Rebirth of the 1980s: The Military Industry Empire

The meeting finally came to an end, and everyone wore smiles on their faces, but Qin Yang felt the burden on his shoulders increase.

"President Qin, why do you look so serious? Is something on your mind?"

"Old Liu, what do you think? The Navy has entrusted us with so many projects; we feel a great responsibility on our shoulders," Qin Yang said.

"This is just a little bit, President Qin. Our Navy is waiting for you to build aircraft carriers for us. This Type 052 is just the first step of a long journey. Come on, the cafeteria is on the left, let's go to the cafeteria."

"Old Liu, I was originally just making guns and cannons; you're forcing me to Liangshan," Qin Yang said.

"Being forced to Liangshan is a good thing," Old Liu said. "Great things are often achieved by being forced. If you don't push yourself, you won't know how excellent you are."

"Alright."

"President Qin, tomorrow, let's go to the aerospace department again."

Go to the aerospace department? Qin Yang's expression changed: "Old Liu, I'm really not good at building rockets."

He had already built airplanes and was about to build warships. Qin Yang already felt a lot of pressure. If he also had to build rockets, Qin Yang really couldn't take it. He couldn't do everything himself.

"Coordinate the regional air defense missile," Old Liu said. "This is a key project for our national air defense. The Navy and Air Force both urgently need it. Since you've agreed, let's go and take a look."

Qin Yang nodded: "Okay."

Capital City, Second Academy of Aerospace.

"President Qin, this is your first time visiting our aerospace department."

"Yes, if President Qin had come to our aerospace department earlier, our technology would have been broken through long ago."

"Although President Qin is not from our aerospace department, he was able to emerge out of nowhere and develop the Hongqi-16 missile, which makes us feel ashamed. We've been working on the Hongqi-61 for decades without success, but President Qin developed the Hongqi-16 so quickly and made it mature."

Praises came one after another, and Qin Yang felt embarrassed. He looked at everyone: "Everyone, I'm just an ordinary person. Everyone knows how the Hongqi-16 came about."

"President Qin, come, let me introduce you first," Old Liu said with a smile. "This is your first time here, and you don't know the people in our aerospace department yet."

"No, no, Old Liu, President Qin is so capable, he'll recognize them without your introduction."

Qin Yang looked at the group of people in front of him. He recognized most of them. These old men were only declassified after the 21st century. As for now, these old men are the meritorious veterans who support the motherland's aerospace industry, and they are highly confidential. He couldn't say he knew them.

"I don't recognize them. I only know Qian Lao," Qin Yang said.

Qian Lao overcame various obstacles to return to China and led the country's scientific researchers to start the aerospace project, not only creating intercontinental ballistic missiles but also launching artificial satellites into space.

Qian Lao's identity could not be hidden. However, Qian Lao was not here.

"President Qin, there is also a Qian Lao here," Old Liu introduced. "This Qian Lao is the chief designer of our Hongqi-1 and Hongqi-2, and an old expert in our surface-to-air missile field."

Mr. Qian Wen*, born in 1916, was the chief designer of the first generation of surface-to-air missiles in China. He has long been engaged in the work of surface-to-air missiles, and also兼职 communication system research and development. Under his leadership, domestic related technologies have made breakthrough progress.

Now, Qian Lao is not yet sixty years old and is still working diligently on the front lines.

"A hero doesn't mention his bravery back then. The Hongqi-1 and Hongqi-2 were made by me, but the technology of these missiles is already outdated. They can no longer be competent for the new era of ground air defense operations, and even less can they be moved to warships," Qian Lao said.

Once, the Hongqi-2 was the main force of national air defense, and it still is, but this missile is used to deal with high-altitude and high-speed targets. It has no effect on the current low-altitude, high-speed penetration, and it still uses radio command guidance, which is easily interfered with. Once a real war breaks out, the effect will be very poor.

At this time, hearing Qian Lao's words, Qin Yang suddenly thought of something: "Qian Lao, the Hongqi-2 missile is already outdated. How should these missiles be disposed of? Do you have any ideas?"

In the long history, the Hongqi-2 missile has been produced and equipped in large quantities. There are more than 100 Hongqi-2 surface-to-air missile battalions alone. The number of missiles in active service in the troops exceeds 4,000, and there are a large number of inventories in the warehouse, conservatively estimated at 30,000 to 40,000.

How to deal with so many missiles?

Continuing to use them as surface-to-air missiles, in addition to launching a few窜天猴, which are more beautiful, has no practical significance.

Once the newly developed regional air defense missile is finalized, it will face elimination. By then, what to do with tens of thousands of missiles? It's a pity to destroy them, but it's too outdated to use them.

"President Qin, do you have any ideas?" Someone immediately reacted, President Qin had an idea.

"Well, how about selling them?"

Everyone smiled wryly: "President Qin, the surface-to-air missiles of various countries in the world have long entered the solid era. Our liquid rockets have to be fueled before launch. No one will use them at all. They can't be sold."

"That's right, we certainly can't sell them as air defense missiles. We can change our thinking and sell them as surface-to-surface missiles?"

Surface-to-surface missile?

Everyone's minds were a little confused: "President Qin, air defense missiles and surface-to-surface missiles are different!"

Some air defense missiles can also attack the ground. For example, some missiles on warships in this era can strike the sky and the ground. If you are in a hurry, you can use them to attack enemy warships. However, this is only an expedient measure, because warships cannot be equipped with two types of missiles, so one type of missile is used to cover everything.

Not to mention anything else, the warheads used by the two are different.

The surface-to-air missile has to deal with aerial targets. Even a bird strike can cause a flight accident to a high-speed flying aircraft, so just release some fragments in the air to let the aircraft hit them and destroy the aircraft.

This is a fragmentation warhead, or a connecting rod warhead, which needs to be spread out as much as possible, but the size does not need to be too large.

For ground attacks, this kind of warhead is meaningless. It's just iron nails falling from the sky. Whoever hits it is unlucky, and whoever doesn't hit it is fine. Ground attacks require high-power explosives, which directly blow a hole in the ground and directly blow the enemy into the sky.

There are other warheads, such as those that specialize in setting fires, those that specialize in scattering small bombs, and even those that may specialize in releasing poisonous gas.

"If they're different, we can change them."