Siheyuan: I eat melons while doing scientific research

Chapter 1300 You Don't Need to Stand Tall to See Far (4k)

The Air Force officer looked somewhat embarrassed when he said this.

To put it bluntly, they just want something better after they've had the good stuff, and they don't want to settle for less. If this had happened a decade or two ago, they would have been subjected to a lot of criticism and self-criticism.

However, the other comrades didn't have many options either. Missiles are limited by size, and adding water when there's too much flour or too much water is not a good habit.

"This...shouldn't it be enough to raise it to over 70 or 80 kilometers?" the chief engineer of the National Defense Industry Committee pondered.

"It's not that it's unusable, it's just a bit of a pity. It could have spotted the enemy and launched an attack from a much greater distance. You have no idea how hard it is for our pilots to wait until they're 50 kilometers away to launch after spotting the target from over 100 kilometers away," the Air Force comrade laughed.

The leader of the National Defense Industry Committee scoffed, "Tch, you're acting all aggrieved?"

Some comrades understood the Air Force's thinking: "If we look at it from the perspective of our biggest enemy, the longer the missile range, the better."

Although both attacks are launched within the combat radius of the enemy's carrier-based fighters, the farther the strike distance, the better.

"Yes, if we can really achieve a strike range of over 100 kilometers, it means that the safety of our attack aircraft force will be greatly increased, which is very advantageous."

"However, the fact that it flies over the sea means that the range of this missile will be greatly limited. Even with ultra-high-energy propellants, the cost cannot be ignored. This missile is a mainstay missile that will be deployed in large numbers. If the price is too high, it will be difficult to equip it. After all, there are not many actual wars, so the cost must be taken into account."

At this moment, Gao Zhendong raised his hand: "This is not a big problem. If you really want it, we can still achieve 120km without much change in size, and the price will not increase by much."

How old are you? Why is it always you?
This is a thought that comes to mind for many comrades, who feel that he always seems to be able to come up with a solution.

"Oh? Comrade Zhendong, what's your opinion?" The Air Force was very happy. If Gao Zhendong said he had a solution, then he really did have a solution, and it wasn't the kind of solution that was very difficult. It was probably a height that could be reached by jumping up and stretching.

"Change the fluid!" Gao Zhendong's words left the defense system and the troops completely bewildered.

"Liquid?" Isn't Comrade Zhendong the one who hates liquid missiles the most?
Although everyone knows that liquid-fueled missiles can indeed provide a greater range due to their higher specific impulse, the disadvantages of liquids clearly outweigh the advantages. We finally managed to switch from liquids to solids, and now we're going to turn back the clock?

Seeing the expressions on his comrades' faces, Gao Zhendong laughed: "Comrades may have misunderstood. I don't dislike liquid-fueled missiles. What I dislike are missiles with poor serviceability and adaptability. There's a big difference between the two. It's just that before this, liquid-fueled missiles had poor serviceability and adaptability. But that doesn't mean all liquid-fueled missiles are like that."

After listening to his words, the comrades understood a little better. What we saw was the surface, but Comrade Zhendong was considering the essence. As long as the liquid is convenient to use, it is actually not unusable.

"Then let's bring back the liquid oxygen/kerosene engine or the nitric acid/kerosene engine?" The Air Force comrades didn't seem to mind. Since Comrade Gao Zhendong said that liquid engines were convenient, they could consider it. They couldn't very well use unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine, could they? It seemed a bit unnecessary for tactical missiles.

Gao Zhendong shook his head: "No, kerosene is fine, liquid oxygen is not needed."

"Where did the oxidizer come from?" The Air Force comrades were dumbfounded.

Gao Zhendong waved his hand in the air twice: "The oxidizer for this missile comes from the same place as the oxidizer for the aircraft."

Damn it! ! ! !
"You mean... you mean, draw air in and mix it with aviation kerosene to burn?"

Gao Zhendong nodded: "Yes, that's exactly what I mean. This way, we don't need to carry oxidizer. Although the air intake will take up a little space, it's still much more cost-effective than carrying oxidizer. We're not launching a rocket into outer space, why would we need so much oxidizer? Low-altitude sea-skimming flight, there's plenty of oxygen!"

It seems that's really the case... The Air Force comrades thought about it and realized that their comrades sit on airplanes every day, living off the oxygen in the air.

This is truly a case of being blind to one's own shortcomings; it's something we use every day, yet we never thought of doing it this way.

Gao Zhendong added, "Moreover, your air force's vehicles have an initial speed, which means that the most fuel-consuming initial acceleration process of the missile is omitted. The kerosene engine only needs to maintain the speed. By accelerating slowly, the missile can still fly a long distance even if it does not carry much fuel."

The reason why air strikes are so threatening is that their initial conditions are very good, with the best altitude, speed, and visibility.

"Yes, that's true, but we don't have this engine, do we?" The conversation has come full circle back to the engine.

Gao Zhendong laughed: "Yes, we have it. Not long ago, when the Qianshan Aero-Engine Institute came to undertake the task of imitating the Firebee small turbojet engine, we also assigned them a related task, and at the same time, we also worked on a micro turbojet engine with a thrust of several hundred kilograms."

It's the Qianshan Aerospace Research Institute again, and they were well-prepared!
The chief engineer of the National Defense Industry Committee exclaimed, "Ah, yes, yes, that's right. We just issued the approval not long ago."

At this point, he was full of admiration for Gao Zhendong's foresight in equipment research. Comrade Zhendong could always anticipate what his comrades wanted and make arrangements in advance, solving the most important things without them even realizing it.

The Air Force comrades didn't think too much about it; they were just happy: "Great, that's wonderful! Otherwise, we could just stop developing the extended-range version of the Zhengxian-62K and use this one directly. That would be so much better."

If it only carries kerosene fuel, then the missile's serviceability and suitability are actually quite good. Kerosene is not as volatile as gasoline, nor is it as toxic as unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine, nor does it have the high requirements for storage facilities as liquid oxygen.

To put it simply, it's basically just putting it in a jar.

After listening to their suggestions and thinking for a while, the naval comrades nodded and said, "We don't really care. As long as the maintainability and size remain roughly the same, we have no objections. You're lucky. Such a long range is completely useless to us. We only need 50 kilometers."

For them, the ideal situation is that the range is 50 kilometers, which is the limit. Any further is useless because they can't see it at all.

Unless it is relayed in the air, but the naval comrades know that helicopter relay has certain dangers, and fixed-wing aircraft relay often does not have the conditions.

So while they were happy for their comrades in the Air Force, they themselves were indifferent.

Gao Zhendong smiled, a smile that seemed somewhat mysterious.

The leaders of the National Defense Industry Committee could tell from his expression that he definitely had something on his mind: "Alright, alright, stop laughing like a monkey. If you have any ideas, bring them out to the navy comrades to balance things out. Otherwise, even if the air range has more than doubled, they can still only hit targets at 50 kilometers. That would be embarrassing." Gao Zhendong laughed and said, "Actually, a 120-kilometer missile is not unusable for them."

If the air-launched range is 120 kilometers, considering only the missile body itself, the ship-launched range is at most 80 kilometers. However, the booster of the ship-launched version makes up for this.

"Can it really work?!" The naval comrades were even more enthusiastic than the air force comrades. For them, it wasn't that they didn't want it, but that they knew it didn't exist.

Now that they hear there's a glimmer of hope, how could they possibly resist?

"It can really work, but it's not 100% reliable; it's a bit dependent on luck," Gao Zhendong said with a smile.

So what if they're at the mercy of the weather? The naval comrades don't care about that at all. Warfare is inherently dependent on the weather, especially for their navy and air force; what kind of battle can they fight if the weather's bad?

Weather, hydrology, oceanography, geology—data that seems readily available—were military secrets for a considerable period, or rather, data that required detailed preparation before war, especially for high-tech military branches. Even low-precision world topographic maps, which can be easily produced and distributed to every soldier decades later, were crucial intelligence before the 50s; if they had existed before the 19th century, they would have been invaluable.

So the naval comrades didn't care at all; on the contrary, they were even more anxious. According to Comrade Zhendong's habits, if he could point out the disadvantages, it meant he must know the advantages, and the advantages were quite obvious; otherwise, he wouldn't have put out the disadvantages in the first place.

"It's okay, it's okay. At least we can eat if we rely on the weather, hahaha."

Seeing that the naval comrades had no objections, Gao Zhendong smiled and said, "This matter requires a combination of factors. One approach that I'm sure you've all thought of is to use helicopters for relay. In the absence of external interference, this is the most reliable method."

If the enemy has no air power, then with the current range of ship-to-air missiles, they cannot reach helicopters that are relaying mid-flight. Based on this alone, they can bully a bunch of countries to death on the vast ocean. This "batch" includes almost 95% of the countries in the world, including even the polar bear, if we do not distinguish between camps and enemies.

It was ten years later when they finally got the Jacques 36/38.

The naval officer nodded: "Yes, we've considered it. However, considering our main hypothetical enemy, this method would practically sacrifice the helicopter outright, so while it might be useful, it wouldn't be very meaningful."

If you can't handle the biggest hypothetical enemy, then there's no point in doing anything; you can only serve as a support.

When he said this, he was no longer in a hurry, because they knew that Gao Zhendong must have a backup plan.

Gao Zhendong agreed: "Yes, that's right. So, given that the new destroyers have been confirmed to be equipped with shipborne helicopters, we must have this capability, but we can't rely on it completely! Because it won't pose a threat to our biggest enemy."

"However, there is a technology that can solve this problem to some extent. Although it depends on the weather and cannot be used in bad weather, it can at least give warships the ability to strike targets beyond visual range without the need for aircraft!"

Gao Zhendong had seen this thing a lot in his previous life. You could say that any military enthusiast had seen it, but many military enthusiasts had never seen what it actually looked like; they had only seen the shell.

"Really? That's great! What kind of technology is it?" Sure enough, Comrade Zhendong is reliable.

“A type of radar! Utilizing…” Gao Zhendong said, then turned to look at the leaders of the National Defense Industry Committee.

"I won't go into the details here, I won't! It would take up your time, comrades. Let's talk about it down here."

Stop it!

This has little to do with the time it takes up; it's really something I can't talk about!
Gao Zhendong nodded and stopped talking, leaving the naval comrades, who were both happy and curious, scratching their heads and fidgeting.

It's so painful, so incredibly painful! And yet, I can't even ask any more questions.

Just then, someone arrived and relieved the naval comrade's symptoms; this is called the attention diversion method.

"Sir, comrades from the Ministry of Geological Resources have arrived." A guard led two comrades into the meeting room.

"Come, come, have a seat. You've come at the perfect time. We just finished discussing things that weren't your concern, and now we need your opinions and suggestions," the leader of the National Defense Committee warmly greeted them.

The Ministry of Geological Resources is responsible for mineral resources, geology, topography, and geomorphology. This was the ministry that Gao Zhendong thought it necessary to attend before the meeting.

The comrades from the Ministry of Land Resources were actually a bit confused. As the technical backbone of the Land Resources Research Institute, they were completely baffled when they received the invitation to attend the meeting from the National Defense Industry Committee.

We've had dealings with the National Defense Industry Committee before, but such a sudden invitation is quite rare.

"Hello, leaders and comrades." The two comrades sat down.

The leader of the National Defense Industry Committee pointed to the map hanging on the wall: "Now that we've covered most of the other matters, let's see what kind of work we'll be doing in the southern waters next. After all, just fishing and releasing a few people is hardly meaningful. We'll need the help of the comrades from the Ministry of Land and Resources in this regard."

When the colleagues at the Land Resources Research Institute saw this picture, they understood what it was all about.

It seems that the recent investigation was just the beginning, and further investigation and exploration are yet to come.

They didn't mince words and said directly, "Okay, we'll definitely cooperate well. Well... how about we first introduce our department's work in this area so far?"

It's clear that none of you here know much about this. If we're going to have a discussion, we should first introduce the current situation and the work we've done before, so that we can have a basis for the discussion. This can also be considered as giving you a basic introduction.

Although they arrived in a hurry, the personnel specializing in marine resources specifically requested by the National Defense Commission can still do a science popularization session even without preparation.

The leader of the National Defense Industry Committee nodded: "Great, this arrangement is excellent. We'll leave it to you two comrades."

(End of this chapter)