manynovel Page 79
Page 79
There's no such thing as "almost the same".
Fang Zhenhua sat down again and then looked at President Fang and said.
"The Type 88 main battle tank is indeed an excellent tank."
Upon hearing this, Mr. Fang's expression softened, and Liu Wensheng also showed a slight smile.
"But I still have to say that this tank is not suitable for our DA division because it is a second-generation main battle tank, while what we need is the most advanced third-generation main battle tank, and that will never change."
Upon hearing these words, Mr. Fang immediately stood up abruptly, pointed at Fang Zhenhua, and his face turned very ugly.
Even Liu Wensheng's smile froze; he felt a headache coming on.
The old stubborn man met the young stubborn man, and this was like a thunderbolt striking the earth.
President Zhu couldn't help but raise his head, and his gaze towards Fang Zhenhua even carried a hint of admiration.
Being able to stick to one's own opinions is a great strength.
As the chief designer of the Type 88 main battle tank, Director Fang directly questioned Fang Zhenhua.
"The third-generation main battle tank is still under development and there are still many issues involved. So I would like to ask Division Commander Fang, are there any tanks in China suitable for the DA Division?"
"Do you mean the country is going to specifically purchase advanced foreign tanks for your DA Division? Do you think any country would be willing to sell to us?"
"If you don't understand specific problems, you won't be able to train a DA instructor well."
Faced with Mr. Fang's questioning, Fang Zhenhua showed no anger. He waited until Mr. Fang finished speaking before speaking himself.
"President Fang, please calm down. I'm here with a solution in mind. I just spoke with Factory Director Liu and we know that General Manager Zhu is too busy, so we need your help."
As the saying goes, reach out and don't hit the smiling person.
Fang Zhenhua's attitude was as good as ever, which made Mr. Fang angry, but he couldn't vent it anymore.
So after Fang Zhenhua finished speaking, he immediately asked.
"Alright! Then I'd like to hear what good suggestions Commander Fang has."
Looking at Liu Wensheng, President Zhu, President Fang, and Liang Sanxi, Fang Zhenhua spoke slowly.
"I have high expectations for the third-generation main battle tank developed under the leadership of General Manager Zhu, because I have seen the hard work and dedication of our military industry colleagues."
"Therefore, I believe that once this main battle tank is developed, it will definitely become the most advanced main battle tank in the world."
"But now the DA Division is facing such difficulties, urgently needing to equip itself with third-generation main battle tanks, so the solution I can think of is to develop a transitional model."
Now, not only President Zhu and President Fang, but even Liu Wensheng and Liang Sanxi couldn't help but stare directly at Fang Zhenhua.
Liang Sanxi, in particular, was completely unaware of Fang Zhenhua's idea.
Chapter 128 Third Generation Main Battle Tank
As the director of Factory 617, Liu Wensheng felt it necessary to ask clearly what a transitional model was.
"Commander Fang, what exactly does this transitional model mean? Are you suggesting we produce a third-generation main battle tank?"
Fang Zhenhua shook his head at Liu Wensheng's words.
“That’s not what I meant. What I meant was that we could get information about our old neighbors’ third-generation main battle tanks.”
"Then, we will combine it with the technologies we already have to develop a transitional main battle tank. After all, no one has said that our army cannot have two third-generation main battle tanks."
This idea shocked all four people present.
President Zhu spoke frankly.
Is it a T80?
Fang Zhenhua shook his head.
"The T-80 main battle tank is strictly speaking only a second-generation tank. However, the North has already begun developing a third-generation main battle tank. As far as I know, their data has been completed, and it is codenamed Project 188."
"Just recently, the prototype of Project 188 underwent a 1400-kilometer field test, which basically met the military's design requirements."
Upon hearing Fang Zhenhua's words, President Fang couldn't help but ask a question.
"How do you know so much?"
"I can't tell you the specific reasons, but I can tell you that I used to be in charge of the intelligence department."
Oh! He's a spy, no wonder he knows so much.
At this moment, President Zhu stared intently at Fang Zhenhua and then spoke further.
"What else do you know?"
"As far as I know, Project 188 is based on the T-72BM tank, with a new fire control system called Irtysh installed."
President Zhu nodded.
"It seems our older brother thinks about the same thing as us!"
The reason why General Zhu said that is because the Type 99 was also designed based on the T-72.
The T-72 main battle tank can be considered the pinnacle of third-generation main battle tanks and a benchmark for measuring whether other tanks can meet the standards of third-generation tanks.
"Commander Fang, can you get all the information? I mean all the detailed information."
"President Zhu, not only can I get you tank data, I can even get you factory engineers."
"Okay, as long as you get it to us, we'll immediately get the new tank project started."
Upon hearing that President Zhu had made the decision so readily, President Fang couldn't help but exclaim.
The meaning is clear: we hope that President Zhu can consider this carefully and not just make a decision on a whim. If things go wrong, it could easily cause trouble.
At this moment, President Zhu looked at everyone and spoke.
"Currently, our team is mainly focused on the third-generation main battle tank, but Mr. Fang's side is currently free."
"General Manager Fang has extensive experience in tank development, so I think we can't just let it go to waste."
"Therefore, if Commander Fang can obtain all the information on Project 188, I think it is entirely possible to let General Fang take on the important task of developing a transitional main battle tank based on Project 188."
"Furthermore, I believe that obtaining the data from Project 188 will be of great help to our current development of the third-generation main battle tank."
"As the saying goes, 'The stones from other mountains can be used to polish jade.' Our big brother is still very trustworthy in the field of military industry. Their technology is very strong and more than enough for us to learn from."
As soon as President Zhu spoke, everyone couldn't help but nod in agreement.
Because what he said was not only reasonable, but also very realistic.
Even Mr. Fang, who was initially furious, had to consider Mr. Zhu's words.
However, at this moment, President Zhu said something to Fang Zhenghua.
"Commander Fang, if you have obtained the information on Project 188, how would you like us to develop a transitional main battle tank?"
"President Zhu, I'll say it again: we can't just copy the Russians' methods directly. We need to integrate their methods with the technologies we already have."
"Oh? Why do you hold this view?"
Fang Zhenhua spoke frankly to President Zhu, expressing his opinion.
"Because our army urgently needs a third-generation main battle tank, it's hard to say when the third-generation main battle tank you are developing will be able to be produced."
"So this transitional tank, though called a transitional model, will probably be used for a long time according to my estimate. Since it will be used for a long time, we absolutely cannot be perfunctory."
"Therefore, we need to further improve the technology of the Russians. I believe that our technology may be more advanced than Project 188, such as the tank turret."
"So in my opinion, why not combine the Russian technology with the third-generation main battle tank that we are currently developing, and develop a third-generation main battle tank that can be put into use quickly?"
After Fang Zhenhua finished speaking, President Zhu fell silent, President Fang was no longer angry, and even Liu Wensheng stopped talking.
After a long while, Mr. Fang finally asked the question.
When can you get it?
Fang Zhenhua thought he had misheard and couldn't help but look at President Fang.
Mr. Fang said somewhat irritably.
“I can definitely take on this task. As soon as you get the information back, I can get started.”
Fang Zhenhua was very happy to see that President Fang had agreed.
After all, as the chief designer of so many tank models, Mr. Fang's abilities have proven that he is fully capable of designing an even better tank.
The Russian Project 188 was actually the T-90 main battle tank.
Many people say that the T90 only has a good foundation, but the components on top of it are not good.
However, in this life, if we combine some technologies from the Type 99 tank with the foundation of the T-90 tank, the resulting tank will definitely surpass the Type 96 tank.
"Don't worry, Mr. Fang. I'll send someone to make arrangements immediately. I'll leave whenever the tank data is sent back to China, is that alright?"
“Sure, why not? You’re the one who made the request. You asked me to do this, and I’ll do it.”
Even at this point, it seemed that Mr. Fang was still holding back a lot of anger.
He wanted to show Fang Zhenhua that he could design what Fang Zhenhua requested.
"President Fang, I can absolutely trust you. I'm doing this for national defense purposes, and I hope you can understand."
Mr. Fang really didn't have much to say about these words.
Chapter 129 The New Tank—Type 90
Fang Zhenhua stayed in Jiuyuan and also notified Yuri.
At this time, the situation in the north is even more chaotic, and people's lives are even more difficult.
Even the engineers at the design bureau couldn't get their salaries paid.
At this point, Project 188 was interrupted because of this reason.
Therefore, Yuri obtained all the data on Project 188, namely the T-90 main battle tank, from the Ural Tank Design Bureau without lifting a finger, and also brought in a group of engineers from the Ural Tank Design Bureau.
After these people entered the northwest from Central Asia and then traveled to Jiuyuan.
When the documents and people arrived, General Manager Fang was already dumbfounded.
He initially thought Fang Zhenhua might be joking, but after seeing these things, he realized just how incredibly capable this young high-ranking officer truly was.
Goodness, he really wasn't bragging!
Fang Zhenhua wasn't exaggerating, which only fueled Fang's frustration.
The new third-generation main battle tank program has officially commenced.
After the report was submitted to the General Assembly, the leaders at headquarters did not obstruct it at all and gave it the green light all the way.
Fang Zhenhua remained at Factory 617, and Liu Wensheng, General Manager Zhu, and General Manager Fang all hoped that Fang Zhenhua could offer some of his opinions.
Fang Zhenhua's opinion on the new tank was to retain the foundation of Project 188, meaning that the tank chassis would use the Project 188 design, but the turret would be different.
The turrets of the old Russians have basically been passed down from generation to generation, and they are all round turrets, and the T90 is no exception.
Therefore, Fang Zhenhua suggested at this time that the turret be replaced with the wedge-shaped turret of the third-generation heavy tank developed in my country.
The biggest advantage of a square head is that it allows you to stack more armor.
In the era of homogeneous steel, a circular turret was arguably the optimal solution because when hit by a shell, a circular turret was more likely to ricochet and deflect the shell, thus improving the tank's survivability.
However, with the advent of composite armor consisting of two steel plates sandwiching ceramic or other materials, and the application of explosive reactive armor and NERA armor (non-explosive reactive armor), the situation has changed.
The advantage of the square-headed wedge-shaped turret, which makes it easier to install composite armor, becomes apparent.
Apart from the wedge-shaped turret, everything inside has been replaced with subsystems from my country's third-generation main battle tank.
This main battle tank, named the Type 90, can serve as a transitional model.
At the same time, the feasibility of the third-generation domestically produced main battle tank can be verified by extensively using the weapons and equipment of the third-generation domestically produced main battle tank.
Moreover, in terms of composite armor, it also fully adopted the composite armor of our army.
When it comes to composite armor, China is absolutely a first-rate expert, even surpassing the Russians.
With the joint research and development efforts of domestic experts and engineers from the north, the development of the Type 90 tank has progressed very quickly.
By the end of 90, Fang Zhenhua, at Factory 617 in Jiuyuan, received a call from the DA Division informing him that armed helicopters had been delivered to the troops, and that the HQ-9 missile, developed based on the S-300 air defense missile system, had also arrived at the troops.
The only thing missing is the Type 90 main battle tank.