In the No. 1 barracks, under the wooden shed that had just been erected, Hofmann ordered the newly appointed armored soldiers to lift the tarpaulin on the tank, pointed to the domineering rhinoceros tank next to him and said: "This tank, codenamed - Rhinoceros, is the main battle tank that our army is about to be equipped on a large scale, and the crew is only three people."

The main armament of the Rhino main battle tank is a 125 mm smoothbore gun with a thermal jacket and a breech smoke device, which can fire tail stabilized armor-piercing shells, hollow-charge armor-piercing shells, and anti-personnel grenades. Ammunition loading is done by an automatic loader, which further increases the rate of fire. A 12.7 mm high-level dual-purpose machine gun can be used for longitudinal fire, and a 7.62 mm machine gun with a coaxial barrel.

There are 39 rounds of ammunition for the main gun, 700 rounds for heavy machine guns, and 2,000 rounds for coaxial machine guns.

Its fire control system is a command ritual steady fire control with automatic tracking, including a stabilized gun commander sight with a laser rangefinder, a commander's circumferential scope, automatic tracking, a ground navigation system, a control panel, a ballistic computer, a thermal imaging camera and various sensors. This fire control system gives the tank gun the ability to fight day and night and on the march, with a high starting hit rate. The commander can capture the target through the commander's scope and shoot overtake.

The car body has the advantages of strong protection ability, low profile and short longitudinal size. The front deck of the hull and the front of the turret were equipped with a gap composite armor assembly. The tank can be equipped with explosive reactive armor in the nose, front of the turret, sides and top. Before combat, the rubber track skirts on both sides of the hull can also be replaced with explosive reactive armor components.

The Rhino main battle tank is equipped with a 1200 horsepower opposing two-stroke engine and a power compartment of a two-sided planetary transmission system, which is small, lightweight, and simple to arrange, and the power/unit volume ratio reaches the highest level in Shijie. The power and transmission system are cooled by exhaust gas injection. The car can be steered in situ with a minimum steering radius of zero.

The action system uses torsion bar springs and disc hydraulic shock absorber suspension. Equipped with 6 pairs of double-rim large-diameter rubber bearing wheels and pin ear hook rubber double-pin tracks (can be loaded with metal and rubber), can ensure that the vehicle has a more haode passing performance.

In addition, the car is also equipped with excellent performance of the three protection system, automatic fire extinguishing and secondary explosion suppression system, thermal smoke screen system, smoke screen, grenade launcher and 10 kilowatt auxiliary power station.

Combined with the needs of regional warfare, the vehicle is equipped with advanced air conditioning units, and in order to cope with the high-intensity fighting on the Somali front line and the street fighting in the city, dense rocket artillery, the tank specially added armor thickness, and detachable explosive reactive armor installation and hanging rationality.

The total combat weight of the Rhino tank is forty-eight tons, because the thickness of the armor is increased, which limits its mobility, the maximum speed on good road is 60 kilometers per hour, the cross-country speed is 30 kilometers per hour, and the speed can be increased from stationary to 30 kilometers per hour in ten seconds. In order to strengthen the combat endurance in the desert area, the loading capacity of the vehicle's own fuel tank without loading the auxiliary fuel tank allows the tank to reach a maximum range of 480 kilometers without replenishment.

The maximum climbing degree is 31 degrees, the maximum slope is 22 degrees, the width of the trench is 2.7 meters, the height of the vertical wall is 0.9 meters, the wading depth is 1.4 meters, and the diving capacity (depth-diving distance) is 5 meters to 600 meters. ”

After Hofmander's introduction, he looked at Farah and Mohammadi, who were looking around the tank, and continued: "This tank, both of which belongs to the third generation of Shijie tanks, is not comparable to Shijie's most advanced tanks, but its stability and operability are absolutely first-class in Shijie. And it is specially designed and built for the desert high temperatures, which is very suitable for fighting in Somalia.

Its strong protection ability, even without external armor, holding an RPG to bombard it indiscriminately, will not be able to break the defense of this tank. Because this tank is also prepared for high-intensity street fighting. ”

"My friend, it's amazing, will your troops be equipped with this kind of tank in the future?" Farah looked at the tank for a long time, and after listening to the introduction, he couldn't help but come to Li Lan's side and asked extremely excitedly.

"Yes, this tank is not only my tank, but also the main battle tank of Somalia in the future. Somalia is located on the horn of a rhinoceros in Africa, and I wanted this liliang to have the toughness of a rhino and the strength of a rhino. Li Lan patted Farah on the shoulder and continued: "Don't be excited, this is just the first one, every month I will assemble a tank battalion." Over the course of a year, it was twelve tank battalions. The establishment of the two brigades will not come out. ”

"How much does this tank cost?" Farah couldn't help but ask.

Li Lan stretched out his right hand, spread his five fingers, and said, "Each car costs five million dollars!" ”

"Twelve battalions a year, a five million dollars, how many tanks does that battalion have to equip?"

Hofmande, who was on the side, said: "According to the needs of future operations, a battalion has 32 tanks: a tank platoon has 3 tanks, a tank company is 3×3 + 1 company commander tanks, that is, 10, and a tank battalion is 10×3 + 2 battalion tanks. Counting the logistics platoon, maintenance platoon, reconnaissance platoon, artillery platoon, armored infantry company, and other establishments, a tank battalion must also add the same number of armored vehicles of various types as the tank.

Not counting the usual training of soldiers, the cost of an armored battalion is more than $250 million. Two armoured brigades, if built, would cost at least $3 billion. And that's not counting the establishment of air defense, radar, anti-missile, anti-tank, etc. If you want to build a synthetic armored brigade adapted to modern warfare, you will need to add at least twice the price.

We, commanders, are unreservedly invested in this. Not to mention such advanced weapons and equipment, just our armored troops, each of them is very precious. Our armored troops have been trained and systematically taught for many years, and in order to create these qualified armored troops, their investment is much cheaper than the price of equipment. ”

Hoffmander was very clear about Li Lan's purpose in bringing these two people over, and he didn't have any reservations about introducing them, and he also emphasized Li Lan's efforts in this regard.

"After talking for a long time, let me introduce to you, this is Brigadier General Hofmander, who will be the commander of the armored brigade in the future, and one of the most effective cadres under my command, he graduated from the armored command department of a higher military academy. Most importantly, he is also a Somali by and from the bottom. Li Lan first introduced Hofmander to Farah, and added a lot of tone to Hofmande's introduction that he was Somalis, and then introduced Farah to Hofmande.

At this time, Farah was still immersed in the numbers that Hofman said, and did not show much excitement about Li Lan's introduction.

"So, so much investment, I really can't think of any place in Somalia that is worth your effort. Please make this clear, otherwise I'm afraid I'll always be at peace. Farah thought for a long time in his heart, and couldn't help but ask Li Lan.

"It was providence that made me choose Somalia, and my biggest goal is nothing more than to make Somalia a second Pakistan." Li Lan said vaguely.

It was not his intention to come to Somalia, nor was it his intention to have a Red Police base, and it was not impossible to say that all this was providential. As for the development of Somalia, this is Li Lan's helpless move, because it is impossible to achieve his goal by relying on a base alone.

He needs a country, a country that will be accepted and recognized by other countries in the true sense of the word. Somalia suits him very well, and at the same time, he also needs the support of the country and its people, so he wants to vigorously develop the country.

It's not that his character is noble, but that everything is ready to fulfill the grand wishes of his heart. Indeed, after seeing too much of the life of the Somali people, his heart is often sour, and perhaps the development of Somalia is also a comfort to his soul.

He needs Somalia, but he can't do anything to the Somali people if Somalia is tied to him in the future. From the bottom of his heart, Li Lan did not have any ill will towards Somalia, but many things cannot be controlled by means, and sometimes the inevitable sacrifices are based on the needs of policy.

So, this is also one of the main reasons why he wants to develop Somalia.

China is a very important link on his development path, and Li Lan needs China's support. But this is only his unilateral expectation, and he has not seen the slightest news about it at the moment. If China can really support him, then he will also try to make Somalia a second Pakistan.

Therefore, his answer to Farah is not a dead letter.