Chapter 1450: Give up the confrontation with armor and embrace the signal fire

Chapter 1450: Abandoning the Armor-Bomb Confrontation and Embracing the Integration of Signal and Fire

“Not just tanks.”

At this time, the naval attaché Colonel Edward Collins, who was standing beside him, also put down the SLR camera with a telephoto lens in his hand:

"Third, the amphibious infantry fighting vehicle formation is also different from what we saw on the satellite image before..."

While the two were talking, the second-ranked infantry fighting vehicle column had quietly passed by.

This model, called ZBD-04 and similar in appearance to BMP3, is actually very different from the latter in use, except that the 100mm+30mm weapon system is more similar. However, for most spectators and external observers who do not need to drive or ride, there are not many elements. Even the broadcast commentary only briefly mentions it, focusing only on the glorious history of this unit from the southern Xinjiang of the motherland.

In comparison, the third team following closely behind is extremely eye-catching.

It's not that the equipment itself is eye-catching, but the bright digital camouflage with navy blue as the base tone is really eye-catching. Especially from the perspective of the foreign guest area, you can notice these dozen particularly tall tracked vehicles very early.

However, for insiders who have been paying close attention to the People's Liberation Army, this amphibious infantry fighting vehicle itself is an old acquaintance.

Not to mention further, during the celebrations held in April this year to commemorate the establishment of the Chinese Navy, this model was demonstrated statically and on the water at the island city base. Visitors were even allowed to enter the crew cabin for the first time to experience the movements of amphibious mechanized infantry.

"Isn't this one of those very fast amphibious vehicles?"

Major General Scheer also participated in the demonstration half a year ago. He saw with his own eyes that this seemingly bulky guy reached an outrageous speed of about 40km/h after being launched into the water, so he was deeply impressed.

But in the final analysis, it is still a traditional landing equipment that relies on the floating-beach landing mode. In terms of threat level, it is far less than the new landing ship and hovercraft that were also exhibited in April.

"But the lineup is much simpler than what we see on the satellite images."

Collins pointed to a place a little further away:

"According to our previous estimates, there should be 18 105mm amphibious assault guns belonging to the First Army after the three tanks and before the infantry fighting vehicles. But now the number has been halved and concentrated at the back of this formation."

Upon closer inspection, Scheer discovered that, as the other party had said, the first two rows and the last two rows of the 4*4 formation were not the same.

“It’s really fresh…”

With communication and reconnaissance methods so advanced today, things like the parade lineup should have been determined months or even half a year in advance.

But I don't know whether it was intentional or unintentional, but the Chinese are really doing things in a conch shell, facing countless cameras and sights, and coming up with a lot of new tricks for those of them who are engaged in open source intelligence analysis.

Schell put another cross on his notebook and shook his head in annoyance:

"That is to say, the trucks we saw in the parade village and several rehearsals may not be backup vehicles or support vehicles, but the highlight of this parade..."

Collins took out his mobile phone, opened the live broadcast page of CCTV channel with great difficulty, and then put on a headset.

Although I am not as proficient in Chinese as the old hands, the names of the various formations will be displayed on the color bar at the bottom of the screen, so I can still understand some of it.

Ten seconds later, he thrust the phone screen in front of Schell:

"You see, in the Chinese propaganda materials, this formation did not give a specific model or equipment type, but was directly named the amphibious landing combat formation based on its function..."

At this moment, the live streaming that was originally watchable suddenly became stuck, and after a refresh that lasted less than five seconds, the number of messages in the comment section below increased by a staggering more than 2,000.

"What... happened?"

Amid the already noisy background noise, Collins could only hear the commentator's voice suddenly becoming much more sonorous and powerful, but he didn't know what exactly he said that could cause such a strong reaction from the audience across the screen.

Sher had already put on the other earphone, but his expression immediately became a little stiff.

Because he happened to hear the commentator's last sentence about this formation:

"The People's Liberation Army has the ability and confidence to always be ready to complete the mission entrusted to our generation by history..."

This set of rhetoric may not be a big deal under normal circumstances, but combined with the nature of this "amphibious landing team" in front of us, it is hard not to make some associations...

"They issued a clear threat..."

Scheer simply skipped the troublesome translation process and directly explained the hidden meaning:

"Think about it, where can the Chinese use these amphibious vehicles?"

Collins' eyes widened instantly:

"what do you mean……"

But he was stopped by the other party:

"Wait a minute, artillery, missiles... and those things like box trucks are coming."

These pieces of equipment had been analyzed countless times and did not require undue attention, but the slightly strange classification method just now had reignited Sher's interest.

He quickly summed up the rules:

Those columns whose models have relatively simple functions and whose uses can be seen at a glance, such as tracked self-propelled artillery, long-range rocket launchers, anti-tank missiles, etc., are still named individually in the same way as in the past.

But another part of the equipment that is a mix of multiple models or whose specific functions are difficult to determine by their names will be given a general name.

For example, a vehicle that looks like an ordinary truck but has several different types of antennas deployed on its roof is summarized as a "communication support team."

Schell barely recognized that the four vehicles in the front row were the high-throughput satellite communication vehicles that appeared at the last Zhuhai Air Show. However, their appearance had changed compared to when they were on display. Judging from the more complex shape and higher component density of the antenna array, they should have undergone another upgrade.

Or, the models previously exhibited were simply downgraded export models.

As for the other twelve vehicles in the queue, even the major general military attaché who had been paying close attention to the development of Chinese equipment for a long time had no idea.

"I don't think I've ever seen so many models in news footage or satellite images..."

The tip of the pen in his hand left ink stains on the notebook, and he had obviously given up on real-time model analysis.

These vehicles were not unfolded during the rehearsal, so they looked no different from a 6*6 or 8*8 truck. At the time, I just thought they were simple microwave communication vehicles and never expected them to be so complicated.

"In the past two years, there has been a rumor that China is preparing to set up an information warfare regiment under each army division-level unit."

A second-class lieutenant colonel from the Ground Self-Defense Force suddenly interrupted in English:

"Before, we mostly regarded this news as an online rumor, because in the past decade, the speed of updating the equipment of the Chinese Army has been very slow compared to that of the Navy and Air Force, and it does not support such a large-scale increase in the establishment. But now it seems that this may really be the idea of ​​the Chinese government..."

After all, they were an ally, so Scheer nodded politely, but he still had some doubts in his heart.

According to his experience, organizational adjustments often involve a large number of personnel changes and complex interest relations, which are difficult to prepare quietly.

In comparison, simple equipment upgrades are easier to explain.

But soon, he changed his mind.

The wheeled assault gun formation that was supposed to appear was integrated into the "rapid reaction combat formation" and was replaced by two consecutive complete electronic warfare units that also used truck chassis.

“They are reconstructing the combat system.”

Sher whispered, and it was unclear whether he was communicating with his companions or simply talking to himself:

"See those vehicle-mounted phased array antennas? Every firepower unit has become an information node."

In places that cannot be seen on site, a technological carnival is taking place on the Internet.

The parade was barely halfway through, and a user had already posted a comparison of data: in 1999, the number of tanks on review was 72, but this year the number has dropped sharply to a quarter. In contrast, the number of fire support and information assurance equipment, which are not responsible for front-line assaults, has increased by more than seven times.

Someone in the follow-up post pointed out: "Based on the proportional expansion of the equipment lineup in the military parade, the reduced number of tank personnel may be converted into drone operators and cyber warfare engineers."

At the same time, Major General Scheer's notebook was quickly covered with new scribbled symbols. When the last large formation of truck-mounted drones passed by, he completely crossed out the report outline he had prepared.

If these reconnaissance and strike drones with satellite relay capabilities belong to the army, then combined with the battlefield data links and electronic countermeasure equipment shown earlier, it means that the enemy is completely bidding farewell to the traditional ground combat mode and instead weaving a full-domain intelligent combat network.