Chapter Thirty-Nine: The Almighty Thunder
It's not that John underestimated Captain Skinnay, it's really that there is no big technical content in such a thing as a bazooka. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info Moreover, although the "Bazooka" bazooka is famous, and each main infantry division of the US army was equipped with more than 500 units during World War II, it also has a lot of shortcomings, and it is not too difficult to surpass it.
That night, he locked himself in his study and began his own "plagiarism" plan. First of all, John carefully recalled the various shortcomings of "Bazooka", and only by knowing oneself and knowing one's opponent can one not be defeated.
First, the operation of "Bazooka" is cumbersome and requires the cooperation of two people (launcher and loader) to use. On the battlefield, having one more person means at least doubling the chance of being detected and hit by the enemy.
And when firing, the loader needs to first take out the rocket from the special ammunition carrier, pull out the safety pin, load the rocket from the rear of the rocket launcher into the chamber, and then take out the wire from the tail of the rocket and connect it. Then the shooter can take aim, pull the trigger to generate an electric current, ignite the rocket engine, and push the projectile out of the launch canister. With such a tedious launch process, it is easy to miss a fleeting fighter.
Secondly, the "Bazooka" has a large tail flame and noise, which is not conducive to the concealment of the bazooka launcher. Even in the later variants, the shooter needs to make sure that there is no obstacle behind the bazooka before firing. When the rocket is launched, it will shoot out high-pressure gas about 1 meter long, and if it encounters an obstacle, it may turn back and burn the shooter.
So "Bazooka" could not be launched inside the fortifications or other similar closed environments. This creates great difficulties in camouflage the launch position, and the launcher needs to quickly move the position after launching the rocket in order to prevent the enemy from counterattacking.
Thirdly, and most lethally, the power, effective range and accuracy of the "Bazooka" are not very ideal. Since the "Bazooka" uses 40mm or 60mm rockets, this weapon will have no problem hitting the No. 4 tank in the early stage. However, in the later stages of the war, when facing the Tiger heavy tank, even if the launcher ventured to get within 30 meters, he was often helpless.
And due to the low muzzle velocity of the rocket engine, its effective range is very short, and even within 100m the trajectory has a noticeable bend. Therefore, the soldiers had to take the risk and shoot as close as possible to the target.
In his previous life, when John watched the American drama "Band of Brothers", he was deeply impressed by the scene of Lieutenant Harry of F Company and the soldier named Maggas kneeling on the open grass in the rain of guns and bullets, and attacked a German tank at close range with "Bazooka".
At that time, he thought that it was a miracle of life that these two people could not be killed. Even General Patton once wrote to his colleagues: "Bazooka's role is not to destroy tanks, but to keep the infantry from being bullied by tanks as a last resort." ”
In contrast, John felt that he was better copying the Bazooka than imitating the German Iron Fist or the Soviet RPG2. At least both of these are recoilless anti-tank grenade launchers propelled with gunpowder, which do not even require a battery ignition system and a rocket engine.
After the Germans picked up a few bazookas from the battlefield, they turned around and developed the "Iron Fist", a more convenient, cheaper and more powerful disposable anti-tank weapon. At the end of World War II, the Germans were able to produce 300,000 "Iron Fists" a month even when the supply of materials was extremely tight, which shows how difficult it was to manufacture.
Moreover, although the manufacturing process of the "Iron Fist" is extremely simple, its power is not simple at all, and it even far surpasses the American "Bazooka" bazooka. The main reason is that it innovatively uses a 150mm super-caliber warhead, which is much more powerful than the 40mm or 60mm rockets used by the "Bazooka".
Both on the Eastern Front and on the Western Front, the armored forces of the Allies had enough of the "Iron Fist". In the absence of strong infantry cover, Allied tanks became extremely cautious when approaching shelter. There was even a situation where a tank company was blocked for almost 4 hours by a German detachment armed with an "iron fist".
The Soviets destroyed hundreds of T-34/76 and T-34/85 tanks and armored vehicles with an "iron fist" in the battle to conquer Berlin alone. So much so that immediately after the war, they developed an RPG series of bazookas based on the design of the "Iron Fist".
In terms of power, John only needs to imitate the "Iron Fist Type 100" to be enough. No tank in this era could withstand its attack, not even the Germans' own King Tiger tank.
However, the "Iron Fist 100", an ugly weapon that looks like a big mushroom, obviously does not meet the "aesthetic" standards of the US military. True, the US Army does not always look only at power when choosing weapons, sometimes it is still necessary to "look at the face".
Moreover, the technical content of the "Iron Fist" is too low, and it is obviously not possible to buy it at a high price. The United States was much richer than the German Nazis in mid-to-late World War II. It is not necessary to look at the "Iron Fist", a rudimentary emergency weapon.
Eventually, John targeted the imitation on the RPG7 bazooka, which the Soviet Union began mass-producing in 1961. The reason is simple, he is far more familiar with the most widely used anti-tank weapons in the world than the "Bazooka" and "Iron Fist", and even some specific technical parameters can be remembered.
Without him, the RPG7 is so famous that it is called the "Three Treasures of the Poor" along with the AK47 and China's Type 63 107 rocket launcher. Until the next century, there will still be images in the news of various rebels fighting with cheap RPG7s.
Although at that time, it was no longer powerful enough to deal with the new main battle tank equipped with active armor, in urban street fighting, it was still a piece of cake to fight armored vehicles and civil fortifications.
In Mogadishu in 1993, a gang of Somali Black Uncles used Soviet-obsolete RPG7s to knock out two Black Hawk gunships of the U.S. Delta Force and the Ranger Force.
In Operation Red Wing in 2005, Afghan guerrillas again used RPG7s to take out a U.S. Navy SEAL Chinook transport plane, completely ignoring its armor and missile jamming systems.
Both of these real-life examples were later adapted into Hollywood blockbusters, with American GIs exclaiming on the battlefield, "R-P-G!" The image has been deeply remembered by people all over the world.
John spent one night writing out the RPG7's firing principle, caliber, sights, firing and firing mechanisms, and even the style of the launcher, handle, guard, and grip.
John thought about it, except for the rocket extended-range engine, which is a bit difficult, the other parts can be produced by any small machine processing factory. Moreover, even without a rocket extended-range engine, this weapon is at least a significant step ahead of the "Bazooka".
The next day, he gave the information to Reilly. After so many years as an arms dealer, how could Reilly not see the value of this weapon. After brazenly asking John for a stake in the new business (John had planned to let Reilly go to the front and be the boss behind the scenes), he went to find someone to develop a sample and prepare to apply for a patent.