Rebirth of the 1980s: The Military Industry Empire

"Let's start with the engine," Qin Yang said. Since he wanted to show off, he would go big. He simply left his seat and walked towards the podium, saying as he walked, "This engine is an imported 8V331 engine from Germany, and it can be considered to be born from the same mother as the MB873 engine used by the Leopard 2 tank. Civilian engines pursue longevity, so it reduces the speed and the output power is reduced to 919 horsepower. We will slightly increase its speed and use it as a 1,000-horsepower engine. However, what I want to say is that this power is not net power! It does not deduct the power used by other systems, especially the cooling system. I think the design team of this tank has already realized this."

Speaking of engine power, there is a concept of virtual labeling. When some cars are advertised, they claim that their engine has 180 horsepower. However, in actual use, the power is not even as good as some cars with 150 horsepower. What's going on?

Once on the dynamometer, you will know. The label is 180, but when it reaches the tires, there are only 130 left! What about the one labeled 150? 152! The measured value is actually higher than the labeled value!

What's going on?

This is playing with words. The one labeled 180 is the value measured when the engine does not need to carry various accessories. Ideally, they want to use this horsepower value to show how strong their car's power is. The one labeled 150 has already regarded horsepower as a fleeting cloud. They have removed the power consumed by things like the generator, air conditioning compressor, cooling water pump, transmission system, etc., and calculated the power transmitted to the wheels. Comparing the power numbers of the two is meaningless. You have to see what state they were measured in.

Tank engines are also like this.

The German Leopard 2 tank engine is said to be 1,500 horsepower, which seems very impressive, but the Germans are also virtually labeling in this regard. They deliberately ignore certain accessories, especially the power that the radiator needs to consume.

How much power can a small radiator consume?

It depends on the situation.

The Germans use the method of increasing the speed to increase the engine power. This is easy to do, but there will also be side effects: the engine temperature will be too high, and the radiator must be powerful. When it runs continuously at a speed of 2,600 revolutions per minute, the radiator will have to consume more than 200 horsepower, and this engine will have less than 1,300 horsepower left.

Other tank engines will also have situations where the cooling system consumes power, but none are as lossy as the Leopard 2 engine.

"That's right. When testing in the hottest summer, the output power of this engine will drop below 900 horsepower. We thought there was a problem with our cooling system, but it turned out that there was a problem with the engine itself," Wang Zhigang said from the seat below.

"Can we find a way to improve it?" a leader asked.

"This cannot be improved. It was born with it. Moreover, this engine has a big problem, that is, its volume is too large. Everyone could see it when visiting this morning. It has a big butt bulging out at the back. This design will waste a lot of structural weight."

Tanks are for charging into battle, mainly relying on the front of the hull to block enemy attacks. The smaller the weight of the rear part, the better. If the engine is large in size, the length, width, and height must be large. In this way, the hull will be heavy. After it is heavy, it requires the engine to have high power so that the tank can have enough maneuverability.

So, if there is too much water, add flour; if there is too much flour, add water. Eastern tanks have always emphasized being small and flexible, and it is not appropriate to use this kind of large-volume engine.

Qin Yang didn't say anything else. He didn't mention the problems of insufficient industrial foundation and the inability to imitate them. Everyone knows these problems, so he doesn't need to remind them. If he wants to show off in front of everyone, he has to find a different perspective.

"Let's talk about the tank gun," Qin Yang continued, "Although our 1224 tank is also equipped with a 120mm tank gun, I'm afraid there is still a big gap compared to Western tank guns, right?"

Currently, the domestic Steyr company's electroslag remelting steel equipment has just been introduced, and the NATO standard L7 tank gun has not yet been produced, let alone using this advanced technology to produce 120mm tank guns.

At this time, what is installed on the 1224 tank is still produced with old technology. The gun barrel is heavy, and the internal bore pressure it can withstand is also low. Therefore, the muzzle velocity of the fired shells is much lower than that of the West. The power is limited.

"Yes, there is still a gap for the time being. However, when we digest and absorb the production technology of the L7 tank gun and use it on the 120mm tank gun, the performance will definitely be greatly improved. By then, President Qin will help develop several advanced armor-piercing shells to reach the same level as the West, and there will be no problem," Liu Jingye said.

Qin Yang shook his head: "I can't do it."

"How can you not do it? The armor-piercing shell technology you developed is even envied by the British."

"Then what should we do?" Leader Fang asked.

"Caliber is justice, caliber is truth," Qin Yang said, "If we want to reach or even exceed the West's 120mm tank gun, then we must increase the caliber. Not too much, 125mm will be enough."

The choice of caliber is very important. 120mm and 125mm are the mainstream calibers in the world today, which are the NATO standard and the Warsaw Pact standard respectively.

"No, the old Maozi's 125mm tank gun is not as good as the Western 120mm gun," someone immediately objected.

"That's because the old Maozi doesn't have electroslag remelting steel, and the old Maozi still uses the old-fashioned sleeve self-tightening process! The tank guns produced by our new process will withstand higher bore pressure, far exceeding the old Maozi's 125mm gun!" Qin Yang said, "Since we are going to do it, we must do the best in the world. Our tank gun will be the most powerful in the world!"

"That's right, well said!" Old Zhu below became excited. He forgot his promise just now and began to cheer for Qin Yang: "The chamber capacity of the two guns is very different. Taking the existing standards as an example, the 125mm smoothbore gun chamber reaches 13.4 liters, while the Western 120mm gun chamber is only 9.8 liters. If our propellant performance is not good enough, then we will rely on loading more propellant!"

The two cylinders behind are the huge radiators of the Leopard 2 tank.