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

Dinner was quickly prepared, and Ye Ling invited the experts and launch team members to eat together at the large table.

As Zhou Yunxiao sat down, rubbing his rumbling stomach, he smelled a savory aroma of meat and couldn't help but swallow.

Ye Ling patted his shoulder and sat down next to him with a smile. Tian Fulin immediately took out a bottle of strong liquor from his pocket as if it were a treasure, and smiled like a fox.

Everyone's mouths watered at the aroma of Erguotou liquor.

Ye Ling glared at him: "You little brat, where did you steal the grain to brew wine?"

Tian Fulin said, "This strong liquor was brought from home last year. It's been hidden in the cupboard for half a year, and I haven't been able to bring myself to drink it. I know you love Moutai, but you can't buy it in this godforsaken place, so just have a sip, hehe!"

As he spoke, he pried off the bottle cap and poured the contents into the military rinsing mug in front of Ye Ling's bowl.

"Heh, even if strong liquor tastes awful, can it taste as bad as alcohol?"

Ye Ling chuckled self-deprecatingly. His addiction to alcohol and his habit of mixing alcohol from the warehouse to make drinks were common knowledge in the base.

After pouring a full jar of wine, Ye Ling picked up a piece of sheep intestine and asked, "What kind of dish is this?"

Instructor Tian said, "Sir, I'm sorry, the Third Division has finished eating the last gazelle, and there's only this little bit of intestine left."

"Being able to eat sheep intestines these days is quite a treat, and I should thank you for your hospitality."

"Sir, when you come back next time, I'll definitely find a way to get you a whole roasted lamb!"

"Alright, alright, I'm not picky. A little cornbread will do."

Ye Ling then glanced at Zhou Yunxiao, who was licking his lips beside her, and asked with a smile, "Want some too?"

Zhou Yunxiao nodded without hesitation, "I want to!"

"Are you confident in the blitzkrieg strategy proposed today?"

"have!"

"I'll ask you a question, and you answer it. If I'm satisfied with your answer, I'll give you some strong liquor to try."

"Please ask away, sir."

After a moment's thought, Ye Ling raised his first question: "Why does the standard tactical procedure for activating the fire control radar of Red Chess No. 1 take eight minutes, and not seven or six minutes?"

Zhou Yunxiao immediately replied:

"Once the fire control radar is turned on, there are three main steps. The first is for the radar to stabilize and track the target. After turning it on, the operator must immediately turn the handwheel to aim the crosshairs on the radar screen at the 'yellow dot' of the enemy aircraft."

"Secondly, after the antenna stabilizes and tracks the target, the analog tube computer calculates the firing parameters. Finally, the battery is activated, the gyroscope is preheated, and the system awaits the launch command."

"This whole process usually takes about eight minutes, which is also what Sullivan's teaching manual specifies."

Ye Ling nodded after hearing this, picked up the jar and poured him some wine, then asked with a smile, "So, how do you plan to reduce it from eight minutes to 80 seconds?"

Zhou Yunxiao took out the plan he had discussed with Engineer Li and the others during the day and repeated it.

"Simply put, it means putting all the preparations ahead of time. For example, the gyroscope is powered on and preheated before the radar antenna is connected. Although this may damage the lifespan of electronic components, the mission comes first, so we don't consider this risk."

"Then comes the most crucial stage: the calculator blindly calculates the firing parameters on the blueprints. Once the fire control radar is turned on, the operator has 80 seconds to manually place the cursor over the enemy aircraft to lock on, and then ignite and fire!"

Ye Ling pondered for a while, figured out the order, and then poured him some more wine.

Then, with a keen eye, he asked, "Since the calculators can blindly calculate the firing parameters, why is it necessary to turn on the fire control radar? If it's never turned on, wouldn't the U-2 reconnaissance plane remain completely unaware, which would be more advantageous for us?"

Captain Shi also came closer. He was also quite curious about this matter, but he had been too embarrassed to ask.

The other officers in the launch team also showed expressions of eagerness to learn.

Zhou Yunxiao explained with a smile:

"First of all, blindly calculating the firing parameters only solves the problem of 'which direction the missile should fire,' while fire control radar solves the problem of 'how the missile gets right in front of the enemy aircraft.'"

"After all, the data calculated blindly is very rough, with an error of several kilometers compared to that of enemy aircraft. The time it saves is the time that the radar spends scanning the sky after it is turned on. It can lock onto a small area of ​​airspace in advance, allowing the operator to directly align the crank."

"In this way, once the fire control radar is activated, there's no need for further searching; the beam of light directly 'slashes' at the enemy aircraft!"

"But the Hongqi-1 uses radio guidance, so it is blind and needs remote control commands from fire control radar to fly."

"The radar emits two beams, one to lock onto the enemy aircraft and the other to lock onto our missiles. Then the computer compares the positional deviations of the two beams in real time and continuously sends radio commands to correct the route."

"Therefore, if we rely solely on blind calculations and don't activate the fire control radar, even if the missile is launched, it will just be a firecracker that can't turn corners!"

Zhou Yunxiao answered Ye Ling's questions about the Red Chess No. 1 missile in succession, clearing up all of Ye Ling's confusion.

Ye Ling was overjoyed and wanted to ask more questions, but then he discovered that the liquor in the jar was all gone. Without backing down, he waved his hand and said:

"Haha, let's stop here for today. Don't bite off more than you can chew. Next time I bring some Moutai from Jingzhou, we'll continue our chat!"

Ye Ling was a man of his word. He licked the last bit of liquor left in the jar, then started gnawing on his cornbread, ignoring the liquor that had been poured out.

……

Over the next few days, Captain Shi of the Third Launch Battalion led everyone in a dedicated study of how to activate the fire control radar antenna and how to launch missiles.

Compressing a set of movements that originally took eight minutes to complete into 80 seconds is undoubtedly extremely challenging.

Even though Captain Shi cut some actions and kept only 20 necessary ones, it still took more than five minutes to complete a set of procedures.

Later, Zhou Yunxiao was called over, and the movements were reviewed again, with further cuts made.

After removing six optional actions, fourteen tactical actions were ultimately retained.

"Nine of the actions must be completed before the fire control radar is activated. The remaining five actions must be completed within five seconds of the fire control radar being activated, and no more than eight seconds. Is this achievable?"

Zhou Yunxiao asked Captain Shi seriously.

Captain Shi gritted his teeth and nodded, assuring him, "Five movements, five seconds, absolutely not a single second will be wasted!"

The entire launch test team was like they were on steroids, practicing from morning till night, simulating the fourteen actions again and again.

Finally, hard work pays off, and Captain Shi fulfilled his promise to complete the task in 80 seconds.

Captain Shi jokingly called it "Lightning Drill":

When the U-2 reconnaissance aircraft is 45 kilometers away, the fire control radar is activated and the first surface-to-air missile is launched within 80 seconds. Even if the enemy aircraft turns at a steep angle, it will not have time to dodge and will have to take the hit!

Lightning Maneuver's deeds quickly made it onto the praise column of the base's newsletter and were passed up level by level.

In the end, even Air Force Commander Liu was alarmed. He personally named this tactic "Close-Range Combat Tactic" and ordered four missile battalions to send technical backbone personnel to the Dongfeng Base to learn from the master immediately.

Everything is ready, all that's missing is the right opportunity!