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

At this point, Zhou Yunxiao picked up a military-style mouthwash mug and took several large gulps of water, then said to Ye Ling:

"Sir, this is the worst-case scenario we can assume when shooting down the U-2 reconnaissance plane. The missile's launch altitude is 20 kilometers, and the U-2's cruising altitude is also 20 kilometers. What do you think?"

Ye Ling stroked his stubble. "Hmm... a very challenging hypothesis. But in war, you have to dare to make bold assumptions. Please continue."

"Okay. At this point, someone asked, 'The Red Chess One can only operate at a range of 20 kilometers. Wouldn't a U-2 reconnaissance plane be able to dodge it with just a slight turn of its rear? How can we fight like this?'"

Zhou Yunxiao said confidently, "That's right. The U-2's maximum altitude is 24 kilometers, so it can fly higher than missiles, which is one of the reasons why American pilots are so confident."

He quickly drew another horizontal line on the sketch and marked it "20000 meters".

"The atmospheric pressure here is 5.5 kPa, only five percent of that at ground level, and the oxygen is extremely thin."

"An airplane isn't a missile; it doesn't have its own oxidizer, so at this altitude, the engine has very little power left... Even if it can continue climbing, the speed will be very slow..."

Zhou Yunxiao held up two fingers.

"I analyzed the enemy squadron's combat data from that day and found that if the U-2 reconnaissance aircraft were at an altitude of 20,000 meters, and were to perform an emergency evasive maneuver and climb at a conventional 15-degree angle, it would take about a minute to turn around!"

"And the ascent speed is about 200 meters per minute... Over a distance of more than 200 meters, even if all the fragments of the Red Chess No. 1 exploded over it, there would be little kinetic energy left to cause damage."

"Therefore, for a U-2 reconnaissance aircraft, it only takes two minutes to escape the strike range of surface-to-air missiles and make a narrow escape!"

"If we want to shoot it down, we must make our move within these two minutes!"

Two minutes...

Ye Ling, Political Commissar Sun, and Chief of Staff Xu huddled together and whispered for a while, seemingly discussing the veracity of what they had just said.

They then called over three experts, Li Difeng, Shen Weidong, and Xu Haifeng, and discussed the matter for a long time.

The consensus was that Comrade Xiao Zhou's judgment was correct!

Tian Fulin, the instructor of the third division, couldn't help but shake his head and sigh.

"Sigh, two minutes isn't enough! Just the tactical maneuver of activating the fire control radar guidance takes eight minutes to complete!"

Chief of Staff Xu said, "Xiao Zhou is right. The U-2 reconnaissance plane is not like an ordinary enemy plane. Even if an ordinary enemy plane locks on with its fire control radar from 100 kilometers away, they are like headless flies, only able to guess which direction to escape in."

But the U-2 reconnaissance aircraft doesn't need to be fooled. They can keep flying high in the sky, as long as they can't reach the missiles. They don't care where the missiles come from...

Zhou Yunxiao nodded, turned around and continued deriving the formula on the blackboard, explaining as he wrote:

"Therefore, we must wage a blitzkrieg, engaging enemy aircraft without activating our fire control radar!"

"Before the U-2 reconnaissance aircraft enters the firing range, the radar remains silent. During this period, the calculator manually calculates the U-2's course blindly based on the rough data from the early warning radar."

"Once the enemy aircraft is within range, the fire control radar will be activated, and the enemy aircraft will be shot down within two minutes, giving the pilot no chance to react! Based on the U-2's previous cruising speed, it is approximately 365 knots, or 675 kilometers per hour."

"Given the slant range of 20 km/30 km for the Hongqi-1 missile, it would take approximately 40 seconds to hit the target... Subtracting 40 seconds from two minutes leaves us with a maximum of 80 seconds of usable time!"

"These 80 seconds can buy the fire control radar a guidance range of about 15 kilometers... Combined with a range of 30 kilometers, this means that the ground launch site can only activate the fire control radar and complete all tactical maneuvers when it is 45 kilometers away from the enemy aircraft!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the entire room erupted in uproar.

People around him were whispering and discussing the feasibility of this tactic.

Tian Fulin stared in shock, his mouth agape. He quickly shook his head. "Impossible! How could this be possible?"

Upon hearing this, Captain Shi of the Third Launch Squadron jumped up from his seat.

"Sir, our Third Battalion is willing to give it a try! We will definitely complete the mission!"

Ye Ling looked at him, her face serious, and said:

"Captain Shi, this is war, not child's play. Do you know what it means to compress an eight-minute tactical maneuver into 80 seconds?"

Captain Shi replied:

"I know. We need to reduce the range for activating the fire control radar from 100 kilometers to 45 kilometers, and then quickly complete a series of actions including detecting and tracking enemy aircraft and launching missiles—all within 80 seconds. Not a second more!"

Zhou Yunxiao cautioned, "It's like the comrades in the launch team are doing five times more actions per second than before, which is extremely difficult."

Captain Shi, head held high and chest puffed out, said:

"Comrade Zhou, our Third Brigade will definitely not let Red Chess Number One down!"

"We're not educated enough to be of much help with technical matters. But leave the shortening of preparation time to us. We'll definitely launch the missile successfully and thwart the conspiracy of the Tiberian imperialist wolves!"

"Please rest assured, sir, and also Comrade Zhou and all the experts!"

Ye Ling slammed his hand on the table and said "Good!" three times. "Since you comrades have such determination and will, then execute Comrade Zhou's tactics. Two minutes! You only have two minutes to resolutely shoot down the U-2 reconnaissance plane!"

His voice was powerful and resonant, making one feel as if they had returned to the era of commanding the nation at Changjin Lake. It was as if, along with these young soldiers, one felt a few years younger, more passionate and courageous.

……

After the meeting, apart from the heads of various units, political commissars, and chiefs of staff leaving, Ye Ling stayed at the Third Division and inspected the construction progress of the new office building in Luyuan.

When they returned, a group of soldiers were painting slogans on the wall with brushes and buckets of lime:

[Down with the paper tiger of Tijuana nationalism! U-2 spy plane destroyed in two minutes!]

It's either the east wind prevailing over the west peak, or the west peak prevailing over the east wind!

With lofty ambitions, we dare to change the world!

Success is the only option; failure is not an option!

Looking at these inspiring slogans, Ye Ling laughed heartily and walked into the office with his hands behind his back.

Zhou Yunxiao, Li Difeng, Shen Weidong, Xu Haifeng and others were discussing the specific strategies of the "blitzkrieg", and Captain Shi also gathered three company commanders to listen in.

When Instructor Tian couldn't help, he served them tea and water and provided logistical support.

Upon seeing Ye Ling enter, Tian Fulin was about to speak when the former gave him a look that silenced him.

Instructor Tian tiptoed over to greet him, "Ye Ling, you haven't left yet?"

"Let me check on the construction of the government building. You can find someone to make a blueprint for the kindergarten later."

"Huh? Why are you getting this thing? We don't have any kids at our base."

"It'll happen sooner or later. Are all 100,000 bachelors in the base going to never get married? Let's reserve the best piece of land for the kindergarten; it'll be useful sooner or later."

"Alright, I'll have someone go to Jingzhou and take a look around to see how they build kindergartens there."

Tian Fulin agreed, and then asked solicitously, "Ye Ling, why don't you stay for dinner? I'll have someone boil some water for you to soak your feet."

Ye Lingsheng had three habits that are often talked about: first, his addiction to smoking and drinking; second, his habit of lifting stone weights; and third, his athlete's foot, which he developed from fighting in the early years, causing him to suffer from unbearable soreness and itching and to scratch his toes.

Instructor Tian asked casually, but to his surprise, Ye Ling agreed, "Okay!"

This made him feel somewhat flattered, since after the base suffered a famine, Ye Ling would never stay for a meal whenever he went to the grassroots level for inspection, for fear of taking up other people's food rations.

So Tian Fulin immediately went to the mess hall, "Ye Ling, stay for dinner tonight! Go and slaughter that gazelle of ours!"

The cook complained incessantly, "My instructor, are you starving? Those gazelles were all eaten last week!"

Tian Fulin slapped his forehead and said urgently, "Then what else can we use to entertain the leader? Ye Ling has come all this way, you have to find something decent to put on the table, even if you have to dig three feet into the ground."

The head cook scratched his head. "There's still half a pound of sheep intestines left. I secretly saved some for you. Are you going to use it to entertain Ye Ling?"

"Okay, sheep intestines are fine too! Remember, the commander is from Jiaodong, so give him plenty of scallions."

Tian Fulin repeatedly instructed, "Also, when making the cornbread, put less camel thorn and jujube leaves, and more highland barley flour and cornmeal, etc., because the commander's teeth aren't good. If there's not enough flour, deduct it from my ration, don't be stingy!"

"Alright, instructor, you can hold it up now..."