In 1978, I was admitted to Harbin Institute of Technology

Chapter 243 They'd rather believe the Soviet tanks were made with substandard materials than believe their own anti-armor technology was world-leading.

"Class monitor, will Xie Rou and the others be able to come back before the start of the semester?"

Seeing that Xie Wei was in low spirits, Mo Lingyu changed the subject.

Xie Rou, from the Class of '79 Experimental Class, never went to class after entering the school. She was initially in Tang Daoxian's rocket launcher project, and later joined Fang Pengju's long-range artillery project...

Then, the long-range rocket project underwent various tests, and Fang Pengju's team has not returned to this day.

"Sure! They'll be back at school in about two weeks."

Speaking of Xie Rou, Xie Wei sighed again.

The experimental class's training model made Xie Wei feel like he was attending a fake university.

Forget about studying together with classmates or organizing various social activities to cultivate friendships; there's hardly any time to sit together in class. It's entirely conducted according to the graduate student training model.

Xie Rou's experience was even more outrageous than Xie Wei's—she hadn't attended a single class, and apart from the classmates she knew before entering the school, she didn't know any of the other students in the class, and didn't even know many of the teachers in the experimental class...

"Now that I'm back, I should be able to teach in class for a while. At the very least, I need to get to know all my classmates. Otherwise, when I start working, I won't even know who my classmates are."

Xie Wei sighed.

"I feel like we went to a fake university..."

Mo Lingyu's sudden remark startled Xie Wei.

"It's not that I went to a fake university, it's just that I skipped the undergraduate stage and was trained as a graduate student from the beginning. Although I lost some things, I gained more. The only regret is that our class doesn't even have a group photo..."

"You haven't graduated yet!"

Mo Lingyu blurted it out, but immediately froze.

Will the students in the experimental class still be able to graduate?

In regular classes at the school, students attend classes and take exams in a structured manner. Once they pass the school's course assessments, complete all the required courses for their major, and successfully defend their thesis, they can graduate.

In the experimental class, it's not like that at all.

The experimental class does not interfere with what major each student studies, and even the courses are not fixed. The whole class takes various basic professional courses, or rather, it is more appropriate for other majors' advanced professional courses to become the basic courses of the experimental class.

Even after participating in the project, you still need to attend the regular classes and pass the exams.

As for graduation?

Nobody said anything.

Nobody asked.

In any case, for the entire experimental class, the teacher no longer teaches in the classroom during each class; instead, they wait for students who have free time to come and ask the teacher questions...

The office fell silent instantly, neither of them knowing how to continue the conversation.

······
Ministry of National Defense.

"A message has arrived from Pakistan stating that General Ahmed will be leading a delegation here once again?"

An elderly general with gray hair asked the reporting staff officer with a puzzled look.

"Yes. It's said that the rocket launchers they purchased domestically are very effective against tanks, and they hope to obtain the production technology from our country..."

The staff officer looked serious and immediately reported the information he had obtained to his superior.

"Perhaps the intelligence is wrong?"

When he heard that 25 rockets had destroyed 15 T-72 tanks, the commander was stunned for a long time before he spoke.

Even for the PLA, which is skilled in guerrilla warfare, it is unlikely that a small-scale ambush would achieve such results under suitable terrain conditions.

"At first, the intelligence department also thought there was a mistake, but after extensive inquiries, they confirmed the accuracy of the intelligence. At 9:43 AM on July 13th, in the Kachi Valley..."

The staff officer gave a detailed report on the intelligence he had gathered.

"How could our rocket launcher have such strong armor-piercing capability? In previous tests, although it did destroy a Type 59 tank, it penetrated through a weak area of ​​the side armor, and the metal splatter caused the ammunition compartment to explode."

The leader's brows furrowed into a deep frown.

The rocket launcher developed by Harbin Institute of Technology has not yet been finalized.

Although Li Rui secured a large number of orders from Thailand by demonstrating his ability to shoot Type 59 tanks in front of Thai customers, the military did not have the equipment, and since it was developed by Harbin Institute of Technology for export, it was only given the internal designation HF-82 individual rocket launcher.

"Sir, although this is indeed very unexpected, it is the truth..."

The staff officer said with a bitter face.

Despite its immense power, the rocket launcher performed poorly in combat tests on the southwestern border, and its sales on the international market yielded similar results.

"Could it be that the Soviet T-72 was downgraded too much?"

The commander said doubtfully, but immediately shook his head in denial, "That shouldn't be the case! The T-72s used in Afghanistan were Soviet-made versions for their own use. It's standard practice to reduce the specifications for export versions; they wouldn't reduce the specifications for their own use... Could it be because..."

The commander immediately realized that this must be what he had thought: the Soviet T-72, in order to reduce costs, did not have the defensive capabilities they boasted about!

After all, the massive Soviet armored force numbered over 6.5 tanks.

Replacing most of them with T-72 tanks, which cost at least a million rubles each, would amount to an unimaginably large sum.

Downgrade the configuration!

With the more powerful T-64 tanks holding the front, and the T-72s providing firepower from behind, it had no impact whatsoever.

Soviet Defense Minister Ustinov consistently demanded that all technical equipment research and development units prepare for nuclear war, requiring weapons and equipment to be inexpensive to manufacture and extremely powerful...

Correct!
That must be it.

The commander believed that the Soviet tanks were too poorly equipped to save money, rather than the domestic anti-tank rocket launchers being too advanced.

Soon, a high-level meeting was held at the Ministry of National Defense.

"It must have been the Soviets who cut corners on defense to save costs... They had the more advanced but expensive T-64, while the T-72 was designed to save costs!"

"We are far behind the world's advanced level, so it's impossible that our rocket launchers are too powerful!"

"Although there's a report from 617 saying that the HF-82 rocket launcher from Harbin Institute of Technology has good armor-piercing capabilities, the armor thickness of both the Type 59 and Type 69 tanks is already insufficient... The armor thickness of the Type 79 definitely can't compare to that of the T-72!"

"We're decades behind the world's advanced levels, and now you're telling me we've reached world-class levels in man-portable anti-tank rocket launchers? Who would believe that? It's a complete joke! We need to make our defense science and technology workers more grounded!"

"..."

In the conference room, after hearing about the results achieved by Harbin Institute of Technology, the leaders were shocked and offered their opinions one after another.

Has China reached or surpassed the world's advanced level in the field of man-portable anti-tank rocket launchers?
What a fuss!

All the leaders agreed that the anti-tank rocket launcher developed by Harbin Institute of Technology should have good performance. The reason it could produce such results was not because its technology had reached the world's advanced level, but because the Soviets had saved costs in tank manufacturing!

"In any case, someone needs to go to Harbin Institute of Technology to find out the situation. Enabling infantry to deal with the T-72 is something the troops need..."

"Yes, only by understanding the armor-piercing capabilities of domestic anti-tank rocket launchers can we further assess the extent of international advanced levels... It is undeniable that some countries are ahead of us internationally... The fact that our anti-tank rocket launchers can penetrate the armor of the T-72 only shows that the Soviet Union and the United States have even stronger armor-piercing capabilities... Our tank design must take these aspects into account!"

After reaching an agreement, the leaders felt that they still needed to understand the situation in more detail.

In particular, technical personnel related to armor protection design from Institute 201 and Factory 617 should be transferred to Harbin Institute of Technology to understand the situation.

This will allow for modifications to the armor protection specifications of the Type 69-III and Type 80 main battle tanks currently under design.

······
"Boom boom boom~"

I don't know how much time passed before there was a knock on the door.

"Xie Wei, Principal Zhang wants us to have a meeting in the school's small conference room..." Wang Zheng appeared at the door.

"what's up?"

Xie Wei asked Wang Zheng.

"It's said that several countries are preparing to purchase disposable rocket launchers from schools, but the specifics are unclear..."

What the hell?

Several countries are procuring disposable rocket launchers?

The products ordered from Thailand, aside from a small number of samples provided previously, similar to those from Pakistan, have not yet been delivered for the first batch.

The Jiangbei Machinery Factory needs to upgrade its production line and familiarize itself with the production process. So, it will probably be some time before the first batch of rocket launchers is delivered.

Puzzling as it may be, this is good news!
Immediately, Xie Wei and Wang Zheng headed towards the principal's office.

"This is a message from the principal: Iraq is about to send a delegation for rocket launchers; General Ahmed, who led the delegation last time, accompanied the students sent to the school, and their plane has already entered the country..."

Upon seeing Xie Wei enter, Zhang Mingqiu quickly explained the current situation to him before he could even sit down.

"Iraq?"

Xie Wei was somewhat stunned.

In just over a month, Iraq will launch a war against Iran, thus beginning the eight-year Iran-Iraq War.

With significant losses of heavy weaponry in the early stages, and given that weapons from Europe, the United States, and the Soviet Union were not only expensive but also came with various conditions, Chinese weapons, with their high cost-performance ratio, became the preferred choice for both sides.

Even when purchasing weapons, delegations from both sides, who were at war, stayed at the same guesthouse, and both sides outwardly pretended not to see each other.

Against the backdrop of reform and opening up, prioritizing economic infrastructure development, and continuous cuts in military spending, some have even argued that the Iran-Iraq War saved China's military industry.

Xie Wei naturally attaches great importance to such clients.

I know that both sides purchased a large amount of weapons and equipment from China, but I have never heard of either country sending a delegation to China to purchase weapons before the outbreak of war.

"Did our rocket launchers achieve real combat results on the Afghan battlefield? And quite ideally at that?"

Xie Wei instantly understood the other party's intentions.

Zhang Mingqiu and Liu Debao exchanged a glance, both seeing the surprise on each other's faces.

Xie Wei actually figured out the reason from their brief conversation!
"Yes, Principal Li sent word that the guerrillas over there used our armor-piercing rocket launchers to destroy 15 T-72 tanks, 13 of which had their turrets blown off... The General Staff logistics personnel will arrive at the school tomorrow..."

What the hell?

Xie Wei's eyes widened.

He knew the power of the PF89 82mm man-portable rocket launcher; it was more than capable of dealing with the T-72. However, it was developed in 90 and only had armor-piercing and thermobaric versions.

Anti-tank warfare requires the use of the PF98 120mm heavy rocket launcher.

Although the Xie Wei used the technology of the PF98 120mm anti-tank rocket launcher, the armor-piercing version not only used a double-cone charge, but also a tandem warhead, and the tungsten-core armor-piercing rod was also fitted with zirconium metal, etc.

Xie Wei hadn't considered the idea of ​​directly destroying the T-72.

Still so many.

"Gudu~"

Xie Wei swallowed hard, looking at the two men, "Didn't Pakistan only get 25 armor-piercing prototypes?"

He thought he had forgotten.

25 rocket launchers!

Fifteen T-72s were destroyed, including 13 whose turrets were blown off.

Even Xie Wei didn't think that a rocket launcher that Harbin Institute of Technology could casually produce was world-leading.

It seems the Soviet T-72 tank was made with far too much substandard material.

The Soviet Union's exported "monkey version" T-72 was heavily downgraded, a fact that became known worldwide during the Gulf War.

In Afghanistan, those were all elite Soviet troops; how could they possibly be equipped with a shoddy version of the T-72?

"Could it be that the Soviet Army currently lacks enough T-72s, and is using the inferior versions of the T-72s produced so that the troops invading Afghanistan can use them first?"

Xie Wei scratched his greasy hair, and a flash of inspiration struck him. He instantly felt that he had found the real problem.

More than 25000 T-72s were manufactured, and it became the new flagship of Soviet tanks after the T-34. Even after countless turrets were blown off during the Gulf War, the world still believed that this tank was powerful.

After all, the bombs that destroyed these tanks in the Gulf War came from aerial bombardment.

More than 40 years later, when Russia and Russia fought each other, both sides lost more than 4000 tanks in a short period of time, most of which were T-72s. At that time, people still believed that the T-72 was powerful decades ago. After all, technology had developed for decades, and anti-armor weapons had an armor-piercing capability of more than 1000 millimeters.

The old T-72s were destroyed, just as the T-34s were destroyed in the 1970s and 80s.

It has been proven that Americans falsify the performance of their equipment.

There has never been any evidence that the Soviets falsified the performance of their equipment.

Xie Wei also believed this.

Therefore, like all the senior leaders in the army, he preferred to suspect that the Soviets had reduced the tank configuration, especially the thickness of the protective armor, rather than believe that the anti-tank rocket launcher he had casually put together for his classmates to practice with had reached the forefront of the world!
"what?"

Zhang Mingqiu heard Xie Wei muttering, but didn't quite catch what he said.

"Nothing. Are the military leaders coming here to restrict our rocket launcher exports?"

Xie Wei asked Zhang Mingqiu and Liu Debao with concern.

If that's the case, then we're in trouble.

As long as more rocket launchers are sold, more funding can be obtained, and the school's impending financial collapse will no longer be a major problem. Those military projects can also receive more funding.

Even now, Xie Wei doesn't dare to meet with the relevant person in charge of the fighter jet project.

"Principal Li didn't say, so it shouldn't be, right?"

Upon hearing Xie Wei's words, Liu Debao's face also showed a worried expression.

What if the higher authorities ban exports?
"It's just a rocket launcher; it won't have a significant impact on national defense... Besides, this kind of rocket launcher is only truly effective against troops skilled in guerrilla warfare... And coincidentally, our troops excel at guerrilla warfare. In fact, it's even more beneficial to national defense!"

Xie Wei shook his head.

He didn't believe that the top military leaders wouldn't share this view.

The greater the power of a single soldier's heavy firepower on the battlefield, the more fear the enemy will have when it is in the hands of the PLA, which is known as the king of light infantry and is skilled in guerrilla warfare!
Without advanced fighter jets or large-tonnage advanced warships, the entire country's defense adopts a strategic defensive approach!
"We'll know once the military leaders arrive."

Xie Wei also didn't understand why the military insisted on sending someone.

It was previously provided to the military for trial use, but the military was not very optimistic about the power of this rocket launcher.

"I'm afraid they've come to interrogate me!"

Zhang Mingqiu sighed.

???

Xie Wei and the others looked at him with complete bewilderment.

(End of this chapter)