At the time when the Soviet Union was just built, it was only an agricultural country with a very poor foundation, under the leadership of the leaders, with the hard work of the first generation of Bolsheviks, after the first five-year plan, the Soviet Union became an industrialized country, and after several decades, to now, the industrial level of the Soviet Union has reached a very high level.

From all kinds of advanced fighter planes, intercontinental ballistic missiles, to tanks, armored vehicles, and even ordinary off-road vehicles, all of them embodied the Soviet Union's powerful industrial research and development capabilities, and the weapons equipped by the Soviet Union were characterized by their rough skin and thick flesh and were very durable, and the backwardness of electronic equipment, which was criticized by others, was also caused by the Soviet Union's erroneous basic thinking.

In order to prevent a nuclear war that would come at any time, and in order to still be able to fight after the explosion of nuclear weapons, all weapons of the Soviet Union should be developed with one thing in mind: they can withstand the strong electromagnetic radiation of nuclear explosions!

In this electromagnetic radiation, all chips, all of which are slag, will be completely destroyed in an instant, even if they are strong explosion-proof chips, only electron tubes can be safe and sound in the strong electromagnetic radiation of nuclear explosions.

The industry of the USSR, which has always followed the path of tube miniaturization, is a dead end. Although the Soviet Union also had a semiconductor industry and small-scale integrated circuits, they loved electron tubes.

Due to the weakness of electronic research and development, the T-72 is reflected in the backward fire control system and poor night vision equipment, however, at present, the T-72 is still a powerful weapon.

And the production of the T-72 went through a difficult process.

In the Soviet Union, there were many design bureaus that developed tanks, the most famous is the Morozov Design Bureau, which designed the advanced T-64 tank, and the T-64 tank was already equipped with the world's largest caliber gun in the late 60s: a 125-mm smoothbore gun! In this era, most tank guns are around 100 mm, and this kind of artillery has an innate advantage, and it is easy to destroy the opponent's tank.

The T-64 tank permeated the entire effort of the chief designer Alexander A. Morozov, who worked in the tank design bureau for 50 years, including 36 years as chief engineer, and devoted almost his life to the cause of tank development in the Soviet Union, so, after his death, in view of the outstanding contribution of the former chief engineer to tank development, in 1979, the Kharkov Machine-Building Design Bureau was named the Morozov Design Bureau.

Compared with the brilliance of the Morozov Design Bureau, other design bureaus can only work in its shadow, which also arouses the morale of others, especially the T-64, an advanced tank, which has a poor reliable surname.

For example, Kartsev, the chief designer of the Nizhny Tagil Design Bureau, has been improving the T-62 tank, carrying out the so-called 167 project, the main focus is the reliable surname, although the 167 project was successful, but the Soviet Union could not be equipped with a tank that was only a little more advanced than the T-62, at this time, the General Directorate of Armored Forces gave Kartsev an important task: to develop a reliable T-64 simplified tank.

Although the T-64 tanks were advanced, however, there were always various problems, and they were already in a mess, so the Nizhny Tagil Design Bureau received the project with the program code Project 172. In fact, it is to replace the T-64 main battle tank with a B-45 engine and a more reliable automatic loader.

However, after Kartsev completely figured out the design of the T-64, it became clear that many of the technologies of the T-64 were rather immature. Many of the advanced designs are the source of the T-64's low reliability, and even if the components can be effectively improved, the overall reliability of the system may not be ideal.

Kartsev then decided to develop a completely new tank based on the "Project 167" he designed, combined with some technologies that had been proven mature in the "Project 172", the project code "Project 172M". Kartsev played a trick, added an M, and developed a tank that was completely incompatible, and he successfully got the appropriation, successfully spent them, and successfully built a good tank. The new tank showed a good comprehensive surname, a very high reliable surname, this is the T-72 tank!

The success of this tank is confirmed by the fact that the T-64 could not be exported due to its advanced technology, and the cheap T-72, which was massively equipped with the Soviet Red Army, was also exported in large quantities, this time to Iraq, which also included a production line.

Of course, if Kartsev had known that some aspects of his tank were not to the liking of this Middle Eastern boy, and after the introduction of the production line, this guy would have to improve it, I'm afraid that Kartsev's mood today would not be so good.

In Zhang Feng's eyes, the biggest flaw of the T-72 is the fire control system, but he will solve this problem very well, the last 69 tank, he successfully modified it, so that the armor Ali is envious, and then the introduction of this fire control system from Germany, a little improvement, to adapt to the ballistic curve of this 125 mm gun, this criticism can be eliminated.

And the other one, is the armor, the main armor of the T-72, although it is the composite armor inherited from the T-64, but the grade is obviously lower, in later generations, you can see that there are always some "bricks" outside, that is, the reactive armor is hung, and the Western tanks of the same era, basically did not see, this is because the main armor of the T-72 is not enough to deal with the main threat, so it has to be adopted.

Now the main armor of the advanced T-72, at the same time, is also seeking better armor in the Western world, although the armor of various countries is secret, but if you can spend a lot of money to dig up some other people's talents, then, it will also achieve great results, such as the Royal Academy of Armored Forces in the United Kingdom.

Kartsev did not know what the guy in front of him was thinking, and at the subsequent reception in Moscow, the atmosphere was very harmonious.

Goromiko first greatly praised the friendship between the Soviet Union and Iraq, praised Iraq's victory in the Iran-Iraq war, and its contribution to peace and stability in the Arab world.

Then, I finally moved on to the main topic.

"In our battle with the Iranians, your country's T-72 tank played a great role, and it can completely shake the tank of the Iranian chieftain, and in the Middle East, this tank can completely stand out from the crowd." Zhang Feng sighed.

Hearing the praise of the tank, the wrinkles on Kartsev's face also relaxed, and he said: "Yes, our design bureau is the most outstanding design bureau in the Soviet Union, and the tanks we produce are first-class in the world." ”

Blow it, you just, Zhang Feng really wants to fast forward time for a few years, let him see how the T-72 was defeated in the wars of later generations, against the American M1, the German Leopard 2, and the British challenger, there is no certainty of complete victory. That's why he wants to improve.

But now, this kind of tank is not a problem to abuse both Iranian and Israeli.

"Therefore, we came this time to discuss the details of the introduction of the production line." Zhang Feng said.

Referring to the main topic, Nikolai Shestopalov, deputy director of the Main Engineering Directorate of the USSR Ministry of Defense, who has always been next to him, said: "Comrade Gorbachev, secretary of the Central Committee, has transferred all the agreements made last time in your country to our bureau, except for the main armor and tank guns of the T-72 tank, which are directly imported from our finished products, the rest will be produced and assembled in your country, and we will export a production line to your country." ”

In the Soviet Union, which was specifically responsible for the export of weapons, was the General Engineering Directorate of the Ministry of Defense, and they were already very familiar with these things.

"At that time, we only signed an agreement, and we have not yet negotiated a specific model." Zhang Feng said.

What is the model? Nikolai is a little incomprehensible, so what specific model can there be, that is, the model that is now exported, and a mothballed T-62 production line from Factory 183 (the two are very similar, and the original T-72 production line was also transformed in this way.) Export to Iraq, improve it.

"The main thing is the engine." Zhang Feng said: "The original B-46 engine used in the T-72 tank is not very suitable for the climate of the Middle East, you know, in the summer, the weather in the Middle East is unusually hot, resulting in a very serious drop in the power of the engine. ”

Speaking of which, Kartsev has already vaguely guessed something, how does this Lord Kusai know so much?

Any weapon has an adaptation surname, although the Soviet weapons have a very strong adaptation surname, however, the main consideration is the harsh northern environment, in the environment of minus twenty or thirty degrees Celsius, the Soviet tank can be successfully launched at one time. However, in the hot Middle East, the temperature of the engine will rise, and the power will also decrease.

Therefore, the T-72 tank in Iraq sometimes shows a lack of power, but this kind of engine with more than 700 horsepower, driving a 40-ton body, the gap is not very obvious, what good things does this Lord Qusaysay want?

"Our tank, using the B-46 engine, is relatively durable, the overhaul time is also long, and the technology is mature..."Nikolai is very experienced in this area, and immediately began to gush endlessly.

Ajelina's translation was very simple, Nikolai spoke for a long time, she only translated: "Nonsense." ”

"It's just that it's not powerful enough." After listening to Ajelina's translation, Zhang Feng said, "I know that your country has a better engine, which is exactly the same as the B-46 in size, can be stuffed into the engine compartment of the T-72, and its power is enough to drive the T-72 tank at an off-road speed of more than 40 kilometers per hour in the hot climate of the Middle East." ”

Listening to each other's words, Kartsev and Nikolai's faces began to become a little surprised, how could this guy from the Middle East be so familiar with Soviet equipment?

He is talking about the newly developed treasure of the Soviet Union, which took decades to finally put into practical use, right? (In later generations, there were only two kinds of gas turbines in the world: the American M1 and the Soviet T-80U, which were quite fuel-intensive).

That thing must not be exported.

"What kind of engine are you talking about?" Kartsev began to pretend to be confused.

"A 6TD engine, of course." Zhang Feng said.

(To be continued)