used effectively.

Secondly, it was probably due to a lack of use cases that it eventually gave way to other more important projects.

It's actually a vicious cycle: no use - no investment - technology can't keep up - nowhere to use it.

To be honest, our first experimental submarine was launched as early as 59, and at this time, we were in the process of building and testing subsequent experimental submarines.

The navy's special requirements are basically consistent with the situation of these experimental boats. After all, current experimental boats are limited by their power sources and cannot be built very large, but a few tons or a dozen tons is not a problem.

"Hey, hovercraft...right, right, how could I forget about that! This thing is amphibious, it can get through reefs, beaches, and seawater!"

"Yes, that means we can deliver the goods directly to the point! If it's really useful, it will be a great help in reinforcing the facilities."

"See, it was the right decision to get our hands on hovercrafts! Look, they're coming in handy now!"

"..."

The comrades were getting happier and happier as they talked, when a naval comrade said, "Hovercrafts cannot be used in high sea states, and their range is very limited, so they can't get through."

They did consider hovercraft, but their drawbacks were too significant to make it feasible.

"Ah this..."

The comrades were a bit stuck, and the comrades from the Shipbuilding Institute were also a bit at a loss, focusing only on the advantages and forgetting the disadvantages.

"Then... let's go for something big? Like one with a range of several hundred kilometers?" That was the only solution they could think of. If the specifications weren't good enough, they'd just push them up!
The chief engineer of the National Defense Industry Committee shook his head: "The technical difficulty is too great. You should all be able to estimate it yourselves. Let alone whether you can make it, even if you could, we don't know when you would be able to get it done. There won't be enough time."

If it could be developed in a short period of time, he would definitely support it wholeheartedly. After all, if it really had a range of several hundred kilometers, then it would be incredibly versatile. Unfortunately, scientific principles must still be followed. It's not simply a matter of scaling up from small to large.

"Pfft!" A soft laugh suddenly came from the meeting room, probably because some comrades couldn't help themselves.

People were getting a little angry. Who is this guy? Why is he laughing?

People turned their eyes to look and stopped being angry.

Comrade Zhendong! It's him who's laughing.

The leaders of the National Defense Industry Committee chuckled. Others might have a thousand reasons to laugh, but Gao Zhendong's laughter probably had only one—he had somehow found a way to solve the problem, and the solution was both imaginative and easy to implement. "Comrade Zhendong, what are your thoughts? Tell us," the leader said cheerfully, flicking his cigarette ash.

Gao Zhendong nodded: "Aren't the hovercraft these days only a few dozen tons? Amphibious?"

The colleague from the Shipbuilding Institute nodded: "Yes."

Although this project was being undertaken by comrades from Northeast China, they also participated in the feasibility study and other related work.

Gao Zhendong laughed even harder: "Isn't it only slightly bigger than an amphibious tank?"

Although he didn't know the size of the current landing craft, he did know the size of my country's first type of military fully-cushioned hovercraft.

It's over 10 meters long, weighs 16 tons, and has a load capacity of 2 tons. It's really not much bigger than an amphibious tank.

Not to mention the first model, even the second model that was actually usable was only 27 meters long, 14 meters wide, weighed 65 tons, and had a load capacity of 15 tons. It wasn't particularly large.

"Amphibious tanks? This... Hey!!!" The comrades from the Shipbuilding Institute suddenly realized that Chief Engineer Gao's mind was indeed quick.

The naval officers realized what they meant: "You mean, find a tank landing craft to tow it, and then lower it down at the very last bit of distance?"

Even the leaders of the National Defense Industry Committee found it hard to keep their cool. This method was incredibly outdated, but it was simple, convenient, and easy to implement. No wonder he was laughing so hard; I would have laughed too.

The other comrades were looking at Gao Zhendong, preoccupied with wondering how his head was shaped.

Gao Zhendong nodded: "The simplest, quickest, and most effective emergency method is definitely this. However, to use it well, we would need a large ship, but that's a matter for the future."

If you bring this up, my comrades in the navy won't be sleepy anymore.

"Comrade Zhendong, please speak, speak in depth!"

It's good to talk about it, but let's also plant the seeds.

Gao Zhendong nodded: "The medium-sized landing ship is almost finished, right? Based on that, we can modify the bow, hatches, and ramps, and design a larger hovercraft, about 13 meters wide, to match the landing deck size of the landing ship. We can increase its carrying capacity to over 10 tons. I've calculated that the cargo hold of the medium-sized landing ship can hold at least two of these hovercraft. Add to that the helicopter deck at the stern, and this thing can fully meet all the requirements for transporting supplies between islands and reefs. This is the first step..."

Modifying the bow will affect the ship's speed and other navigational performance, but this is not a major issue, as it is a special type of ship where speed is not a primary performance requirement.

The first step alone had already made the navy comrades' eyes light up. They weren't fools; the potential of this thing was far more than just transporting supplies between islands and reefs!
"Step two! Tell me step two!" The navy was extremely anxious. Step one did indeed seem a bit lacking.

"The second step is something for a long time to come. It won't be needed for the most urgent matters, as there won't be enough time, but it will still be very useful. We'll develop large hovercraft that can directly transport a tank or two or more armored vehicles, and new amphibious dock landing ships. We'll move the dock doors to the stern, increase the helicopter platform and hangar on the deck, and enable multiple helicopters to take off and land simultaneously, allowing us to deploy a battalion of troops at the fastest speed. These things are useful for landings, maintaining a presence, standoffs, and disaster relief and humanitarian aid."

Gao Zhendong himself got excited as he spoke, saying that this ship was our first real combat vessel with a displacement of over 10,000 tons.

"This must be difficult," the naval officer said.

Gao Zhendong nodded: "It is very difficult. It would probably take decades to achieve."

This is not just about one boat; it's the result of a combination of many, many independent large-scale equipment such as helicopters and hovercraft.

"A few decades? That's probably not enough to catch up..."

"Whether we make it or not, as long as it's useful, that's all that matters," Gao Zhendong said with a smile.

Yeah, does that mean once the most important task is completed, there are no other tasks?
"Well, we can't do this right now, but comrades from the Shipbuilding Institute, take note of this and start working on it once the technology is ready! However, we could modify one or two of those island-and-reef type landing craft. We can use tank landing craft to carry the smaller ones to solve the immediate problem, and then use the new ones once the modified ones are ready."

The leader of the National Defense Industry Committee spoke and laughed, and there was one more thing he didn't say: first, use this island and reef to accumulate experience in using hovercraft, so that when the dock landing ship is actually built, there will be experienced personnel and operational experience.

Moreover, Gao Zhendong was aware of some of the problems with the existing hovercraft, and he didn't forget to remind his colleagues at the Shipbuilding Institute. Regardless of whether they were responsible for the project themselves, he just wanted to convey the message: "If the hovercraft uses a gasoline engine, please remember to convert it to a diesel engine, otherwise it will be impractical. Please remember this."

The comrades at the Shipbuilding Institute naturally wanted to get to the bottom of it; otherwise, knowing the result but not the reason would be a waste of time: "Why is this? It's difficult for diesel engines to reach the required speed, that's the problem."

Gao Zhendong pointed to the map on the wall: "The southern sea area is already within the Tropic of Cancer, and the south is even close to the equator. It's hot! Gasoline is easy to evaporate, so it's not safe."

The details, the attention to detail! The comrades looked at Gao Zhendong with deep admiration.

"As for the issue of low diesel engine speed, if I remember correctly, we had high-speed diesel engine technology in our technical exchanges with the Gauls. If it's about high power, there's another option. The Qianshan Aero Engine Research Institute is currently imitating the Firebee's small turbojet engine. You should contact them and ask them to develop a turboprop engine based on the small turbojet engine once they succeed."

Gao Zhendong explained all the problems clearly and pointed out the solutions. The comrades at the Shipbuilding Institute couldn't help but feel happy for their comrades in the Northeast. These few words had saved them so much trouble.

"Also, the propeller and the apron..."

The leader of the National Defense Industry Committee raised his hand: "Stop! It's too detailed, the comrades from the Shipbuilding Institute won't remember it. I'll have the comrades who actually work on hovercraft come to you later." Although he didn't know why Gao Zhendong was so familiar with hovercraft, he had never come into contact with such a thing before, at least not at the National Defense Industry Committee level.

However, since all of these sound like they're related to fluids, that's fine. Gao Zhendong may not understand hovercrafts, but he does understand fluid mechanics, and he's a master at it.

The main reason we called him over this time wasn't because of secrecy, but because the details were too detailed and in-depth, posing a great challenge to the comrades at the Shipbuilding Institute. After all, ship types are completely different, and everyone has their own area of ​​expertise.

While hovercrafts are called boats, they're probably more like airplanes. Perhaps this is why Gao Zhendong, despite having no prior experience, could come up with so many ideas just from hearing about them.

The beginning is always the hardest, but the first thing was resolved smoothly, which greatly encouraged the comrades in the army.

As they expected, the rest of the process unfolded as follows: most problems had solutions. While not all of them were completely solved, the experts present were able to resolve over 80% of the issues, which was already quite remarkable.

"...The rest mainly consisted of our ideas about existing weapons. This mission exposed some of the shortcomings of our existing weapons."

Still not enough? The veins on the faces of the leaders of the National Defense Industry Committee were bulging. You are not satisfied, not that there is a lack of weapons.

But when you're in a meeting, you should always speak freely.

"Let's go first, those of us in the air," the Air Force comrade said with a smile. "The problem now is that the radar is just too good!"

The leaders of the National Defense Industry Committee couldn't help but ask, "Why don't you think carefully and rephrase your words?"

"Sir, the radar performance is so good that it makes the weapon range seem too short."

This... seems to make some sense? The leaders of the National Defense Commission felt a little better.

"The current situation is that we are extremely confident that we can detect the enemy's tracks at a range of more than 100 kilometers, whether at sea or in the air, but our missiles can't reach them. Air-to-air missiles are doing well, with research and development underway for air-to-air missiles with longer ranges, but air-to-ship missiles are far behind, only 50 kilometers, which is making our comrades very anxious."

"Aren't we extending the range of the Jet36-62? What's the rush?" said the chief engineer of the National Defense Industry Committee.

"The range is still a bit lacking. The main reason is that this missile needs to skim the sea for attack, where the air density is high and the drag is also high. Even if we switch to HTPB, the range is still less than 100 kilometers." The Air Force comrades were clearly well-prepared.

(End of this chapter)