Rebirth of the 1980s: The Military Industry Empire

With the ceremony concluded, Qin Yang dined with the factory staff, the Germans, and city leaders, celebrating the milestone. The Benz heavy truck factory matter was considered settled for the time being.

According to Qin Yang's plan, he should next continue to seek out Old Zhu. Each time, he said he needed to do more research, but each time, he left in a hurry, never having enough time to stay.

Now that all sorts of matters were concluded, he had to go find Old Zhu again and continue working on the third-generation tank!

Just as he was harboring this thought and preparing to return to the capital, he received a call from Old Zhu. Old Zhu had returned and was in Locust Ridge, and he urged him to come quickly for a meeting.

Could it be that there was another accident in the production of the third-generation tank? Anxious, Qin Yang drove like a madman straight to Locust Ridge.

Getting out of the car, he first looked around but didn't see the third-generation tank prototype. The people from the 201 Institute were also searching for him all over the yard.

"Director Qin, Director Qin, now that you're here, quickly come to the meeting!"

"Shouldn't we be on-site troubleshooting the third-generation tank? What's the meeting for?"

"No, it's not to troubleshoot the third-generation tank! It's another meeting."

"What meeting?"

"You'll know when you get there."

Entering the conference room, Qin Yang saw many leaders, and above their heads hung a banner.

WZ551 Series Wheeled Infantry Fighting Vehicle Project Development Meeting.

Were they going to develop a wheeled infantry fighting vehicle? Qin Yang was somewhat curious. As a reborn person, he certainly knew the development history of domestic wheeled infantry fighting vehicles.

After the founding of the country, domestic technicians welded armor plates onto old Maozi's ZIL-157 trucks, which became the first domestic wheeled armored vehicle, the WZ-533. Strictly speaking, this couldn't be called a wheeled armored vehicle; it should be called an armored automobile.

In the 1960s, China began to develop two new armored vehicles, the WZ-521-1 and WZ-521-2, based on the CA-30 chassis. The latter was even named the Type 64 wheeled armored personnel carrier. However, due to its outdated performance, only prototypes were built before it was eliminated.

Later, there was the WZ-523 wheeled armored vehicle, which would appear in next year's military parade. This was a three-axle wheeled armored personnel carrier, converted from the Hanyang HY472 tractor head. Its performance was still very backward, and its biggest feature was, of course, that the three axles were not equally spaced.

However, this was already the highest level in China.

Now, the army was actually going to develop the WZ551 again. Was it going to be a six-wheeled or an eight-wheeled vehicle?

"Director Qin, you've come at the right time. We are planning to develop a brand-new wheeled armored vehicle, and we also plan to modify it based on the Benz heavy truck technology you have mastered. You have the most say in this."

Although Old Zhu was working on tanks, as an important leader in army equipment research and development, he certainly had to advise the army and offer suggestions. He also had to express his opinions on the development of this wheeled infantry fighting vehicle.

But now that Qin Yang was here, it would be easy. Everything could be left to Qin Yang.

Qin Yang smiled: "Old Zhu, you really know how to be a hands-off manager, but since I'm asked to speak, I really have something to say."

"Speak, everyone is listening."

"If we want to develop a wheeled infantry fighting vehicle, we must develop an eight-wheeled one. A six-wheeled infantry fighting vehicle is meaningless."

Everyone was stunned: "An eight-wheeled one?"

"Yes, we have been developing six-wheeled infantry fighting vehicles, and this kind of infantry fighting vehicle has many shortcomings. For example, its off-road capability is very poor. For example, it doesn't carry enough personnel and equipment. A wheeled infantry fighting vehicle must be able to accommodate an infantry squad, but what about ours? Even the Type 63 armored vehicle can only carry half an infantry squad."

When fooling foreign customers, Qin Yang exaggerated this design, saying that one infantry squad could ride in two vehicles so that if one vehicle broke down, the comrades in the other vehicle could avenge them. In reality, these statements were purely for fooling people.

It's more convenient for an infantry squad to ride in one vehicle for coordinated operations. If they ride separately, there will be many problems.

To ride together, it must be an eight-wheeled vehicle.

With two more tires, the off-road performance will also be greatly improved.

For a long time, tracked armored vehicles have occupied an important position because these vehicles have good off-road performance. Once wheeled vehicles encounter muddy ground, they have almost no passability. It wasn't until modern times, with the development of automobile technology, that the off-road performance of eight-wheeled vehicles has been greatly improved, and they can easily climb mountains, cross ridges, and traverse various ditches.

When it comes to off-road performance, it has to be an eight-wheeled vehicle. The six-wheeled one is far behind.

"The old Maozi's wheeled armored vehicles have been following the eight-wheeled route from the beginning. As for the West, they are now rapidly transitioning to eight-wheeled vehicles. After entering the 1980s, in order to develop armored vehicles to accompany the Leopard 2 tanks, the Germans developed heavy wheeled armored vehicles, including both eight-wheeled and ten-wheeled versions."

Qin Yang continued to introduce foreign technology.

In fact, the Germans didn't develop this project. The Swiss Mowag company took over the project and adjusted the project indicators, retaining the eight-wheeled power while reducing the vehicle weight to less than 20 tons. This armored vehicle, named "Piranha," was a great success, and even the United States Marine Corps is using it.

The eight-wheeled vehicle is definitely the trend. The same is true in China. The WZ551, which was initially developed, was a six-wheeled version, and all of them were eventually eliminated. The new wheeled infantry fighting vehicles are all uniformly eight-wheeled.

At this time, everyone felt a little embarrassed after hearing Qin Yang's words.

"Director Qin, of course, we know that eight-wheeled vehicles are good, but the problem is that we don't have the relevant technology! We can only use the technology of three-axle trucks to modify them. If it's an eight-wheeled vehicle, there must be two rows of steering wheels in the front, which will involve complex drive problems. Can we solve it ourselves?"

"Of course, we can," Qin Yang said. "We must believe in ourselves."

Not to mention this kind of centrally driven eight-wheeled vehicle, in later generations, we even developed a laterally driven eight-wheeled vehicle, which is much stronger in performance than Western armored vehicles.

"Yes, as long as Director Qin helps with the research, what problems can there be."

"We can't solve it, but Director Qin will definitely be able to help solve it."

"That's right, we are all worrying unnecessarily."

Everyone reacted and smiled. Yes, how could they forget Director Qin?

The Benz heavy truck factory is under Director Qin's control. What are they still discussing here? Just give Director Qin a call, and Director Qin will be able to build a wheeled infantry fighting vehicle for them in minutes? Without them having to propose indicators, the performance of the vehicle Director Qin wants to build will definitely be the best.