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

On the day of the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Red Chess missile, Ye Ling, along with the political commissar and Chief of Staff Xu, drove over specially and also invited all the officers above the deputy division level from the entire base to come and give the eager comrades a good look.

"Is this the kind of missile that can shoot down planes?"

"Goodness, it doesn't look that big. It's not even as big as the Dongfeng No. 1 from the First Division. Will it work?"

"I heard that the foreigners' U2 can fly over 20,000 meters. Can this little guy even reach that?"

Since none of them had ever seen what a surface-to-air missile looked like, the officers gathered around the six missiles, discussing them with great interest. Some even excitedly tried to reach out and touch them, only to be slapped away by Staff Officer Xu.

"Go away, don't touch it! If you break it, I'll beat you to a pulp!"

The cadres burst into laughter.

Ye Ling said smugly:

"See that? This is the Red Pace 1, a copy of the infamous SAM-2. Don't let its small size fool you; it's fast, accurate, and deadly!"

"Many of you used to be artillerymen, so you should know that even the world's most advanced anti-aircraft guns only reach a height of around 10,000 meters. But this missile can reach a maximum altitude of 22,000 meters!"

"Who has ever seen such a high firing altitude before? So from this moment on, we must adjust our traditional combat thinking and learn to accept the advanced concepts of missiles..."

Next, Ye Ling met with the key technical personnel in charge of the Red Chess No. 1 project. When he saw Zhou Yunxiao, he said:

"Good lad, I heard you were a big help. Well done!"

Zhou Yunxiao humbly replied, "The main reason is that this missile has a relatively simple design, with about 70% of its components coming from the SAM-2 missile. I dare not take credit for it."

Ye Ling nodded, walked to several transport vehicles, and emphasized:

"I know some comrades may feel that there's nothing to brag about with replica ammunition. This Hongqi No. 1A is like a son we adopted from our elder brother, and we just can't stand it."

"Although this son isn't our biological child, since he's come into our family, we must treat him as our own. Therefore, everyone must go all out to master its launch techniques as quickly as possible and strive to complete this great and glorious mission of shooting down the U-2 as soon as possible!"

After the ribbon-cutting ceremony, Ye Ling went into the conference room of the Third Division to discuss the specific shooting-down plan with the cadres and experts present.

Ye Ling said, "There are only six missiles. If the U-2 reconnaissance plane comes again, you should be absolutely confident in shooting it down. You can't afford to miss them all, can you?"

Seeing this, Tian Fulin, the instructor of the third division, quickly gave a wink, signaling the experts to answer.

They exchanged glances, none of them daring to say a word. No one could guarantee that the Hongqi No. 1 shaped round would have any problems.

Ye Ling glanced at Zhou Yunxiao and called out, "Comrade Zhou, please share your thoughts!"

Having no other choice, Zhou Yunxiao had to force himself on and say, with a heavy heart:

"If the finalized missile fully meets the design requirements, even one missile would be sufficient. As for absolute certainty... we also need to consider variables such as weather, terrain, and navigation at the time of launch..."

Ye Ling chuckled and waved his hand, "You're just spouting a bunch of useless nonsense."

"There's one more variable!"

Zhou Yunxiao suddenly had a flash of inspiration and added, "The effective firing altitude of the Hongqi-1 is 22 kilometers, while the U-2 reconnaissance aircraft's normal cruising altitude is 18 kilometers. This is a prerequisite for shooting it down. But if the U-2 detects the threat in advance and actively increases its altitude, we'll have failed!"

Ye Ling quickly pressed, "Tell me the details of what happened?"

"The U-2's normal cruising altitude is 18 kilometers, but that doesn't mean it can only fly that high. Based on the intelligence analysis we have gathered so far, its maximum flight altitude may be 24 kilometers! The environment at that altitude is unbearable for pilots, but if it's for survival, they would be happy to fly there."

Zhou Yunxiao analyzed, "Once the U-2 actively climbs to an altitude of 24 kilometers, even if it only maintains that altitude briefly, it will be enough to avoid our missile attack range and escape safely, which would be very disadvantageous for us!"

Upon hearing this, both Ye Linghe and Political Commissar wore solemn expressions.

Chief of Staff Xu spoke up, "Comrade Zhou, what do you think we should do to solve this problem?"

After a moment's thought, Zhou Yunxiao got straight to the point:

"The U-2 reconnaissance aircraft's electronic early warning system is simply impossible for us to bypass with our technology. The only way is to shorten the targeting time of the fire control radar and launch a blitzkrieg against the enemy!"

Zhou Yunxiao's words were astonishing, immediately stunning many veteran comrades present.

Ye Ling glanced at Political Commissar Sun, then at Chief of Staff Xu:

"What does the Chief of Staff think?"

After a moment's thought, Xu Qianxue nodded in agreement.

"The electronic early warning system of American aircraft is indeed very sensitive. Based on the situation of friendly forces in the Yuezhou area, the enemy's electronic reconnaissance can basically figure out the operating frequency of our radar and send threatening warning signals to the pilots, thereby enabling the pilots to maneuver and escape."

"An unprecedentedly advanced reconnaissance aircraft like the U-2 naturally boasts excellent electronic early warning systems. If our fire control radar is activated too early, the enemy can easily become alert and adopt a defensive posture... However, without fire control radar, it's like the missile has no eyes!"

Ye Ling deeply resonated with Chief of Staff Xu's analysis. "Yes, launching a blitzkrieg against enemy aircraft is our only way to bypass the technological gap and defeat the enemy. The problem is, doing so is tantamount to crippling ourselves... Comrade Zhou, do you have any other ideas?"

Seeing everyone's gaze return to him, Zhou Yunxiao stood up, looked around calmly and composedly, and began to speak:

"We have very little intelligence on the U-2 reconnaissance aircraft, but fortunately... just recently, Squadron Leader Fang of the Jincheng Garrison Air Force Division personally piloted a J-5 fighter jet in a life-or-death struggle against the enemy aircraft!"

"Although the J-5 failed to shoot down the U-2 due to its inferior performance, it effectively deterred the enemy aircraft and drove it out of the country. In addition, some parameters of the U-2 reconnaissance aircraft were collected, which I believe are of great value..."

As he spoke, Zhou Yunxiao found a blackboard and pushed it to the front of the conference room.

After erasing the previous chalk writing, he redrawn a sketch.

The leaders of various units, as well as the technical personnel and experts present, all stared eagerly at the sketch, wanting to hear what this young man was up to.

"The Chief of Staff is right about one thing: the fire control radar is the eye of the missile, so it shouldn't be kept completely off, but rather opened slowly, gradually, and in an orderly manner..."

"According to the current operating procedure of the Red Chess No. 1 missile, the early warning radar first detects enemy aircraft within a range of 250 kilometers, then the fire control radar is activated at 100 kilometers to stabilize and track the enemy aircraft, and finally, after the enemy aircraft enters the firing range, guidance is activated and a missile is launched to shoot down the enemy aircraft!"

Ye Ling and Chief of Staff Xu nodded intently.

This set of tactics is quite reasonable and has been discussed repeatedly.

Zhou Yunxiao said, "This tactic is indeed sufficient to deal with most enemy aircraft. But esteemed leaders, the U-2 cannot be classified as an ordinary enemy aircraft; it is a new type of high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft!"

He quickly drew a straight white line with chalk.

"The maximum firing altitude of the Hongqi-1 missile is 22 kilometers, and its maximum range is 40 kilometers... Of course, this firing altitude is the theoretical maximum height. The Hongqi-1 has not undergone real combat testing. We are using combat as a substitute for testing, and no one can guarantee what kind of accidents might happen."

"To be on the safe side, I think setting the firing range of the Hongqi-1 missile at 20 kilometers and 30 kilometers is the most prudent!"

The group nodded thoughtfully, finding the current reasoning reasonable.

"As for the U-2 reconnaissance aircraft, the pilots suffered a major loss once before at a cruising altitude of 18000 meters, so I think they will be more vigilant and may increase the altitude by one or two thousand meters."

"As for altitudes above 20 kilometers, the U-2 reconnaissance aircraft only climbs when it is in an emergency. Not only can the pilots not stand the low-pressure environment, but the aircraft can only maintain that altitude for a short period of time."

"Therefore, let's assume the worst... 20 kilometers, and use that as the enemy aircraft's new cruising altitude!"