Air defense operations during the day reflected a very serious problem that has not been resolved.

There is a serious lack of means of air detection, and even the most advanced radar cannot guarantee that an incoming enemy aircraft will be detected in time at any time.

Increasing the number of air defense warships and equipping all large warships with radars is nothing more than a stopgap measure.

The reason is also very simple, the air defense warships deployed in front are extremely vulnerable to attack, and after the loss of combat effectiveness, there will inevitably be loopholes in the air defense network in the direction.

In addition, the radar carried by the warship is almost equal to the display of enemy aircraft flying at ultra-low altitudes.

If it's a clear day, it's not even as good as the lookout's eyes.

The problem is not on the radar, but on the curvature of the Earth.

The most effective solution is to increase the height of the radar.

It is precisely for this reason that the Imperial Navy attaches great importance to large warships such as fast battleships, because only large warships can be equipped with high enough masts, and can also install radars in higher places, improve the detection range of ultra-low-altitude targets, and enhance the efficiency of air defense operations.

It is a pity that no matter how large a battleship is, it is impossible to increase the mast height indefinitely.

In real combat, even under more ideal conditions, a fast battleship can only provide about 10 minutes of air defense warning time.

In fact, "10 minutes" is a prerequisite for today's air defense tactics.

All the air defense tactics of the Imperial Navy revolved around the "10 minutes", during which it was necessary not only to detect enemy aircraft, but also to organize fighters to intercept them.

To put it simply, it is necessary to let the air defense fighters go forward and deploy them in the direction of the enemy planes, so as to ensure that they can immediately intercept the enemy planes after they are discovered.

Obviously, in high-intensity naval and air combat, this tactic simply does not work.

Under normal circumstances, a large aircraft carrier can carry a maximum of about 40 fighters, and the number of fighters that can be used for fleet air defense operations will generally not exceed 30, and the number of sorties at a time will definitely be about 20, so it can carry out air defense interception missions in three directions at most.

To put it bluntly, there are not enough fighters.

The simplest solution is actually to increase the number of aircraft carriers and organize two or even three aircraft carriers into a task force.

However, this is not the most effective approach.

If both sides are putting together more aircraft carriers, then no matter how many aircraft carriers are added, it will not be possible to fundamentally solve the problem of insufficient fighters.

On the contrary, too many warships are grouped together, which will inevitably turn the command into a disaster.

According to the experience of the Imperial Navy, the integration of three aircraft carriers into one task force is the limit, and any additional increase will reduce the combat efficiency of the fleet due to the suffering of command and coordination. If something goes wrong in the middle of the battle, the consequences will be unimaginable.

In fact, the best way to improve the efficiency of air defense operations is to strengthen the means of detection, strive to detect incoming enemy planes at the greatest possible distance, and provide more air defense warning time, so that air defense fighters can be deployed in the rear and then go forward to intercept enemy planes after they have been discovered.

Obviously, this requires the radar to be deployed at a higher level.

The technical experts of the Imperial Navy had long thought that if the radar could fly into the sky and use the radar on the aircraft, this problem could be perfectly solved.

Of course, the radar has long been installed on the plane.

Army aviation has long been equipped with night fighters, and the hallmark of night fighters is a small search radar, which can also detect and track enemy aircraft at night.

The naval aviation has also procured a number of night fighters to equip shore-based aviation units to guard military ports and other important places.

But the problem is that the night fighter is equipped with a small radar, which not only has a short detection range, but also is not reliable enough, and the continuous working time is very short.

For fire control, it's not a big problem, anyway, the boot time is only a few minutes.

If you want to use it for long-term detection and search, then it will definitely not work.

To put it simply, it is a radar that can work for a long time, has a sufficient detection range, and is very reliable, and it is not small enough to be carried by an aircraft.

As for carrier-based aircraft of the tactical class, it is even more impossible.

Do not forget that all night fighters are twin-engine long-range fighters and weigh twice as much as a regular carrier-based fighter and about the same as a medium bomber.

In fact, the first few night fighters were modified from twin-engine medium bombers with superior performance.

Now, the problem is back on the radar.

Long before the outbreak of the Great War, the Imperial Navy increased its investment in radar and other electronic equipment, commissioned several domestic electronics manufacturers and research units to develop small search radars, and cooperated with carrier-based aircraft manufacturers to explore ways to install radars on carrier-based aircraft.

As far as Bai Zhizhan knows, the "radar plane" developed on the basis of the "Thunderbolt" has completed its first flight, but its performance is very poor.

There is nothing surprising in the choice of "Thunderbolt", this is the largest carrier-based aircraft in terms of tonnage and size, and after removing unnecessary equipment, it has a weight of about 1 ton to carry the radar.

The point is that the cockpit of the "Thunderbolt" is large enough that, after removing the self-defense machine guns in the rear, it is even possible to arrange the place of the fourth crew member.

This makes it possible to carry a radar operator and communications commander in addition to the pilot and navigator.

In addition, the belly of the "Thunderbolt" has a magazine for hanging on the torpedo, which can be used to place the radar.

Unfortunately, the miniaturization of radar is still not good enough, and it can also be said that the performance of small radar is too poor, and there are still many problems that cannot be solved for the time being.

The most typical is how to make the airborne radar achieve 360-degree all-airspace search.

After testing, the Navy did not order the radar, but it still provided funds to manufacturers to continue their exploration.

All in all, the daytime battles once again proved that obtaining the means to effectively detect enemy aircraft at ultra-low altitudes has become a top priority in the air defense operations of the fleet.

In the case of unreliable technology, you can only use stupid methods.

As such, the 11th Task Force had 2 fast battleships, 4 ocean-going cruisers, 4 heavy cruisers and 4 light cruisers.

There are 14 air defense warships!

In addition, two of the eight destroyers, which served as the leader of the detachment, were also equipped with radar.

Counting the 2 large aircraft carriers, 18 warships in the 11th Task Force are equipped with radars.

Without a doubt, this is definitely the most extravagant line-up at the moment.

If nothing else, just the purchase of 18 anti-aircraft search radars will be enough to build several cruisers.

The situation of the 12th Task Force is similar, except that the leader of the destroyer detachment is not equipped with radar, and the lineup is still very luxurious.

In Zhou Yongtao's words, only the Imperial Navy can equip so many warships with radar.

This, of course, is facilitated by mass production.

Through mass production, that is, the expansion of production, the Imperial Navy has reduced the purchase price of radar by two-thirds, so that it can be universally equipped with all kinds of warships.

In addition, it is necessary to purchase in bundles and order equipment such as voice radios at the same time, so that electronics manufacturers can reduce production costs.

In fact, the Imperial Navy has long decided to fully popularize radar.

According to the new plan, starting next year, anti-air and sea-to-sea search radars will become the standard equipment of all ocean-going warships, including large destroyers.

At that time, the air defense problem may be alleviated.