The rise of a great power: starting with military industry

China.

Chengdu Tank and Armored Vehicle Production Base.

Liu Tao looked at the peculiar armored vehicle in front of him with interest.

The armored vehicle is wheeled, has no main gun, no gun holes, only a spherical laser cannon.

Except for the cockpit and operating room, the rest of the armored vehicle is almost entirely filled with battery packs.

This battery pack not only provides the energy required for the laser cannon, but also serves as the energy source for the armored vehicle's electric vehicle.

This laser cannon can rotate 360 ​​degrees and has a power of 500kw. It can destroy any military aircraft or missile and is a tactical-grade laser weapon.

The battery pack uses nuclear batteries, which can theoretically extend the armored vehicle's endurance to a terrifying level.

Laser cannons and electromagnetic cannons have gradually appeared on weapons and equipment in service.

China has made great strides forward in this regard.

The laser cannon installed on nuclear-powered aircraft carriers greatly enhances the carrier's own air defense capabilities and greatly improves the carrier's survivability.

The threats to aircraft carriers mainly come from four aspects: on the one hand, from torpedoes and anti-ship missiles launched by submarines, on the other hand, from anti-ship missiles and torpedoes launched by warships, on the other hand, from land-based missiles, and finally from aircraft.

The laser cannons installed on nuclear-powered aircraft carriers cannot defend against torpedoes, but they can defend against missiles and aircraft.

Not to mention, the destroyer is equipped with laser cannons, which greatly enhances its air defense capability.

The latest Type 055D destroyer has removed all short-range, medium-range and long-range air defense missiles, leaving the air defense to laser cannons. In addition to conventional torpedoes, the attack methods also include anti-ship missiles and electromagnetic guns.

The saved space becomes a drone platform.

Laser cannons and electromagnetic cannons are not only used in the navy, but also in other fields. For example, the Air Force has specially developed a high-altitude, high-speed interceptor. It does not have traditional missile mounts, but is only equipped with laser cannons, which are specifically used to intercept enemy air targets, including aircraft and missiles.

It can be said that because of the application of laser cannons, the high-altitude, high-speed interceptor that was about to be swept into the dust of history has once again been rejuvenated.

The threshold for practical use of laser weapons on the battlefield normally has to reach 100KW. A 100-kilowatt laser weapon can effectively kill various drones, small boats, small tactical missiles, rockets, artillery shells and mortar shells within a range of about 3 to 10 kilometers on the battlefield, and has tactical use value.

As for laser weapons reaching 500KW, their tactical value is very high.

For example, the main purpose of this armored vehicle is battlefield air defense, providing safe airspace for combat troops to avoid air strikes from missiles and aircraft.

Of course, this air defense weapon does not mean all-weather combat requirements. For example, its role will be greatly reduced in extreme weather such as haze, heavy snow, and heavy rain.

But there is no doubt that this weapon and equipment is still of great significance and can greatly enhance the air defense capability.

As for why no cannons or machine guns are installed, it is naturally because such a high-power laser is enough to kill people, so there is no need to install cannons or machine guns.

Afterwards, Liu Tao came to another workshop, where there was also a new type of cannon. It was different from what normal people saw. It had a caliber of 300 mm and was absolutely a super heavy cannon. This super heavy cannon used an electromagnetic gun with a maximum range of 500 kilometers. It could be said that its dedicated firepower was insufficient.

Such a large-caliber super-heavy artillery is naturally not used to attack field equipment and personnel, but fixed caves, sturdy buildings, etc.

On the other side, there is a new type of cannon, the caliber of which is obviously much smaller. This cannon is 203 mm in caliber and is also a heavy artillery. It also uses an electromagnetic cannon, and its maximum range is also 500 kilometers.

Although missiles can also meet the attack requirements, there is no doubt that the operating and maintenance costs of cannons are much lower than those of missiles.

War is fought over logistics and economics.

How to reduce the cost of war is what all countries in the world are doing.

Whoever has lower war costs is more likely to gain the advantage.

The competition among major powers is a competition of comprehensive national strength rather than a single field. It is useless to lead in only one field.

For example, economic scale is traditionally calculated using GDP. However, we must know that different countries have different statistical methods. This kind of GDP comparison actually has big problems and cannot reflect a country's true strength.

For example, a certain country includes cow dung, housework, income from street vendors, etc. into its GDP.

There is another thing that is inevitable, and that is the purchasing power of money.

To give another example, it costs the US military $17 to buy a two-wheeled cart with electric power assistance. If this happened in China, it might not even cost 1000 RMB.

People's impression of modern warfare is often that of missiles washing the ground, but you have to know that the price of a missile is not cheap, and missile washing the ground costs a lot of money.

It is also because of this that real wars are often not fought with missiles, but with artillery shells.

Whoever has more artillery shells, whose artillery shells can fire farther, and whose artillery shells are cheaper can often gain an advantage on the battlefield and win the war.

Just like an electromagnetic gun, by utilizing the acceleration of the electromagnetic field, the shells can be fired farther and with greater destructive power.

The enemy didn't even see the shadow of the artillery and was in a passive position.

In terms of electromagnetic guns, except for China which has put them into practical use, Europe and the United States are stuck, mainly because they cannot solve the problem of rail gun + orbital ablation.

Of course, some countries also have disputes over the route of electromagnetic guns. For example, some believe that the most likely success of electromagnetic guns is to develop small-caliber coil guns rather than large-caliber rail guns.

For China, it is natural to have both. Why do we have to make a choice?

For example, large-caliber artillery for warships, coastal defense, etc., uses large-caliber railguns, which have huge destructive power, and small-caliber guns are ineffective.

For example, anti-aircraft guns do not need large shells, so coil guns are used. Other small-caliber, low-energy guns all use coil guns.

Of course, there is one problem that large-caliber electromagnetic railguns must solve, which is the ablation problem, and this is a problem with conductive materials. The strong current discharge ablation is too serious, and the rails will be broken after a few shots, so it is naturally impossible to put it into practical use.

One of the advantages of electromagnetic guns is that they have a long range and low cost. They will completely overturn the field of artillery and make artillery the "god of the battlefield" again.

Not only cannons, but also the field of guns is beginning to be disrupted. Electromagnetic guns have been successfully researched and are being tested, becoming a replacement for traditional guns in future battlefields comparable to laser guns.

Electromagnetic guns, as the name suggests, are guns that use electromagnetic force to accelerate bullets. Unlike traditional firearms, which rely on gunpowder explosions, they use electromagnetic fields to accelerate metal projectiles to ultra-high speeds.

Electromagnetic guns have an amazing firing rate, thousands of rounds per minute, much faster than traditional rifles! They are highly concealed, with no flash, no smoke, no noise, and the enemy has no idea where the bullets come from. The ammunition is light, easy to carry, and has low transportation costs. Using electromagnetic gun bullets, a soldier can carry 6 to 15 times more bullets than traditional bullets under the same circumstances.

Of course, it is not only China that has developed electromagnetic guns. The United States, Russia, France, Germany and other countries are also working hard to develop electromagnetic guns. However, their electromagnetic guns still have a long way to go before they can be put into practical use, mainly because there are still many technical problems to be solved.

For example, it consumes a lot of electricity, requires strong energy support, and has extremely high requirements for batteries and power grids.

For example, if the heat is severe, high-speed firing can cause the barrel to overheat and even damage the coil.

For example, problems such as electromagnetic radiation are unavoidable and must be solved.

If these problems cannot be solved, electromagnetic guns cannot be used on the battlefield.

Of course, after these weapons and equipment are successfully developed, they still need to be tested and explored for a long time to make sure they are really suitable for the battlefield before they can be mass-produced. This is the development of weapons and equipment technology!

Many people are shocked by the technological explosion that has occurred in China over the past thirty years or so, but in fact there are still many things that the outside world does not understand.

The Chinese love peace, but they know that only by being able to fight and win can the war be truly stopped.

So the preparations never stopped.

This is the national security strategic defense system!

The same is true for the development of various advanced weapons and equipment!

After inspecting the Chengdu tank and armored vehicle production base, Liu Tao stayed at the base for dinner.

As the largest tank and armored vehicle production base in China, the output of tanks and armored vehicles here is extremely astonishing, accounting for more than half of the national output.

Besides using it for your own gear, there are also plenty of outlets.

At the production base, most of the people who come here work there for their entire lives.

Except for those who are extremely outstanding and will be trained as the focus and promoted outside later, a few will be expelled for various reasons, and the rest will almost all stay in the base.

All the employees of the first batch of production bases have retired.

As the largest state-owned enterprise in China, the number of employees who reach retirement age every year in Panshan Group is quite terrifying.

Among these retired people, except for some outstanding ones, it is almost impossible to get re-employed.

This also ensures that a large number of fresh college graduates can be recruited every year, thus ensuring fresh blood for the entire group rather than rigidity.

Even if some people are reluctant to retire and are power-hungry, they will have to retire because of the system.

After all, when you reach a certain level, there are still two or three years before the age limit, and you will no longer be on the front line, but will be transferred to a second-line position.

This is not only to allow the next people to hand over the work better, but also to ensure that these people retire on time whether they are willing or not.

After dinner, Liu Tao went to inspect the school.

Such a large base includes kindergartens, primary schools and middle schools. These schools provide education from kindergarten to high school for the children of base employees.

There was a period of time in the past when Panshan Group’s school education adopted the policy of diversion to higher vocational education after the junior high school entrance examination, that is, a ratio was set and only a part of the students could go to high school, while the others went to technical secondary school.

But later, after a period of experimentation and summary, they felt that it was not suitable for Panshan Group. Later, Liu Tao personally decided to implement 12-year compulsory education in the Panshan Group system.

Then you will take the college entrance examination, and those who should go to university will go to university, and those who should go to college will go to college.

Panshan Hospital began to open to the public at a relatively early stage and no longer only serves the employees of Panshan Group.

But the school is different. So far, it has not accepted other students from outside.

Just as Liu Tao was inspecting the school, his secretary walked over quickly and whispered a report in his ear.

Liu Tao couldn't help but reveal a look of surprise on his face.

You know, after years of work, he has developed the habit of not showing his emotions on his face. Most of the time, it is difficult for others to judge whether he is happy or angry by looking at his facial expressions.

But he was still shocked when he heard the news.

"Is Barat really that serious?" Liu Tao still found it hard to believe.

In the past, about 45 to 100 million people in Bharat were in a state of food insecurity every year, accounting for about half of the world's hungry people. Child malnutrition is also one of the countries with the highest child stunting rates in the world, with the proportion of stunted children as high as %. In addition, more than half of women and four-fifths of children suffer from anemia. About million children die within the first month of birth every year. Malnutrition in childhood causes irreversible damage to physical and brain development, increasing the risk of chronic diseases in adulthood.

Bharat is one of the least developed countries in the world, with an average life expectancy of less than 60 years.

But if tens of millions of people starved to death this year, it would be no small matter; it would be a huge humanitarian disaster.

The main source of foreign exchange for Bharat, in addition to the remittances from overseas Chinese working in Europe and the United States, is the gray income from serving the United States, which defrauds Americans of approximately $1000 billion every year.

Apart from this, Bharat’s generic drugs are the most developed in the world and are smuggled all over the world.

In addition, there is the organ industry, which accounts for more than half of the global market size in Bharat each year.

Logically speaking, even if the last South Asian conflict had dealt a heavy blow to Bharat, such a serious incident should not have happened in Bharat.

The secretary said, "I have checked this news again and again, and it is confirmed without a doubt!"

Liu Tao was amazed. This Barat had caused a big trouble.

Because wars break out from time to time around the world, the growth rate of the global population has slowed down somewhat, but in the past few years it has still exceeded the 60 billion mark.

The fastest growing population comes from South America.

South America has been relatively stable in recent years, which has led to an explosive growth in its overall population.

As for Africa and South Asia, the population is generally stable, with a slight decline.

But this kind of disaster, which involves hundreds of millions of people starving, is still a serious humanitarian disaster.

Even though this matter has nothing to do with China, as one of the major countries in the world, it is difficult for China to stand idly by. For humanitarian assistance, it always needs to lend a helping hand to some extent.

Liu Tao felt his scalp tingling just thinking about the horrible consequences of Barat.

This is simply a breeding ground for war and extremism.

The population consumption caused by war is far less than that caused by famine, which consumes tens of millions or even hundreds of millions of people. No matter who thinks of that terrible side, it will be difficult to face it calmly.

Liu Tao really couldn't understand how to develop agriculture with peace of mind. With the current arable land in Bharat, it was actually enough to ensure food self-sufficiency and there would be no famine.

However, famine broke out in Bharat, causing a horrific humanitarian disaster.

"What is the attitude of the South Asian countries?" Liu Tao asked in a deep voice.

There are 23 countries in South Asia now. Except for Bharat which is a bit unsociable, the others are generally pretty good.

South Asia has a total area of ​​437 million square kilometers, with abundant arable land and water resources. Overall, it is a fertile land.

The most important thing is that it is located in the heart of Central Europe and can easily control the Indian Ocean.

The 23 countries in South Asia vary greatly in size and strength, but they have one thing in common: their attitude towards Bharat is the same. (End of this chapter)