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

With Li Gong's explanation, Zhou Yunxiao figured out the fuse device.

Unlike modern surface-to-air missiles, surface-to-air missiles in the 1960s were not as intelligent; using radio to lock onto targets was the simplest method.

After all, in the sky, which can be thousands of meters high, the only obstacle that can produce an echo is an airplane!

If you're worried about accidentally injuring birds, you can simply add another Doppler frequency shift algorithm to only target high-speed moving obstacles.

Seeing Zhou Yunxiao remain silent, Shen Weidong asked:

"Comrade Xiao Zhou, you heard about the accuracy of the proximity fuse; the detection range is only 30 meters, which is far too far! Tell me, isn't my previous argument more feasible?"

On the other side, Engineer Li immediately retorted, "Is your argument any better? Your crude aiming theory of 'ignoring fuse detection' is utterly wishful thinking; it wouldn't be able to shoot down a U-2 reconnaissance plane even in a hundred years!"

Seeing that the two were about to argue again, Zhou Yunxiao quickly interrupted:

"To be honest, I think both of your arguments are somewhat untenable. You seem to have forgotten to consider a very fundamental variable..."

Upon hearing this, Li Gong and Shen Weidong, who had been arguing, immediately united in their indignation, glaring at the young man and asking, "What do you mean by that?"

Instructor Tian and Xu Haifeng, who were not far away, exchanged a glance and looked at the one who had stood up for others with some sympathy.

That's incredibly bold of them! They completely refuted the arguments of Engineer Li and Technician Shen with just one sentence.

If this can't be salvaged, I'll definitely be drowned in their spittle.

Encouraged by viewers in the live stream, Zhou Yunxiao mustered his courage and continued:

"First of all, according to Technician Shen's argument, the low-precision radio proximity fuse is not considered, and the Red Chess No. 1 is only made to rely on the trigger fuse, which is equivalent to treating the missile as a 'powder bag' that explodes upon contact."

"According to conventional models, the optimal aiming points are indeed located at the edges of the aircraft."

Then, he walked to Shen Weidong's blackboard, glanced at the formulas listed on it, and asked:

"Comrade Shen, where did you get the aircraft data you cited as an example?"

Shen Weidong said, "Last year, we shot down an RB-57 high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft that took off from Taoyuan in Tongxian. These are the parameters of that aircraft, and the simulated strike targets of Hongqi-1 are also based on these parameters."

Zhou Yunxiao hummed in agreement.

"Let's take shooting down the RB-57 as an example. This document lists 215 external, structural, and system components as targets for high-explosive fragmentation. We can establish a set of warhead fragment dispersion equations and a set of warhead fragment intersection equations with the target..."

"However, Comrade Shen has already established these equations, so I will just use them directly... Next is the aircraft damage probability calculation model. Here I prefer to use the firing line method, so I will write it in another place..."

Seeing this, Instructor Tian quickly gave the two soldiers a look and moved a clean blackboard to the front of the meeting room.

He asked Xu Haifeng beside him, "Dr. Xu, can you understand me?"

Xu Haifeng, who was concentrating intently while resting his chin on his hand, was momentarily distracted by what he heard and said with an "Oh," "This kid has some knowledge."

Zhou Yunxiao grabbed a piece of chalk and quickly wrote equations on the blackboard. At the same time, he drew a diagram of a fragment penetrating an aircraft component, using the firing line to simulate the trajectory of the fragment inside the aircraft.

The intersection of the firing line and the target can be identified as the part through which the fragments penetrated.

After finishing the drawing, he glanced at Shen Weidong and said:

"The remaining velocity and mass of the fragment after penetrating the component can be statistically analyzed using the penetration equation... and then the probability of damage to the critical component by a single fragment can be calculated."

"By accumulating the probability of damage to critical components from all the fragments hitting the aircraft, we can obtain the final probability equation for aircraft destruction as Pk=xxxx..."

By this point, the others were already struggling to keep up and were scratching their heads in frustration.

Zhou Yunxiao asked with a smile, "Technician Shen, my result is slightly different from yours. Do you see this set of orthogonal polynomials?"

Shen Weidong couldn't help but interrupt, "Wait, where did this orthogonal polynomial come from?"

"It's very simple. Because you previously established a static damage equation, you didn't consider at all the time difference of tens of milliseconds between the missile approaching the aircraft and the detonation command being issued."

Zhou Yunxiao's expression turned serious. "In the relative collision between a missile and an aircraft at speeds of several Mach, even a delay of 10 milliseconds means a displacement of more than ten meters... Based on the data after the delay, a new Flyner frame can be constructed, and then the Gram-Schmidt method can be used to construct this new orthogonal polynomial."

According to this formula, if we follow your argument, by the time the fuse completes its detonation process, the missile will already be right behind the reconnaissance aircraft, and the shrapnel will only hit air!

Shen Weidong shook his head. "Impossible... It must be a problem with the calculation method. You must have made a mistake in one of the steps!"

Zhou Yunxiao sighed and said, "Comrade Shen, if you don't accept this conclusion, I can verify it for you again using Euclidean coordinates, or you can verify it yourself privately?"

The comrades in the conference room listened in astonishment; some were completely bewildered, while others were impressed but didn't understand.

Instructor Tian couldn't help but nudge Xu Haifeng's arm. "Comrade Xu, what are you talking about? Who won the debate? What's with all this talk about coordinate systems, grammars, and Euclidean coordinates? Are you even correct?"

Xu Haifeng crossed his arms and laughed, "I dare not say whether I am right or wrong, but judging from Comrade Shen Weidong's expression, he should be doubting his own argument."

After writing out this set of formulas, Zhou Yunxiao was also exhausted and covered in sweat.

He had to pay close attention to Professor Hou's analysis in the live broadcast while simultaneously paraphrasing it in his own words, which was quite tiring.

Then, he turned his head and refuted Li's argument:

"Engineer Li, although you support radio proximity fuses and propose locking the aiming point at the center of the aircraft to ensure successful fuse triggering, this argument is indeed logically sound."

Before Engineer Li could even feel pleased, he heard the follow-up statement: "However, you've made a fundamental error in your logic of destruction—you're clinging to outdated methods!"

Zhou Yunxiao grabbed a rag, wiped the equations off the blackboard clean, and redrawn a diagram.

"For a radio proximity fuse, you can imagine the detection range of the fuse as a detection cone, and then establish a fuse detection coordinate axis based on this cone shape..."

"Based on the aiming point simulated by the fuze, the destruction probability of the aiming point can be given using the Monte Carlo method, and the following eight equations can be established..."

Both Li Gong and Shen Weidong held their breath, watching the young man write furiously on the blackboard.

Lines of mathematical formulas, seemingly written in a mysterious script, were displayed on the page with remarkable skill, dazzling the eye.

Zhou Yunxiao skillfully used differential equations to break these formulas into fragments, and then used integral equations to piece the fragments together until he obtained a long series of calculation formulas.

At this moment, the expressions on the faces of all the comrades in the meeting room were almost unanimous: utter admiration.

Regardless of whether this newcomer, Comrade Zhou, is spouting nonsense or what, the fact that he can solve such a complex equation... that's what makes him a master!

Even Xu Haifeng, who always held himself in high esteem, couldn't help but sigh, "The Moscow Aviation Institute is truly amazing; it can actually produce such outstanding students..."

Soon, as the last line of the equation was written, Zhou Yunxiao marked a comma on the blackboard with his chalk and turned to show it to Engineer Li:

"Engineer Li, the reason I said you're 'marking the boat to find the sword' is because you've overlooked the 'dynamic dispersion cone' of the fragments. You've assumed that the fragment explosion is a spherical dispersion in place, but in the actual flight of a missile, the fragments will add to the missile's own flight velocity, resulting in a forward-tilting dynamic dispersion cone."

"Therefore, when the warhead detonates, the dynamic fragmentation cone with its huge forward momentum will most likely miss the aircraft's vital areas, only striking the nose or even the airspace in front, thus wasting its destructive power!"