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

Only Tian Fulin would dare to ask a first-class pilot at the deputy division level to be a target for a missile.

Even a semi-live-fire test is extremely dangerous; if you accidentally stumble and lose face, that's a small matter, but losing your life would be a much bigger one.

Upon hearing this, Xiao Liang, the wingman pilot standing nearby, couldn't help but speak up to dissuade him again.

"That won't do... It's just a target drone, I can handle that. It'll be a good opportunity to see how powerful your missiles are. You always brag about them like they're some kind of magician, but do you really have the ability to shoot down planes?"

Tian Fulin immediately patted his chest and said, "I guarantee it will hit exactly where you point it, no hesitation whatsoever!"

After listening to Instructor Tian's explanation of the so-called "live target," Fang Xiaotian understood.

Actually, this target means a target drone.

Superpowers like the United States and Suriname have already developed their own unmanned target drones for their troops to conduct live-fire training.

For Dongguo, even fighter jets are scarce, let alone the development of unmanned target drones.

The only solution was for pilots to fly Tu-2 bombers, drag a long steel cable behind the aircraft, and attach a makeshift radar target to it, thus simulating a missile attack target.

Although it is convenient, the risk is that the aircraft and the target are very close. If the missile's accuracy is not satisfactory and it misses the target, the cost will be the destruction of the aircraft and loss of life!

But Fang Xiaotian wasn't a pilot who was afraid of death; what he feared was dying a humiliating and miserable death. Upon hearing that it would benefit the development of surface-to-air missiles, he immediately agreed without hesitation.

"No problem, Xiao Liang and I will go together. I've shot countless targets in my life, but this is the first time I've been the target myself. Don't worry, I won't let you down!"

The group arrived at the base camp in Green Park. As the U-2 reconnaissance plane passed over the area, the engineers and motor transport soldiers who had been hiding in air-raid shelters or tunnels emerged again and continued their intensive construction work.

Not far away, dozens of rows of tents stretched for miles, with vehicles, people, and flags everywhere.

Thousands of soldiers, wearing vests and shirtless, wielded picks and shovels, while young female soldiers from the cultural troupe sang folk songs, played clappers, and shouted slogans on the sidelines, all full of energy.

Female soldier: "Hey—comrades!"

Everyone: "Hey—yo!"

Female soldier: "Building the Great Wall shovel by shovel!"

Everyone: "Hey—yo!"

Female soldier: "Building Dongfeng brick by brick!"

Everyone: "Hey—yo!"

"The wind and sand cannot bring down our heroes!"

"Hey!"

"The scorching sun can't break our construction team!"

"Hey!"

"I sweated a thousand drops today!"

"Missiles will be flying in the sky tomorrow!"

Such a unique and earth-shattering scene of labor made even Fang Xiaotian, who had just gotten off the plane, feel itchy to join in.

If it weren't for Xiao Liang supporting him, he almost would have rolled up his sleeves and wielded a shovel himself.

Fang Xiaotian asked, "Your Third Division is quite lively, taking up such a large area already, and you still want to expand?"

Instructor Tian waved his hand, "These are all new buildings being built for the office. The higher-ups ordered them to be completed before the new year so the staff can move to Luyuan. We have to hurry with the construction!"

"They were living comfortably at their base on the 10th, why are they moving?"

"Well... we don't know the specifics, but I heard they're going to build a huge shooting range nearby, and we're worried it might affect the security of Base 10."

Fang Xiaotian exclaimed in disbelief, "What's the big deal? How big could it be? And it even hit the mechanism?"

He muttered a couple of things, put his hands behind his back, and walked forward, intending to sneak some of Lao Tian's tea.

Just then, out of the corner of his eye, he saw a large truck dragging something back and forth on an open space not far away.

……

Under Zhou Yunxiao's leadership, the team quickly developed the newly proposed third fuse detonation scheme.

Although unlike Engineer Li and Technician Shen, who could optimize existing solutions, the solution was developed from scratch in just three weeks thanks to the suggestions from netizens in the live stream.

However, Zhou Yunxiao still needs to collect some data to inject a fixed bias constant into the ground-guided simulation computer to solve the aiming equation, ensuring that the detonation fragments of the missile at the end of its flight can perfectly cover the enemy aircraft.

He led Xiao Su, Li Baoqiang, and the two college students to set up a set of iron frames on the playground, and then disassembled the radio fuse of Red Chess No. 1 and glued it on.

Finally, they borrowed a large truck from the car dealership.

It is said to be an American medium-duty truck captured from Changjin Lake, but it was transported all the way to the Gobi Desert and the vehicle was already dilapidated, with even the windows broken.

Zhou Yunxiao got into the truck, fiddled with it for a bit, then jumped out to check the trailer behind the truck, attaching a huge metal plate to it.

This plate can simulate metal reflections to disguise itself as an airplane wing, thus enabling ground testing.

Zhou Yunxiao instructed, "Baoqiang, pay attention to adjusting the oscilloscope. Xiao Su, record the data promptly. The rest of you, calculate the dynamic scattering aiming point and draw the scattering cone!"

Xiao Su reminded him, "Drive carefully."

Zhou Yunxiao grinned, climbed into the driver's seat of the American-style medium-duty truck, and slammed the door shut.

How can someone with a C1 driver's license not be able to fix a decades-old car?

He turned the key and started the engine, but unexpectedly, the truck was much harder to control than he had imagined. The clutch and steering wheel felt like they were made of lead, and he had to use all his strength to operate them.

Watching the truck sway and spin in the open space, Xiao Su, Baoqiang, and the others nearby silently moved their equipment back and watched with concern.

After getting used to it for more than ten minutes, Zhou Yunxiao finally figured out some techniques and tamed the American medium-sized truck.

The clutch needs to be pressed twice to shift gears, the steering wheel needs to be pulled a full turn with both hands, and the brakes need to be applied tens of meters in advance...

With a sputtering engine roar, Zhou Yunxiao drove his American-style medium-duty truck at high speed from afar, leaving a strong smell of hot engine oil and gasoline in his wake.

Xiao Su quickly recorded the data, poked her head out, waved, and asked him to do it again.

Half a minute later, the truck roared past again, dragging the huge metal sheet behind it.

After going back and forth more than ten times, Zhou Yunxiao felt exhausted just from pressing the accelerator. Finally, the people in charge of recording the experiment gave him a thumbs-up gesture, indicating that he could stop.

When he got out of the car, he was covered in sweat, completely dazed by the scorching August sun on the Gobi Desert.

Just then, a gruff voice asked from beside them, "Young men, what are you doing?"

Zhou Yunxiao turned around and saw Tian Fulin coming over with two people in flight suits.

He saluted and replied, "Reporting, sir, we are testing the detection cone range and delay time of the Hongqi-1 surface-to-air missile!"

Fang Xiaotian asked curiously, "How is this measured? You just drive around and get the result?"

Seeing this, Zhou Yunxiao led them towards Xiao Su, pointed to the radio fuse stuck to the iron frame, and said:

"We use metal plates to simulate airplane wings, and a truck tows them past the probe cone of the fuse. The radar oscilloscope connected to the fuse can then clearly record various data."

"With this data, we can calculate the number of seconds of delay when the detonation pulse enters the beam from the metal plate, which allows us to optimize the missile's guidance offset parameters and improve its strike accuracy!"

Fang Xiaotian nodded solemnly, but he didn't understand a word of it.

He asked somewhat uneasily, "Missiles are used to shoot down planes. Trucks move so slowly, how accurate can the test data be?"

Zhou Yunxiao laughed and said, "Cats have their ways, mice have their ways, airplanes have their way of being measured, and trucks have their way of being measured."

"Fine, I don't understand technology. Even if you try to fool me, I won't be able to tell the difference."

Fang Xiaotian joked, "But if you miss your target and your missile hits my butt, I won't let you off easily when I get down here!"

This joke made everyone laugh.

However, they soon learned the identity of this unfamiliar leader from Tian Fulin.

Upon learning that such a distinguished flight hero would be used as a target drone for their missiles, not only Zhou Yunxiao's team, but also Engineer Li and Technician Shen from the other two teams, couldn't help but take it seriously.