Traveling Back to the 1960s: The Entire Internet Teaches Me How to Build Missiles

The two people in the meeting room were arguing fiercely, and the atmosphere was tense, with neither able to convince the other.

The onlookers whispered among themselves, assessing the feasibility of the two arguments.

Unfortunately, the others also had only a superficial understanding of surface-to-air missile technology and had no idea who was right.

Zhou Yunxiao listened for a while with his arms crossed, finding the two experts quite interesting.

He thought to himself, "This is the vibrant, dynamic era where everything flourishes, and everyone can boldly express their opinions in order to debate the truth."

He also learned from the conversations of the people around him that the old man with gray hair was named Li Difeng, and that he was an engineer invited from Harbin Institute of Technology by the Third Division.

The middle-aged man referred to as Xiao Shen was Shen Weidong, a technician from the second division.

Both men are highly respected leaders who shine in their respective fields, but when it comes to things like surface-to-air missiles, there are indeed some irreconcilable differences.

After all, missiles are new weapons, unlike tanks and artillery which can be captured from the battlefield. People had never heard of them before and had to figure them out from scratch.

With Elder Brother Sullian gone, all that's left is to shift from groping to 'imagination'!

People imagined that surface-to-air missiles would approach enemy aircraft in this way and then shoot them down...

Since we have different opinions, let's debate them. Truth will naturally become clearer through debate.

Therefore, Tian Fulin, the instructor of the third division, not only did not step forward to stop it, but instead watched the commotion with great interest.

Judging from Xu Haifeng's rolled-up sleeves in the fourth division, he seems to be thinking of going on stage to "cool off" and show off his tongue.

Zhou Yunxiao originally intended to stand aside and watch, since his understanding of surface-to-air missiles was limited and there was no need for him to show off.

Just then, out of the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of the live stream chat being flooded with messages:

[Get this up there! Quickly get this top contributor up there!]

[Damn it! Who the hell is spamming memes? If you send that damn Doro meme again, believe me, I'll come down the internet cable and beat you up!]

[Shh! Everyone stay quiet and let the big shot speak...]

[Everyone move aside, everyone move aside! Is the moderator 'White Vinegar' dozing off again? Quickly pin the big boss's post to the top!]

Zhou Yunxiao noticed that the group of netizens had quieted down without any apparent misunderstanding, and he couldn't help but feel a little curious.

The next second, a comment was pinned to the top.

The two argued for a long time, their disagreement stemming from a disagreement about the aiming point for using fragmentation warheads on aircraft; they couldn't determine which aiming method to use...

Oh, by the way, I'm a professor at the Air Force Engineering Institute, specializing in air defense and anti-missile technology. I can stand by what I say.

Zhou Yunxiao's eyes lit up. He had actually managed to attract a knowledgeable expert from the live stream! He quickly asked for advice:

"So what exactly is going on in their argument?"

A viewer in the live stream, nicknamed "Professor Hou," began to speak eloquently about his background.

To shoot down an aircraft, a surface-to-air missile primarily relies on the explosion of its warhead, which generates a large number of high-speed fragments, thereby penetrating, igniting, or even detonating aircraft components.

These fragments are like a giant net... If the radius of this net were to encompass the aircraft, it would mean countless fragments would strike it. If a piece of shrapnel were to hit a vital area, then shooting it down would be inevitable.

As Professor Hou talked about his professional knowledge, he became more and more enthusiastic, and the comments on the screen kept refreshing.

All netizens remained silent in unison, like a group of primary school students listening to their teacher's teachings.

[If you find this hard to understand, just think of a hand grenade... Right now, Engineer Li and Technician Shen are arguing about how to design a hand grenade and what method to use to throw it so that the resulting shrapnel can kill an enemy to the greatest extent possible.]

To put it simply, the question is whether the Red Chess No. 1 missile should be used for aircraft targeting based on fuse detection simulation or on the destructive power of its warhead.

Of course, they probably didn't have such a professional term back then, but that's the gist of it...

Immediately, netizens were enlightened and showered the post with praise:

[As expected of a major player in the military industry, my apologies for my lack of respect!]

[Next time you're looking for a job, you can add to your resume, "I have some knowledge of surface-to-air missile development and design!"]

I'm graduating next year and want to study under Professor Hou as a graduate student. Are you still accepting students?!

Even netizens understood, so Zhou Yunxiao, a professionally trained missile technician, naturally understood as well.

He pondered for a moment, then asked, "Professor Hou, is there a significant difference between these two aiming methods?"

Professor Hou frankly stated:

[The aiming point based on fuze detection simulation uses fuze detection to determine the radial distance of the surface-to-air missile's detonation point. It then uses the Monte Carlo method to generate all the detonation points and calculates the average damage probability of the aircraft, which serves as an evaluation metric for a given aiming point.]

[The other approach disregards the specific process of fuse detection and focuses primarily on the radial distance to the detonation point, considering the range near the miss plane where damage to the aircraft is probable, and sums up the damage values ​​of all damaged parts...]

[Ahem...that got a bit too complicated. Let me explain in the simplest, most straightforward, and easiest-to-understand way: the former focuses on 'aiming where the fuse can reliably trigger and detonate,' while the latter focuses on 'where the explosion is most likely to damage the aircraft!']

Zhou Yunxiao scratched his head, taking a while to understand, and then asked bluntly:

"Professor Hou, could you please tell me which aiming method Red Pawn 1 should choose?"

He thought to himself, since there are historical prototypes of missiles, why not just bring them over?

In that case, we are confident that we can complete the mission of shooting down the U-2 reconnaissance plane in October!

Upon hearing this, Professor Hou commented in the live chat:

[Comrade Zhou, even the original design parameters of the Hongqi-1 missile from decades ago were highly classified; I had no chance of accessing them.]

However... given your special circumstances, your superiors have probably already assigned someone to monitor your livestream. Maybe if you ask around, someone will proactively provide the data soon...

Zhou Yunxiao's heart skipped a beat.

Come to think of it, after so much time, even if the person above has the slowest reaction time, they should have started paying attention to themselves by now.

Shouldn't we send someone to provide some support or something?

Sure enough, right after Professor Hou sent the message, a government employee who had been waiting in the live stream jumped out on his own, nicknamed "Tool Person No. 1".

Tool Person #1 said:

[Comrade, I won't reveal my identity; you can call us the Safety Committee. I can give you a clear answer: if you want the complete raw data for Red Chess No. 1, no problem. But I don't recommend doing so.]

Zhou Yunxiao asked, "Why? If you're worried about leaks, you can send it to me privately."

[Our concern isn't about leaking secrets; we simply believe you might not be able to replicate the original Red Chess Number One.]

After "Tool Person No. 1" finished speaking, it caused a huge uproar in the live broadcast room.

Netizens expressed their confusion, thinking that with the original parameters available, how could there be anything that couldn't be replicated?

Zhou Yunxiao was also a little puzzled.

In response, Tool Person #1 explained:

The historical Red Piece 1 missile was a surface-to-air missile developed based on original Sultan-class materials and under expert guidance.

Its material density, burning rate, pressure resistance, and other parameters, as well as aerodynamic parameters and combustion chamber pressure data, are all based on this.

However, according to our Safety Committee's assessment, Comrade Xiao Zhou's time travel caused some minor butterfly effects, which may have led to significant errors in the original Red Chess No. 1 missile.

If we simply copy the original data and apply it mechanically, it could backfire and even waste the resources of the Eastern Kingdom. Therefore, we need to recalculate and match the data for the existing Red Chess Number 1...

Having said that, Zhou Yunxiao understood.

To put it simply, the concern is about the butterfly effect, which could cause the initial conditions of the two Red Pieces to be different.

This is not an exaggeration; sometimes even the slightest error can lead to drastically different results in an experiment.

Otherwise, why would some experimental procedures include absurd rules, such as bowing to the equipment or singing a song...?

Ultimately, it's all about perfectly replicating the initial conditions.

The viewers in the live stream immediately started chattering away:

[In that case, why doesn't the Safety Committee just assemble a team to help the anchorman develop a new Red Chess No. 1, based on the industrial conditions of the 1960s?]

[Yeah, if the streamer can't handle it by himself, surely we, with so many of us, can't handle it?]

[Using a modern industrial system to help the East rise rapidly from decades ago—the thought of that is incredibly exciting!]