Chapter 735 We need red flags-10
Speaking of close-range defense artillery, everyone will first think of the Phalanx. This is a short-range defense system developed by the Americans and installed on warships of many countries around the world, so it has a good reputation.
Moreover, the Phalanx still has great vitality. Needless to say, in the 1990s, this weapon is still in use in 2020. This weapon continues to be installed on the British Queen-class aircraft carrier as the last fire network for air defense interception.
However, the performance of this Phalanx is not high. It uses a 20mm cannon with a range of only 2,600 meters. It is not enough to intercept subsonic anti-ship missiles. How about dealing with supersonic missiles? The performance is too poor. Even an anti-ship missile with 2 times the speed of sound can fly 700 meters in one second. The interception time of Phalanx is only thirty seconds. It is definitely a one-time deal, and the supersonic anti-ship missile is so big They are not small, for example, the P-700, which weighs seven tons, can continue to fly even if it is intercepted and exploded, and can still crash into a warship even if it becomes a wreck. Sweep everything in the warship's superstructure.
The Americans have secretly calculated that the Phalanx's success rate in intercepting subsonic targets is over 70%, but intercepting supersonic targets will drop to less than 30%. If the target makes another terminal maneuver, the interception will be The success rate is zero percent!
In order to improve interception capabilities, we have to think of other ways.
Increasing firepower density is the most direct way. Moreover, the Italians proposed a famous "window saturation shooting" theory. Supersonic missiles are not omnipotent. If they want to attack a certain target, no matter how they maneuver, in their On the route, there must be certain points that must be passed, that is to say, these points are the only way it must pass! They call this place a window. They just need to calculate the window of the supersonic missile through the fire control system, and then fire a large number of shells to fill the window.
You don’t care how the missile maneuvers. You are responsible for raining bullets on the opponent’s path, waiting for the missile to crash into the window of steel and fire.
This requires advanced computers to perform calculations, and a large number of artillery shells. How much is this large amount?
After calculation, we can get a figure: 10,000 rounds per minute!
It is not easy to achieve a rate of fire of 10,000 rounds per minute. In history, only two models have achieved this, one is Kashtan and the other is the 1130 close-in defense gun!
In this way, the 1130 close-in defense gun can intercept supersonic missiles more efficiently. Although in this era, there are no supersonic missiles in the West, we must be prepared and prepare for the next few decades!
In addition to increasing the barrel and increasing the rotational speed, they also developed brand-new ammunition.
Discarding sabot armor-piercing projectiles are used against hard targets and are mainly used on tank guns. In order to improve the interception capability of naval guns, they also developed 30mm sabot-piercing projectiles. This has good performance, but the price is also horribly high.
However, this also depends on the comparison. Compared with the cost of building a warship and the lives of the sailors on the warship, what is the cost of half a million? Just ask me, do you feel distressed when the Moskva was sunk?
“Such a fast rate of fire poses a serious challenge to our ammunition supply system. How did you do it?” Xia Bei asked.
They are also engaged in naval guns, and he asked the most professional questions. Ten thousand rounds per minute, can the artillery shells be loaded? At least their own imitation of the 630 naval gun can never do it. At such a high rate of fire, the bullet chain will definitely break.
“We use a chainless system, with two drums arranged on the left and right, and the left and right feed ammunition alternately.” Xiang Tian said.
The 630 close-in defense gun uses a bullet chain to feed ammunition. This is also a commonly used method. Just like the Maxim heavy machine gun, the bullet chain shakes and continuously enters the gun chamber. This method is very constant. However, the bullet chain feeds The speed will not be too fast and it will be relatively fragile.
The 630 naval gun is not only the turtle shell seen on the deck, but also has a large amount of equipment below the deck. The ammunition chain storage mechanism is just below the deck. Moreover, after each firing, the below deck is a mess, and cleaning is very complicated.
Since the ammunition is internally supplied, the first shell of this kind of naval gun must be manually pressed into the barrel before firing. This may cause delays in the event of an emergency.
Phalanx is not painful. Speaking of Phalanx, we have to talk about the M-61 "Vulcan" 20mm cannon. Because the close-in defense gun is a derivative of this kind of machine gun, this kind of machine gun uses a chainless ammunition supply. It does not have a ammunition chain, but uses a flexible guide mechanism to connect the drum and the barrel. The inside of the guide mechanism A bullet holder is installed, which separates the artillery shells and feeds them driven by external energy.
It is precisely because this ammunition supply system is very flexible that when the Phalanx system is installed, it can be squatted directly on the deck without the need to make grooves below. Even after some new warships are built, they do not have the money to buy close-up weapons. For anti-gunnery, just disassemble the old ship and move it over. It can be used not only on warships, but also on land, because it is a whole.
If you want to increase the rate of fire, you must use a chainless ammunition feeding structure. At the same time, in order to increase the rate of fire to 10,000 rounds, the bow must be fired left and right.
However, its ammunition supply system is still somewhat different from that of the West. It can be said that it was developed by combining the advantages of the East and the West.
When we were building air defense ships in the past, what everyone valued most was radar and missiles. What about now? Radars and missiles have not yet appeared. Just these small supporting projects make everyone very excited. This is also the result of the continuous development of the motherland's military industry in recent years.
“There seems to be something extra on this system?” someone asked.
“Yes, we have developed a new optoelectronic system for it. As its main means of tracking targets, although we retain the 349 tracking radar, the tracking radar is used as a backup and is mainly guided by the optoelectronic system.”
Different from the Phalanx that works alone, this 1130 close-in defense gun also relies on the warship fire control system to provide data on the incoming target, switches to the appropriate location based on the data, and then uses the photoelectric system to capture the target.
This is also to better intercept supersonic anti-ship missiles.
Radar systems are susceptible to interference, and it is not easy to detect low-altitude sea-skimming missiles, but the photoelectric system is different. This system not only uses optical images, but also tracks targets through infrared signals!
For any anti-ship missile, the engine is always running during flight, and the infrared characteristics are obvious. Even if cooling measures are taken to cool the tail flame, the temperature of the warhead will increase during high-speed flight. These appearance characteristics are It cannot be concealed.
Therefore, it will be easier to use these to search for targets. Even if the enemy's anti-ship missiles are upgraded to stealth anti-ship missiles in the future, our own side can easily detect them.
This set of weapons is completely prepared for the future! Of course, with the development of technology, this 349 tracking radar will be replaced by a small octagonal phased array radar in the later stage, but we have not reached that step yet.
"This set of weapons can be used on our modified destroyers, and our aircraft carriers can also be equipped with this kind of close-in defense cannon!" Wu Shengli nodded. Good things must be used. The aircraft carrier has not yet been outfitted. These changes can still be made.
“Next, is it the turn of the radar and missiles?” the leader present continued to ask.
After talking for a long time, it was finally the turn of the bridge.
"Well, in terms of radar, let's talk from top to bottom. We all know that you can see far when you stand high. Now, there is a big ball on the main mast of our 054D. Do you know what is inside this big ball? ?”
Although Qin Tao said that the next subsystems will be discussed by others, he needs to have an overall overview after all. Now while continuing the introduction, he spoke again.
“Mr. Qin, you are not honest. Everyone is looking forward to talking about the 346 radar. Why do you always whet everyone’s appetite?” a leader said.
"Everyone, we are not in the era when we did not have air defense ships at the beginning. We are most looking forward to the four-sided phased array radar. Now that we have it, this is not urgent. Our modified destroyer must make up for the shortcomings of the prototype. Okay, I think this radar is more important." Qin Tao said.
"Yes, this position is the highest on the ship, so it is more suitable to capture ultra-low-altitude sea-skimming targets." A leader said: "In this way, our four-sided phased array is responsible for medium and long-range air defense. This big ball is responsible for ultra-low-altitude interception, what kind of radar is inside this?”
"Actually, the best thing is to have two phased array radars back to back. However, phased array radars are still relatively expensive now, so we can only settle for the second best and use the 364 radar. Please let the technical staff of the 723 Institute introduce it to you. .”
"Dear leaders, we know that the threat of ultra-low-altitude sea-skimming attacks is increasing, so we have also improved the new 364 radar." This technician attended the meeting for the first time and was quite excited: "We This radar has advanced performance, using dual-frequency diversity, pulse compression, adaptive MTD, frequency agility and traveling wave tube amplification chain working system. The frequency working range is C-band and X-band, and it has anti-sea clutter interference and anti-chaff Interference, anti-broadband blocking interference, anti-asynchronous pulse interference and anti-narrowband targeting interference capabilities. In terms of specific performance, the maximum search distance is 100 kilometers, but this is not the main thing. The main thing is to deal with anti-ship missiles with a radar reflection area of only 0.1 square meters. It can be found at a distance of 18 kilometers. Moreover, its processing system is very powerful and can track thousands of target trajectories, and its rotational speed can reach 60 rpm during wartime..."
Similar foreign products, such as the goalkeeper system, can only track up to 18 targets, but now we can track thousands of targets!
Of course, the best equipment is an integrated radio frequency system, where all radars are implemented on several shields, but it is still difficult to achieve this now, and we have to take our time.
what does that mean?
The ability to intercept ultra-low-altitude sea-skimming anti-ship missiles has been improved again!
With the advent of the stealth era, the reflection area of anti-ship missiles will become smaller and smaller, making discovery more and more difficult. If it cannot be discovered in time, it means that it is likely that it will not be able to respond in time, and may even cause it to be hit. Horrible ending!
Now, this radar is installed at the highest place, which can effectively increase the detection distance of anti-ship missiles and better protect the safety of warships!
“This radar, combined with our 1130 close-in defense gun, can better protect our warships and build the last line of defense!” said a leader.
“However, there seems to be a gap in firepower between our medium-range anti-aircraft missiles and close-range anti-aircraft guns!” Someone else said.
Close-in defense artillery can target targets within three kilometers. What about anti-aircraft missiles?
Due to the adoption of vertical launch technology, anti-aircraft missiles must first climb to a certain height and then dive down even if they are to deal with close-range targets. This is likely to delay fighter aircraft in tense air defense interception operations.
It would be great if there was a protective net in the middle!
“Our Haihongqi Seven seems to be just right.” Another leader said.
At that time, the Navy lacked suitable air defense missiles. The Navy relied on anti-aircraft artillery for air defense and could not survive in modern warfare. While domestically developing the Hongqi-61, it was also actively importing it. After eliminating the cheating sea dart, the Navy chose France's Sidewinder missile system.
Although the range of this missile is only a dozen kilometers, it has the ability to intercept low-altitude sea-skimming targets, and it is launched at an angle. The Navy is very satisfied with it. The model it copied is Haihongqi-7. Over the years, with the Hongqi- 16 in service, this missile has gradually become marginalized. However, if you want to build a complete firepower network for the navy, you cannot do without this weapon.
"Haihongqi-7 has long been outdated. Now, we need a brand-new missile to meet our needs. According to our naming principles, it should be the turn of Hongqi-10. After the successful development of this missile, it will fill this gap. "Qin Tao said: "In the rear hangar of this warship, we have reserved an installation location for the Hongqi-10."
Speaking of anti-aircraft missiles, many people will directly think of the Red Flag Nine. The emergence of this missile has provided an unbreakable protective umbrella for the navy. In fact, the Hongqi-10 missile is also very important.
With the rapid development of various anti-ship missile technologies, ship-based air defense systems are facing increasing threats, and the division of labor has become increasingly clear: vertically launched medium- and long-range ship-based air defense systems are mainly responsible for long-range multi-target interception; In order to intercept enough targets at long distances and even shoot down aircraft carrying missiles, the tilt-launched short-range air defense system is mainly responsible for intercepting enemy missiles that break through the medium and long-range air defense systems. Both perform their own duties.
In terms of quick response, oblique launch is still more efficient than vertical launch.
At this time, after hearing Qin Tao's words, everyone became curious: "Mr. Qin, do we still need new anti-aircraft missiles? Haihongqi Seven is not enough? Can you tell us specifically?"
"With the development of anti-ship missile technology, our new generation of short-range air defense missile systems need to have more advanced capabilities, especially multi-target interception capabilities." Qin Tao said: "Although our Haihongqi 7 is advanced, it is It can only deal with one or two targets, which is no longer able to meet this need. In order for air defense missiles to have multi-target interception capabilities, our short-range missiles need to have the ability to launch and forget, have fast reaction speed, strong lethality, and overall performance , the same as the Western Ram missile."
In fact, the demand for interception of anti-ship missiles is more urgent in the West than in the East. Although the United States has Sea Sparrow and Phalanx, there is still a gap between these air defense firepowers. Therefore, in the 1990s, the United States and Germany jointly developed The Ram missile was introduced and later became the most powerful close-defense weapon for intercepting anti-ship missiles.
When Qin Tao talked about Ram, everyone immediately had an intuitive impression.
"Yes, we need a new anti-aircraft missile similar to the Ram missile. This missile does not need to fly very far, but it must have strong multi-target interception capabilities." A leader said: "For this missile, Qin Do you have any other ideas?”
This was originally just a demonstration meeting for a modified destroyer. Now, driven by Qin Tao, it has turned into a research and development meeting for new missiles.
The technicians of the 723 institute were standing there, not too embarrassed, because he had already known it in advance, and the official radar for the Hongqi-10 missile was still the 364 radar in their hands. Now what Mr. Qin said was still theirs. s project.
"I'm not a professional, so I'd better let my secretary introduce me." Qin Tao said.
Zhao Ling stood up.
As the designer of the Hongqi-16, Zhao Ling’s accomplishments in air defense missiles are obvious to all, so it is normal for her to give advice on new air defense missiles now.
"When dealing with ultra-low-altitude sea-skimming anti-ship missiles, they will be affected by wave clutter. At the same time, taking into account the needs of multi-target attacks, it is best for our missiles to use infrared imaging guidance. This is a matter of leaving it alone after launch. However, considering that the range of the infrared imaging seeker is limited, we can first use the 364 radar for guidance within a certain distance after launch, thus forming a dual-mode guidance method."
Different missiles have different guidance methods. Generally speaking, the Navy has now transitioned to semi-active radar and active radar guidance methods, both of which require specialized target illumination radars. This method has fire channel restrictions.
Take the famous Aegis system in the United States as an example. It is touted as having the ability to resist saturation attacks, but in fact, it is still limited by the number of targets illuminated by the radar, and the number of targets it can deal with at the same time is still single digits.
There is no need for infrared imaging guidance. This thing is completely autonomous and is less susceptible to clutter on the sea surface. The reliability will be higher. The only disadvantage is the distance. Therefore, when flying to the target, use radar to guide you first.
This radar guidance is not target illumination. It just continuously refreshes the target data during the rotation of the 364 radar one second, and then transmits the target data to the missile. This is enough.
Therefore, this guidance method has no restrictions. In theory, the number of its fire channels is only limited by the number of missiles. Although there is only one launcher, after launching the missile, it can immediately turn to another one.
"The fire channel of this close-in defense system is only limited by the number of missiles. We can choose different launchers based on the different equipment. For example, on our main destroyers, we can install 24-tube launchers. After all, this This kind of destroyer is used for air defense. On our aircraft carrier, we can install 18-tube equipment, mainly to intercept fish that slip through the net. On our light frigate, we can install 8-tube equipment." Zhao Ling continued: "These The launcher is the same as the Ram missile, which is a launch kiln system."
“With 24 tubes installed on a launcher, the missile must not be too big, right?”
"Yes, the length of the Ram missile is 2.79 meters, the diameter of the missile is 127 millimeters, the wingspan is 262 millimeters, and the missile weight is 70.9 kilograms. Our own Hongqi-10 missile must also be of this level in appearance and size." Zhao Ling He continued: "This missile is more similar to an air-to-air missile. Because it is too small and has too many servos installed, we can use special roll control technology. The missile rotates around the axis during flight, and the servos When the missile body rolls to a certain angle, it takes action to control the rudder surface to change the flight direction, so that even with a single-channel servo, the missile can be controlled to fly in any direction."
Overall, it is almost the same as the Ram missile. Many technologies are also transplanted from air-to-air missiles.
In this way, the technical foundation is in place, and all that is left to do is invest in research and development.
“Xiao Zhao, do you want to be the chief engineer of our project?” a leader said.
Hearing this, Qin Tao's face turned a little ugly. It was too much. He was used to sleeping and flying with his wife, but his boss actually wanted him to become a monk?
"Old Wang, Xiao Zhao is already the secretary to the CEO of Mingzhou Group. He is busy with work and has no time to take on the important role of being the chief designer of a new anti-aircraft missile." Wu Shengli said: "Besides, our current aerospace system There are so many talents here, but you still can’t find a suitable project chief engineer?”
Qin Tao glanced at his father-in-law gratefully. It was better for his father-in-law, knowing that he could not give any more.
"Okay, I know that you, Lao Wu, feel sorry for your daughter." Leader Wang stopped insisting: "Then please ask Mingzhou Group to write us a detailed plan, and the agency responsible for air-to-air missiles in our aerospace system will develop it. As for this project , according to what Mr. Qin said, it is called Hongqi-10, and our Hongqi family will have a new member."
"Mr. Qin, can you keep up with this device you reserved?" another leader said.
"Of course we can catch up. Now our domestic military research and development capabilities are already very strong. During the outfitting stage of this modified destroyer, this Hongqi-10 should be developed. Maybe it can catch up with our aircraft carrier outfitting." ." Qin Tao is very optimistic.
PS: I don’t know why, but I haven’t been able to code recently. Maybe it’s because I’ve encountered too many annoying things recently. . . Thank you for your great support! Today seems to be the last day to double monthly tickets. If you have a monthly ticket, please vote for the Hero of East China!
(End of this chapter)