SWDnovel #409 - After the test flight, the brigade commander also came
#409 - After the test flight, the brigade commander also came
The helicopter has been built and can fly, and although its transport role is very important, Ren Zhong certainly doesn't just want to use it to transport people, but also to make it a key point of firepower output.
Compared to armored vehicles and tanks, the Zhi-5 helicopter certainly isn't meant to charge into battle. Current helicopters are still very fragile, and it's hard to defend against even machine guns. Not to mention, the rotating rotor blades are basically impossible to defend.
If it's a frontal breakthrough of an enemy position, the Zhi-5 can't handle it. The Zhi-5 is mainly for flanking attacks and ambushes, so in terms of weapon selection, the Zhi-5 shouldn't pursue the original configuration of the 'Rogue Hawk'.
According to the 'Rogue Hawk' configuration, the UH-1M armed helicopter would be equipped with four 7.62mm M60CA1 machine guns, two per side mounted on pylons on both sides of the fuselage, or M200 19-tube rocket launchers mounted on the sides of the fuselage.
And equipped with a powerful six-barreled Gatling gun.
Ren Zhong felt that such an armed configuration was completely unnecessary.
Machine guns are definitely needed, but there's no need for as many as four completely small-caliber 7.62mm machine guns. According to Ren Zhong's plan, two small-caliber machine guns would be enough, plus a G20 autocannon, which would be good enough with a certain armor-piercing capability.
Gatling guns consume too much ammunition. With a rate of fire of 4,000 rounds per minute, the ammunition consumption rate is simply insane, and it's impossible to supply enough.
The Zhi-5 needs to penetrate deep behind enemy lines and serve as the main source of heavy weapons for a special operations squad. It must have a large-caliber heavy weapon. In addition, Ren Zhong feels that it's necessary to develop anti-tank missiles similar to the Red Arrow 10, which can attack tanks.
It's just that it may not be possible to develop anti-tank missiles in the short term. It may take some time before the Zhi-5 can attack tanks.
But these are all advanced armed functions for the future.
At this stage, being able to become an aerial firepower point that continuously outputs machine gun firepower, possessing strong lethality against infantry or open fortifications, plus being able to quickly and unimpededly deploy troops to the rear, is already a very powerful weapon.
The modular work of the weapon pylons must start now. In the future, this pylon can also be used on drones and light fighter jets.
For Ren Zhong, who has knowledge of the weapons of the main world, the work he has to do is not only to solve one problem, but to solve all such problems through this matter.
With standardized weapon pylon modules, in the future, whether it's machine guns, autocannons, rocket launchers, missiles, or various bombs, they can all be mounted on this weapon pylon.
"Old Ren, I heard that your helicopter has been built?" Brigade Commander Chen was a bit slow to realize, arriving only after the first test flight.
Looking at the smile on the brigade commander's face, Ren Zhong felt a vaguely familiar feeling.
"Old Chief, it's just had its first test flight. It's still a bit away from being finalized," Ren Zhong said with a smile. "It's estimated that after it's finalized, the production capacity will be very limited in the short term. This project is being developed to support the Navy. The production capacity for the first two years will all go to the Navy. After all, our Dongting Lake-class amphibious assault ship needs to be equipped with 64 Zhi-5s of various types."
The brigade commander clearly wanted to intercept it, and Ren Zhong had to block the brigade commander's mouth first.
"It doesn't matter, it doesn't matter. Won't it take two years for this amphibious assault ship to be built? Before that, this helicopter can be borrowed. Look, our Ice City Military Industry wants to do research. Didn't someone propose the Army Aviation Force earlier? I think we can't just talk about it on paper. Let's set up a pilot project first and get me 16 helicopters to set up an Army Aviation Brigade. We'll practice relevant tactics, and when the Navy's amphibious assault ship is built, we'll return them to them," the brigade commander said with a very kind smile.
It was as if he was congratulating Ren Zhong on making a fortune.
However, Ren Zhong couldn't refute it, because the concept of the Army Aviation Force was what he had told the brigade commander earlier!
The brigade commander's reason was indeed irrefutable.
"16 is too many, Old Chief. We can only mass-produce a maximum of 32 a year now. Now Li Yunlong's troops are going to convert two Marine brigades. Their main attack power relies on armed helicopters. The first batch of Zhi-5s produced must be given priority to them to train more so that they can quickly form combat effectiveness after the Dongting Lake-class amphibious assault ship is built," Ren Zhong explained with a wry smile. "Each brigade is allocated 12 helicopters, which is already relatively few. Any fewer, and many tactics will be difficult to practice, affecting the later training effect."
What Ren Zhong said was the truth.
"I don't think the Army is in a hurry. Old Chief, there's basically no one who dares to move on our surrounding land now. Relying on the current combined arms brigade is enough to form an overwhelming advantage against any opponent. But the sea is different."
"Oh, Old Ren, what's the situation at sea?" The brigade commander raised an eyebrow. He quite agreed that there were no opponents on land. After all, the peninsula could beat the coalition forces led by the 'Rogue Hawk' to the ground. Although the 'Rogue Hawk' has also made a lot of progress now, and has updated a generation in armored power, narrowing the generational gap with the Dragon Tank II.
But don't forget that the main battle tanks of the army have been fully updated to the Dragon Tank II. Now there are 12 heavy combined arms brigades and 20 light combined arms brigades, plus the 40 Dragon Tank I tank battalions of the early 40 main divisions. In the Asia-Pacific region, the brigade commander is not afraid of any opponent!
"It's like this, Old Chief. Now our country's industrial construction basically has relatively complete categories, but in terms of mineral resources, I think it's obviously not enough to rely solely on domestic resources. For example, copper, iron, aluminum, zinc, and other bulk resources, our construction and industrial development needs will become greater and greater, so I laid out a plan earlier, and we have acquired a batch of mineral resources in the world that we are preparing to start mining."
"The world is not very peaceful now. South America and Australia are better, but some resource areas in Black Africa have a lot of risks."
"But there are not many independent countries in Black Africa now. Most of them are still colonies," Brigade Commander Chen couldn't help but remind him.
"They will be independent soon. After World War II, the great powers' control over Black Africa is getting weaker year by year. I estimate that the 1960s will be the peak period of the Black African independence movement. We must seize this opportunity to win over some areas rich in mineral resources first. Of course, we are not just winning them over. These countries are full of warlords, and appropriate sticks are also necessary, so that we can subdue people with force. As a resource-rich country, we cannot let them act recklessly, causing widespread poverty among the masses. We must have the ability to bring the local area back to a state of peace."
Ren Zhong said, "Of course, we will not interfere everywhere, but we will accurately target our goals and ensure that these resources can be used by us."
In this world, there's no room for squeamishness. As the trend of a three-way division of power becomes increasingly apparent, the landscape of Dongda has also changed. There are no psychological barriers to dividing up the world's resources.
Of course, one difference is that Dongda can still protect local development, transferring some of the wealth generated from resource extraction to the local area.
Striving for win-win opportunities.
From this perspective, Ren Zhong feels that Dongda can truly be considered a great benefactor.
Due to its special geographical location and the rise of Dongda, the independence movement in the Asia-Pacific region has been smoother than in history. In this regard, Dongda can be said to have befriended them in advance.
"It's not hard to deduce. After World War II, the powers of Europe were all reduced to ruins. Whether they were victors or vanquished, they were all left with only half their lives. The strength of traditional colonial countries was greatly weakened.
After years of war, local nationalist organizations have continued to grow. The principle of national self-determination has begun to take root, making colonialism increasingly unpopular.
Those local leaders who studied in the colonial powers, seeing that the whole world is shaking off the influence of colonialism, how could they sit idly by and do nothing? They would definitely follow suit and start promoting the independence movement in their own countries. Now, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, South America, and other places are basically independent, leaving Black Africa as the region with the most non-independent areas."
Ren Zhong said.
What he said basically aligned with the historical timeline of the main world. Back when the Gallic Rooster and John Bull were among the strongest in Europe, most of Africa was divided up by them.
After the Three Virtues were hammered and knelt down in World War I, the colonial territories he had taken over became the new territories taken over by the Gallic Rooster and John Bull. This kind of handover between the old and the new is more likely to spark a wave of independence.
Brigade Commander Chen nodded. What he said made sense, but he didn't know how Ren Zhong was so sure that Black Africa would gain independence on a large scale in the 1960s.
But these things didn't matter. What was important was that Ren Zhong said he wanted to build a marine corps to support the country's foreign expansion, which clearly showed that he had a fairly in-depth understanding of these situations.
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"Brother Ren, with our current naval strength, is there enough strength to protect our interests when escorting ships in these areas of Black Africa?" Brigade Commander Chen was now a little confused. If you only talk about the army or even the air force, he was 90% confident that he could win against his opponents.
But if you were to say sailing a fleet to a place thousands of miles away to clash with local warlords, Brigade Commander Chen really didn't have much confidence, because such a long distance was equivalent to ultra-long-range operations relying on zero base support???
Such harsh external operating conditions obviously placed higher demands on amphibious assault ships.
"Based on the current understanding, a special mixed fleet of ours is enough to destroy most Black African countries." Ren Zhong said with a smile, "Frankly speaking, even deploying the Marine Corps is bullying them for being too backward."
Their hundreds or thousands of militia units with the same weapons are simply not worth mentioning to Dongda. A combined battalion can directly flatten them all!
Now that they have the strength, everyone has this confidence.
"Since you've already planned this out, Brother Ren, I will naturally give my full support. Next time, don't forget to call me when it's time to drink the celebration wine," Brigade Commander Chen said with a smile, "But don't exclude the people we send to learn when Li Yunlong and the others are training."
"If there is any emergency, our army can also send a strong team to solve the problem."
Brigade Commander Chen decisively took a step back after realizing that things were a bit beyond his imagination. Now he was thinking about sending a pilot Marine Corps to receive practical training.
"Of course, there's no problem with that. I'm just afraid that Brigade Commander Chen is reluctant to send good seedlings over," Ren Zhong said with a smile, "Helicopter pilots are very scarce now. If the brigade commander isn't worried that the people sent will be like meat buns thrown to the dogs, then send as many people as possible to learn next door."
With Li Yunlong's nature, if someone goes to his place for training, he will at least communicate a bit of rebellious spirit to you!
After hearing about the successful test flight of the Zhi-5 helicopter, it wasn't just Brigade Commander Chen who came to the door. Some familiar department personnel also found their leaders, requesting that a portion of the Zhi-5 helicopter be preferentially allocated to their respective departments.
You must know that things like ambulances are really something that you can't even fully equip with the budget, so they asked the higher-ups to come forward and directly allocate them.
Of course, this was a bit taken for granted. Under the current mechanism conditions, each department has its own budget, and no one relies on welfare distribution to survive anymore. For people who are in good health, they can always find a way to make a living, instead of waiting for social relief.
But those who are qualified to hear the news of the test flight always have considerable influence in all aspects to have this ability.
So their views on this product also have considerable influence and cannot be underestimated. But they wouldn't be as straightforward as the brigade commander, always finding some inexplicable reasons to say, but after a lot of it, Ren Zhong was very annoyed by these people!
In the end, he had to hang up a sign of truce and start hiding Ren Zhong's whereabouts to avoid being caught by the ubiquitous visitors.
Ren Zhong still understood everyone's feelings very well. General-purpose helicopters are inherently versatile. Firefighting and first aid and other aspects do need to be equipped with some, and they can also be used, especially in emergency situations. Helicopters are a great weapon that can take people hundreds of kilometers away regardless of terrain.
It's great for transferring patients/injured people!
However, Ren Zhong obviously cannot meet these needs in the first instance.
These civilian needs will probably have to wait until three years later to have the opportunity to produce some remaining products.
However, Ren Zhong didn't think that the rear departments at this stage could luxuriously equip helicopters.
Even if they are all domestically produced, the price of building a helicopter is still not cheap. Ren Zhong doesn't have much confidence in selling them in the domestic civilian field, but he can try the foreign market. Compared with other helicopters of the same period, the current Zhi-5 still has strong advantages in performance. If there are any extras, Ren Zhong believes that there is a certain market space in the international market.
However, it is too early to say these things now. The needs of the domestic military alone cannot be met in the short term.