April 1, 1943. This is a day that needs to be especially remembered, not because it is April Fool's Day, but on this day the Soviet scientific community made a huge breakthrough in the field of optics and the world's first practical laser was in power. Li Xiaofeng, a member of the governing bureau, was born.

To be honest, Soviet scientists were pleased with the creation of lasers, but they were really ...... for its inventors It can't be said that there is an opinion, but let them have a pain in the egg. A layman who can't be said to be a complete layman (a certain immortal has a diploma from St. Petersburg State University, is a real engineering dog), but also belongs to most of the laymen, such a layman has made a groundbreaking breakthrough in the field of optics, where do you put the face of the majority of tall scientific researchers?

Although the feelings of Soviet researchers were mixed, when they examined the research results of a certain immortal, they had to admit its special significance. The discovery of lasers has opened the door to explosive breakthroughs in quite a few fields.

However, it is more interesting that later generations have disputed who the discoverer of the laser was, not that scientists in the Western world do not admit that the Soviet Union first created the world's first laser, but that they do not believe that a certain immortal is the real inventor. According to their conspiracy theory: the inventor of the laser is not Andrey. Petrovich, but another unknown scientist in the Soviet Union, a certain immortal merely despicably stole his research.

Of course, this is the darkest speculation, and another theory is that the invention of the laser was not the work of a single person, but the result of the hard work of a large number of Soviet scientists. It's just that in order to curry favor with a high-ranking politician, this honor was awarded to a certain immortal.

However, these conspiracy theories do not always avoid some problems. For example, the first statement. If it's true. So who is this scientist who has stolen his research? No matter how hard the paparazzi and spies in the West tried, no such person could be found, and no Soviet scientist claimed to be the inventor of the laser.

Of course, brazen Western conspiracy theorists and petty people who denigrate the Soviet Union will always come up with another set of theories: independence. The Soviet Union was completely controlled by a certain immortal, no one dared to oppose him and resist him, and the real inventor of the laser was either forced to keep his mouth shut, or had been humanely destroyed.

Anyway, the mouth grows on them, so naturally they can talk nonsense as much as they want. As for the second statement. It seems to make sense that many great inventions or discoveries in human history are not the credit of a single person, and the progress of the productive forces promoted by collective wisdom and collective strength is the mainstream.

But this second argument can't get rid of the traces of conspiracy theories, and is still used to attack Li Xiaofeng. Because in this case, someone is still a despicable liar. But this statement cannot avoid a question, if the invention of lasers is collective wisdom, then there must have been a plan for the development of lasers in the Soviet Union.

The problem is that, according to Soviet sources and the research of other folk scholars, it was found that the Soviet Union did not have such a plan in the field of optics at all in those years, and in fact, the Soviet Union's investment in the field of optics in those years was not very large. The only plan worth mentioning is the TV-guided missile program led by the KGB and the Air Force, which can be next to optics. The rest of the sincerity is gone.

In this way, the question arises, if there is no such plan, then where does collective wisdom begin? Of course, the conspiracy theorists who attacked the Soviet Union still have a point: "The Soviet Union's defense research program is highly opaque, and there must be such a secret program, just like their nuclear project, except that the nuclear project is partially declassified, and that plan has not yet been declassified!" ”

Honestly, this statement is a joke, and from the point of view of secrecy, shouldn't nuclear engineering be ranked ahead of lasers? How is it possible that nuclear engineering has solved the mystery, but lasers have not?

But conspiracy theorists still have a rhetoric: "It is precisely because of Andrei. Petrovich stole the honor of the inventor of the laser, and in order to preserve the face of this core, the laser program was not declassified! ”

Anyway, without any evidence to support them, these people insisted that a certain immortal was not the inventor of the laser, and tried to discredit him in various ways. In a sense, this is paranoia, and it is useless to reason with such a sick person.

What makes the outside world strange is that a certain immortal never seems to have any intention of reasoning with those who attack him and smear him, and always ignores those voices. It's very strange.

Of course, we all know the real reason, the reason is that a certain immortal who wants to face is indeed not the inventor of the laser, and in a sense, it is not wrong for people to attack him so much, you can't take advantage of it, and you are not allowed to scold the street, right?

And Li Xiaofeng also knows that there is no point in arguing with paranoia, because no matter what kind of evidence you come up with, you can't change them, and those people are only willing to believe what they want to believe. On the contrary, arguing with them is a waste of time and saliva in addition to losing money. It makes a lot more sense to have this time to make a shot or Makeababy.

And Li Xiaofeng's essence is just to make a laser gyroscope for publication in advance, as for the rest, he really didn't think about it so much. However, to Li Xiaofeng's surprise, after the invention of the laser, the Soviet military was not very interested in laser gyroscopes, but was very interested in the application of lasers in other fields.

The first to be interested in lasers was the Air Force, which had strong anti-jamming capabilities and high precision, giving the Air Force the idea of laser beam guidance. The so-called laser beam guidance is not the kind of guidance method that was popular in later generations of laser-guided bombs or laser-guided artillery shells, and later generations used laser semi-active guidance.

Laser beam guidance is simply a laser guidance system aimed at the target and continuously emitting a laser, the laser receiver located in the tail of the missile receives the laser, and then controls the missile body to fly along the center of the beam as if it were "riding" on the laser.

That is, where the laser is pointed, the missile "bites" the laser tightly and flies over until it hits the target position. This guidance method is simple, but there is a problem, that is, the guidance range is limited. You have to be able to see the target and aim the laser emitter at it. Therefore, it is suitable only for short-range missiles (how short?). Generally within three kilometers). And there is a problem with this guidance. The laser receiver is placed at the tail end, which interferes with the engine nozzle.

The laser semi-active command guidance widely used in later generations has a laser receiver located at the warhead site, and its laser target designator and transmitter can be set up separately, so that a longer range can be achieved.

In 1943, with the scientific and technological strength of the Soviet Union, it was only possible to achieve laser beam guidance. Some comrades may have asked again, didn't you say before that the Air Force had developed a television-guided missile? Television guidance is also not much worse than laser guidance. Why did the Air Force start anew in wartime?

The reason is simple, it is in the engine, in order to achieve the more powerful warhead (more than 500 kg) required by the Air Force, the rocket engine of the new TV-guided missile is a little beyond its means, and the thrust is seriously insufficient. If the effective range of about 10 km required by the Air Force is to be achieved, then the weight of the warhead can only be limited to 100 kg. As I said just now, the Air Force hopes to be more powerful, because the previous live-fire test found that the performance of the first-generation TV guidance element was limited, and the guidance accuracy was about 50 meters. Such a large error requires a high-power warhead.

Then the question arises, the power of the warhead has gone up. The engine will not be able to carry it, and the rocket engine with greater thrust is still under development, and the air force can only use the piston engine to deal with it, and the piston engine is a large volume, and the other is that the arrangement of the propeller interferes greatly with the overall shooting of the missile. The TV-guided seeker will inevitably occupy the head of the missile, so the engine can only be moved to the tail, and it is troublesome for the engine to put the tail part for air intake. Of course, the main thing is that the propeller takes up too much space, and ordinary tactical aircraft simply can't carry it.

Therefore, the Air Force was not satisfied with the performance of the first generation of television-guided missiles, and now laser beam guidance seems to be a perfect solution to this problem, the seeker does not need to be placed on the head, then the engine and propeller can naturally move forward, such an aerodynamic design is simpler and more familiar to Soviet designers. As for the size of the propeller, because the range of laser beam guidance is limited (about three kilometers as mentioned earlier), in such a short distance, there is no need for too much engine power, and the propeller can also be smaller, so the problem is solved.

Soon after, the first generation of laser-guided missiles was born, and the first live-fire tests were carried out in October 1943. It can be seen how amazing the efficiency in wartime is, but the reason why the efficiency is so high is that the Air Force is extremely dissatisfied with the effect of high-altitude carpet bombing, and is eager to improve the accuracy of strikes and reduce the number of sorties of long-range bombers (in order to reduce losses).

Even if the actual effective range of the first-generation laser-guided missile is only two kilometers, as long as it can accurately hit the target, the Air Force will admit it.

So how effective are live-fire tests? It should be said that it is still good, when the bomber aimed at the target with a laser in all directions and launched the missile steadily, the missile destroyed the target very accurately.

This result overjoyed the Air Force, which immediately ordered fifty of these missiles in one go. What, some comrades said that this order is pitifully small? You don't understand this, this is a missile, not a bomb, especially the high production cost of early lasers, and the low pass rate (in the early days, it completely relied on a certain immortal to cheat), resulting in the price of this weapon is amazing. The price of each of these missiles is worth two Tu-2 bombers!

And the output of these fifty pieces is enough for the newly established Rainbow Machinery Manufacturing Design Bureau to work for a year. No matter how much there is, the Rainbow Design Bureau will not be able to produce it.

The first batch of four Kh-1 missiles was put into combat in December 1943 to attack German bridges in eastern Poland. It looks like the hit rate of the Kh-1 missile is only a pitiful 25%? Seems miserable?

However, the Air Force is more satisfied with this, why? Because only two bombers and a dozen escort fighters were put into the attack on the two bridges, and none of them were lost in the bombing. Moreover, the one that hit accurately succeeded in destroying the bridge. You know, before that, the Red Army had to mobilize one or two regiments of Il-4 or Tu-2, or just as many Il-2 or Su-2 attack aircraft to attack similar targets. You have to be mentally prepared to be shot down several fighters, and in the end, you may not be able to destroy the target.

And how much air power is being used now? Anyway, the Red Air Force is quite satisfied with this. The only thing that displeased them was that the production of Kh-1 missiles was simply too poor. Of course. The Air Force is not ready to continue to improve the Kh-1 missile. Passed several more actual battles. The Air Force found that equipping the Kh-1 missile with an engine seemed to be completely redundant.

Yes, it's redundant, because with an effective range of only two kilometers, even if the Kh-1 missile is not powered, it can almost glide and fly over, and it is useless to add an engine. The only use is to make the missile more expensive and complex.

Therefore, after receiving feedback from the front, the Rainbow Design Bureau immediately dismantled the redundant engine and replaced the Kh-1 missile with a larger wing. This trick really worked, after this improvement. The Kh-1 missile is 200 kilograms lighter, while the maximum effective range has been increased to about 2.5 kilometers. And this new missile was named Kh-1M. And this M means "improved" in Russian.

With no engine and propeller in the way, the production cost, productivity and payload of the Kh-1M have increased considerably. In the past, when the Tu-3 was mounted on the Kh-1, special care was required during takeoff, and the propellers of the Kh-1M would wipe the ground if they were not careful. Now, there's no need to worry about that anymore.

After the first refinement, there was a second refinement, and soon the Kh-1M2 was produced, compared to the Kh-1M, the Kh-1M2 was reduced in size and with folding wings, which was smaller and had better loadability. Previously, only bombers of the Tu-3 class could be mounted. And the Kh-1M2 and even the Il-4 can be hung under the belly of the aircraft with a special pylon, half-buried.

After talking about the story of the Air Force and lasers, we turned to the Navy and Army. The two also have a strong interest in lasers. It's just that they don't have the same focus as the Air Force, and they think laser ranging is promising.

In particular, the Army's interest in laser ranging is not ordinary, for the simple reason that the armored corps of the Red Army needs instruments with fast response and high ranging accuracy. It has to be said that the early tank gunners really had a very important experience, because they had to accurately measure the range without the help of accurate ranging instruments, and once there was a mistake in the range, the shell would definitely miss the target.

Tanks in the World War II era really did not have very good ranging instruments, or there was no professional rangefinder, and generally could only be divided by the scale of the gun sight for simple ranging, which was a relatively large error, which tested the gunner's experience and judgment. That is, at the end of World War II, in order to shoot accurately, the Germans first equipped the Panther with a stereo rangefinder.

When it comes to rangefinders, in fact, the earliest application in the military field is the convergence rangefinder. It may sound like a strange name, but the principle is so simple that even the big guys know it all too well.

The so-called conjunctive rangefinder works like this: various prisms or mirrors will overlap the images in the two viewfinder windows, and what one observes through the final eyepiece is the two overlapping images. By adjusting the prism or mirror in the rangefinder, the user can overlap two images coming in through the viewfinder and then read the exact shooting distance of the corresponding object from the dial on the rangefinder.

In fact, the basic principle of the conjunctive rangefinder is the Pythagorean law, so to speak, the distance from the two viewfinder windows to the target is not exactly the same, and these two distances plus the distance between the two viewfinder windows form a triangle.

When the object is in a different position, the angle between the hypotenuse of the right triangle and the right angle is completely different, only when we adjust the position of the prism or mirror, we can re-establish the right triangle, and the angle change can be obtained from the position of the prism or mirror, so that the ranging is completed.

Anyone who understands the Pythagorean theorem will know that the distance between the two viewfinder windows directly determines the accuracy of the measurement, and the longer the distance between the two viewfinders, the higher the accuracy of the rangefinder.

Speaking of which, everyone will understand why the length of the "baseline" was very emphasized when talking about the optical rangefinder of the battleship, and the longer the "baseline", the higher the natural accuracy. But the longer the baseline, the larger the volume. And for armored vehicles such as tanks, not to mention the battleship-level ten-meter baseline-level composite rangefinder, even the one- or two-meter baseline rangefinder used by artillery cannot be used.

But tanks also need ranging, isn't it, in the era when there were no lasers? Yes, the Germans figured it out, they invented the stereo rangefinder (the name is more tongue-twisting, isn't it?). ）

The principle of a stereo rangefinder is very similar to that of a conjunct rangefinder, roughly like this: the lens group on the left side of the rangefinder images the target in the left eyepiece in the middle of the rangefinder through a mirror system similar to a transverse periscope. Similarly, the lens group on the right side of the rangefinder is imaged in the right eyepiece in the middle of the rangefinder.

The rangefinder then observes simultaneously through the left and right eyepieces with both eyes. The image seen at this time is the image of the two ends of the rangefinder on the same target, and there is also a line-of-sight angle, and the rangefinder can feel the distance of the image.

Next, the rangefinder manipulates the rangefinder wheel to move the diamond-shaped cursor in the eyepiece back and forth until the rangefinder feels that the image of the diamond-shaped cursor coincides with the target (presses the target), and then the converted distance value can be directly read out on the dial linked with the rangefinder wheel.

The long-distance accuracy of the stereo rangefinder is relatively good, and the ability to capture high-speed moving targets is relatively strong, which can be regarded as a "comparative" accurate ranging instrument...... (To be continued.) )