The rise of a great power: starting with military industry

Chapter 163: Unsustainable Motorization
After infantry, the next development direction is mule and horse.

The mule-and-horse system is the least standardized and least popular level of military development and can be considered a transition.

After the mule and horse, the next step is motorization. Motorization does not mean that all soldiers ride motorcycles, but that all soldiers ride wheeled vehicles when marching. Those who do not march on foot all ride in vehicles, that is, motorized marching. Motorization is only reflected in the ability to march in a motorized manner. After arriving at the battlefield, soldiers still need to adopt an infantry combat mode, and vehicles are only responsible for transportation, that is, using vehicles instead of walking.

Each combat unit has its own wheeled vehicle. The artillery has an artillery tractor, and the artillerymen ride on the tractor.

Simply put, motorization means driving in a vehicle and getting off to fight, which is its biggest feature.

Motorization is a long stage, and the armies of many countries are stuck at this stage.

During World War II, the military powers of Europe, America and the Soviet Union could all be considered motorized or semi-motorized, while the German army was semi-mechanized.

It was precisely because of the strength of the German semi-mechanized army that after the end of World War II, the Soviet Union, the United States and other countries began to reform their military and gradually motorized their armies. After the motorization of the armies, they continued to reform and continue to develop in the direction of mechanization.

Finally, the Soviet army achieved mechanization in 1964, and the United States announced that it had achieved mechanization last year.

As for mechanization, it is the next development direction of motorization. Mechanized troops have two elements: one is the advance element, where all members move forward in the combat vehicles assigned to the organization, and the other is the mobile combat element where all members move forward in the weapons and equipment assigned to the organization.

Mechanization is the formation of tank armored assault clusters with tanks, infantry fighting vehicles, armored personnel carriers, self-propelled artillery and other weapons and equipment, which can carry out large clusters or small clusters or even small-scale operations. Driving in and fighting in vehicles are the biggest characteristics of mechanization. Mechanization is a manifestation of a systematic combat mode!
The Afghan War is a typical example of the Soviet Army's mechanized warfare.

At present, only the Soviet Army and the American Army have achieved mechanization in the world, and no other army has achieved mechanization.

Because it is extremely difficult.

Because mechanization of troops is difficult and takes a long time, some scholars have introduced semi-mechanization.

For example, the German army during World War II achieved semi-mechanization.

Of course, some people also believe that during World War II, military powers such as the German Army, the American Army, and the Soviet Army had already achieved mechanization.

This debate will always exist and will not disappear even after forty years.

"The Soviet Union and the United States are the two poles of the world today. Their military construction leads the world trend. According to the development direction of their armies, after achieving mule-horse-based military operations, our army should achieve semi-motorization, motorization, semi-mechanization, and mechanization! This is a cyclical and gradual process." Liu Tao said: "Motorization requires a large number of cars and troop carriers. Do you think our country's automobile industry can support the current semi-motorization and motorization of the army? How much money does the army need to spend to achieve semi-motorization and motorization?"

Zhao Guoping shook his head.

How can it be?

Last year, the national automobile production was less than 19 units, and this automobile production does not only include cars, but also includes motorcycles, with the production of motorcycles reaching as high as 26500 units.

China's automobile industry cannot be sustained at all.

And cars are expensive, and imported ones are even more expensive.

Zhao Guoping knew that the cost of each Hongqi car was between 6 and 20 yuan, and if he sold it to the state for 5 yuan, he would lose money. Imported cars, mainly from the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, used many GAZM21 'Volga' and FSO 'Warsaw' as special cars for leaders at all levels.

After Nixon visited China in 1972 and China and the United States announced the normalization of relations, the Japanese responded quickly. Japanese Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka came to China and directly promoted the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Japan. As part of the demonstration of Sino-Japanese friendship, China agreed to import a batch of cars from Japan. This was also the first time that the People's Republic of China imported a large number of advanced cars from Western countries after its founding.

At that time, 200 Toyota Crowns were imported, and each one cost $5700!
If all cars were imported from Europe and the United States, then even if all the foreign exchange in the country was used to purchase them, it would still be far from enough for the army to achieve semi-motorization, let alone motorization.

As for mechanization, it seems that there is no hope at all.

Liu Tao was also quite emotional. According to normal development, after the 80s, the Chinese army carried out reforms again and again, continuously streamlining the troops. The saved military expenditures were then used for troop reforms, gradually achieving semi-motorization. By the 90s, semi-motorization was basically completed, and it was not until the millennium that motorization was completed. Then, as if by cheating, it took only about ten years to complete semi-mechanization and mechanization. In the first decade of the 21st century, the mechanization of the troops was basically completed.

But by that time, the US military and other Western military powers had already achieved informatization.

"Then why did the factory director set up a combined battalion?" Zhao Guoping was puzzled. "And he said this would be the future direction of our army?"

"Although I believe that military reform is a cyclical and gradual process, it does not prevent us from conducting trial and error. Reform is like crossing a river by feeling the stones. If this road is successful, there is no doubt that we can accumulate experience and provide a direction and template for future military reforms, which can save a lot of time and unnecessary waste." Liu Tao smiled, "Even if it fails, it's nothing more than a waste of some bullets and shells. The soldiers' skills will be improved, and the weapons and equipment will not be destroyed."

"Failure also brings with it lessons, which are also valuable assets." Liu Tao is very optimistic.

The combined forces battalion was very expensive, and Liu Tao was well aware of this.

Just such a combined battalion requires 20 Type 80 tanks and 2 Type 80 self-propelled anti-aircraft guns, which is a huge investment.

But he thinks it's worth it, and now Panshan Machinery Factory can afford to support a combined battalion.

Once successful, the significance will be extraordinary, as it means finding out the future development direction of the troops.

Having a direction for development is definitely much better than groping in the dark.

After completing mechanization, the Soviet and American armies were not clear about their future development directions, and they spent a huge amount of money on exploration every year.

It was also the Gulf War, a resounding victory, that reshaped the U.S. military’s spirit of victory and opened up a modern warfare model.

You have to know that although the current US military has officially announced the realization of mechanization, everyone only recognizes that the US Air Force and Navy are strong. As for the army, it is far inferior to the Soviet Army. Even many countries are full of contempt for the US Army.

After all, in the past thirty years, all the wars that the US military has experienced, any war that was half decent, ended in failure.

The U.S. military looks very powerful on paper, and its weapons and equipment are also world-class, but it seems that the U.S. military can no longer fight.

On the contrary, the Soviet army and the steel torrent were definitely the nightmare of countless people.

As long as Liu Tao can figure out the way of the combined battalion, it is no exaggeration to say that he can save China at least tens of billions or even hundreds of billions of military expenditure.

(End of this chapter)