Chapter 160 is aimed at BMP-1 (3k)

Just when the research on the single crystal furnace was progressing steadily, Gao Zhendong received a notice from the Defense Work Committee and went to attend a meeting of the committee.

There was only one topic on the agenda of the meeting, which was the argument for the infantry fighting vehicle that Gao Zhendong had once proposed to the leaders of the Defense Work Committee.

After the concept was proposed, the leaders of the Defense Work Committee asked Gao Zhendong to write a concept about infantry fighting vehicles. Then, after conducting preliminary research and communication based on this concept, the Defense Work Committee formed the preliminary materials for the demonstration of infantry fighting vehicles.

This time, it is a preliminary demonstration of the infantry fighting vehicle to see whether it should be developed.

After the Defense Work Committee reported the complete set of ideas about infantry fighting vehicles at the meeting, the participants were very interested in this thing, especially those who were going to use it.

The reason is obvious. Bigger, stronger and thicker pipes and thicker armor are always their pursuit.

However, discussion is still necessary, as this matter cannot be decided by the user alone.

"This thing is good, but it's more expensive than an armored personnel carrier. Why not pay a little more and go all tank?"

The leader of the Defense Work Committee smiled and said, "Comrade Gao Zhendong, please answer this question?"

Gao Zhendong said: "Okay. In a full tank battle, without anti-infantry firepower protection, it is very easy to suffer losses, especially today when infantry portable anti-tank firepower has been greatly enhanced."

"Infantry anti-tank firepower? The threat posed by rocket launchers and recoilless guns to tanks is relatively limited right now, right?"

"You're right. Weapons like recoilless rifles are a greater threat to fixed fortifications, but rocket launchers are a little different."

As Gao Zhendong spoke, he thought of one of the three great guerrilla weapons that would become ubiquitous all over the world in the future, so common that every armed guerrilla in various places would have one: the RPG.

RPG is actually a nickname, referring to all portable infantry rocket launchers. However, it is hard to say whether this nickname is world-famous because of the Russians' RPG-7 or the English abbreviation of Rocket-propelled Grenade - Rocket Rropelled Grenade.

However, it is clear that the birth of the rocket launcher was earlier than the birth of the specific model RPG-7.

"Compared to recoilless guns, rocket launchers are more flexible, simple, easy to use, and low-cost. Although they have the problems of limited caliber, low power, and low accuracy, cheapness is the hard truth. In addition, rocket launchers often use over-caliber ammunition, which makes rocket launchers a great threat to tanks."

Over-caliber ammunition means that the caliber of the ammunition exceeds the caliber of the launcher, just like the name of the RPG-7 is 40mm rocket launcher, but the diamond-shaped rocket does not look like 40mm at all.

Because the 40mm one is the launch tube at the back, and the number of rockets is far more than that.

In addition to rockets, common super-caliber ammunition includes mortars and rifle grenades.

There was a time when mortars sacrificed range to increase power. The length of the shell exceeded the mortar barrel, and a large explosion was placed on the top of the shell. However, this phenomenon has basically disappeared since then.

Gao Zhendong continued, "Although the power of these infantry anti-tank firepower is limited by their size and weight, and they do not pose much threat to the front of the tank, the sides and rear of the tank are still within their threat range."

Apart from other things, the M1A1 and A2 models that the United States later praised to the sky were also destroyed by a single RPG round to the side armor.

"Without the cover of flexible anti-infantry firepower, the relatively bulky tanks that mainly focus on the enemy's armored forces on the battlefield will have a worrying survivability even if they have heavy armor and firepower."

Regardless of what other people thought about this speech, the representatives of the user party nodded repeatedly. Director Gao was indeed a man who came from the battlefield. Although he had not been on the battlefield for a long time, he was still very keen in grasping the battlefield situation.

"Director Gao is right. An important purpose of tank-infantry coordination is to cover each other. If there are only tanks or only infantry, the actual combat effectiveness will be very poor."

Gao Zhendong nodded, and then mentioned a real threat that no one had thought of.

"Also, as technology develops, the threat of anti-tank missiles is growing."

It’s not that everyone couldn’t think of it, but at that time, China didn’t have this thing. The first generation of anti-tank missiles, the J-201, was developed two years later, and due to performance issues, it actually did not form combat effectiveness.

At this time, no one even remembered this thing. Even if someone knew about it, they would think it was unreliable and expensive, just like all new weapons would be questioned when they were first born. Of course, the Russians didn't think so.

For example, a certain Russian leader who loved corn very much once came up with a crappy idea like a missile tank, but in the end it was useless.

"Anti-tank missiles? Such expensive things are used to attack tanks?" In most people's impressions, missiles are very expensive.

Gao Zhendong shook his head: "With the development of technology, anti-tank missiles can also be very cheap, just like the DJS-59 can achieve the same performance as the previous generation of computers at less than one-tenth the price."

Gao Zhendong's example is very vivid. He himself is a researcher, and the people present are basically the first batch of users of DJS-59, and they are also the ones who have the deepest understanding of the capabilities of DJS-59.

Upon hearing this, everyone started talking.

"Director Gao is right. Technology is developing."

"If anti-tank missiles are really deployed on a large scale, they will indeed pose a huge threat to tanks."

"If a large-scale armored assault is carried out, the tanks will definitely need to be accompanied by anti-infantry firepower, but armored transport vehicles can't do that?" "Yes, the armored transport vehicles themselves can serve as anti-infantry support for the tanks."

The user representatives have their own opinions on this issue.

"Comrades, please don't make things difficult for the armored transport vehicle because of its small size. Even though Comrade Gao Zhendong's efforts have improved its defense capabilities, with only 12.7mm of defense, there is too much firepower on the frontline battlefield that can threaten it."

"Then add more armor."

"The armored personnel carriers themselves do not have enough firepower to undertake the task of accompanying assault firepower and effectively suppressing the enemy's infantry anti-tank firepower."

"Then increase the firepower."

Hearing this, the user representative said nothing but laughed.

The comrade who said this thought about it and laughed.

If there is too much flour, add water; if there is too much water, add flour. At the last glance, this is the infantry fighting vehicle that is currently being demonstrated.

After another period of discussion, everyone basically agreed that the infantry fighting vehicle could be made, the only problem was what kind of design it could be.

Gao Zhendong has his own opinion on this, and he did not copy the Russians' later BMP-1. To be honest, the Russians' BMP-1, as the first generation of infantry fighting vehicles, more changed the configuration and combat style of the armored forces. As for the equipment itself, there are actually many defects.

For example, the short and weak 73mm low-pressure smoothbore gun has limited actual anti-armor capability due to its ballistic performance and rate of fire, and its support for infantry has a short range and poor ballistic performance.

Gao Zhendong raised his hand and said: "Comrades, I do have an idea for your reference."

Seeing that he was about to speak, everyone stopped communicating and listened to his ideas first.

Now, Director Gao still has a "little bit" of influence on armored troops' equipment.

"I won't say much about mobility, but it's based on being able to accompany tanks in combat."

"In terms of defense, my idea is that the front should be able to defend against 25mm cannon armor-piercing shells, and the side should be able to defend against the 12.7mm machine gun armor-piercing shells currently available to our army."

When everyone heard this, they thought it was a simple idea. Based on the armored personnel carrier, the overall defense capability was upgraded by one level.

"This is a good suggestion. It can ensure full protection against infantry light weapons from the front, and completely ignore the firepower of the enemy's armored personnel carriers."

"The side can protect against 12.7mm, which basically makes it fully capable of suppressing enemy infantry."

“Wouldn’t that be too much of an increase in weight?”

"There will be an increase, but it won't be too exaggerated. 592 armored steel was invented by Director Gao, so he should know the situation well."

"So it's him?"

Seeing that no one had any objection, Gao Zhendong continued to express his ideas.

"In terms of firepower, my suggestion for the main weapon is to use the Northern 2M-3 25mm cannon used by the Navy and improve it into an improved model. This will have low technical difficulty, short research time, and guaranteed power."

Gao Zhendong's suggestions are actually aimed more at the North. After all, he is clear about the situation in a few years.

With this firepower and defense configuration, apart from the anti-tank missiles on the BMP-1, the 1mm low-pressure smoothbore gun on the BMP-73 poses little threat to the infantry fighting vehicle envisioned by Gao Zhendong.

After all, a large caliber is useless for a weapon with a theoretical firing rate of only 8 rounds per minute and a range of only 1300 meters using rocket-assisted ammunition, not to mention the pitiful 800-meter range when equipped with standard ammunition.

The prototype of the gun envisioned by Gao Zhendong has a range of up to 2800 meters. When equipped with armor-piercing shells, its armor-piercing power can also ensure that it poses a threat to tanks from the side and rear, not to mention the single-barrel firing rate of 400 rounds per minute.

The prototype of this gun also played a great role in the "August 6" naval battle. It had a high rate of fire and strong firepower, making it impossible for the enemy to raise their heads.

Are you going to fight me? I'll throw it in your face.

Someone questioned the choice of this gun: "Director Gao, why don't you use the 23mm aircraft gun on our fighter jets? The Navy's gun is fed by a magazine, right? Wouldn't it be a lot of work to modify it?"

Gao Zhendong shook his head: "The 23mm aircraft gun is limited by the aircraft, and its shell velocity is about 200 meters per second lower than that of the navy's gun. The firepower performance of a gun is determined to some extent by the shells. In addition, the navy's gun can also use a scatterable ammunition chain to feed ammunition, and the rate of fire and initial velocity are both high, so the foundation is better."

"What about the Air Force's 37mm cannon?"

"That gun has a short cartridge case to protect the aircraft. It's called 37mm, but in fact its anti-armor capability is no better than the Navy's 25mm, and its rate of fire is even lower."

(End of this chapter)