I want to be emperor

Chapter 1139 Mechanization College

The team sent by the Military Academy to inspect was very interested in the No. 78 tank project developed by the Shaanxi-Gansu Weapons Company. After the first day of inspection, they stayed to continue to inspect various details and tests.

Including firepower test, protective performance test and maneuverability test, especially tests on complex terrain, including muddy terrain.

Among many tests, the test results of the No. 78 tank made the military quite satisfied.

In terms of firepower, there is a heavy machine gun directly in front of the car body and a coaxial heavy machine gun on the turret. These two eight-mm heavy machine guns have good firepower and can effectively kill various effective forces at medium and close ranges.

As for the 40mm howitzer, although the barrel is a bit short, resulting in a small effective range, it still has an effective range of two to three kilometers, and as a vehicle-mounted artillery, it does not need to be fired like ordinary artillery. For long-range bombardment, in the default setting, this artillery is actually used as frontline suppressive firepower. It is mainly used to kill various active forces within a kilometer.

In terms of the use of firepower, the tank developed by the Shaanxi-Gansu Weapons Company is actually an enhanced version of the armored vehicle's protection, off-road capabilities and firepower. It is mainly used to kill enemy infantry, not the tanks that started World War II in the original time and space. The same, used to perform anti-armor missions... These days, there are no enemy armored units that the Chu army can fight.

The Chu army's research and development goals for many new weapons are mostly aimed at opponents with little strength such as the indigenous people. What they focus on is better, safer, more efficient, and lower-cost killing of these indigenous troops in order to maintain the empire's global dominance. .

This is why the main gun on the No. 78 tank is not a cannon, but a short-barreled howitzer.

In addition to firepower, the protection capability is also quite good. The 15mm high-performance hardened armor directly in front of the car body can not only resist the firing of various small weapons, but can even resist the shelling of small and medium-caliber smoothbore cannons.

Although the armor on the side of the car body is a bit weak, it can still resist fire from various small weapons.

In terms of firearms, the eight-mm and 11-mm vehicle-mounted heavy machine guns that currently pose an effective threat to this type of tank are armor-piercing bullets. Now the Chu army's heavy machine guns have specially developed pointed armor-piercing bullets... This In fact, the bullets are not planted to hit their own armored vehicles, but to attack the simple fortifications and buildings of the indigenous people, and to kill the enemies hiding behind the buildings and simple fortifications.

Not to mention, it’s pretty easy to use... Using an 11mm truck-mounted heavy machine gun to fire armor-piercing bullets is very effective at strafing buildings where enemies are hiding. Sometimes it’s even better than artillery bombardment.

The armor-piercing bullets used by this kind of machine gun were actually developed by the Chu army. They are similar to the semi-armor-piercing bullets used by the navy's naval guns. The armor-piercing bullets of the navy's naval guns are not used to hit enemy warships or their own warships. They are mainly used to hit the indigenous people. Coastal defense artillery fortifications!

After all, the coastal defense artillery fortifications are all built very solidly, with structures such as masonry or soil several meters thick. Ordinary grenades can't really hit them... But when medium and large-caliber naval guns are used to fire armor-piercing projectiles, they will be destroyed as soon as they are fired. It can penetrate the shore defenses and explode internally, and the effect is excellent.

With the current protective performance of Battlefield 78, it would be difficult even for the Chu army to fight it by themselves... At least the high-explosive grenades fired by the mm infantry cannon, mm field gun and mountain cannon are very effective against this tank. The frontal damage capability is not that good... How can the mm hardened armor be penetrated so easily?

Of course, even if it cannot be penetrated, the shock wave generated can still shake the vehicle. The strong vibration can also cause the armor to shatter and brains to fall off. Sometimes the sheep used for testing in the vehicle are also injured by the shock.

But to cause such casualties, the prerequisite is that you can hit it... In actual combat, tanks are mobile, and it is not easy for ordinary field artillery to successfully target and hit a moving tank.

If you want to use these field artillery in the army to hit the battlefield or armored vehicles, it is not as reliable as a heavy machine gun that fires armor-piercing projectiles.

However, this is limited to the medium-caliber artillery currently in service by the Chu army's ground forces. If it is replaced by the small- and medium-caliber artillery from the navy, it will be different.

All the navy's artillery are long-barreled cannons. If you want to hit this kind of tank, not to mention the navy's 75mm naval gun, even if it is equipped with a lot of 40mm rapid-fire cannons, when firing armor-piercing projectiles They can easily penetrate the frontal armor of such tanks, and naval guns have a fast rate of fire and high accuracy, making them easier to fight.

In addition, the Army actually has a 40mm long-barreled artillery that it tried to equip before but later abandoned. This thing was modified from a naval gun. It was once intended to be used as a battalion-level infantry support artillery, but because The caliber is too small and the weight is too large, so after a simple test, nothing happened.

If this thing were to be taken out again, it would be able to hit the No. 78 tank accurately.

However, the above mentioned are all about the Chu army themselves... If it were the indigenous people, they didn't even have a rifled gun, so they couldn't penetrate a steel monster like the No. 78 tank.

The firepower and protection are among the top of the contemporary era. As for mobility, because it adopts a full-track walking structure, its off-road capabilities are very good. It can walk freely even on muddy dirt roads, and it has a certain ability to cross trenches and climb. slope ability.

But in contrast, its maximum highway speed and off-road speed are not very good. Even the maximum highway speed is only a mere 20 kilometers per hour.

In addition to the many advantages mentioned above, there is also a more serious problem, that is, the failure rate is relatively high, and various failures are prone to occur, such as track detachment, engine failure, gearbox failure, etc.

Especially during continuous maneuvers of hundreds of kilometers and frequent cross-country maneuvers, it is very easy for various malfunctions to occur and lead to crashes.

When the military representatives asked how the Shaanxi-Gan Weapons Company planned to solve this problem, the people from the Shaan-Gan Weapons Company looked innocent: This is a battlefield assault weapon. When we designed it, we did not consider it to be able to travel long distances on its own. march……

Well, their designers have never considered the issue of long-distance marching at all... Moreover, the fully crawler running mechanism they designed and modified attaches great importance to off-road performance, including climbing ability. This extreme emphasis also brings stability Sexual issues.

In their view, long-distance marches can only be carried out by train. When not far from the front line, tractors and trucks can also be used to pull them. Today's tractor-trailers can easily pull ten-ton heavy artillery maneuvers. This is not the case with tractors. A trailer is attached to the back, and then the trailer is loaded with battlefield maneuvers.

If the tractor tractor is not available, you can also use heavy-duty trucks for towing. These heavy-duty trucks are naturally difficult to use in the wild, but if the road conditions are good, they can pull a ten-ton artillery.

And their No. 78 tank weighs less than ten tons, only more than eight tons.

Use trains for ultra-long distances, use tractors or heavy trucks for medium-distance transportation, and then let the tank maneuver on its own after arriving at the battlefield... This is the maneuvering method of the No. 78 tank.

This is a fully tracked combat vehicle, and it is not a wheeled armored vehicle that is inherently suitable for road maneuvers. Do you still expect it to rely on its own tracked walking structure to travel hundreds of kilometers? Why don't you go to heaven! After getting the answer from the designers of the Shaanxi-Gansu Weapons Company, the military representatives were speechless... Well, if you want this thing to be used on the battlefield, you have to equip it with a heavy-duty vehicle nanny!

At the same time, this mobility defect also made the generals of the Military Academy begin to pay attention to another heavy armored vehicle that was also developed for urban combat environments.

Heavy armored vehicles, this is a change made by the military after equipping and using the 320 armored vehicle and two other light armored vehicles. It deeply felt that the protective performance of these three armored vehicles, even the 320 armored vehicle, was still not enough.

The military is trying to tender for a heavy armored vehicle with better protection performance that can effectively resist various rifled light weapons, including machine gun weapons. It adopts a wheeled walking structure, has good road mobility, and can continuously maneuver hundreds of kilometers on its own.

Well, the kind that doesn’t require a nanny to tow.

It doesn't require much firepower, just a heavy machine gun.

The off-road performance is not too demanding, as long as it can walk normally on dirt roads... Anyway, we don't expect this thing to fight on muddy roads in the wild. The intended combat scenario of this kind of vehicle is in the city, and there is no need to run around in the wild mountains.

However, the protection must be good and must be able to withstand the shooting of various small arms, especially the shooting of various single-shot rifled rifles that have been widely equipped by indigenous people in various countries.

Combined with this requirement, Hebei Weapons Company once again took action, using the chassis of their 320 armored vehicle to enhance the protective performance by reducing mobility.

Although the territory of the 320 armored vehicle is a bit small, it can still be achieved after some trade-offs.

In the end, military representatives under the Military Academy saw the chassis of the 320 armored vehicle modified into the so-called heavy armored vehicle of the future.

It is said to be a heavy armored vehicle, but in fact the weight of the vehicle is still only more than six tons, which is only about one ton more than the 320 armored vehicle.

The 11mm heavy machine gun continues to be used for firepower. The military is still very fond of this specially developed vehicle-mounted heavy machine gun. It feels that this thing is very good, especially for attacking fortifications. The armor-piercing ability of buildings makes the military very satisfied. Like... This ability can play a greater role in the complex terrain of the city. When you see the enemy hiding behind a building, just shoot over with a hail of bullets and that's it.

The protection adopts stronger protective performance, not only emphasizing the frontal armor, but also stronger side and even tail armor... The design goal of this thing is to fight in the city and prevent the enemy from making cold shots from the buildings on both sides of the road. Therefore, Pay more attention to side armor.

However, after strengthening the protection, due to the increase in weight, the maneuverability has also dropped significantly. The maximum highway speed, off-road speed, climbing ability, and obstacle crossing ability are not as good as the 320 armored vehicle.

But it is still sufficient for fighting in urban environments with flat terrain.

This type of armored vehicle was named the 321 Armored Vehicle. After the military inspection, the military did not hesitate much and directly ordered more than vehicles for various tests, and prepared to send them directly to chaotic places in Europe for live ammunition testing.

The military values ​​this kind of armored vehicle not only because of its excellent protection capabilities, but also because this thing is in the same series as the 320 armored vehicle. The two are actually highly similar. The only difference is the armor thickness and maneuverability.

This means that the two can use the same logistics supply and maintenance support system for the 320 armored vehicles established by the military.

There is no need to establish a new system.

this point is very important!

Armored vehicles these days are still very delicate, not only expensive, but also very troublesome to maintain. In order to use armored vehicles and automobiles on a large scale, the Army has specially built a brand new mechanical college to train relevant mechanized force commanders. , operations, maintenance, logistics supply and other related talents.

This is the third low-level military academy established by the Chu Empire Army, after the Artillery Academy and the Engineer Academy.

There are quite a lot of military academies in the Dachu Empire. The highest level one is the 'Dachu Empire Staff College', which is for the army, navy and the Guards.

It consists of five colleges including the Army Command College, the Naval Command College, the Military and Political College, the Logistics College, and the Science and Technology College. The school does not recruit students from outside, but only recruits students from the grassroots officers of the three armed forces, specializing in cultivating the comprehensive ability of senior generals. Military academies.

Under the General Staff College, there are three orthodox military academies: the Army Officers Academy, the Naval Officers Academy, and the Guards Officers Academy. These three military academies are currently the most difficult to apply for in the Chu Empire, besides the Royal Institute of Technology... The scores in the joint college entrance examination exceed those of so-called prestigious liberal arts schools such as Imperial College and Jinling University of Science and Technology.

Under the three military academies, there are more than ten subdivided secondary military academies, such as the Infantry Academy, the Artillery Academy, the Cavalry Academy, the Engineer Academy, the Logistics Academy, the Military Medical College, the Military Technical Academy, the Military Communications Academy, and the Navigation Academy in the Navy. College, shipbuilding college, etc., and now a mechanical college has to be added.

In addition to these professional military academies, there are actually juvenile military academies in various provinces. Basically, there is one in every province. Young people with good health, excellent academic performance, and aspirations to join the army are recruited from junior high school students and receive relevant training in high school. Military knowledge, physical training, etc... Of course, this kind of juvenile military academy is not a military academy. Although students undergo military management and study, they are still ordinary students. The academic certificates they receive after graduation are also ordinary high school diplomas, and they can also apply for ordinary students. University... But their graduates have a higher probability of applying for military academies, and their application success rate is also higher.

Even if you can't get into the three major military academies, you still have a certain probability in more than a dozen military academies.

The semi-military Junior Military Academy, the Second-level Military Academy, the First-level Military Academy and the Higher Staff College formed the officer training system of the Great Chu Empire. Every year, a large number of officers were trained to enrich the armies and command millions of troops. Maintaining a global reign of military deterrence.

Now, the Chu Army has joined a new military academy such as the Military Mechanical Institute, which shows the great determination of the Chu Empire to promote mechanization.

(End of this chapter)