The rise of a great power: starting with military industry

After leaving Guifei Group, Liu Tao came to QJ City.

Qujing Military Industrial Production Base, a military factory that produces air-to-air missiles.

华夏南方兵器工业集团总公司麾下，足足有六家空空导弹生产工厂，生产着霹雳8（PL-8、PLC-8）、霹雳12（PL-12、PLC）、霹雳-15（PL-15、PLC-15）三种型号的空空导弹。

Among them, the PL-8 is a short-range air-to-air missile used by the Chinese Air Force. It is 8 meters long, weighs 2.87 kilograms, has a maximum speed of 85.5 Mach, a warhead weight of 2.5 kilograms, a maximum range of 10 kilometers, and uses passive infrared guidance.

PL-8 is an export-oriented short-range air-to-air missile, with performance about 8% to % of that of the domestic version.

PL-12 is a medium-range air-to-air missile used by the Chinese Air Force. It is 12m long, 3.85m in diameter, 0.203mm in wingspan, 674kg in weight, with a maximum range of 160km, a maximum combat altitude of 90km, a maximum speed of Mach 25, and a maximum overload of 4G. It uses a mid-course radar semi-active/data link guidance + terminal radar active guidance system.

PL-12 is an export model, and its performance is about 12% to % of that of the domestic model.

PL-15 is a long-range air-to-air missile used by the Chinese Air Force. The missile is 15 meters long, 4.32 mm in diameter, weighs 203 kg, has a maximum range of 260 kilometers, and a terminal maximum speed of nearly Mach 180.

During the Iraq War, the PL-8 short-range air-to-air missile, PL-12 medium-range air-to-air missile, and PL-15 long-range air-to-air missile were used with great power, shooting down many joint force air force aircraft and Tomahawk cruise missiles.

It has been 17 years since these three missiles were born.

Its excellent performance has been well received by air forces of various countries.

But no matter what, after so much time, the performance is still not advanced enough.

This time, Liu Tao came to upgrade these two air-to-air missiles and develop a long-range air-to-air missile.

The upgrade direction of PL-8 is to improve the guidance method, computer system, fuel and other aspects.

The guidance method has been upgraded from passive infrared guidance to infrared countermeasure plus advanced inertial navigation system to strengthen the guidance method and enhance anti-interference capability.

After the enhanced guidance mode, the 'electro-optical tracking head' automatically and continuously searches for targets in the pilot's judgment area after launch, automatically detects targets, and automatically locks targets.

The computer system was upgraded and the computer power was 100 times higher than before. In order to solve the overheating problem of the missile computer, he simplified the calculation method and shortened the calculation time.

It uses a solid rocket engine to fuel its rocket, which allows it to reach a speed of Mach 3.

As for the warhead, the performance of the explosives has been enhanced, making the high-explosive fragmentation warhead more powerful both in close-range and impact situations.

The maximum range has been increased to 26 km.

This short-range air-to-air missile was named PL-9 by Liu Tao and is also China's new generation of short-range air-to-air missile.

PL-9 will be mainly equipped on the J-10 series fighters, J-11 series fighters, Sea Eagle carrier-based aircraft, and J-20 fighters.

The upgrade of the PL-12 medium-range air-to-air missile is to improve the performance of the solid rocket engine, thereby improving the missile's acceleration capability, so that it can reach a speed of Mach 4 in just over three seconds. In addition, the range is increased from 90 kilometers to 180 kilometers.

In addition, the original guidance performance was enhanced, and a two-way data link and Beidou navigation device were installed, so that the missile can send back its status information to the carrier aircraft, early warning aircraft, and satellites after launch.

At the same time, Liu Tao strengthened the anti-interference capability of air-to-air missiles.

Liu Tao named this medium-range air-to-air missile PL-13.

In addition to upgrading short-range air-to-air missiles and medium-range air-to-air missiles, Liu Tao began to upgrade long-range air-to-air missiles.

The upgrade directions of long-range air-to-air missiles include solid engines, guidance methods, warhead methods, etc. The upgraded solid engine and dual-pulse solid engine allow the missile to reach a speed of Mach 6 in just five seconds, and the maximum range is 400 kilometers.

The guidance performance has been upgraded, equipped with an active phased array radar seeker and inertial guidance, and a two-way data link and Beidou navigation device have been added to enhance anti-interference capabilities. At the same time, the performance of the missile computer has been improved by more than a hundred times.

The warhead has become smaller, but the explosion power and impact power have not decreased, but have increased.

The upgraded missile was named PL-16 by Liu Tao.

The optimization effect of this air-to-air missile is still very obvious.

These new air-to-air missiles will basically not be exported in the next 10 years, but will be equipped to the troops.

After printing out the information on the PL-9 short-range air-to-air missile, PL-13 medium-range air-to-air missile, and PL-16 long-range air-to-air missile, Liu Tao arranged for the air-to-air missile factory to produce them.

First produce a batch as a test, let the troops test it and accumulate data, and then start mass production when the tests are almost complete.

As long as production is confirmed, the troops will only need to purchase them. Within a few years, the production capacity of these three new missiles will be able to produce tens of thousands of missiles per year.

After all, China now has a complete industrial system, extremely strong production capacity, and its production capacity is increasing very quickly.

Of course, this does not mean that the original air-to-air missiles will no longer be produced. The original air-to-air missiles will still be produced, because the number of air-to-air missiles exported each year is still astonishing.

At every Zhuhai Air Show, orders for PL-8 and PL-12 missiles are very considerable.

As for air-to-air missiles, as long as you buy fighter jets from Panshan Group, you will inevitably introduce air-to-air missiles, and you will introduce them every year, because as long as the fighter jets are training, they will inevitably consume air-to-air missiles.

If we don't train in normal times, there will be no time to train during war.

The number of air-to-air missiles that need to be replenished is determined by the number of air-to-air missiles consumed each year.

Although each country will not purchase too much, the cumulative amount purchased by multiple countries is considerable.

一枚霹雳8（PLC-8）价格是6万美元，也就是24万人民币，一年出口1000枚，那就是2.4亿人民币。

一枚霹雳-12（PLC-12）价格是45万美元，即180万人民币，一年出口500枚便是9亿人民币。

Moreover, this price has been maintained for many years and has never increased.

Of course, in comparison, exporting aircraft is definitely more profitable, but the problem is that a small amount of money is still meat.

In this regard, he welcomes everyone who comes.

After all, Panshan Group is a huge company with so many employees, and the monthly salary is an astronomical figure. As the helmsman, he is under great pressure.

After dealing with this matter, he left, but instead of returning to Kun City, he went to the Malone Military Training Base.

Currently, a combined brigade is stationed at the Malan Military Training Base all year round, and more than 12 brigades come here every year for tactical exercises, with the largest scale of live-fire exercises reaching the army and division level.

Liu Tao came here not because there was a live-fire drill going on, but because a group of Panshan Group's employees this year were here to receive military training together with the 2004 freshmen of Southwest Associated University.

Since the 80s, Panshan Group has provided training to new employees before they join the company, and military training is part of the training. (End of this chapter)