Chapter 645: Chief Engineer Gao’s rebellious period?

Gao Zhendong always waited to be called before speaking in the past, but today he couldn't wait any longer? I don't know if this is a good thing or a bad thing.

But no matter what, when Gao Zhendong opened his mouth to speak, everyone would basically stop and wait for him to speak.

As for those who don't know when to stop, it is not his turn to stop them.

"Comrade Zhendong, do you have any suggestions? Feel free to speak up, don't hesitate."

Although Gao Zhendong had not made much progress in the field of barreled support artillery other than tank guns, who knows if he didn't have enough time? He seemed to have never set foot in any of these fields, but there were so many areas where he could become famous overnight.

This person cannot use common sense to judge, that's not right, this person is unreasonable.

Fortunately, although they are unreasonable, they still stick to science and do not play tricks. The things they propose may be inappropriate in terms of timing, but they are basically technically sound.

Comrades from the army, the Defense Committee, and the artillery workers all stared at him intently.

Gao Zhendong cleared his throat. "Let's put aside the cannons used for anti-artillery operations. They are heavy and long. Whether it is 130mm or 122mm, it is impossible to put them on the vehicle for the time being. My suggestion is to focus on the 122mm self-propelled howitzer in the near future."

122 pomegranate?
The comrades from the Land Equipment Bureau were somewhat puzzled: "Chief Engineer Gao, the range of the 122 howitzer is not very good."

We have always wanted to upgrade the 122 howitzer, but in Gao Zhendong's previous life, the upgrade was not successful until the 80s. Before that, we had been using the old Russian M-1938 imitation, but the range was... Haha.

——Maximum 11.8 kilometers.

As a medium-caliber gun, this S2-level technology-level gun was basically rubbed to the ground.

So Gao Zhendong's suggestion made everyone very puzzled. Apart from other suggestions, the first one does not meet the requirements.

Gao Zhendong shook his head: "I know that the range of the Su-38 replica is only a little over 10 kilometers, but let's not discuss the range issue first, let's see if the 122 howitzer is suitable."

Su-38 is the abbreviation of the Russian M-1938.

Although the caliber of 122mm is close to 130mm, it is actually used as a medium-caliber gun in the equipment sequence of the Russians and us. Its status is similar to that of the Citigroup's 105mm. The main factor that determines the range of the gun is the internal ballistic design.

When Gao Zhendong said this, the eyes of the comrades who knew him better lit up. Hey, what you mean...

Just let it go, especially the comrades in the Land Equipment Bureau and the Army, who felt a little more confident, but the comrades who were engaged in artillery were still a little confused.

After ignoring the range of the 122mm grenade, the remaining problems are easy to think about.

In terms of power, although the 122mm howitzer is inferior to the 152mm howitzer, there is no qualitative difference, especially in terms of anti-artillery, as it is not designed to hit hard targets.

But 122 solves the most important problem: weight.

The weight of the 152 howitzer is over 5 tons, and it is not easy to find a chassis to carry it. For comrades who are engaged in artillery, they are not familiar with vehicle chassis, and we have few mature chassis, so it is really difficult to find a chassis to carry it.

But the 122 howitzer weighs about 2 tons, which is different. There are more options.

"If you don't consider the range, the 122mm howitzer is really good."

"But the most important thing is the range. How can we not consider it?"

"If it's more than 2 tons, the 4DL can probably carry it with its body."

"It's tough, just barely."

"Don't worry about whether Mian is reluctant or not, at least he can carry it."

"..."

In fact, using 4DL to imitate the Su-38 was something Gao Zhendong knew in his previous life. It was the plan for our first generation of self-propelled artillery.

Convertible, fixed shooting angle, but this is extremely simple, and it is something at the same technical level as the S2. We originally had to wait until the 80s to solve the problem and really be able to use it.

This is not what Gao Zhendong wants.

He also considered truck guns, but given the traffic conditions and combat environment at the time, it was not really appropriate to use truck guns. The off-road performance of domestic trucks was not that good, and they were not capable of accompanying mechanized troops in combat. So he had to give up, at least not as the main combat equipment.

There is a reason why the distinction between mechanized and motorized forces was made at this time. Simply put, tracked vehicles are mechanized, and vehicles that run on tires are motorized.

Seeing that the comrades were all leaning towards 4DL, Gao Zhendong quickly pulled them back. Who said anything about 4DL? There was also a pretty magical chassis. It was just that at that time no one could imagine that this thing could be used, and it was quite useful.

We originally came up with the idea of ​​this thing in the 80s when we were forced into a corner, and later we found that it is pretty damn useful.

In this regard, Gao Zhendong has no skills at all, and is so poor that he only has the knowledge from his previous life. "Comrades, my idea is not to use 4DL. I am very familiar with this thing. Even if it is carrying a 122 howitzer, it is very tight, which will seriously limit the technical and tactical performance of the self-propelled artillery." Gao Zhendong said with a smile.

The comrades who worked on artillery did not know where Gao Zhendong got the confidence to say this, but the comrades from the Land Equipment Bureau knew that Gao Zhendong had made great efforts in the improvements of 4DL before it was finally finalized, so he said that he was familiar with 4DL and there was absolutely no problem.

The comrades from the Land Equipment Bureau immediately threw out the idea of ​​the 4DL carrying the 122 howitzer.

"Chief Engineer Gao, what kind of chassis should we use? 5DL tank?" In their opinion, since Gao Zhendong was working on the second-generation tank, it would be a natural thing to lower the first-generation 5DL tank and use it as the chassis for the self-propelled artillery.

Gao Zhendong shook his head: "No, the 5DL is based on a real tank. The entire structure, protection, and load-bearing capacity are designed according to tanks. It is not suitable as a self-propelled artillery chassis."

The armor of a tank cannot be thinned at will. Part of the armor serves as the load-bearing structure, so it would be a huge workload to modify it.

Seeing that everyone was puzzled, Gao Zhendong said, "We are imitating the Russians' PT-76 amphibious tank. I think it will be very useful if we modify the chassis."

Amphibious tank? Gao Zhendong's idea is so wild that no one can figure it out.

Chief Engineer Gao has expressed very subversive opinions today. It seems that he has reached his rebellious stage?

"Comrade Zhendong, amphibious tanks have nothing to do with this. Aren't there more things that need to be modified?" The chief engineer of the Defense Work Committee raised an objection.

Gao Zhendong smiled and said, "The structure of the amphibious tank is actually a little stronger than that of the infantry fighting vehicle. Its weak protection is actually an advantage here. As a self-propelled artillery chassis that does not attach great importance to protection, this thing has a natural advantage and is easy to modify."

After saying that, he enumerated the advantages of the amphibious tank chassis.

"Amphibious tanks are naturally large and spacious, with just enough protection, and their engine power is 4 times that of the 1.5DL, so there is sufficient power redundancy. With some modifications, it can be used as a universal chassis and can even be used for more than just self-propelled artillery."

Universal chassis? That's a good idea! The comrades in the Land Equipment Bureau immediately felt that their minds were opened up. Now they are thinking about mechanizing troops, and they need to move more than just self-propelled artillery onto the vehicles.

“Hey, that’s a good idea!”

"Interesting. If you think about it carefully, this modification is really suitable for amphibious tanks."

"Where is this comrade from? He seems to be familiar with all kinds of vehicles."

"Don't ask around, pay attention to discipline. Let's talk about technology, let's talk about technology."

"Well, I think we can change it..."

"..."

Seeing that everyone was attracted by Gao Zhendong's suggestion, the chief engineer of the Defense Work Committee smiled and said, "Comrade Zhendong, what do you think should be changed?"

Don't bother two people with one thing. You should perfect your suggestion first.

"Simple. Remove the amphibious requirement and only maintain the most basic floating capability. Appropriately reduce the overly large vehicle body, and then put the engine in the front to leave operating space in the rear. Don't set too high a requirement for the vehicle body's bulletproof capability. It only needs to be able to defend against 12.7mm armor-piercing bullets."

This universal chassis is not used to fight head-on with enemy tanks. Even the firepower threat faced by the equipment is greater than this. The protection is almost enough, and the weight can be saved for other things.

Although high-level targets are extremely unpopular with front-mounted engines in tanks, as a self-propelled artillery chassis, a front-mounted engine is very useful, as the back is reserved for personnel to get on and off the vehicle, replenish ammunition, etc.

As for the change from amphibious to floating, it is necessary. Amphibious tanks sacrifice too much in other aspects for amphibious. The requirements for water speed, reserve buoyancy and other indicators between the two are different.

Gao Zhendong's suggestion plunged everyone into a heated discussion again. The more they argued, the clearer the ideas became, and the more excited they became.

The Land Equipment Bureau and the troops were overjoyed. After all, even if the problem with the self-propelled artillery was not solved, the issue of the universal mechanized chassis was inadvertently solved.

The Defense Work Committee and the Land Equipment Bureau simply made a decision on the spot: no matter what kind of gun or chassis is used, this thing will not be changed!

After deciding on this matter, the comrades from the Land Equipment Bureau were still not satisfied: "Chief Engineer Gao, how do you think the turret of this gun should be built?"

Gao Zhendong shook his head: "I'm not an expert in this field, so I'm not familiar with it and can't explain it clearly. But I have a suggestion. You don't need to use as many 12.7mm bulletproof bullets as possible. The turret can just protect against 7.62mm bullets, unless there is enough weight to spare."

Only defending 7.62? This is not Gao Zhendong's style.

I can still vividly remember how he almost jumped up and pointed his finger at the researchers and scolded them in order to upgrade the 4DL defense from 7.62 to 12.7. Why did he change his temper today?
The comrade who was working on the gun was a little embarrassed: "Isn't 7.62 a little thin?"

The comrades in the army were thoughtful: "Chief Engineer Gao's suggestion is very good. If there is no extra weight to place armor, 7.62 is enough. This thing is far behind and will not face the battlefield directly. It only needs basic protection."

Gao Zhendong added: "The most important thing about this equipment is sealing, so as to facilitate the arrangement of the three defenses. As for the protection, it's OK if it's just about right. It depends on the final design result. If it can be stacked up, of course it's good. If it can't be stacked up, it's not a big problem."

Those who were familiar with him were relieved. He had not changed and still cared about the soldiers. For self-propelled artillery, the three defenses were indeed more important than direct protection.

(End of this chapter)