The rise of a great power: starting with military industry

Chapter 76 Anti-aircraft Machine Guns and Anti-aircraft Guns
"What!?"

"You developed a new anti-aircraft machine gun!?"

Wang Tiezhu's hand holding the receiver was shaking. He couldn't help but yell, his eyes full of disbelief.

Not long after accepting the rifle grenades and sniper grenade launchers, Liu Tao actually developed another firearm, and it was a powerful weapon.

Anti-aircraft machine guns are large-caliber machine guns designed mainly for attacking aerial targets.

During the First World War, Germany and France produced the earliest anti-aircraft machine guns. Initially, heavy machine guns were mounted on special gun mounts and used as anti-aircraft machine guns.

By the Second World War, anti-aircraft machine guns were widely used. The more famous ones included the Soviet DSHK 12.7mm anti-aircraft machine gun and the ZPU-1 14.5mm anti-aircraft machine gun, which became the most important air defense weapons.

After World War II, due to the continuous increase in aircraft flight altitude and speed, the role of anti-aircraft machine guns weakened and their development was slow.

But this does not mean that China does not need anti-aircraft machine guns. On the contrary, China needs anti-aircraft machine guns very much.

Otherwise, they would not always want to continuously improve on the Type 54 anti-aircraft machine gun to enhance its performance.

However, due to technological limitations, the development of anti-aircraft machine guns is very slow and not as good as expected!

Now Liu Tao suddenly called him and said that he had developed a new anti-aircraft machine gun.

You have to know that it is an anti-aircraft machine gun. On the battlefield, it can be used for air defense, shoot down planes, and can also fire horizontally, becoming a nightmare for enemy infantry.

The Yunnan Provincial Defense Management Office had just temporarily named the rifle-howitzer and sniper-grenade launcher as the Type 78 rifle-howitzer and the Type 78 sniper-grenade launcher and submitted the materials to the Fifth Ministry of Machine Building, and before they had even had a chance to rest, Liu Tao had developed a new anti-aircraft machine gun.

"Director, we have manufactured two prototypes of this anti-aircraft machine gun. They are made of titanium alloy, have a range of 2500 meters, and a caliber of 14.5 mm," Liu Tao reported the basic parameters of the anti-aircraft machine gun.

"Anti-aircraft machine guns are just the first step. After all, our factory already has a complete set of design drawings for the Type 54 anti-aircraft machine gun. Improving on this basis is not a big deal." Liu Tao said without much concern: "My next goal is to develop anti-aircraft guns. By then, anti-aircraft machine guns and anti-aircraft guns can form a preliminary air defense network!"

Anti-aircraft guns are mainly used to attack aerial targets such as airplanes, helicopters and aircraft. They were produced during the First World War and opened a new chapter in air defense operations in the history of war.

Although with the development of surface-to-air missiles, large-caliber anti-aircraft guns have gradually been replaced by surface-to-air missiles, it does not mean that anti-aircraft guns have no use.

After all, surface-to-air missiles are expensive, much more expensive than anti-aircraft guns!

But Liu Tao remembered that even after forty years, many countries would still be equipped and developing anti-aircraft guns.

"Anti-aircraft gun? You are in the field of firearms, how could you possibly be researching guns?" Wang Tiezhu didn't believe it at all.

Although anti-aircraft guns and anti-aircraft machine guns look similar, you should know that one is a cannon and the other is a gun.

Cannons and guns are two completely different things.

Liu Tao is a firearms expert and can make an anti-aircraft machine gun. Although Wang Tiezhu was shocked, he could accept it.

Because Liu Tao showed himself to be a top firearms expert, and it was normal for a genius firearms expert to develop any type of firearm.

But if you tell him that Liu Tao can develop a cannon, he won't believe it even if you kill him.

"Director, guns and cannons, in the final analysis, have the same purpose. You'll know when I develop them." Liu Tao said with a smile, "I'll have to trouble you to organize a team of experts to inspect this anti-aircraft machine gun. You'll also have to coordinate with me on the titanium alloy."

"Okay, I'll organize the experts right away and tell you when the time is set!" Wang Tiezhu said. Now that it has been developed, he naturally has to go to the site to see it.

At Panshan Machinery Factory, Liu Tao put down the phone and looked at the map on the wall, thinking.

Panshan Machinery Factory is here, so naturally they also planned a production workshop for producing cannons.

It was just Wang Tiezhu's reminder last time that made him realize the safety issue and that concentrating together was not conducive to safety prevention.

"It seems that the construction of other factories has to be put on the agenda!" Liu Tao said secretly.

Although the production area and production workshops of Panshan Machinery Factory are separated with a considerable distance between them, with trees planted in the middle and ivy planted to cover the factory, it is impossible for it to be destroyed in an instant even if it is attacked by missiles. However, it would be different if it was bombed by bombers, and the losses would be heavy.

This possibility is small, but not impossible.

This also made him constantly think about building a branch factory.

Now Factory 991, Factory 9815 and Factory 9807 have been merged into Panshan Machinery Factory, and the land all belongs to Panshan Machinery Factory.

Moreover, after the last meeting with the leaders, all the previously submitted planning maps were approved. Each factory area is at least 100 square kilometers, and even the area of ​​Factory 9807 has reached 200 square kilometers.

These three factories were originally chosen as the locations of military factories. Naturally, their locations were excellent, easy to defend and difficult to attack, and also hidden.

By then, as long as two or three checkpoints are built, no one will be able to reach this area.

Of course, due to funding constraints, it is impossible to build a factory on a large scale like the current one.

Large-scale construction is impossible, but construction in phases is not a problem.

It won’t be long before the order to Egypt is completed and the money can be settled, which is a lot of money.

By the end of this year, this order will be completed and will be enough to support the construction of the branch factory.

"But now, we have to get the planning and design done first!" Liu Tao is not like other people who think that planning and design are useless and just build things based on their own ideas.

He attaches great importance to planning and design, so that the construction will be more reasonable and he will have a clear idea of ​​how much money to invest.

As for confidentiality, there will be no problem. The planning and design drawings of military factories will not be circulated.

"In addition to this, we will develop anti-aircraft guns. When the time comes, anti-aircraft machine guns and anti-aircraft guns will be combined with armored vehicles to increase their power on the battlefield!" Liu Tao not only wants to develop anti-aircraft machine guns and anti-aircraft guns, but also to make a system platform.

By then, it will be composed of search and ranging radar, friend-or-foe identification transponder, optoelectronic coordinate measuring machine and other equipment to form a combat system.

Such a system platform is a powerful weapon nowadays.

How exciting it would be to think that any infantry regiment would have powerful field air defense capabilities as long as it was equipped with one or two anti-aircraft guns.

Of course, it is not easy to get such a system platform, after all, there are a lot of devices involved.

Liu Tao contacted the provincial design institute and commissioned them to plan and design three factories. One of the factories was planned and designed according to the civilian factory standards, and the other two were planned and designed according to the military factory standards.

Just when he was about to invest in the development of anti-aircraft guns, people from the railway system came to him.

(End of this chapter)