Chapter 516 I won’t do this anymore!

This is the missile's Achilles' heel in terms of range. The radar is not good, whether it is the earliest MiG-17 or MiG-19 equipped with it. The structural problems caused by the nose air intake, coupled with the fact that the Russians' own electronic technology is also relatively poor, combined with the nose air intake, make the already poor radar performance even worse.

The MiG-17 is equipped with K-5, with a search range of 10km and a tracking range of just over 3km. As for the actual available launch range, it is only 2.5km. The difference between the MiG-19 and MiG-17 is not that big. Both brothers have nose air intake, so how big a difference can there be?

The comrades in the Air Force had been relieved when they heard that the range had been increased, but when they heard the result, they laughed and said, "With this guidance distance, we can only chase bombers and other targets. To be honest, comrades, at this distance, I would rather step on the accelerator and rush up to shoot with machine guns."

The comrades at the Missile Research Institute had no choice. To be honest, it would be better to rush up and attack if they could occupy the launching position about 2.5 kilometers behind the bomber. The bomber had poor maneuverability anyway, and there was basically no room for resistance if they were tailed at this position.

The comrade from the Air Force added, "Besides, with this range, the missile itself can only hold a few rounds. Even if we want to launch it in advance to disrupt the enemy's formation, we can't do it. It's better to use large-caliber air-to-air rockets. At least that thing has a much larger payload, a longer range, and is quite powerful. At least firing randomly can scare the enemy."

It is very important to disrupt the enemy bomber's formation. Otherwise, with the current bomber's weapon configuration full of thorns, under the premise of a stable formation, mutual cover will also pose a great threat to the attacking fighters. This was a classic bomber self-defense tactic in S2.

As for disrupting the enemy fighter formation, there is no need to discuss that. This thing can't hit fighter jets at all.

What the comrades from the Air Force said was true, but the evaluation that it was “not as good as an uncontrolled aerial rocket” still made the comrades from the Guidance and Research Institute very frustrated. The original version of this thing was just a piece of crap and no matter how much they modified it, they couldn’t improve it any more.

When the leader of the Defense Work Committee saw this scene, he quickly relieved the pressure on the comrades of the Missile Research Institute: "This is not your problem, you don't have to care about it. The comrades are discussing the objective performance of the Russian missile itself. Only when the problem is fully exposed can we make a decision."

The leader is calling out names. The Russians’ missiles are not good, so you don’t have to feel embarrassed.

This made the comrades from the Institute of Guidance and Research feel better: "Well, I understand. Thank you, leader."

The leader turned to Gao Zhendong and the others and said, "If you have any questions, please speak directly and expose them as much as possible. Don't argue with illness."

Gao Zhendong nodded, but he hadn't finished speaking yet.

"Well, okay. I've seen the range of this missile, and the required firing altitude is as high as 2000 meters or more. To be honest, this is too high and has lost its meaning in combat. It can only hit medium-sized and larger bombers, but it can't be used below 2000 meters."

The K-5 missile has a lot of problems that are caused by a series of issues with its guidance method. Its resistance to ground clutter is extremely poor, so poor that it can only be used reliably at altitudes above 2000 meters.

A comrade from the Air Force said, "Nowadays, bombers usually fly at medium and high altitudes. Although low-altitude penetration can reduce the radar detection distance, it is afraid of anti-aircraft artillery fire."

Gao Zhendong smiled and said, "But with the development of surface-to-air missiles, do they still dare to stay in the sky?"

The comrades in the Air Force were stunned for a moment, not because they were speechless, but because Gao Zhendong's words opened the door to a new world for them.

Yes, we should look at problems from a developmental perspective. Well, I should study the future development trends and strategies when I go back. Maybe I can also publish a research article or something. It’s worth it for me to attend this meeting during the Chinese New Year. I really made the right decision to come!
"Thank you so much, Chief Engineer Gao!" The Air Force comrades put aside the seemingly unreliable idea of ​​copying the K-5 and thanked Gao Zhendong first.

Gao Zhendong nodded, and then said: "In fact, I think the biggest reason why this missile should be discontinued is that its combat range seriously overlaps with the existing Thunder-1."

Some comrades made a careful comparison and agreed with Gao Zhendong's statement: "Well, what General Gao said makes sense. Even if the K-5 is copied and new propellants are used, the maximum range is no more than 6 kilometers, and the actual range is no more than 3 kilometers, which is completely covered by the combat range of infrared air-to-air combat missiles."

"Indeed, indeed. Moreover, this K-5 has to illuminate the target with radar all the time. It does not have the ability to fire and forget infrared air-to-air missiles. It is really hard to evaluate that it still needs to illuminate the target at a distance of 3 kilometers. As the Air Force comrade said, at this distance, it is better to rush up and shoot at the bomber with machine guns if it bites the tail of the bomber."

Comrades from the Air Force also affirmed these statements: "The biggest problem is that we have to keep illuminating enemy aircraft within a distance of 3 kilometers. We cannot maneuver freely and are very vulnerable to enemy aircraft's tail guns."

At that time, bombers were basically equipped with tail guns to prevent fighter jets from biting their tails. A fighter jet that had to remain basically non-maneuverable had completely lost its greatest reliance: high maneuverability.

The distance of about 2.5 kilometers is not a safe distance. It can be reached by the 20mm or above machine guns commonly equipped on medium and large bombers. Even if the direct trajectory cannot reach it, the indirect trajectory can still scare people, especially when the fighter cannot maneuver freely.

Within the range of the K-5, it is really not as useful as the Raiden-1. At least the distance at which the Raiden-1 can shoot down the P-2V is much greater than the pitiful range of the K-5. This is an actual combat example. After much discussion, everyone finally came to the same conclusion: forget about this thing, it is really useless.

If the original imitation of K-5 was made out of necessity when there were no bullets available, then now that we have the Thunder-1 with complete range coverage, better performance and more flexible combat methods, the necessity of imitating K-5 has completely disappeared.

It's not that the equipment is outdated, but that the imitation is outdated, and we can't wait until the equipment is advanced.

Gao Zhendong put the final nail in K-5's coffin.

Imitation of K-5 at this time is undoubtedly a huge waste of resources. Imitation not only involves the investment in imitation, but also after the imitation is successful, producing a bunch of this thing is also a very abstract thing.

To see to what extent this thing is useless, you can actually see it by looking at the combat examples of the Air Force.

From the information Gao Zhendong had seen in his previous life, there were many examples of air force battles from the 60s to the 70s, but he had never heard of any connection with the K-5 imitation. Not to mention the results of the battle, even in the background introduction, there was basically no mention that our fighter jets were equipped with missiles, because we didn't carry this stuff.

Gao Zhendong knew all about this and would have been fine if he had no chance to stop it, but now that he had the chance, it was naturally impossible for him to let it continue.

"The last reason why I suggest stopping the imitation is that the only technical point of this missile is the radar guidance. However, the radar guidance method has no development potential at all. On the contrary, it has great disadvantages. In the foreseeable future, it is a technology that is destined to be eliminated. Imitating it will not bring us any improvement or accumulation of technology and experience."

Well, the technical performance is poor, the tactical performance is not good, and now we can’t even accumulate experience, so what’s the point?

In the end, as Gao Zhendong wished, the meeting did not waste too much time and was tentatively finalized.

The imitation of K-5 is no longer possible. Comrades from the Institute of Research and Development can temporarily stop the related work, and it will be officially terminated after it is reported and approved.

After the meeting made a preliminary resolution, the leader of the Defense Work Committee turned to Gao Zhendong and said, "You said that the guidance method and combat range of the K-5 are problematic. What do you think a radar-guided air-to-air missile should look like? What performance should it have? What aspects should be taken into consideration?"

From Gao Zhendong's speech, the leader always felt that he seemed to have a lot of ideas about radar-guided air-to-air missiles, or at least there were certain standards or lower limits in it, otherwise he would not have been able to explain the defects of the K-5 so clearly.

After hearing this, the comrades in the Air Force also felt that the leader’s question was a good one. Since you have lost the radar-guided air-to-air missiles, could you consider giving us something in return?
The comrades at the Missile Research Institute also perked up. Those who were working on infrared air-to-air missiles had the highest regard for this Deputy Chief Engineer Gao and spoke very highly of him.

Maybe today, he could gain something in return even if he lost something. Although he lost the K-5 imitation job, he might get a better project.

Gao Zhendong actually didn't have much preparation. He just wanted to get K-5 off the market first, but he didn't think carefully about what to get started.

However, this problem did not stump the leader of the Defense Work Committee. Firstly, he knew the future development direction of radar air-to-air missiles.

Secondly, he once considered putting radar air-to-air missiles into a future system, because this missile can play many roles that infrared air-to-air missiles cannot.

Although he cannot tell the details for the time being, when it comes to technical and tactical requirements, they are not difficult for him at all.

"I think that with the current environment and technical capabilities, matters within a 10-kilometer range can be mainly handled by infrared combat missiles. In this range, infrared missiles can play a better role. Radar air-to-air missiles can play their best role outside the 10-kilometer range, because at that distance, infrared missiles cannot be seen."

The IRST (Infrared search and track) system that is common on fighter jets in the future is backed by the fighter's huge body, or a dedicated pod that is generally used for infrared services, providing a better environment, larger aperture, and better infrared sensors to achieve a range of dozens of kilometers.

But for a long time in the future, the range of infrared combat missiles will be only about 10 kilometers, which is considered passing, and 15 kilometers, which is considered excellent.

(End of this chapter)