In 1978, I was admitted to Harbin Institute of Technology

Chapter 239 Xie Wei's Mistake: The Unshakeable Automation Master and the Uncharted Armor Master

"You support the anti-image-stabilized fire control system? Is the funding sufficient? Are all resources being directed towards this project?"

Looking at the old man and the young man in front of him, Boss Zhu almost laughed in anger, and then asked, "Do you know how much funding this will require?"

The other party did not introduce their identities.

As soon as the door opened, he said he supported the fire control system he was working on.

Didn't you notice that neither research institutes nor the military support it?

Li Rui looked at Xie Wei, his eyes conveying a clear message: Kid, I've already told you these old guys are hard to persuade, especially this one in front of you, known as the Lu Ban of the army. Now it's up to you.

"Vice Dean Zhu, you must have heard about the tank project you're cooperating with Pakistan on, right?"

Xie Wei gave Li Rui a look of disdain; the old man was unwilling to put in any effort and was just watching the show from the sidelines.

"Cooperating with Pakistan on a tank project?"

Clearly, Boss Zhu was unaware of this news.

"..."

For a moment, Xie Wei felt a little embarrassed, but he also knew that in order to persuade Boss Zhu to go to Harbin Institute of Technology to take charge of the project and teach relevant majors at the school, he had to make things clear.

Without further ado, they presented the cooperation plan with Pakistan.

"This is a memorandum! The Pakistani military doesn't have much money to begin with, and yet their demands are so high..."

Mr. Zhu is quite knowledgeable about Pakistan.

"We've already signed contracts to train international students, and the first batch is all in tank-related fields. While this doesn't prove anything, a few years ago, their neighbor acquired T-72 tanks from the Soviet Union. Now that the Soviet Union has occupied Afghanistan, if they want to open a passage to the Indian Ocean, Pakistan is their only remaining option..."

General Zhu also came from the war years.

He certainly understood what Xie Wei was saying.

"The 65-year war has made Pakistan want to build its own military industry. The cooperation with its domestic partners in recent years has proven that they not only want to import equipment, but also hope to establish their production plants through us..."

Xie Wei remained calm.

These are all external reasons; since no contract has been signed yet, they shouldn't be brought up at all.

"Harbin Institute of Technology obtained policy support from higher authorities two years ago, allowing it to independently initiate projects, raise funds, and operate independently... In terms of funding, it doesn't need allocations from higher authorities or the military. Even without funding from Pakistan, the university's enterprise affairs office can provide it..."

Li Rui, who was standing to the side, stared wide-eyed.

Damn it!
Does he brag without even thinking it through?

Aren't you afraid that once this guy gets to the school, if there's not enough funding for the project, he'll keep bothering Xie Wei every day asking for more money?
Didn't they say that the money from the university-run enterprise program wouldn't be invested in military projects?
Why is Principal Li afraid to return to the school now?

The fighter jet project teams he lured into joining grew increasingly demanding in funding as they achieved results, and the university simply couldn't provide more.

Whenever Li Rui shows up, the team leaders will definitely block his way, and he won't be able to leave without funding.

"Is your school a pilot program?"

Harbin Institute of Technology (HIT) was a subordinate unit of the Seventh Ministry of Machinery Industry, while Institute 201 belonged to the Fifth Ministry of Machinery Industry. Even though they had dealings with the Seventh Ministry of Machinery Industry, the two ministries of machinery industry did not cooperate much on military technology projects.

It's normal that the boss doesn't understand.

"Correct."

Xie Wei nodded.

"The Seventh Ministry of Machine Building doesn't even have enough funds of its own. Would they agree to let you invest your meager funds into the projects of the Fifth Ministry of Machine Building?"

Boss Zhu still didn't believe Xie Wei's explanation.

The young man in front of me gives off the impression of a conman.

"The school is indeed a subordinate unit of the Seventh Ministry of Machinery Industry, but it is also a state-owned enterprise. Although it has long been separated from the military industry, after the Harbin Military Engineering Institute was split and relocated, our school has been quite unique in some military technology research... and has a lot of cooperation with the military... Don't think that the higher-ups would object to just working on a tank project; the school also has an advanced fighter jet project from the Third Ministry of Machinery Industry!"

Xie Wei said with a smile.

Seeing that Boss Zhu's attitude had changed, Xie Wei took out the document about the down-reflection stabilized fire control system from his black briefcase and handed it to Boss Zhu.

"Vice Dean Zhu, you can take a look at this first."

At first, Boss Zhu didn't take it seriously, but as soon as he turned to the first page, he became serious.

Seeing the schematic diagram on the first page, which was even more perfect than he had imagined, greatly shocked him.

"You've already started research in this area? Internationally, they abandoned it after early demonstrations, and domestically, they're not optimistic about this technology either..."

After a long pause, Boss Zhu took a deep breath. Although he had many questions about some of the ideas in the document, his biggest question was why the other party had chosen this project!
If you have the money, developing an anti-image stabilized fire control system would definitely be more promising.

"Indeed, internationally, after evaluation, it was found that the bottom-mounted image-stabilized fire control system has low firing accuracy under conditions of severe vehicle vibration and significant external interference; the relative displacement between the sight and the gunner is not conducive to aiming; the mechanical four-bar linkage is prone to wear... and even because the passageway is narrow, it is not conducive to improving field combat capabilities, etc..."

Xie Wei knew that Boss Zhu was testing him, or perhaps testing the school's technical reserves.

Li Rui looked completely bewildered.

Can't understand.

I don't understand at all.

But Boss Zhu's eyes lit up as he looked at Xie Wei, eagerly awaiting his response.

"Upward reversing has a brighter future, but it requires more advanced technology... An even more important reason is that downward reversing is more cost-effective in meeting the needs of the armed forces for the next few decades..."

The boss was deeply shocked; the other party shared the same view as him!
It's unclear whether this is the opinion of the young man in front of me or the opinion of relevant personnel from Harbin Institute of Technology.

"Many problems can actually be solved. For example, the relative displacement between the sight and the gunner can be compensated for using the central computer system of the fire control system... The problem of insufficient accuracy when there is severe shaking or large external interference can be solved by using a three-degree-of-freedom gyroscope to stabilize the aiming line of the fire control system..."

The solutions proposed by Xie Wei were basically the same ones that General Manager Zhu and his team found after he became the chief designer of the third-generation tank project.

Right now, Boss Zhu hasn't considered these issues yet.

"In this way, the accuracy won't be as good as the high-contrast system, but the cost will be only one-fifth or even less than the high-contrast system..."

"..."

Watching Xie Wei speak eloquently, Boss Zhu's feelings became complicated.

"You've researched it to this extent..."

"These are all just theories. I'm not very talented, but after seeing your design proposal, I had some ideas. I'm not sure if they can be implemented... Thanks to the school's appreciation, Principal Li brought me to you, hoping you could come to the school to help oversee this work..."

At this moment, Xie Wei also abandoned all shame.

"Ah You……"

Boss Zhu was stunned.

Was this paper written by this young man in front of me?

What does he mean?
With sufficient funding, we can conduct experiments according to the principles, and then conduct step-by-step demonstrations and modifications, and we will soon see results. "Vice Dean Zhu, this young man has a rather special status. He has participated in many projects at the university, but he has not been able to participate in them in depth... mainly because the affairs of the university-enterprise office have taken up too much of his energy... Moreover, he is still very young and cannot take on such a project. We are here to invite you to the university to take charge of the entire tank project."

Li Rui, who had been silent until now, finally spoke.

Why would Xie Wei serve as the chief designer for such a tank project?

There's no problem with his abilities, at least in Li Rui's eyes. But what will the superiors and the leaders of the army think?
"Is that so? But I..."

"You don't need to worry about the transfer of organizational affiliation. In fact, you don't even need to transfer your organizational affiliation; leave everything else to our school... The new technologies we develop can also be used in the military's tanks and self-propelled artillery!"

So, Boss Zhu agreed without any hesitation.

The paper provided by Xie Wei solved all the problems that he had never thought of before. With sufficient funding, sample production could be carried out soon.

In 201, not only was there no funding, but the relevant departments were also pessimistic about the project.

Once this is solved, domestically produced tanks will be able to use fire control systems that are even more advanced than those imported from Marconi. How could anyone not want that?

If Harbin Institute of Technology succeeds, it will be a significant advancement for the nation's technology!
"I thought he was the hardest to persuade."

After leaving Boss Zhu's dormitory, Li Rui looked at Xie Wei with a complicated expression, "You kid, how long have you been working on this? And you even said I was messing around with this project..."

In Li Rui's view, Xie Wei is a typical example of someone who wants to have his cake and eat it too.

They kept saying they were recklessly adding projects and opposing these military projects, but in the end, they did the preparation work better than anyone else.

"Would you believe me if I said it was done after the Pakistanis arrived?"

Xie Wei looked at Li Rui with a playful expression.

"Believe me? I don't believe you! You said I was a really bad old man before, now tell me, are you, this young lad, really bad, or am I, this old man, really bad?"

Xie Wei did not argue with Li Rui.

He would never have supported the school's tank project without Pakistan's investment.

Unless the military gives the project to the school.

With a specially designed Institute 201, an Institute 617 integrating production and research, and a dedicated Armored Forces Academy, how could Harbin Institute of Technology possibly be considered?

"Why didn't you say so sooner? If it were last year, we wouldn't have had to go through all this trouble..."

The second person they contacted was Zang Kemao.

After learning about the situation, Li Rui couldn't help but complain about Xie Wei.

Zang Kemao used to work at Harbin Shipbuilding Industry Group, which is next to Harbin Institute of Technology. He was transferred to the Armored Forces Engineering Academy last August, where he is specifically responsible for the research of gun control systems.

Before entering the Armored Forces Engineering Academy, Zang Kemao proposed the architecture and method of modern tank gun control system, which spanned two stages of China's external gun control system, and developed China's first prototype of the tank electric drive system.

After being transferred to the Armored Forces Engineering Academy, he was mainly responsible for the research and development of all-electric combat vehicle technology.

The project leader!

People are not easy to get rid of!

"I just don't understand why he, who studies tank technology, stayed at Harbin Shipbuilding..."

Li Rui complained.

Xie Wei rolled his eyes at him. "Don't warships use fly-by-wire systems for their turrets? Besides, Harbin Shipbuilding Industry Co., Ltd. was left over from the Harbin Military Engineering Institute. It's not like they only deal with ships... Our school isn't just about missiles either..."

"What kind of attitude is this! If you had said so earlier, would we be in this mess?"

"This isn't my fault. Even if we invited him to the school last year, the school still had projects and funding available."

Xie Wei said irritably.

"Forehead……"

Li Rui was speechless.

“Doing this at the Armored Forces Academy is no different from doing it at our school. In fact, we can totally cooperate with the Armored Forces Academy… If the school doesn’t have a related major, we can just provide them with funding.”

Xie Wei said irresponsibly.

"How can this be! We've invested the money, and the technology can be shared, but the school can't just stop training talent! If we can't even design a complete tank, how can we claim to be the top military academy in the country? How can we be the leader in training military industry personnel?"

Li Rui was unhappy.

The school provides funding, the technology can be shared, and the people must stay. With people, we can continuously cultivate talent.

"Don't worry, I'll figure something out... Let's go find the next one. This Cao Hequan, he shouldn't have a hard time getting into our school either, right?"

Whether it's $8000 million or cooperating with Pakistan to develop third-generation tanks, the Armored Corps Engineering School can make concessions.

Principal Li figured that at worst, he could just have a few more drinks with the leaders of the Armored Forces Engineering School, and if all else failed, he could drink until he ended up in the hospital.

If that still doesn't work...

You can tell them about your future job position.

"That's not the case."

Of the names Xie Wei provided, the first two were the most difficult to deal with, while Cao Hequan, who was in charge of protective armor, was the easiest.

Born in 45, Cao Hequan graduated from Southwest Jiaotong University (formerly Tangshan Railway Institute) in 69. From 70 to 74, he worked in Dalian on the design and production of railway loading and unloading machinery. He was then transferred to the 52nd Research Institute of the Fifth Ministry of Machinery Industry to work on mechanical design.

"Are you kidding me? We traveled all this way just to find someone who does mechanical design?"

Upon arriving at the Inner Mongolia Institute of Metal Materials and learning about the situation, Li Rui became furious.

Mechanical design!
That's Harbin Institute of Technology's flagship program!

Even if the mechanical designers trained by the school itself are not up to par, what about the school's teachers and professors?

"So what? Although he's a mechanical designer, don't forget that the 52nd Research Institute mainly studies tank armor materials, understands all domestic armor materials, and has rich design experience... His designs are all related to armor!"

Xie Wei hadn't expected this either.

He only knew that this was the chief expert of China's weapons industry, but he never imagined that he had not yet started to work on the research of armor protection materials.

History has proven that this is a master.

In 85, China developed its first generation of reactive armor that could be used in actual combat, and it was on par with international counterparts!
It is now 80 years.

To get it done in such a short time, what else could you be but a pro?
"Xie Wei, this is no joke!"

"You think I'm joking? There's a ton of stuff going on at school! Do you think everyone's like you, wandering around aimlessly all day?"

Xie Wei will definitely not admit that he made a mistake.

"Besides, there are still a few people in 617. We can't get rid of them even if we don't come to Inner Mongolia..."

(End of this chapter)