With this innovative idea, a month later, Duke quickly saw the results of a validation prototype.

"Dean Du, this is the prototype of the submarine maritime communication node researched by 705," Professor Zhao Jiefeng, the chief engineer in charge of the communication node sub-project team, took a few "big fish" and found Duke with joy. "The comrades of the 705 Institute designed the shape of this communication node to look like a mackerel, and the concealment of the appearance is more prominent, and it is not easy to distinguish the real from the outside when the potential is a few meters underwater."

Obviously, Professor Zhao Jiefeng was satisfied with the results of his project team, and he went on to briefly describe the performance of this type of fish.

"Now each type of fish is about 2.50 meters, and the full power is about 200. Able to achieve 0 to 5 meters of dive retention and 1 to 3 knots per hour of underwater diving movement speed, and inside the model fish, can be loaded with at least 25 kg of equipment, currently our prototype is loaded with a King Long GD-10 battery and a set of ST-10 communication relay nodes, now using less than 18 kg of payload. In terms of the remaining space and installation, we installed a monitoring system that allows it to monitor active sonar or radar searches at a certain distance, and then take self-protection measures such as active communication shutdown and diving avoidance based on this information. ”

Professor Zhao Jiefeng's mouth of the Golden Dragon GD-10 battery, is the internal code name of the high-energy battery invented by the Duke Robotics project, and now the battery research and development team is listed as a sub-project codenamed Golden Dragon under the Qianlong project, and its main research directions are two, the first is to strive to improve the problem that the low-temperature working performance of the original model declines too quickly;

The second aspect is that the project team needs to study new production processes, on the one hand, to see if it can effectively reduce production costs, and on the other hand, it is necessary to produce different models of various weights, such as the production of 50 kg or 100 kg large-capacity battery cells, which are used as submarine battery pack replacements, and also need to produce some battery cells below 10 kg, ready to be used in some small equipment such as field independent communication nodes or monitoring nodes.

At present, this battery cell is used to support the existing power of about 200 mechanical fish brought by Professor Zhao Jiefeng, which is theoretically enough to support 60 hours of work under full load, and if the model fish power drive is turned off and only the communication relay function is started, it can support more than 200 hours.

This performance parameter is very close to what is needed in real combat.

"705 is moving very fast" Duke was also a little excited when he heard the good news, his new idea realized a prototype so quickly, which showed that the direction he proposed was right. 705 took the study of torpedoes as their specialty, and this time undertook the research work of communication node carriers, and they quickly came up with their own results according to the requirements, one by one, imitating the shape of the mackerel, to achieve a mechanical mackerel that looked a little fat, but a set of micro motor drives were installed in the tail part, so that the model fish had the ability to move.

Duke has always attached great importance to this core component of the entire renovation project, and today I want to test it on the spot when I see that they have come up with results. "Professor Yang, have you brought anything here? Can we do a test today? Duke asked.

"The things have been shipped, and this morning the air has arrived at the DSM base, as long as we find a reservoir with a suitable area, we can start field testing work. , look at their current functions and what needs to be added in the future, this is the core equipment of our Qianlong plan, and we must not delay the project. ”

"That's great, I think let's go to the Heilong Reservoir, where the water area is relatively large, the water surface is relatively calm, the water quality is very good, and the stealth effect of the test model fish is no better" Duke said, because the actual sea environment in the future The sea water is likely to be very clear, and the visibility is not uncommon in the sea area of about 4 or 5 meters, so Duke hopes that the waters selected for the first test will be as clear as possible, and the Heilong Reservoir is a well-protected water source with more than 20 square kilometers of water, Visibility is almost the best in the vicinity of Rongcheng, and when the weather is good, you can see fish at a depth of 2 or 3 meters, although there is still a gap compared to some sea areas, but it is enough to explain the problem.

"Okay, I'll get them ready." Professor Yang Jiefeng replied briskly that he was specifically responsible for the project, and he was very happy to be the first to make progress, and if he could pass the test and be recognized by Duke, the general manager, the project milestone would be over.

DSM is now a backbone enterprise of domestic military research and development, and has great influence in the local and military, Yang Jiefeng said a word, the relevant departments on the Heilong Reservoir immediately moved, cleared the field near the test waters, mobilized the police and armed police to escort in key places, and Duke's security team also dispatched in advance to control the commanding heights where Duke will go.

This set of procedures is simple to say, and it is also a lot of busy for a while, but fortunately, today is not a weekend, and there are not many tourists who go to the Black Dragon Reservoir to play, so it has been cleared by the local police and armed police before Duke and they came.

Duke and Yu Deming came to a small island in the Heilong Reservoir area and temporarily set up a test command center.

Professor Zhao Jiefeng took several researchers from the 705 Institute and a group of armed police fighters to be busy with the preparation of various tests, and the engineers of the 705 Institute took the model fish, and let the armed police soldiers drive the assault boat to put the four model fish into different areas of the reservoir, and then let these armed police soldiers drive the boat to follow the shooting of the movement of the model fish, and transmit the test picture to the monitoring system display of the temporary command center in real time.

Duke and Professor Yu Deming watched the fish enter the water, almost the whole body was submerged in the water, and the dark back almost merged with the clear water surface, if you don't look closely, even if you haven't dived and half floated on the surface of the reservoir now, you can only vaguely see that it is a "big fish", and it is not easy to distinguish that this "big fish" is fake. This kind of indistinguishable appearance is naturally a huge trouble for the search party.

"The stealth is good," Duke complimented, looking at the images coming from the monitor, "and when you put them in the water, they really aren't that different from fish, but have you considered customizing them to the main local fish in different areas?" For example, if you are experienced with the main fish in this area, you will inevitably be suspicious when you see such a large mackerel here. ”

"We really haven't thought about this, Dean Du's instruction is very timely, and now we will go back and study the distribution characteristics of fish in China's domestic and nearby western Pacific waters for submarine operations, and develop different mechanical fish for these local sea areas." An accompanying 705 engineer next to Duke replied with some surprise.

"Not only our country's domestic waters, but also all the seas in the world should be taken into account." Professor Yu added, "Our submarine force will not be limited to the nearby sea area in the future. As a leading expert in submarine communications in China, Professor Yu Deming naturally has a very good understanding of the Navy's strategy. With the advent of the attack type of 097-class nuclear submarine, the PLA submarine force will take the lead in realizing global combat capability, Professor Yu Deming does not think that the current new communication method is the exclusive use of the 039-class and Kilo-class submarines, if the technology is mature, it can be used on all submarines in the future.

"Let's take a look at the performance of these models," Professor Yu Deming said to Professor Zhao Jiefeng next to him, "In order to better protect these communication nodes, it is also important to make these communication nodes have the ability to move themselves." ”

Zhao Jiefeng said a few words to the engineer of the 705 Institute next to him, only to see him move a few times on the monitoring system, and soon, Duke and Professor Yu Deming saw that the calm lake began to ripple, and the model fish slowly accelerated after starting the power plant remotely, and then they drew a white track on the calm lake, showing that the speed was good.

Duke looked at the surveillance image and nodded, "The speed seems to be good, in fact, a small target like the aircraft fish, as long as it can move a few hundred meters at a critical moment, it can well evade the enemy's search, I think that if a monitoring mechanism is installed on the mechanical fish in the future, the enemy's search actions can be discovered a little in advance, then it will be difficult for the enemy to find out if the communication is turned off in time and moved a few hundred meters away." ”

After testing the sailing speed, the engineers of the 705 Institute demonstrated the diving function of the model fish, and on this small mechanical fish, the engineers of the 705 Institute specially designed a ballast water tank for diving. As the lake water was injected into the ballast water tank of the mechanical fish, the mechanical fish began to dive slowly, and judging from the footage taken by the surveillance camera on the water surface, when the mechanical fish dived more than 3 meters, there was basically no trace of the mechanical fish at all.

"Dean Du, it seems that at a distance of 3 meters, the mechanical fish can already maintain a good visible light stealth effect. Even if the sea water transparency in some sea areas is higher than that of the lake, after the fish dives to a depth of 5 meters, it should only be faintly visible, and for the vast sea, it is difficult to find such a faintly visible type of fish. Professor Yu Deming, who was watching the live broadcast of the camera, saw that there was no trace on the screen after the mechanical fish dived, and said to Duke next to him with great satisfaction.

"Well, this stealth effect is really good, here on the small fuselage, once we turn off the drive and communication, the enemy wants to find it within a few kilometers, it is equivalent to looking for a needle in a haystack. It's just that I don't know how much bandwidth our communication nodes can maintain for communication in this case? The attenuation of electromagnetic waves in the water is too great, and if the loss of communication performance is too great to provide a bandwidth of more than 10 Mbit/s, the theater joint combat tactical system will not be able to play an effective role. Duke said.

"Dean Du, we have tested it before, and when the water depth is 3 meters, the rate between the nodes of the model fish can still be maintained at a rate of more than 10M," the engineer of the 705 Institute next to him explained while operating the model fish and began to prepare for the data propagation speed test.

Sure enough, judging from the data test situation transmitted from the real-time monitoring screen for a while, the data transmission between the fish of the model at a depth of 3 meters is stable above 10M, and sometimes even reaches 15M.

Looking at this result, Duke and Professor Yu Deming finally put their minds at ease, and through this field test, they basically verified that Duke's new idea is extremely feasible, and then the project team only needs to implement a system with high reliability for the actual combat environment.

This "fish" communication system, which later became the main means of communication for submarines, has begun to enter the orbit of rapid development from today. For the success of the entire Qianlong plan, Duke and Yu Deming no longer doubt it.