Chapter 1364: Renewal
"Ladies and gentlemen, I now announce a new order from the General Staff." Peng Yi said after walking into the venue and glancing at his subordinates in the Iran war. "Now leave all your Type 29 tanks in storage and hand them over to the newly arrived friendly and Iranian units, and all tank units will be withdrawn lightly." After a moment of silence, the people finally reflected, and there was a sudden whisper in the room, followed by a loud round. Tian Yong said to Zhou Xuan next to him: "A paper order has changed us from armored soldiers to infantry? It's still the kind that walks on two legs! β
"Don't think about it, it's expensive to get these tanks back. It's better to hand over to friendly forces. Don't worry, your tanks are indispensable. By the way, I would like to share with you the news that our country is ready to dispose of a large number of the remaining Type 29 tanks, and in Iran it is only the first batch. As for why, I think everyone can think of some of them. Maybe it won't be long before we're all going to say goodbye to these old guys. Peng Yi's words were very plain, but there was an important signal hidden behind these bland words, that is, Huaxia was ready to change clothes on a large scale!
Long before the Iranian war, major tank factories in China had already started the design and prototype construction of new tanks. As early as a year ago, at a high-level meeting of the army, Xu Jie put forward the request that the Type 29 tank need to be abandoned in due course. Although the tank chassis of more than 30 tons still has great potential and can be converted into tank destroyers and assault guns, as a tank itself, it has not been greatly improved. As a traverser, Xu Jie still knows some about history, although the T44 and T54 in history are also battlefields of more than 30 tons, especially the T44 is only less than 32 tons. IT HAS A 90MM INCLINATION OF THE UPPER PART OF THE FRONT OF THE HULL. THE LOWER PART OF THE NOSE ALSO HAS A DEFENSIVE LEVEL OF 90MM TILTED 45 DEGREES. THE SIDE ARMOR IS ALSO 75MM THICKEST AT ITS THICKEST. Coupled with a 100MMD10T main gun, the number jΓΉ is simply outstanding. With a tank of more than 30 tons, it is the standard of destroying the Tiger tank in history!
But in fact, the production of this tank was not large. And at the beginning, there were all kinds of stability problems, such as because the engine was transverse, although the length and weight of the car were reduced. However, it causes the problem of poor heat dissipation. The performance of this tank on paper is really good, but the amount of ammunition and man-machine efficacy, as well as the stability at the beginning, are really poor. Xu Jie didn't know what he could do if he built this tank. This plane Huaxia is not Russia, and it is necessary to reduce the difficulty of tank production as much as possible to ensure the quantity. Therefore, Xu Jie would rather build the tank larger, with better stability and fewer failures. IF YOU PUT THE TARGET ON THE HEAVY TANKS IN THE LATE HISTORY OF WORLD WAR II, THE BEST PERFORMANCE ON PAPER IS UNDOUBTEDLY THE RUSSIAN IS3 TANK, THE FRONTAL ARMOR OF THIS ONE IS MADE OF THREE STEEL PLATES, OF WHICH THE TWO LARGEST FRONTAL ARMOR PLATES ARE UP TO 110MM THICK. The angle relative to the vertical is 56 degrees, and the horizontal direction has an inclination of 30 degrees. It is said to be equivalent to an inclination angle of 61 degrees. And the side protection is also good. THE THICKNESS OF THE UPPER SECTION OF THE SIDE IS 90MM WITH AN INCLINATION OF 60 DEGREES. THE LOWER SECTION IS 60MM VERTICAL ARMOR, AND THE UPPER SECTION OF THIS SIDE PROTECTION IS MUCH STRONGER THAN THE FRONT OF THE LEOPARD IN HISTORY!
THE TURRET DEFENSE WAS ALSO GOOD, WITH THE ARMOR THICKNESS AT THE BOTTOM OF THE TURRET REACHING MORE THAN 240MM, AND AS THE UPWARD ANGLE INCREASED, THE THICKNESS OF THE ARMOR BEGAN TO DECREASE, BUT IT ALSO EXCEEDED 120MM. This kind of paper defense is absolutely superb. If you just look at the number of products on paper, this tank is also one of the products to choose from, but like the T44, the man-machine efficiency is too poor. AS AN ADDED POINT, THE SHELLS OF THE IS3'S 122MM GUN ARE TOO HEAVY. And the space of the operator is too small, so the rate of fire of the IS3 gun is about 1.5 rounds a minute, considering the tragic first hit rate of the tank at that time, and then consider the design distance of the tank at that time. If IS3 rushes to the front, it will be easy to be killed! IN ADDITION, THE 122MM GUN IS TOO HEAVY, AND THE ROTATIONAL TORQUE IS RELATIVELY LARGE. The turret speed of the IS3 is also more sad, so it increases the possibility of being wound to death. Reputedly. It is said that IS2 was once killed by a pursuer in close combat! The latter is a tank destroyer! In short, for Xu Jie. The Russian design can be borrowed, but not so extreme! After all, the human-machine effect is still very important.
Compared with the tonnage and design of the tank, firepower is the best choice, because the Entente and China are allies, and the twin engines can share some technology, in fact, Britain and the United States are also stronger than Germany and Russia in terms of artillery after the real force, the British 17-pounder gun is less than 60L, which is already on the same level as the German Panther tank's 75L70, and there is still more than when using shelling shells, and the American M3 90MML50 gun is almost at the same level as the 88MML71 of the Tiger King. THEREFORE, IT IS ENOUGH TO SAY THAT THE NEXT GENERATION OF MEDIUM TANKS IN HUAXIA CAN DIRECTLY USE THE HISTORICAL 90MML50 GUN. Of course, before the first generation of the T33 bullet came out, the M3 tank gun was not so godly.
Xu Jie set the weight of the new generation of medium tanks at more than 40 tons. THE MAIN GUN IS TENTATIVELY SET AT THE 90MML50 CLASS, AND THE 90MML70 GUN CAN BE REPLACED IF NECESSARY. (This one is also a historical artillery.) In Xu Jie's opinion, this level of artillery can basically cover all tanks under 55 tons. And the normal reserve ammunition should be more than 50 rounds. SECONDARY ARMAMENT IS A 7.62MM MACHINE GUN AND AN M2 50 CALIBER MACHINE GUN LOCATED ON THE ROOF OF THE VEHICLE. In terms of frontal defense, Xu Jie's choice is to increase the inclination. 55 degrees is definitely not good, and 60 degrees is not particularly enough. The largest inclination in history seems to be 78 degrees (like the Swedish S-tank, well, that's more like a tank destroyer.) Xu Jie is not so absolute, at least it must reach about 65 degrees.
THE FRONTAL UPPER PART OF THE HUAXIA NEW GENERATION TANK SHOULD BE TILTED AT ABOUT 90MM AT 65 DEGREES. THE FIRST PROTECTION IS 90MM, AND THE INCLINATION IS ABOUT 50 DEGREES. If the weight is not enough, the lower part can be slightly weakened. The defense of the turret part can not be weakened either, and the gun shield of European and American tanks and the armor at the front of the turret together form a defensive model, and Xu Jie does not like it very much. Because the overlap between the gun shield and the turret is limited, and the angle is not very good. Xu Jie means borrowing from the cast turret of the historical IS3. The lower part of the turret is thicker, and the upper part is gradually weakened as the angle increases. The quality of the cast turret though may not be as good as that of a welded turret. However, it still pressed the performance flaw due to its productivity.
Because the weight is limited to more than 40 tons, it is also required to ensure the bomb load and crew space. So the side defense of the tank is very limited. THE SOLUTION OF THE CHINESE ARMY IS TO STRENGTHEN THE FRONT AND WEAKEN THE REAR, AND THE 75MM OF THE FRONT IS TILTED 30 DEGREES. THEN THE LOWER POSITION OF THE FRONT OF THE HULL IS 60MM VERTICAL. THE UPPER PART OF THE REAR BODY IS WEAKENED TO 50MM AND TILTED 30 DEGREES. THE LOWER PART IS 50MM VERTICAL. THIS PROTECTION MADE IT POSSIBLE FOR THE FRONT OF THE CHARIOT TO BE IMMUNE TO FLANKING FROM 75MM GUNS AT A CERTAIN DISTANCE, AS LONG AS IT WAS NOT PARTICULARLY VIOLENT.
The power system is selected to be an engine of about 500HP, Xu Jie did not think about transverse to reduce the length of the car body and then reduce the weight of the car, but the transverse heat dissipation made Huaxia technicians very hesitant. Therefore, in the stage of trial production and maintenance, Huaxia has developed two prototypes, one is a prototype car with a transverse engine, and the other is a longitudinal engine. The latter weighs about 3 tons more than the former.
This tank is tentatively designated as the Type 35 tank. It will become the standard configuration of the Chinese armored forces in the 2 wars. And based on this tank. Huaxia also plans to design a series of vehicles, and the Type 35 tank destroyer is naturally the top priority, especially when the Huaxia intelligence department obtains a few words about the German Tiger tank, and thinks that this is a new generation of Huaxia heavy tanks before it comes out, and it needs to have a tank killer that can resist the opponent in a defensive state. Although Huaxia did not know much about the performance of this German tank. HOWEVER, IT IS SAID THAT ITS FRONTAL DEFENSE WILL NOT FALL BELOW THE DEFENSE STANDARD OF 100MM WITH AN INCLINATION OF 55 DEGREES. This poses a great challenge to the current artillery of the Chinese people. At least at present, there is no artillery in Huaxia that can penetrate the opponent from 700 meters away, and it is not possible to use gold coin shells! Such a term was invented by Xu Jie, is it because the tungsten alloy in high-speed armor-piercing bullets is too expensive? Anyway, that's how Xu Jie explained.
In terms of firepower selection, there are great differences within the Chinese army, and there are three types of artillery systems alone, namely 90MML70 artillery, 105MML63 artillery and 122MML55 artillery. The proponents of these artillery pieces have good reason. 90MM GUNS ARE THE MOST MATURE, AND THE AMMUNITION IS SMALL, WHICH CAN ENSURE A HIGH RESERVE AMMUNITION. THE 105MM GUN IS MORE POWERFUL AND WILL BE THE STANDARD GUN OF THE NEXT GENERATION OF HEAVY TANKS, TAKING INTO ACCOUNT THE VERSATILITY OF WEAPONS. AND THE 122MM GUN, NEEDLESS TO SAY, IS DEFINITELY MORE POWERFUL. Especially the power of grenades. Very satisfying. The success of the Type 29 assault gun led some in the army to favor larger caliber guns. The only problem was that the gun was too heavy and was divided into parts, which had some problems both in terms of ammunition reserve and rate of fire.
The final choice of the army was still in favor of the 105MML63 gun. This artillery is the same as the main gun of the next generation of heavy tanks in Huaxia, and it is of moderate size and specifications. THE 105MM GUN IS ALMOST THE LARGEST CALIBER OF FULLY LOADED SHELLS THAT CAN BE QUICKLY LOADED BY CHINESE TANKERS AT PRESENT. If the caliber continues to expand. Then it was possible to use split shells, and the grenade power of the Type 29 assault gun was impressive. But its rate of fire is no less impressive. As a tank destroyer, you need to have a powerful gun and a high rate of fire for comparison. AS FOR WHY THE 90MML70 GUN WAS ABANDONED. The most critical factor is that it is not powerful enough. EVEN THE 90MM GUN HAS A VERTICAL PENETRATION DEPTH COMPARABLE TO THAT OF A 105MM GUN (THE VERTICAL PENETRATION HERE REFERS TO THE ARMOR WITH A 0-DEGREE INCLINATION. But when faced with large-angle armor, small-caliber artillery has an inevitable disadvantage, and this disadvantage is further amplified as the distance increases.
Judging from Huaxia's current tactical needs, although the front of Huaxia's Type 35 tank is strong, it is still not enough as a tank that tears apart the opponent's defense line, because the side protection of this tank is too poor, and the requirements of the 2nd World War and the later Cold War are different. And the Type 35 tank will have a hard time achieving this. So the army wants to have a special "breakthrough tank". The number of such tanks may not be too large, but they must be strong enough to hold down all the tanks of other countries that are known so far. As well as new tanks that will appear in the next 4 years. The weight of the new tank was tentatively set at 55 tons. And after this indicator was sent to Xu Jie, Xu Jie added another sentence with a stroke of his pen: "Under the condition that the stability can be guaranteed, the weight of the tank can be increased to 60 tons!" β
This is also something that can't be helped, thinking about the King Tiger tank that the Germans drummed up in the late stage of the war in history, Xu Jie has never doubted the pursuit of the Germans in the weight of the tank. The Germans in this plane have more industrial capabilities and more resources, and it seems that it is not much of a problem to produce a 70-ton tank. "WILL THE GERMANS PRESS THE TIGER'S 128MM GUN ON THE TIGER KING?" When he was fine, such an idea popped into Xu Jie's head. And historically, it seems that the heavy tanks of the early Cold War were no less than 60 tons, such as the IS7, M103 and the Conqueror tank. (I won't talk about IS3 or anything.) Even with the idea of taking precautions, Xu Jie is willing to make this tank better. This tank is really as long as the performance and stability, regardless of the cost, and there is enough time to study slowly, the reason is very simple, on the one hand, Huaxia will enter the war relatively late, on the other hand, Xu Jie thinks that the Type 35 tank against the current German new tank seems to be almost able to use, anyway, if the tank is not good, it will be on the tank destroyer. But in fact, the new Tiger tank in this plane is still a little beyond Xu Jie's expectations!
Since the time and funds are sufficient, and there is no need to consider the cost factor too much. Therefore, the designers of Huaxia moved some things that were originally in the conceptual stage to the new tank, such as the vertical and horizontal stabilization instruments. Another example is the installation of an optical rangefinder on a tank. If the former is not too difficult, then the latter is probably a bit more difficult, because the tank is too small and light after all, and it will cause bumps when navigating uneven roads, which will lead to errors in the optical rangefinder. And once there is an error, the responsible rangefinder is actually not as good as the original simple aiming system.
In terms of power system, the designers are also ingenious, the original tank engine and the spare power pack modified from the aviation liquid-cooled engine can no longer meet the needs of the designers, and some people even proposed to throw the diesel engine of the fast torpedo boat to the tank, which really frightened people. IN TERMS OF ARTILLERY, THE MILITARY BUDGET ALSO PROPOSED A PLAN TO USE 120MM GUNS, AND IN ORDER TO ENSURE THE STATE SPEED, THE TANK MAY BE EQUIPPED WITH TWO LOADERS. As a result, the tank crew went from 4 to 5.
Just when Huaxia's tank designers were planning to make a world-class combat vehicle, the navy was not idle, and under Xu Jie's personal supervision, Huaxia's latest aircraft carrier was also in the pipeline.
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