The National Defense Science and Technology Committee organized a meeting of rocket experts in a simplely decorated conference room at the Luda naval base, and despite the open windows and the thunderstorm outside, the room was still very hot and smoky - almost all the scientific and technological workers of this era were cigarette lovers.

Dr. Zhang Yandong gave a presentation from the podium, and the blackboard behind him was filled with mathematical equations and parabolic figures that laymen could not understand. Almost everyone around the long conference table Zhu Chengji knew him, except for a guest in military uniform, a rear admiral, who seemed to be of no lower rank.

The scientists dressed casually, some wore shirts with no ties and sleeves rolled up, and some even wore short-sleeved sports T-shirts, which contrasted with the atmosphere of the conference. The meeting was still chaired by Jacky Lee, chairman of the Imperial Astronautical Association, who was Zhu Chengji's old rival, and the two men had fierce competition for the military's rocket armament budget, and their relationship had not been good.

General Deng Xueshu and Dr. Sanger waved their hands to Zhu Chengji in a friendly manner, and then introduced to the general sitting next to him: "This is Dr. Zhu Chengji, the director of the Jiangning Rocket Company - this is General Ling Wencha, and he is the representative of the Navy of the National Defense Science and Technology Commission. ”

Zhang Yandong finished speaking on the stage, and he mainly talked about the problems of electronic gyroscopes in rocket guidance.

At this time, Ling Wencha suddenly opened his mouth to ask a question, but his speech was interrupted by a rumbling thunder, and he had to repeat it in a loud voice: "May I ask the doctor, how safe is the liquid fuel rocket when transporting, such as on a bumpy ship?" ”

Zhang Yandong pondered for a moment, and then said: "There is a certain danger, everyone knows that liquid oxygen is very sensitive to the reaction of vibration, so you must be especially careful in transportation." ”

Zhu Chengji just lit a cigar, took two puffs in a row, and then interjected: "The fuel filling and transportation of liquid fuel rockets are very troublesome, and they can only be used on land fixed launch stands, and if you want to use them on ships, they can only be solid-fuel rockets." We have already equipped warships and submarines with rocket artillery, and in fact the principle of both is similar, except that the engines of solid-fuel rockets are slightly more sophisticated. He seemed to be answering Ling's question.

Jacky Li said at this time: "The problem is that the speed of a solid rocket is too high, and the gyroscope is easy to fail, what is the difference between a rocket with a failed guidance device and a rocket launched from an orbit?" ”

"Why can't gyroscopes withstand high speeds?" Ling Wencha asked.

"The main thing is the lack of reliability of the electronic components, you know those tubes are inherently very breakable, especially in the case of high-speed vibrations." Professor Jacky Lee explained.

"What are the chances of damage to the electronic gyroscope?"

"It's about a tenth, but it's much higher on a solid rocket, almost half."

Ling Wencha nodded, lowered his head and jotted down some data in his notebook.

The discussion paused for a moment, and for a moment, only the sound of rain outside the house could be heard.

General Deng Xueshu suddenly said: "How about this thing on the plane?" For example, against ground or water targets? ”

"Jiangxia Ordnance Group and Jiangning Arms Manufacturing Company are both conducting research in this area, and Dr. Liang Xueli and Dr. Long Yuhao are experts in this area, but they were not invited to today's meeting today." Dr. Sanger of radio technology said that he had actually done some of his research on this as well, "It's still an old problem, radio guidance equipment is very unreliable." ”

"Uh-huh, it's all about the radio equipment, isn't there anything wrong with the engine?" Ling Wencha raised his head.

"The manufacturing technology of rocket ramjet engines is relatively mature, and the problem lies in materials, which require a large number of rare metals such as titanium and tungsten, and we need to get the priority supply of materials." Jacky Lee said.

"Well, what the military needs is some mature and reliable technology, and as it is often said above, the quantity of military equipment is more effective than the quality most of the time." Ling Wencha said, "We will report the problem to the top as soon as possible, the Supreme Command attaches great importance to long-range rocket technology, and I think some problems can be solved soon." ”

The solid-fuel long-range rocket developed by Dr. Zhu Chengji's "Rocket Research Institute" is actually based on the principle of rockets, and the main propulsion fuel it uses is mainly composed of bibase nitrocellulose, and some gelatinized plastics and oxygen enhancers are also added.

However, the "long-range rocket" built by Dr. Zhu Chengji is 16 meters long and weighs more than 15 tons, which can deliver a warhead weighing 1.2 tons to a distance of 300 kilometers, with an error of more than 10 kilometers. According to Dr. Zhu Chengji's prediction, if the new electronic navigation system is replaced, the deviation of the launch degree of this long-range rocket can even be controlled to less than 5 kilometers.

According to the assessment of the Industrial Production Committee, the so-called bombing mission of Britain with such a long-range rocket is absolutely uneconomical in terms of the results and manufacturing costs of such long-range rockets, excluding the psychological panic caused to the British people.

"Expensive and useless!"

That was the conclusion of the Industrial Production Committee on this new weapon.

In addition to experimental and research purposes, the proposal for mass production of a "long-range rocket" was rejected.

The Supreme Command's latest request was to try to equip submarines with such a "long-range strike weapon", which is said to have come from the emperor's idea, so Rear Admiral Ling Wencha, who was the naval liaison officer of the Supreme Command, became the head of the project.

After receiving the official order from the Admiralty, Ling Wencha flew to the Songjiang Naval Base the next day to meet with his immediate boss, Admiral Ouyang Chen, now the commander of the Imperial Submarine Force, and gathered a group of experts in submarine design and construction to study the issue through his connections.

How to mount several long-range rockets with a length of more than 15 meters and a weight of 15 tons on a submarine is a real problem. A long-range rocket with a launcher is 20 meters long and weighs more than 20 tons, while an ocean-going submarine is about 80 meters long, and it is not too much of a problem to fit two such rockets on it.

But having a submarine sail across the ocean and launch only two long-range rockets to attack the enemy seems a bit too extravagant, and it certainly won't pass the review of the Navy's armament department. If you think about it from the point of view of the war economy, it is necessary to equip the submarine with at least eight or more long-range rockets - not counting the launchers, the weight of the rockets alone is more than 120 tons.

This is a bit overwhelming for the current submarines.

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