While the representatives of Germany, Persia, and other countries were discussing joint operations with the Imperial Navy and talks on assistance, Tan Renhao was going all out to deal with the issue of the "atomic bomb." After he reported the relevant results to Nie Renfeng and Gan Yongxing, Gan Yongxing immediately mobilized a group of technical officers to assist Tan Renhao in his work. Among them were several young officers similar to Pan Zekang, who were responsible for the details of the development of the atomic bomb. Nie Renfeng also immediately contacted the Imperial Prime Minister and stated the importance of the atomic bomb to the Prime Minister. Of course, he did not immediately get an answer from the Prime Minister.

Tan Renhao's main job is not to figure out how to make an atomic bomb, but how to drop it. This question is not much simpler, if not more important, than the creation of an atomic bomb.

It's not enough to just make an atomic bomb, but to make it powerful, you have to drop it on the enemy's head!

At that time, there were two options: using bombers to drop atomic bombs, and second, using emerging rockets to drop atomic bombs.

In terms of bombers, the empire has a unique advantage, and the strong combat effectiveness of the "wolf dove" has been confirmed, which is the world's first large-scale strategic bomber put into actual combat, not only destroying Japan, but now it has been put into the European theater on a large scale, becoming the main force of the strategic bombing of Britain. By October 25, the empire had put more than 2,000 "wolf doves" on the European battlefield, and these bombers were commanded by Luo Yunchong, and they played a crucial role in the war. In just a few months, the bombing had destroyed half of Britain's industrial power, and the scale of the bombing continued to grow. Other than that. As the strategic offensive in the Pacific theater is about to be in full swing, the Navy has procured more "wolf doves" to meet the needs of the war field. The Navy's strategic strike force has also been expanding in size.

In addition to the Navy, the Army also procured "wolf doves" in large quantities. Initially. The Army is preparing to develop its own heavy bombers, and not to procure bombers for the Navy. Chengfei, Xifei and several other aircraft factories did come up with bombers with similar performance to the "wolf dove", and just when the army was preparing to purchase large quantities, Zong Hanqin, the acting prime minister at that time, personally called a halt. Let the army directly procure the "wolf dove". Zong Hanqin did not think about the difference between land and sea, but about reducing unnecessary war expenditures, and it was completely unnecessary for the army to equip a bomber that was close to the "wolf dove" in terms of performance. Therefore, the army later also purchased "wolf doves" on a large scale, which were mainly used on the mainland battlefield and undertook the strategic bombing of Russia. To this end, the army has also set up a strategic bomber command and reorganized the previous army aviation into a tactical aviation command in order to fully adapt to the new combat mode.

Initially, Tan Renhao thought that the atomic bomb could be dropped by the "wolf dove". But he soon found out that the "wolf dove" could not take on this heavy task at all. The main problem lies in the basic performance of the "wolf dove". Such bombers can hang up to 6 tons of bombs, and under normal circumstances. Generally only 3 tons of bombs are carried. In addition, there are problems with the design of the bomb bay. Although the design of the atomic bomb was still in the theoretical stage, engineers had already made some rough requirements, that is, the Xindi bomber should not only fly faster. Also fly higher and be able to carry more ammunition. In other words, the only thing that could carry out the heavy task of dropping the atomic bomb was a new bomber with much better performance than the "Wolf Dove".

This is the new bomber that the Imperial Navy is developing, but when Tan Renhao found the design index of this bomber, he found that the Navy has reduced the development funds of the new bomber, and there is only one reason, the "wolf dove" has been able to meet the combat needs of the Navy at this stage, and there is no need to develop a better bomber in the absence of higher requirements. At that time, the Navy's budget had been very tight, and there were already calls for a separate air force, so the Navy was hesitant to develop a new bomber.

"I'm also thinking about the question you raised." Gan Yongxing invited Tan Renhao to sit down, "To be honest, we don't have enough strength right now. ”

Tan Renhao looked at the chief of staff very directly, he came to Gan Yongxing this time in the hope that the navy would continue to allocate funds to develop new bombers, instead of slowing down the development progress.

"Let's put it this way, we've got the exact news that the prime minister has basically agreed to set up an air force." Gan Yongxing sighed, "The Air Force will be an independent branch of the military, not a branch of the army, and its status will be the same as that of the Navy and the Army, and it will be directly responsible to the Prime Minister." At present, the prime minister has not officially set the time for the establishment of the air force, mainly because during the war, if a large-scale adjustment is made to the structure of the imperial army, it will definitely affect the combat effectiveness of the imperial army. Moreover, on the issue of the creation of the Air Force, both the Navy and the Army are opposed. Judging from the information we have now, perhaps the Prime Minister will finalize the establishment of the Air Force around the end of the war. ”

Tan Renhao also sighed, to put it bluntly, this is still a matter of the interests of the military. If a separate air force were to be formed, the impact on the navy and army would be enormous. Naval aviation will definitely be preserved, after all, the navy has a large number of carrier-based aviation, and these aviation units are part of the fleet, and the fleet is the foundation of the navy, and it is impossible for the navy to separate carrier-based aviation. In addition, there are a large number of maritime patrol aircraft that carry out naval tasks, so these units must stay in the navy. In other words, if the Air Force is established, the strategic strike force now subordinate to the Navy will definitely be separated, and if the Navy continues to invest money in the development of heavy bombers, it will be making a wedding dress for someone else.

"Actually, this problem also exists in the Army." Gan Yongxing laughed, "Don't look at me like that, what I said is the truth." The army originally planned to develop a new bomber, but after learning that the prime minister planned to set up a separate air force, the army also stopped the development of the new bomber. ”

"Chief of Staff, if the Air Force is established, relatively speaking, will the Navy lose a lot or the Army lose a lot?"

"There is no doubt that it must be the army that has suffered heavy losses."

"Then we should support the prime minister." Tan Renhao's words were decisive, "Even if the prime minister decides to set up a separate air force." Then naval aviation will definitely remain as well. On the contrary, army aviation will definitely be separated. If we, like the Army, are not supportive. So in the end, the prime minister will definitely determine the commander of the air force by the amount of effort, right? ”

Gan Yongxing nodded slightly.

That is to say. It will be very likely that the commander of the army aviation will be the commander of the future ground air force, and we all know who Wei Boyu is, and if he is the commander of the air force, will it be good or bad for us? ”

"It doesn't go without saying that at all." Gan Yongxing's expression became serious.

"So, we must now support the Prime Minister's decision. In this way, we can try to have a navy-born general sit in this position, and when the time comes, it will be the army that will have a headache. ”

Gan Yongxing pondered for a while. "It's true that we haven't considered this issue yet, or we haven't considered it, but your opinion is certainly important."

"Well, the best way to support it is to speed up the development of a new bomber." Tan Renhao made a detour to achieve his goal, "Since the army has given up on developing a new bomber, then we must not give up." Even if the Prime Minister created a separate air force. The main force of the Air Force is still the bomber, and by speeding up the development of new bombers, we are actually laying the foundation for the future Air Force. This will not only support the Prime Minister. It will also be able to increase the influence of the Navy in the future Air Force. ”

Gan Yongxing laughed. "It seems that the principal and I have ignored this issue."

"Well, then, let's have time to talk to the headmaster individually."

"I'll talk to the headmaster about it." Gan Yongxing nodded, "You come up with a specific plan first." Then let the principal submit it to the Prime Minister, and perhaps that will secure an additional budget. ”

"Okay, I'll try to get the plan out in two days."

After returning to his office, Tan Renhao immediately started a new job. When the problem unfolded, Tan Renhao realized that there were far more troubles to solve than he imagined. The ground design indicators for the new bomber have long been determined, and the Navy has revised the design indicators after learning that the United States is developing a new bomber with much superior performance than the B-17. The relevant design work began as early as the end of 23 years, and the main responsible manufacturer was Shenyang Aircraft Factory, and Hafei and Nanfei also participated in the design work.

The new bomber encountered a lot of problems during the design process, and these problems were basically brought about by the new technologies adopted. For example, the Navy required the bomber to be able to fly at altitudes above 10,000 meters, which required a fully airtight nacelle, as well as a more powerful engine with a turbocharger. In order to control the weight of the aircraft, the main result of the fuselage is all aluminum alloy, even magnesium-aluminum alloy. A new high-altitude bomber was also included in the development project, and later the Navy even proposed to install a radar bombing sight for the bomber.

All it takes is investment and time to overcome these technical problems, and many of them have been solved, including the most critical engine problems. But now the problem is that if all new technologies are adopted, then the cost of manufacturing such a bomber will be more than four times that of the "Wolf Dove", that is, the price of buying a new bomber can buy four "Wolf Doves"

, and in the eyes of many people, a new bomber is definitely not up to four "wolf doves". In addition, the new bomber requires a new production line, and the production capacity will certainly not be able to increase quickly. There are also problems such as the training of pilots, the related logistics support system, and so on.

Taken together, the biggest impact is that the Navy does not have enough money to purchase new bombers, and this is the fundamental reason why the Navy has slowed down the development of new bombers.

Tan Renhao is also well aware of the importance of cost. War is a fight for the economic strength of a country, and in a full-scale war, the army needs not the best and at the same time the most expensive weapons, but the most suitable weapons that can be procured on a large scale. This has always been the basic strategy of the Imperial Army, when purchasing weapons, the first consideration is cost, as long as the number goes up, even if there is a lack of performance, it is enough to make up for the lack of quantity. Moreover, this approach has already achieved good results in the war. In other words, if the cost of the new bomber cannot be reduced, even if the development is successful, the Navy will not be able to purchase it in large quantities.

In response to this problem, Tan Renhao and several staff officers who assisted him thought of many ways. For example, some of the performance indicators that are not suitable are lowered, so that some cheaper parts can be used. In addition, through mass ordering, the development cost can be dispersed, and mass production can also effectively reduce costs. There are also adjustments to some basic performance of the bomber to maximize the use of existing logistics support facilities, so as to reduce the trouble of logistics support. Eliminating some cutting-edge equipment, such as not installing radar bombing sights at the time of mass production, only leaves room for future modifications, which can also effectively control costs.

While doing these tasks, Tan Renhao felt like a housewife, and he had to use limited ingredients to make a sumptuous dinner, so he had to be careful in all aspects. He even asked his staff officers to draw up a standard for the screws used in airplanes, changing the previous dozens of screws into a unified type of screw, so as to reduce the procurement links and reduce costs. And this is also the world's first technical standards, from here, in order to reduce costs, easy mass production, the imperial army began to adopt unified standards in all production links, and after the war, these standards were extended to the civilian field, and developed into a unified standard specification for civilian manufacturing. Of course, I'm afraid not many people know what the current training SO9000 standard series was developed from the war!

Two days later, Tan Renhao sent the first report of the preliminary assessment results to Nie Renfeng.

Prior to this, Gan Yongxing had already put forward a proposal to Nie Renfeng to support the prime minister in establishing the Air Force, and explained that this was a proposal put forward by Tan Renhao. Nie Renfeng also basically adopted this suggestion and strengthened the position of the navy by supporting the establishment of the air force. Of course, the development and procurement of new bombers will have to be discussed separately.