Chapter 517: Come back and make a new one
"Radar-guided air-to-air missiles, on the other hand, can rely on the aircraft itself as a platform to provide a longer search and detection distance, as well as a longer guidance distance. Of course, it has certain requirements for the carrier aircraft itself, which we will skip for now and only discuss the capabilities that radar-guided air-to-air missiles themselves may acquire."

The reason why Gao Zhendong said this is because now, and even within a certain period of time that can be foreseen, the fighter jets we can obtain all have nose air intakes, which makes radar-guided air-to-air missiles inherently insufficient.

But now, no one realized this problem, but after listening to Gao Zhendong's judgment on radar air-to-air missiles, they felt that it made sense.

"Well, within 10 kilometers, infrared missiles are used, and outside 10 kilometers, radar missiles are used. This division is very clear, and it seems to bring a lot of benefits."

"Yes, yes, yes. In this way, radar missiles can ignore the issue of dogfighting, give up some of the requirements in this regard, and put the limited missile resources on the issue 10 kilometers away."

"What on earth is there that needs to be done 10 kilometers away?"

"Uh... I heard from Mr. Gao, I heard from Mr. Gao, I haven't thought it through yet."

After everyone had discussed for a while, Gao Zhendong spoke up: "In my opinion, radar air-to-air missiles mainly take advantage of the detection range of airborne radars to attack the enemy from medium and long distances. For low-mobility targets, they can intercept them, and for high-mobility targets, they can at least interfere with their flight posture and destroy their engagement status."

This is how BVR combat worked in the beginning when the performance of radar missiles was relatively average. The performance of radar air-to-air missiles could not guarantee a large enough no-escape zone, but it still had tactical significance.

In Gao Zhendong's opinion, with the current technological environment, even if a radar air-to-air missile is developed, it is impossible to reach the level of the 21st century. Therefore, the current tactical goal of the radar medium-range air-to-air missile is not to kill the enemy with one shot, but to incorporate it into the entire air combat system.

"So the important thing about radar air-to-air missiles is that they can see far and fly far. They are not as maneuverable as infrared air-to-air missiles. The high maneuverability design of air-to-air missiles can be basically discarded to increase the range."

These words gave everyone some room for thought and to change the mission positioning of radar missiles. Instead of seeking to be comprehensive, they should only complete the most important task. This would indeed make the development of radar air-to-air missiles smoother.

Many times, the most taboo thing when doing things is greed, especially when doing applied research, if you want everything, you often end up doing nothing well.

The comrades in the Air Force understood Gao Zhendong's statement quite quickly, after all, that's what they were doing.

"Boss Gao, do you mean to start from medium and long distances and use radar air-to-air bombs to create conditions for close-range combat? The main purpose of medium and long-range attacks is to destroy the enemy's state. As for whether it can be shot down, it is just a matter of trying."

When I first heard about this idea of ​​not aiming to shoot down enemy aircraft, it seemed extremely outrageous. How could there be an air-to-air missile that does not aim to shoot down enemy aircraft?
Gao Zhendong nodded: "Yes, to ensure that there is a high probability of shooting down enemy aircraft at medium and long distances, especially highly maneuverable targets such as fighter jets, the cost is very high and the technical requirements are very high, so we might as well take a step back and only ensure a high probability of shooting down bombers, transport planes, reconnaissance planes and other less maneuverable targets."

This is actually quite annoying. As for the K-5 that was just killed, it could neither be hit far nor be killed. In fact, Gao Zhendong's request to "take a step back" is an impossible task for the K-5.

Are you taking a step back? You're taking many steps forward!

However, Gao Zhendong clearly proposed that the requirement for medium- and long-range air-to-air missiles to strike highly maneuverable targets should be reduced to harassment, which is indeed a downgrade of tactical requirements.

The tactical requirements and actual performance of equipment are actually unrelated. The reason is very simple: the requirements are high, but they cannot be achieved, so we have to make do with them.

After careful consideration, the comrades attending the meeting felt that Gao Zhendong's idea was very clear. If something cannot be done, just discard it and clearly lower the requirements. In this way, in the design, there is no need to spend time and effort on those unattainable goals, and the realization of the main goals will not be affected.

The leader of the Defense Work Committee smiled and said, "One step back, the world will be broader. Yes, that makes sense, Zhendong, your thinking is very clear."

The comrades of the Air Force raised their own doubts: "But there is a problem. The enemy aircraft can get rid of the medium-range air-to-air missiles by performing a high-g maneuver. After that, it can quickly restore its engagement posture."

Gao Zhendong smiled and shook his head: "Not necessarily. At least it's hard to recover from the height in a short time."

The comrades in the Air Force's eyes lit up and they fell into deep thought, but the other comrades were confused. As for altitude, doesn't it just matter if you fly up? And what does high-g maneuvers in the air have to do with altitude?
Seeing the others' puzzled faces, Gao Zhendong explained, "Even fighter jets rely on the lift gained from movement to maintain their altitude. As long as its thrust-to-weight ratio does not exceed 1, the best way for any aircraft to perform a high-G maneuver is to fly downwards, rather than upwards, because flying downwards can utilize gravitational potential energy. Even if it is forced to fly upwards, performing a high-G maneuver will also result in a large loss of energy, which is an opportunity for combat. Comrades in the Air Force can confirm this situation."

The comrades in the Air Force had roughly figured it out by now, and happily took over Gao Zhendong's words: "Yes! That's the truth! Without energy in the air, it is difficult to perform combat actions! In the range of 10 to 30 kilometers, the time for fighter jets to engage in combat is very fast. Once the engagement posture is destroyed, it is difficult to recover in a short time."

This is another forward-looking article on tactics and strategies! No, no, Chief Engineer Gao has given too much, I can’t digest it all. Comrades from the Institute of Missile Research have a better understanding of the specific performance of the missile and have their own opinions: "General Gao, the current radar air-to-air missile cannot support this head-on attack mode."

"It is true that the K-5 cannot hit the enemy head-on, but we are no longer discussing the K-5 and no longer using the K-5's method. This problem can be solved by using a semi-active continuous wave radar and the aircraft's radar to provide target illumination for the missile, so a head-on attack is achievable."

"There seems to be no difference between this and the K-5?" In the view of some comrades, aren't both guided by the aircraft's radar?

"There is a big difference. The semi-active continuous wave receives the reflected echo of the carrier aircraft's radar wave on the target. The requirements for the motion relationship between the carrier aircraft, the target, and the air-to-air missile itself are much lower than the radar beam of the K-5."

The principle is easy to understand. Once the window paper is broken, most comrades will react and realize that this is the logic.

The comrade from the Air Force looked at the records in his notebook and said to Gao Zhendong, "Chief Engineer Gao, is your idea to make a semi-active continuous wave guided missile with a maximum range of 20 to 30 kilometers?"

Gao Zhendong nodded: "Yes, I have thought about it. From the perspective of the range of the missile itself, after increasing the size of the missile body, the range can basically be met. There is no big problem, so the range of the core missile itself can be solved. The biggest problem is still the radar."

"Radar?" Everyone was a little confused. None of them worked with airplanes, and even the Air Force comrades who flew airplanes couldn't think of the relationship between the nose space and the radar for a moment.

Gao Zhendong nodded: "Yes, radar. Our fighter jets all have nose air intake. This structure is good for high speed, but it will seriously affect the layout of the radar. This is the biggest obstacle for us to study radar air-to-air missiles."

Bigger is better, everyone knows this. When thinking about the nose space of the Z-5 and Z-6, everyone shook their heads in their hearts.

Only the leaders of the National Defense Committee and the comrades of the Air Force had a serious look on their faces. Instead, their eyes were flashing, as if they were thinking about something.

Seeing that everyone looked a little solemn, Gao Zhendong could not change the equipment situation of the existing fighter jets and the research and development plan within a certain period of time. He could only start from other places. He planned to try a trick to at least give everyone the confidence to develop the radar bomb.

"However, it's not impossible."

Hmm? Comrades from the Defense Work Committee and the Air Force who had some ideas all looked at him. Comrade Gao Zhendong was indeed so reliable. He could come up with solutions whenever he raised a problem.

Those who only ask questions are definitely not as popular as those who can also provide solutions. Just like reporting a problem to a leader, it is best to bring your own solution, even if the solution is unreliable, it is better than just asking questions.

"What plan? You tell me." The leader of the Defense Work Committee was very interested. He believed that Gao Zhendong probably didn't know what they knew, so he was very curious about what alternative approach Gao Zhendong could come up with.

"Didn't the Tu-4T have several modified aircraft? Now the enemy doesn't dare to come at all, right?"

Everyone suddenly realized that there was not enough headroom, right? Find a machine with enough headroom!

"Hey, this is a good idea. The enemy's P-2Vs have been scared, and the Tu-4s are idle now. It seems a good idea to use them to do this first."

"Impossible? With the maneuverability and speed of the Tu-4, can it participate in air combat? It doesn't have that capability, you know."

"It doesn't necessarily have to participate in air combat. Whether it's attacking or defending, it's still possible to keep up through formation arrangements and route coordination. Didn't you hear Chief Engineer Gao say that this thing is not responsible for dogfighting, it's just harassment. It only needs to be a few dozen kilometers away, launch missiles, and then hang at a low speed to illuminate it."

In fact, this method is unreliable. Before the phased array was developed, the number of missiles that could be guided simultaneously by a semi-active radar was extremely limited. However, Gao Zhendong's ultimate goal was not only this, so he just happily watched his comrades use their imaginations.

But no matter what, one thing is certain, the use of Tu-4T can at least support the research of semi-active radar medium-range air-to-air missiles. This thing cannot be developed in a short time. Who knows what will happen in the future.

(End of this chapter)