The rise of a great power: starting with military industry

Chapter 229 Type 81 Infantry Fighting Vehicle

Production workshop.

Liu Tao is sweating profusely as he produces an armored vehicle.

After returning to Panshan Machinery Factory, Liu Tao began to think about what to do. After some thought, he decided to make an infantry fighting vehicle.

Infantry fighting vehicles are a type of transport used by infantry to accompany tanks in combat, and are equipped with small-caliber artillery and anti-tank missiles that can supplement tank firepower.

The world's first truly modern infantry fighting vehicle was the Soviet BMP-1. This infantry fighting vehicle, which was born in the early 60s, despite its many shortcomings, pioneered a new combat mode.

It is precisely because of the infantry fighting vehicles that the Soviet Union was the first country in the world to complete the construction of mechanized forces. Similarly, the United States also had infantry fighting vehicles and became the second country in the world to complete the construction of mechanized forces.

There are two elements of mechanized troops. One is the advance element, in which all members advance in the combat vehicles assigned to them; the other is the mobile combat element in which all members ride in the weapons and equipment assigned to them.

Without infantry fighting vehicles, there is no mechanized force at all.

More than two years ago in the "Red Dragon's Roar", in order to better accompany the tanks in combat, our soldiers sometimes had to march on the tanks like the Soviet army during World War II.

Because at present, China does not have any infantry fighting vehicles!

In "Red Dragon's Roar", because there were no infantry fighting vehicles, the soldiers advanced on Type 59 tanks. At that time, the tanks could carry too many infantrymen, and the infantrymen had no experience in carrying infantrymen. In order to prevent falling, they tied their bodies to the tanks with backpack straps. As a result, when they encountered an ambush, many soldiers were unable to untie themselves in time and were shot and killed.

Liu Tao chose to develop infantry fighting vehicles in order to fill this gap, supplement the combined brigade, and thus enhance the combat effectiveness of the combined brigade. In the future, China will build its troops into mechanized troops, and infantry fighting vehicles will also be indispensable.

The infantry fighting vehicles in the world today include the Soviet BMP1 infantry fighting vehicle and BMP2 infantry fighting vehicle, the American AIFV armored infantry fighting vehicle and M2 infantry fighting vehicle, the French AMX-10P infantry fighting vehicle and AMX-VCI infantry fighting vehicle, the German "Weasel" infantry fighting vehicle and the Italian VCC-1 armored infantry fighting vehicle. These are the only few infantry fighting vehicles.

Infantry fighting vehicles are divided into two types: tracked infantry fighting vehicles and wheeled infantry fighting vehicles.

Considering the complex environment of the battlefield, there is no doubt that tracked infantry fighting vehicles are more adaptable to the complex environment of the battlefield.

In the wild environment, the off-road performance of wheeled infantry fighting vehicles is definitely not as good as that of tracked infantry fighting vehicles.

Liu Tao also chose to develop a tracked infantry fighting vehicle.

After solving the problem of tracked infantry fighting vehicles, we will solve the problem of wheeled infantry fighting vehicles.

He chose the Type 81 light tank as the basis for his development.

Because this is an infantry fighting vehicle, not a tank, the armored defense capability requirements are not that high, and it does not need to be equipped with a 105mm tank gun. Instead, it is designed for infantry mobile operations, and its firepower, protection, and mobility can be better than that of an armored personnel carrier.

Under such circumstances, it took him only three days to make an infantry fighting vehicle that satisfied him.

The vehicle is 6.5 meters long, 3.1 meters wide, 2.35 meters high, and weighs 17 tons. It is equipped with a 1mm machine gun with a muzzle brake and a two-way stabilizer. It can be loaded automatically or manually. It has 30 rounds of ready-to-fire ammunition and 300 rounds of spare ammunition. The direct firing distance is 600 kilometer. The aiming distance for different ground targets is 1 to 2 kilometers, and it can deal with subsonic air targets at a distance of 4 kilometers. An anti-tank missile launch tube is also placed in the middle, equipped with 2 infrared-guided anti-tank missiles. 1 4mm machine gun, 1 rounds of ready-to-fire ammunition and 7.62 rounds of spare ammunition. In addition, there are 800 smoke bomb launchers on each side.

The turret and hull are equipped with additional armor, and the vehicle is equipped with three-defense devices, fire extinguishers, life-saving equipment for floating, and thermal smoke screen release devices.

The diesel engine has a horsepower of 650 horsepower, a maximum speed of 90 km/h on the road, a maximum speed of 70 km/h on the off-road, and a maximum range of 600 km.

3 crew members, 7 passengers!
After returning home, Liu Tao uploaded all the design information to the computer, then connected the computer to the printer and printed out 5 sets of design drawings. After forming a team to study the information of this Type 81 infantry fighting vehicle, Liu Tao did not invest much energy.

Producing such an infantry fighting vehicle is similar to producing the Type 81 light tank, or even much easier.

He believed that once the design data was fully understood, Factory 256 would be able to start production, and the mass production speed would be much faster than that of the Type 81 light tank.

Even at Factory 356, a production workshop can be set up to carry out production.

Liu Tao spent some more time producing four Type 81 infantry fighting vehicles, and then sent people to drive five infantry fighting vehicles to the combined brigade.

"How about it, Comrade Li Fuguo, Comrade Zhao Guoping, are you satisfied with this infantry fighting vehicle?" Liu Tao smiled faintly and pointed at the five neatly arranged infantry fighting vehicles.

"Director, how many people can this infantry fighting vehicle carry? What about its armored defense capabilities?" Li Fuguo couldn't help asking with his mouth drooling.

He didn't expect that in just a few days, Liu Tao would send him five infantry fighting vehicles.

"It has a crew of 3 and can carry 7 people. If we squeeze in, it should be no problem to carry 8 people." Liu Tao said with a smile, "It's definitely not as good as a tank in terms of armor defense, but ordinary pistols, rifles, and machine guns are no threat to it. A 30mm armor-piercing bullet will probably blow it to pieces!"

"But in the future we can add a layer of 25mm hardened steel to it, which should be able to defend against 30mm armor-piercing bullets," said Liu Tao.

Li Fuguo couldn't help but get in and try out this infantry fighting vehicle, which was similar to the tanks and self-propelled anti-aircraft guns he had driven before.

As for armored defense, it is not as good as tanks, but for infantry, it is much better than nothing.

Before, the entire combined brigade did not even have a single infantry fighting vehicle.

"Can it be mass-produced?" asked Li Fuguo.

"The production difficulty is not that great. It is easier than the Type 81 light tank. It will not be a problem to equip you with infantry fighting vehicles before the Spring Festival." Liu Tao said.

With Factory 256 and Factory 356, and even other factories that can consider production, producing 81 Type infantry fighting vehicles in half a year is no big deal in Liu Tao's opinion.

Liu Tao could even try to give orders to the First and Second Machine Factory to jointly produce the Type 81 infantry fighting vehicles, and the output would probably increase further.

Li Fuguo couldn't help but be overjoyed when he heard Liu Tao say this. This was really great news.

As expected, the factory director is a person who needs to be urged more often, and if he urges, there will be surprises.

Now Li Fuguo couldn't help but look forward to it. If all the infantry fighting vehicles were complete, the mobility of the entire combined brigade would be greatly improved. Even because of the machine guns and machine guns of the infantry fighting vehicles, the firepower would be greatly improved.

"Director, my good director, I really love you so much!" Li Fuguo even wanted to hug Liu Tao and kiss him.

Liu Tao backed away with a look of disgust on his face: "No, no, I only like women, I'm not interested in men!"

Seeing this, Zhao Guoping couldn't help but burst into laughter.

(End of this chapter)