Chapter 911 The Importance of Industrial Base
The laboratory Philip mentioned is actually a row of small bungalows. After all, the Lake Rukua basin is not a prosperous place to begin with, so the construction of the test site looks relatively sloppy from the outside.
Of course, as an important national secret project that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince personally oversees, the facilities are not bad at all. The East African government even built a road from Mbeya City to the test site, but ordinary people need to be interrogated here.
Mbeya City is originally located inland. Coupled with the closed nature of East Africa itself, it is impossible for anyone to easily detect the specific conditions of the East African tank testing site. Even East African high-level officials know very little.
Even if you know it, you can't take it too seriously. After all, what is a "tank"? I have never heard of it, never seen it, and no one can realize the importance of tanks to the future battlefield like Ernst.
"Judging from the condition of the engine, it should still be overloaded, resulting in insufficient power. This is not a problem we can solve. We need to cooperate with domestic internal combustion engine manufacturers to improve engine performance, otherwise we can only carry out inspections on the tank prototype. Reducing the configuration and sacrificing some functions to reduce weight may achieve a similar effect," Laboratory Ryalsk said to Philip.
Philip: "Be prepared! Regarding the engine issue, we have asked for this for a long time, but it will take time for them to produce results, so we cannot completely wait for relevant factories and research institutions to produce results. We must first re-optimize and adjust the tank structure. Maybe lowering some standards can help it come out sooner, and as for other issues, we can slowly improve them in the future.”
Both believe that the previous tone was too high. Tank production is actually more consistent with the tractor industry. The East African tractor industry was born only a few years ago, much later than the automobile industry.
And tanks are different from tractors in that they are too heavy and have high performance requirements. For example, one of Ernst’s important requirements for tanks is that they can easily cross trenches, which cannot be achieved by ordinary tractors.
"In addition to the engine, there are also tracks. This is also the key point. Many faults were concentrated in these two areas before, so we have to cooperate with other agencies to solve this problem. And before the tank is finalized, no one knows what will be installed in the future. Before We are also considering issues such as heat dissipation. Now it seems that we have to solve the problem of its movement step by step. As for the driver, it is inevitable to suffer some punishment!" Yersk suggested.
The internal environment of the tank is like a big steamer, which is really uncomfortable for the driver. Philip and Yarsk wanted to work more on this aspect before, but now, they have to be more realistic.
In fact, the temperature in East Africa, at least in the Lake Rukwa basin, is not too high. The average altitude here is more than 800 meters, and the temperature is about four to five degrees lower than in coastal areas. It is basically the same as the turn of spring and summer in Europe. So even the steamer environment inside the tank is not too exaggerated.
Of course, for Philip and Yarsk, they will next make major changes to the overall structure of the tank, so comfort must give way to practicality. As for the future, when the relevant technology matures, they will start to improve the comfort of the tank.
In fact, these difficulties in tank research are not bad. Ernst can provide some reference. After all, the overall shape of tanks in previous generations has not changed much. As for aircraft research, it is a chaotic mess, and there are no relevant physical objects for reference.
Tanks can also learn from tractors, which are supported by the tractor industry. Aircrafts do not have this condition. Even the choice of engines is a big problem, but this matter is naturally a headache for relevant researchers.
The research on tanks in East Africa is "far in the future", and when it is developed, it may not be able to be used in actual combat. Even if it can be used in actual combat, it will take time to form combat effectiveness.
Therefore, in Ernst’s view, everything will be fine if East Africa’s armored forces can be formed at the beginning of the next century, and they must become a combat-effective force by at least 1920.
Of course, this does not mean that the progress of East African tank research is slow. In fact, the tanks at the Rukwa Lake test site already have certain operational capabilities, but there are too many problems, big and small, and they need further improvement. It is optimistically estimated that the finished product should be able to meet the initial requirements of the army within three years. The engine and track issues that Philip and others focus on are not too difficult. After all, East Africa's technology in related fields has been advancing.
…
Mbeya No. 1 Tractor Factory.
“This is Philip’s request. He said that the performance of the engine provided to them last time was still poor. He hopes that we can provide them with better products. In addition to the requirements on the engine, there is also a problem with the track.”
In this regard, Mendez, director of the First Tractor Factory in Mbeya City, asked: "How is the progress of our latest engine developed?"
“Director, the experimental data has been released, and there are no major technical problems. However, we only have one prototype.”
"In that case..." Mendes pondered for a moment and then said: "We will try to copy one within a month and send it to Lake Rukua. After all, they are pressing this time. If we can meet their needs, "In the future, we may be able to directly sign a stable order with the military. We have many competitors, and tractor factories in Dar es Salaam, Harare, and Mombasa may have related research."
In addition to meeting the needs of the Rukwa Lake Proving Ground, Mbeya No. 1 Tractor Factory also needs a new generation of engines to improve the performance of its tractors, so support for the Rukwa Lake Proving Ground is also in their interests.
After Director Mendez gave the order, Mbeya No. 1 Tractor Factory quickly delivered the latest engines. As for the track issue, it will take some time. After all, this requires improvement in material performance. Mbeya The city's No. 1 Tractor Factory could only seek help from the Mbeya Iron and Steel Materials Research Institute.
At this time, Philip and others were making major changes to the tank structure. The original bulky tank sample was directly reduced by one ton, and part of the armor was also reduced and replaced with lighter materials. Although this greatly reduced the defensive function, There is no way around this.
After the new engine was in place, Philip and others made major adjustments because the structure of the engine sent this time had some changes. After all, it was not the same model.
In this way, with the continuous adjustments and modifications of East African tank researchers, East African tanks are becoming more and more mature. Research and development is like this, full of compromises and trial and error.
Moreover, the process of tank research and development involved hundreds of companies in Mbeya City and other parts of East Africa. After all, it was the First Tractor Factory in Mbeya City that provided the main support. Their parts were not all produced in-house, but Coming from other factories, this reflects the importance of the industrial base for tank research and development. Of course, the first tractor factory in Mbeya City plays a leading role.
The fastest unit in tank research and development in East Africa is the Rukwa Lake Proving Ground, relying on the fact that Mbeya City has the most complete industrial system and the most intensive scientific research institutions in East Africa.
This also reflects the importance of a complete industrial system to the military. Without any link, the difficulty of tank development will rise to a higher level. After all, if you rely on foreign imports, there will be no problems in peacetime, but once it is blocked, it will inevitably lead to blindness.
(End of this chapter)