Rebirth of the 1980s: The Military Industry Empire

How to lock onto a target with a missile that has a range of over 100 kilometers is a major problem. The usual method is helicopter guidance. After all, most warships can carry shipborne helicopters, and these helicopters are equipped with maritime search radar. Although primarily used for searching for submarine snorkels, they can also search for targets at sea without any problems. Even without the search range of maritime patrol aircraft and early warning aircraft, they can still easily detect targets over 100 kilometers away.

Therefore, using a shipborne helicopter to search for targets and provide relay guidance for missiles is a very common method. This method solves the guidance problem of anti-ship missiles, but it is not very effective.

Why?

When a helicopter searches for an enemy warship in the air, the enemy warship will definitely be able to use its own air search radar to search for the helicopter in the sky. If it is wartime, it is not just searching, but even anti-aircraft missiles may be launched.

Superpowers like the US military and the Soviet Union have anti-aircraft missiles with ranges of tens or even hundreds of kilometers, which can completely reach the helicopter. The helicopter responsible for relay guidance will also be in danger of being shot down.

So, are there any other solutions?

The answer is definitely yes. Old Maozi's weapons and equipment have special over-the-horizon radars. This type of radar is usually placed in a large egg-shaped radome, which NATO calls the 'Music Stand' radar.

This radar actually has three models, namely Titanit, Monolit, and Mineral. The later the model, the later the research and development time, and the more advanced the performance. The export model of the final 'Mineral' radar is called Mineral-ME. It was carried on the famous Sovremenny-class destroyer to the East, and then took root and sprouted in the East.

This radar is huge, with a radome diameter of up to 4.5 meters. There are also many internal radar antennas, including orange-petal-like back-to-back active radars, flat passive radars, and cylindrical collaborative data link antennas.

The East thoroughly understood the technology of this radar and then copied the 366 radar, which was used on many domestically produced warships in the East. Even in the era of Aegis warships, you can still see this radar, after all, it can detect targets below the sea surface.

"This requires multi-band radar. In actual use, a suitable frequency is selected according to factors such as the atmospheric temperature and humidity at the time. In this way, after the radar wave is emitted into the sky, although it still propagates in a straight line, it will encounter special conditions in the atmosphere and be reflected, thereby seeing targets beyond the horizon," Qin Yang explained.

Radar waves propagate in straight lines, and only long waves can travel around the earth, but long-wave antenna equipment is too large to be used on warships. Therefore, the frequency bands used by warship radars are generally within the microwave range. Although they can only go straight, they can be reflected.

This is like putting convex mirrors at some intersections, which allows both sides to see the situation on the other side of the obstacles, relying on the reflection of light on the convex mirror. This over-the-horizon radar also uses this method. The atmosphere is equivalent to this reflecting mirror, allowing the straight-propagating radar waves to be reflected in the sky, and then reaching the other end of the horizon.

The actual effect of this radar is greatly affected by the weather, but after practice, almost everyone agrees that the weather in the East is better than that in Old Maozi, and this radar performs better when used in the East.

This radar not only has an active mode, but also a passive mode. When needed, several warships can also detect together to form a collaborative mode, which can basically avoid the use of shipborne helicopters for searching.

At this time, Qin Yang introduced the working principle of this radar. For most people, it was like listening to a heavenly book, and they didn't know what Qin Yang was talking about. Everyone opened their eyes wide. After Qin Yang finished his introduction, someone finally spoke.

"President Qin, the technology of this radar sounds very advanced. Can we develop it?"

Us?

Qin Yang suddenly realized that he seemed to have been a bit boastful. After all, the East also developed this radar based on Old Maozi's Music Stand radar. Before that, the East did not have relevant technology.

Can it be developed now? It is now impossible to get a Sovremenny-class destroyer.

"If it were someone else, it certainly wouldn't be possible, but, who is Qin Yang? He also has a dedicated radar R\u0026D team under his command. Since President Qin said it, then we don't need to worry about it, just leave it to President Qin's subordinates to develop," Old Liu said: "If this shipborne radar can be developed, and then paired with our longer-range anti-ship missiles, our navy's strength will reach a new level."

Qin Yang was a little helpless, okay, it's my job again!

When it comes to radar, Qin Yang's team is indeed the most powerful, but they have never been exposed to this kind of radar. The most professional radar research institute is the 14th Research Institute. Should the research and development of this radar be handed over to the 14th Research Institute?

"However, anti-ship missiles with a range of over 100 kilometers are not far enough. It would be great if we could have an anti-ship missile with a range of 200 to 300 kilometers!" At this moment, another officer spoke.

Qin Yang found a life-saving straw: "That's right, let's first develop missiles with a range of over 100 kilometers. This type of missile can be used as an export model. We will then concentrate on research and strive to increase the range to 200 to 300 kilometers. By that time, our shipborne radar will also be developed!"

With this delay, it is estimated that it will take ten or eight years. By that time, our side will also have a way to get in touch with the Sovremenny-class radar.

The C802 missile is actually mainly for the export market. Even if there is a domestic model called Yingji-82, it has never been equipped in large quantities, because the Navy has long discovered that a range of over 100 kilometers is not enough.

When facing the US Navy, anti-ship missiles with a range of less than 500 kilometers are useless. Even if the technology does not reach that level, relaxing the requirements, it must have a range of 300 kilometers. Too close is simply unusable.

Therefore, the Navy first made do with the Yingji-81, and later developed the Yingji-83 before starting to replace it. However, the Yingji-83 is not the best either. Later, for a period of time, the Navy also developed the Yingji-62. The range of this missile was increased to 300 to 400 kilometers, and the warhead weight was increased to 300 kilograms. Just one missile can severely damage warships over 5,000 tons. It was the main anti-ship missile of Aegis warships that year, until the Yingji-12 and Yingji-18 appeared, then it was considered a graceful exit.

Let me build radar, I might as well talk about missiles and introduce to you what advanced anti-ship missiles will look like in the future.