Chapter 1338: Range extended by 40%?

Asking the Air Force to learn how to defend against air attacks from the Army is actually a bit contrary to Tian Gang's intention.

Although the army also has air defense forces in its organizational sequence, for a long time the longest-range air defense missile it was equipped with was the Tor M10 with a range of about 1 kilometers. It was not until recent years that it began to consider army-level air defense cover with a range of 40-60 kilometers.

When the first few Hongqi 16 missile battalions were formed, some instructors were even transferred from the Air Force ground-to-air missile units to form a group of people.

Fortunately, according to Shen Fangzhong, this is only on the technical level, and at most it will only involve some technical personnel such as military representatives.

Finally, Zheng Liangqun breathed a sigh of relief.

Although he himself did not care about these details, if possible, no one would be willing to leave a mark in the history of the development of the Air Force in such a unique way.

Li Jianqiang, the director of the Air Force Equipment Research Institute, who was accompanying them, was obviously more interested in the specific details. He took advantage of the time when the leaders were silent and asked:

"Mr. Shen, are you referring to multi-pulse technology?"

"Hmm... I'm not sure about the details yet."

Shen Fangzhong shook his head:

"In fact, there have been news about this since the end of last year, but it has been advancing in the name of verifying technology. The source of the project funding is also relatively mysterious, and it has not received much attention... Even the live-fire test a while ago was conducted by taking advantage of the acceptance of the army's new field air defense system, and a few rounds were fired..."

China's military-industrial system is a behemoth involving thousands of units and millions of people. In recent years, various projects that piggyback on the trend or are self-funded have emerged like a blowout, most of which are short-lived and will not lead to any follow-up.

Therefore, even a model chief designer like Shen Fangzhong cannot be familiar with every detail in the same field.

Especially in the past year or so, his main energy has been focused on collecting feedback from the troops equipped with the Hongqi 9. He has not even returned to Beijing many times, and has had no chance to obtain first-hand information.

However, this answer was obviously beyond Li Jianqiang's expectations.

"Live-fire test?"

He originally thought that the so-called "new technology" should refer to things that are still in the conceptual stage, or at most in the development stage.

But from what the other party said, it seemed like they were about to equip the troops.

Shen Fangzhong immediately understood the other party's doubts and explained:

"The Army's mainstream anti-aircraft missiles are small in size, low in cost, and have a relatively short range. It is relatively easy to replace parts for live-fire testing, and there is not a high threshold. Therefore, as long as many technologies are proven to be feasible, they will find opportunities to test fire a few rounds... Most of them will be transferred to reserves, and only those that are particularly mature and valuable will continue to be developed."

For long-range air defense missiles like the HQ-9, every round of testing is bound to involve a lot of fuss.

On the one hand, the missile itself is very expensive and the decision-making power for test launches is very restricted. On the other hand, the relatively exaggerated range and altitude require a large area to be cleared before each test.

It was fine in the early days when civilian air routes were sparse, but in recent years, with the gradual development of the aviation transportation industry, even if the right to manage airspace is indeed in the hands of the Air Force, issues at the level of military-civilian relations must always be considered.

And the more critical issue is that this also blocks the way for Party B to conduct a unilateral test launch.

Li Jianqiang was silent for a while, as if thinking about something. Then he showed a reminiscent expression:

"In the early years, our institute actually conducted a demonstration of the effectiveness of the dual-pulse engine. The conclusion is that at 40% of the maximum range, the killing effectiveness is about 1.7 times that of the single-pulse model. At 70% of the maximum range, the killing effectiveness can be increased to 3.2 times the original..."

"However, at that time, we found that the compartment structure was too complicated, and the success rate of the transient ignition of the two pulses was very low. The compartment type was simple, but the high-temperature gas produced by the combustion of the first pulse would often ignite the second pulse charge in advance, resulting in the two pulses only being able to work continuously, and the performance improvement was very poor... If there could be a technical breakthrough to ensure the success rate and controllability of the secondary ignition, it would indeed be a way to increase the effective range of anti-aircraft weapons."

As a technical officer of the Equipment Research Institute, he certainly does not have the final say in this situation.

So what I just said was meant for the leaders present here.

Qiao Chenqing did not express his opinion immediately, but turned to look at Zheng Liangqun next to him.

The situation of this Air Force team is rather special. Although Qiao Chenqing was a pilot when he was young, he entered the senior command position through the political work line, and he was appointed to the post urgently because of the sudden deterioration of his predecessor's health. It is inevitable that he is a little lacking in professionalism.

Therefore, Zheng Liangqun and his staff team are often required to play a more important role.

"It's at least worth a try."

The latter had actually made a decision long ago:

"If feasible, it can also be used in air-to-air missiles or even air-to-surface weapons."

He still couldn't forget his old ways.

Qiao Chenqing nodded:

"Since everyone's opinions are basically the same, there is nothing to hesitate about."

After saying that, he gestured to Li Jianqiang behind him:

"Comrade Jianqiang, you will personally meet with General Shen to learn more about this new technology, and then prepare a report as soon as possible and submit it to me and Chief of Staff Zheng!"

……

Although the idea was first proposed by Shen Fangzhong, his understanding of the overall situation was not much deeper than that of others.

After all, both the CT series and CTK series propellants were originally developed for air-breathing hypersonic weapons. It was only for the convenience of testing that they happened to be a hit with the then-struggling Ordnance Industry Group.

Therefore, when the two finally met Lin Chenggang at the Third Academy of China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation after some twists and turns, the first thing they felt was actually surprise.

"Old Lin?"

In fact, Shen Fangzhong and Lin Chenggang are quite different in age, but because of some past work relationships, they are used to being treated as equals:

"I remember... your entire laboratory was selected for the hypersonic weapons project, right?"

This question hits the latter's sore spot.

"Oh... don't mention it."

Lin Chenggang waved his hand:

"It's not convenient to go into too much detail. Anyway, I happened to have made some achievements, which are believed to have greater value in the field of traditional rocket propulsion..."

In fact, given Shen Fangzhong and Li Jianqiang's identities, there is nothing wrong with what they say as long as it does not involve specific technical issues.

But for Lin Chenggang, he naturally doesn't want to talk about the past.

That is why we use clever language art to avoid the important issues.

Shen Fangzhong also tasted something from this sentence -

It can play a greater value in traditional fields.

From another perspective, doesn't that mean that it doesn't play a big role in the hypersonic field?

Of course, he didn't want to break the window paper, but just mentioned the core purpose of this trip:

"We came here because we heard that your Third Academy has developed a new technology for the Army that can expand the flight envelope of air defense missiles at the end of their range. We hope to learn more about it..."

Hearing this, Lin Chenggang's brows finally relaxed:

"That's really a coincidence."

As he spoke, he pulled out a document from the side of his desk, turned it 180 degrees, and pushed it across the desk:

"This is the result I just mentioned. It is a new type of solid propellant with controllable thrust from 0 to maximum value... The current test results have proven that it can not only improve maneuverability in the middle and later stages of the range, but can also directly extend the theoretical maximum range by controlling the flight speed."

"As for the specific indicators..."

He kept it a little bit of a suspense.

Shen Fangzhong turned directly to the last few pages of the document.

Generally speaking, the key conclusions are placed in this section.

Then, he saw an astonishing number that almost made his eyes pop out:

"Range extended by 40%?"

This is exactly the effect Lin Chenggang wanted.

However, he still nodded with regret:

"The test conditions are quite harsh. Otherwise, we should be able to get a more ideal number..."