Thunder Strikes Back

Chapter 217 Automatic Transmission
"Listen to me, you are all under my command now, tune the radio to channel 1, and we will set off to the west immediately." Yahini shouted while supporting the turret.

The other crews recovered from their astonishment, and ran to their chariots. Although they couldn't figure out why they had to listen to this man's command, the official order hadn't arrived yet, but there was no extra time to think about it right now. .

Yahini waited for all the train crews to arrive at their posts, and then pressed the inter-vehicle communication switch:
"I heard that you are the best crew in the division, but I don't know if it's true." He said old-fashionedly, "No matter how good your skills are, I can lead you to win battles, so you are all nervous. Follow me, we'll go by the road."

He then pressed the in-car communication button on the intercom:

"Listen, start the engine and head in the direction I specified. When I remembered, there was a road, and I had to walk under the foundation."

"Understood." The driver flipped the starter relay.Then came the roar of the engine fan behind the car body.Saad completed an in-situ differential turn with little effort, and the tank of more than 50 tons easily turned 180 degrees. At least in terms of steering, the steering wheel in hand is much better than the joystick, and there is no need to operate complicated steering clutches. and differential control mechanism.For someone used to driving tracked vehicles, this is a fantastic change.In addition, Saad found that the power of this tank after starting up is also stronger than that of the original No. 221 tank.

"I still don't quite understand these oil circuit distribution switches and hydraulic gauges. They should be the subsystems of the electro-hydraulic automatic control system. It's really a big headache if no one teaches them." The driver complained that he was not yet fully familiar with the equipment in front of him. For the operation of the electro-hydraulic automatic shift position, if he switches to the manual gear position he is familiar with, he finds that one forward gear is missing.

When the 8 tanks next to the pier turned to the west one after another, the sound of firefighting in the distance became more intense and closer.Yahini tried to contact the division headquarters, but the long-lost electronic interference reappeared.Obviously, this is a big move by the enemy. He doesn't know what kind of opponent the enemy will send, maybe it's just infantry fighting vehicles or lighter tanks.But he knew that the one who could take advantage of the mountainous terrain and drive here overnight must not be someone like the 16th Infantry Division.

"What do I say, you just don't have the sense of hostility," Yahini said with a sneer, "What were you doing when I was studying the radio station? Sleeping. If you don't even understand the automatic transmission, I really don't know. I have nothing to say." He said sarcastically, "Corporal, you warn you first, I have an overrunning device here. So you'd better figure out these things quickly, and don't force me to do it myself." As According to the commander, the electrical control of this tank is at its peak, and even the commander has an emergency driving system in front of him, which provides the possibility of overriding driving.

The gunner shrugged. He knew that Yahini was young, but he was a control freak. He liked everything beyond control, such as meddling in the adjustment of the gun, or surpassing the orders of his superiors, and doing things on his own.

"These things controlled by electric sensor signals are really not suitable for veterans like me. No, I have to find a hydraulic regulator." Saad complained. He wanted to increase the operating resistance of the steering wheel. Otherwise, my shoulders will be uncomfortable.

"Quickly bring up the speed for me," the captain lost his patience and ordered directly. The driver was stepping on the throttle pedal carefully, and the engine kept a very low speed.

"However, I don't know what these oil pressure gauges represent."

"It's nothing more than some oil line pressure."

"Of course I know this, but I don't know, where are the upper limits of the temperature and pressure of the oil pump?" the driver said blankly. He didn't know what this red line and the Chinese characters on it meant.Obviously it has a lot to do with his control of power output.He thought, what serious consequences would be caused by misuse?

"If you can't figure it out, why don't you use an automatic transmission."

"I'm still not convinced that a fully automatic system can drive a 50-ton tank."

"What an elm head."

Yahini no longer cares about the driver. Although he is dissatisfied with the tank's speed and slowness, and the sound of the turbofan turning abnormally, there is no time to worry about these now.He climbed out of the turret and looked west.The flames there were soaring into the sky, and there were explosions one after another. It was obviously too late to rescue.He thought that the ammunition that the group army secretly hoarded there was probably finished.Those munitions are well camouflaged, of course all camouflage is for the Indian Air Force.The Army relied on a weak railway line to transport these materials, hoping to wipe out a division of the Indians in World War I. Now this plan has failed.

He raised the binoculars, hoping to take a closer look by the light of the fire.However, the driver kept stepping on the deceleration pedal, causing the tank to keep leaning forward and back under the action of huge inertia, which made it difficult for him to see the situation clearly.Saad drove like a rookie on his first day of reporting.

The commander knows that this is actually not his fault. For the driver, a new tank will bring differences in operational detail requirements in various aspects. These detail changes may not be very important for driving a 2-ton car. But for a 50 ton tank, it is a serious problem.For the driver, it's all about time to develop a new feel.

Yahini turned around and looked at the other tanks behind him. Obviously, they all drove better than Saad, which probably had something to do with their contact with tanks a few hours earlier.

"Listen to me, throw away your old experience, I order you to switch to automatic transmission." Yahini ordered.He knew that it was not an option to let Saad grope around in a black light. The enemy was only 5 kilometers away, and such reckless actions would only lead to bad things.He thought that the Chinese urgently shipped a batch of tanks with automatic transmissions, probably because they had foreseen the urgent needs of the battlefield, instead of letting a self-righteous old guy fiddle with old experience.

"Okay, I'll listen to you." Saad said discouraged.

He can only give up his original idea, slowly slow down, and then switch the gear lever to the A gear. Now he puts the old experience aside, and completely entrusts this 50-ton tank to the ECU (electronic control unit) ) to perform oil circuit logic control.He just put his foot on the throttle pedal and held the steering wheel lightly with both hands.Gradually, the speed on the instrument began to change evenly. Amid the roar of the engine, he couldn't detect the automatic switching of gears, but the big guy with dozens of tons really started to drive very smoothly.

"Slow down and be steady."

Saad slowly stepped on the hydraulic deceleration pedal, which felt slightly shorter than the original pedal stroke, which made the speed control different from before.

"Not bad," said the driver.He's not asking too much, as long as the tank doesn't wobble back and forth, thank goodness.

Gradually, the speed of this tank was maintained at about 25 kilometers.In the night search, this is a relatively fast speed.

Yahini held the handle with both hands and carefully searched for the target in the thermal imager.But he hadn't seen it all the time, and he didn't know what the situation there was like.However, he expected that the enemy might turn around and come towards him, which they would probably do if they wanted to free the 16th Infantry Division.

The commander's perimeter vision device is not much different from before, the field of view is slightly larger, and the detection distance of the thermal imaging camera may be greater, but he is not sure yet.

As a veteran who has fought several battles, he knows very well that the main point of fighting at night is to find the enemy first, and then strike first.He still remembers the first time he ambush T72 in the desert. Indian tanks were in a mess after being attacked. They either reversed blindly or simply stopped. This is his experience.

"Slow down quickly," the driver yelled.He saw a line of tanks in the distance, galloping north.

"Quick, aim!" he called to the gunner.Then he started the vehicle-to-vehicle communication, asking the vehicles behind to deploy quickly.

Tasim aimed the line at the fast-moving target and pressed the laser rangefinder button.After the figure of 3200 meters appeared, all the speeding tanks disappeared, maybe they were covered by something.

"Behind some obstacle. Out of sight. But he's going fast, north."

"Run north?" Yahini said to himself.He couldn't understand why the enemy would run along the railway. There was no important town in the north.But he knew that there was an anti-aircraft missile position in the north, maybe the enemy was rushing there.It was too late to stop it, but what he wanted was to get there as soon as possible to fight a battle.

"Have you seen what model it is?"

"It seems to be T72." Tasim replied with some uncertainty.

Now that the communication is not smooth and the contact is interrupted, for ordinary commanders, this is the most terrible thing. Most of them will stop at the same place and wait for orders. If all commanders do this, then the Indians' plan will probably be the same. Already succeeded.But Yahini is an exception, no order is not a bad thing for him at all; he has always been a person who is particularly hated by his superiors and likes to do things on his own; but then again, he is more clever than his colleagues on the battlefield Some.

"All, turn 30 degrees to the right, we sneak up on them."

He originally wanted to sneak up on the enemy tank troops.But after a few minutes, a new target appeared.It was a pair of BMP-2 infantry fighting vehicles also traveling north along the railway.These Indian tanks obviously fell a few kilometers behind the Indian tanks, just in front of Yahini's muzzle.From the thermal imager, he could see these chariots passing 2 kilometers in front of him in a single file.As for why these infantry fighting vehicles were dragged behind the tank column, he did not know.Maybe it's just that the Indian commander didn't want these chariots with poor night vision capabilities to attack in coordination and cause accidental injury on purpose.

"Did you see it all?" Yahini asked.

"I see," several car captains replied in unison. "It was unfortunate for them to fall under our guns."

"Don't be too careless," Yahini cautioned.He could see, on the skinny turret of the infantry fighting vehicle, another anti-tank missile pointing forward. "Their anti-tank missiles are not easy to mess with. We parked and hid in the night to shoot from a long distance."

(End of this chapter)