The rise of a great power: starting with military industry

Chapter 268 60mm Mortar Development Task

"Develop a 60mm mortar?"

Liu Tao was a little surprised to get a task when he came to the China North Industries Corporation.

People respect artillery as the "God of War". Its status and role in war are self-evident.

In every historical period since its founding, the People's Army has always attached great importance to the construction and combat use of artillery and has spared no effort in developing artillery weapons.

Mortars, since their introduction in the early 20th century, have been an effective suppression weapon to support and accompany infantry combat.

With the advancement of technology, the role of mortars has been continuously expanding. Its status cannot be replaced by other artillery, but can only be strengthened and developed.

According to Liu Tao's understanding, my country's main equipment includes 60mm, 82mm, 120mm and 160mm mortars.

Mortars can be divided into three types according to their caliber: light, medium and heavy. Mortars with a caliber below 60 mm are called light mortars, mortars with a caliber between 60 and 100 mm are called medium mortars, and mortars with a caliber above 100 mm are called heavy mortars.

目前部队装备的迫击炮，主力军还是仿苏制53式82迫、55式120迫、56式162迫。

"The troops on the front line need 60mm mortars to strengthen their firepower." Wang Baoguo said: "Now in the national weapons industry system, you have the strongest scientific research capabilities, so this difficult task is given to you."

Liu Tao nodded.

The 60mm mortar is a small-caliber mortar that is widely equipped in company-level units. Now the troops are equipped with a large number of Type 63 60mm mortars. The Type 63 60mm mortar was finalized in 1963. It is the first generation of light mortars independently developed and produced in my country. Its combat weight is 14.5 kg and its range is 1470 meters.

The advantages of the Type 63 60mm mortar are its lightness and flexibility, but its disadvantage is also obvious, that is, its poor shooting stability.

Therefore, starting in the early 70s, we began to improve the design, using high-strength steel and further simplifying the structure, reducing the total weight to 11.5 kilograms while ensuring the stability of the launch, and thus won the National Science Conference Award.

Entering the second half of the 70s, science and technology developed rapidly worldwide, and a large number of new materials and new technologies were continuously applied to the field of mortar production. Mortars with lighter weight, longer range, greater power and stronger maneuverability continued to emerge.

Now the country also feels the urgency of the development of mortars, coupled with the needs on the front battlefield, so it is necessary to develop a new generation of 60mm mortars.

"Okay, when I get back, I will start arranging the development of a new generation of 60mm mortars." Liu Tao said.

Wang Baoguo said: "I'll leave this to you. The troops are in urgent need of advanced 60mm mortars. The Type 63 mortar cannot meet the needs of the battlefield after all."

Wang Baoguo was also somewhat helpless. Other artillery factories and research institutions had suffered great damage in the past decade or so, and have not yet completely gotten back on track.

However, the artillery fire at the company level on the front line was weak and urgently needed to be strengthened.

There is no doubt that mortars are the most suitable for the company level.

The Type 80 rocket launcher developed by Panshan Machinery Factory is a good thing, but its range is too short after all.

For the troops, mortars are of irreplaceable importance.

In the past, mortars were the only indirect fire weapons of infantry units, which could not only strike enemies in front of them, but also shoot targets behind obstacles.

Even in today's world, infantry units of armies of various countries and regions use mortars as their main fire support weapons.

The importance of an advanced 60mm mortar to the troops can be imagined.

"Leader, don't worry. We have received this new 60mm mortar. We will develop it as quickly as possible and hand it over to the troops for use," said Liu Tao.

Liu Tao plans to develop not only 60mm mortars, but also mortars of other calibers.

The conditions are much better now than they were back then, and the upper limit of the weapons he can develop is also very high.

It was not a big deal to develop a 60mm mortar with advanced performance. In the past period of time, he was more focused on developing weapons and equipment needed by synthetic battalions and synthetic brigades, but neglected the weapons needed by other infantry.

In terms of firearms, the development is almost the same.

But in terms of artillery, it is quite lacking.

For example, this mortar had been ignored by him before.

He had previously considered more the self-propelled mortars, which were large-caliber, but the weapons for infantry were ignored.

At this time, after Wang Baoguo arranged the development task, Liu Tao realized that he still had a lot of things to do, and the development of these cannons was equally important.

China has a large number of infantry, so it is particularly important to improve the combat effectiveness of the infantry.

Among them, cannon is the king of war, and cannons of various calibers and different types have their important roles.

"Leader, are there any major events in the world recently?" Liu Tao asked.

He is in Panshan Machinery Factory, so he is always relatively isolated from the news.

The only ways to get news are through television, newspapers and radio.

But these are things that everyone knows, and he doesn't know about those that have not been reported.

"The two sides in the Iran-Iraq War are still fighting fiercely, and there is no sign of a winner for the time being. Neither side intends to give up and negotiate," Wang Baoguo introduced.

Now the Iran-Iraq War has entered a stalemate and the Iraqi army can no longer push the front line.

The Persian army was unable to fight the Iraqi army head-on, but now they adopted guerrilla warfare, breaking up into small groups and constantly attacking the Iraqi army's supply lines, which caused Iraq to suffer heavy losses.

Both sides are consuming their own energy, and a war of attrition is the most terrifying.

Many weapons, ammunition and supplies were not destroyed on the battlefield but were blown up.

The massive war between the two sides caused major military factories across the country to run at full capacity.

Now, military factories across the country are producing while carrying out reforms.

In addition, many factories are also busy, and clothes, shoes, etc. are exported in large quantities to Iran and Iraq.

Even food is being exported.

And these exported goods are continuously converted into US dollars, which are then used to import various goods from abroad.

Both sides are consuming their foreign exchange reserves every day, and this war of attrition has advantages and disadvantages for both sides.

For Iraq, the daily oil exports are enough to make up for the consumption of foreign exchange, but we must know that Iraq has a small population, only one-third of Persia, and the casualties of soldiers have also made Iraq very uncomfortable.

Persia has a population three times that of Iraq, and it has a constant supply of soldiers. For every soldier killed, two more may go to the battlefield. However, Abadan is the most important oil-producing area in Persia. It was surrounded by Iraqi troops, so exports were out of the question. This dealt a heavy blow to Persia's oil exports. After more than a year of war, Persia's foreign exchange reserves were only $220 billion.

Moreover, the rate at which foreign exchange reserves are declining is still accelerating. It is estimated that within a few years, Persia's foreign exchange reserves will be exhausted.

Moreover, Persia's casualties were significantly higher than Iraq's, and the war was mainly fought in Persia, which meant that the losses themselves were even greater.

(End of this chapter)