Chapter 855: Focus on the Key Points
"Yes, TV guidance, a method of guidance using the images captured by the camera. The guidance process is just like watching TV, so I named it that."

In fact, what we call TV guidance is more of a result of translation. In principle, it is more appropriate to call it "image guidance". It may not be really like watching TV, but the kind of TV guidance that Gao Zhendong is going to do is really like it.

"Oh, I see. It means using a camera as a guidance head, right?" The comrades from the Chunlei Factory reacted faster, after all, they had experience with laser-guided bombs.

Gao Zhendong nodded and shook his head: "Yes and no. Strictly speaking, the camera is just a detector, and the real guidance head is the human brain."

People are on the loop.

This was a bit scary, and the comrades suddenly recalled a picture in their minds: a human head was tied to each bomb, and they were flying straight to the target...

It's not that it's impossible, it's just that heads are hard to find. We treat prisoners well and enemy corpses kindly.

The scene was too horrifying. Everyone shook their heads and looked at Gao Zhendong.

"We thought of a way to transmit the images back to the combat aircraft, and the operators on the combat aircraft would intervene in the bomb's flight trajectory in a timely manner based on the images transmitted back."

This is a subtle difference between this TV-guided bomb and a hand-operated anti-tank missile with a range of several kilometers, timely intervention rather than constant correction.

"Hey, this method is interesting. The bomb tells the shooter what it sees, and the shooter tells the bomb whether your aim is accurate. Chief Gao, can this thing be accurate with laser guidance?" The comrades in the Air Force did not think about the specific difficulties, but only considered the principle, and felt that it seemed to be of some interest.

For them, the most intuitive smart ammunition now is the laser-guided bomb, so they use this thing directly for comparison in order to get an intuitive impression.

Gao Zhendong shook his head: "If you want to talk about accuracy, this bomb is really not as accurate as a laser-guided bomb when the laser-guided bomb is working properly."

After hearing this, the comrades in the Air Force lost half of their courage. What's the point if they can't hit the target accurately?
But then I thought about it, that wasn't right. Chief Engineer Gao had been to the battlefield himself, and he knew all the twists and turns on the battlefield much better than I did. If he said this thing was useful, then it must be really useful. I just hadn't thought it through yet.

"Chief Engineer Gao, what are the benefits of this?" The disadvantages have been pointed out, and everyone is being called together in such a hurry, so this thing must have benefits that people can't refuse.

Gao Zhendong smiled: "If we talk about the advantages, the advantage of this thing is that the transmission distance can be longer than the laser irradiation distance, and it does not have the requirements of laser-guided bombs for irradiation directionality."

Its range and ease of use immediately attracted the interest of the Air Force.

"What is the current range of laser-guided bombs?"

Comrades from the Spring Factory know this problem: "Depending on the conditions and current technical capabilities, with a visibility of 15 km, it is probably between 5 and 10 km."

Chunlei Factory knows that although the maximum range of laser-guided bombs is about 25 kilometers, that is achieved when all conditions such as altitude, weather, and aircraft speed are the best. Under normal conditions, it is difficult to obtain such ideal conditions. If there is no ground illumination, the actual range is between 10 and 15 kilometers, and 20 kilometers is also acceptable. Above that, there are some limits.

10 kilometers? That seems pretty good.

The air force comrade who used long-range precision-guided weapons for the first time felt that it seemed okay, and he turned his attention to Gao Zhendong.

Gao Zhendong shook his head: "I'm not that optimistic, especially on a plateau 3000 to 5000 meters above sea level."

Hearing this, the chief engineer of the National Flood Control Commission burst out laughing. Where else can you find a plateau with an altitude of 3000 to 5000 meters? Not to mention that there are only two in my country, even in the world, there are only four plateaus with an average altitude of more than 3000 meters, two in Asia and two in South America. By the way, of the two highest ones, one is basically occupied by my country, and the other is partially occupied.

Now the chief engineer of the National Defense Committee and the Air Force are basically certain that Gao Zhendong is heading for the snowy plateau this time, so they are so concerned about the performance of laser-guided bombs on the plateau.

"I have calculated that, in theory, if the mission altitude is 3km, the target surface normal zenith angle is 45 degrees, the target size is 4*4m, the seeker sensitivity is XXfJ/cm2, and the laser energy is XXXmJ, the irradiation distance is 5km. This is a theoretical value, but it is actually lower."

Gao Zhendong's string of data has ruined Chunlei Factory. I didn't expect that much.

"Chief Engineer Gao, why are you so careful?"

Gao Zhendong said: "I will give you the formula and several curves calculated under various conditions later. They can be used to estimate the irradiation distance."

Mr. Zhang from Chunlei Factory smiled happily: "Okay."

Gao Zhendong turned to his comrades in the Air Force and said, "In fact, if the mission location is already 3000 to 5000 meters above sea level, in order to reach a mission altitude of 3 km, you have to fly to 6000 to 8000 meters. For strike aircraft, it is not impossible to fly, but at this altitude, the cloud layer has a greater impact on laser guidance and is more easily affected."

Low clouds are 0.5~2km, medium clouds are 2~7km, and high clouds are 5~15km. Flying to 6000 to 8000 means that as long as there are clouds, clouds at all altitudes may affect laser guidance. "Hiss~~~~~~" Gao Zhendong's words made the comrades in the Air Force lick their teeth.

You may not be able to see if you fly too high, and you can't always wait for sunny days. War is not necessarily a matter of pampering you.

If you fly too low, with an illumination distance of 5 kilometers, you can only hope that there are illuminators on the ground. Otherwise, even if the opponent has a few anti-aircraft artillery positions forward, the aircraft at an altitude of 3km can be hit hard. The air on the plateau is thin, and the situation may be even worse.

In fact, infantrymen helped with illumination, which was the main reason why the range of the bombs made by the Spring Thunder Factory far exceeded the actual illumination distance. One bomb was thrown in the general direction, and then the infantrymen took over the illumination. In many cases, the plane itself could not illuminate that far.

However, the conditions for infantry on the ground to help with illumination may not always be available.

No, no, how could I have been involved in the plateau issue? The comrade from the Air Force shook his head.

"And I've calculated that if other conditions remain the same and the altitude is simply increased, at 12000 meters, the illumination distance is about 8 kilometers. Even without taking into account the target altitude, this altitude is already close to the ceiling limit of our attack aircraft."

The practical ceiling of the Il-28 is 12300 meters. Even if there is an improvement, it is unlikely to be much, as the improvement will mainly be on the load-bearing range.

8km, but when you get to the plateau, you can't even reach 8km, which is not much different from 5km. The Air Force is in a more serious situation. Laser is good in every way except being affected by the weather, which is a headache.

Chunlei Factory did not say anything. They knew that the conditions given by Gao Zhendong had actually been relaxed a bit. The actual conditions were still not up to the conditions calculated by Chief Engineer Gao. Both the sensitivity and laser energy were worse.

It’s not that Gao Zhendong deliberately relaxed the rules, but the premise of the paper he found was like that, and Gao Zhendong was too lazy to recalculate it. It was enough to make his comrades aware of the problem.

"So I considered using television guidance as a supplement." Gao Zhendong then came to his own conclusion.

The comrades in the Air Force finally relaxed. Hey, with this as a backup, everything will be fine. Chief Engineer Gao was really thoughtful.

"My consideration is that this type of bomb is mainly used to strike key points, so the guidance kit should be developed first to be suitable for large bombs weighing more than 1 ton." Gao Zhendong first put forward a basic requirement.

"why is that?"

"Because there are other means to solve the problem of tactical air support. The pressure currently faced by tactical air support is much smaller. Laser-guided bombs are easy to deal with when approaching. What we need to solve is the long-range problem. The range of this bomb must reach more than 45 kilometers."

Regardless of whether air superiority is a prerequisite for tactical air support, if you want to do this job, you have to fight close to the enemy, otherwise what is the point of the Attack-6 armored vehicle?

However, when striking key points, these conditions may not necessarily exist, and the air defense capabilities of such key points must be very strong. Even if there is air superiority, it may not be possible to strike successfully.

Citigroup, Thanh Hoa Bridge: You are right.

"Ah, I see. 45 kilometers is good!" The air force nodded and said yes. It made sense. When they heard that it could be 45 kilometers, they were even more delighted.

"Chief Engineer Gao, but in this case, the bomb won't be able to fly that far." The pneumatic director of Chunlei Factory raised his own question.

Theoretically, the projectile's dimensions * 2 means weight * 8, which means that the weight has increased significantly while the size has not increased much. This can sometimes be a problem for gliding solely by relying on the projectile.

Gao Zhendong nodded: "I know, so our kit for this thing is a little different. We use a gliding kit with a pair of folding wings on it. After it is dropped, it will automatically open and turn the bomb into a glider! This has another advantage, which is that there is no need to do low-drag treatment on the bomb. As long as the gliding kit is designed reasonably, it doesn't matter whether it is low-drag or not. The kit can be made as a whole."

After saying that, Gao Zhendong drew a schematic diagram of a gliding kit on the blackboard. It looked simple and crude, and it would not be an exaggeration to say that it was made of welded iron sheets.

I learned this from the Russians. When the big brother was fighting, the gliding kit looked very low-end, and the craftsmanship was not as good as some small workshops in our Small Commodity City, but the effect was really good.

No one had thought of this method, but once heard, they thought it was a good idea. It was simple, practical, easy to implement, and it could also achieve the desired effect.

It is indeed Chief Engineer Gao’s style. When he can make do with something, he will make do with it, provided that the result is good.

"Well... this is a good idea, Mr. Gao, it has to be you. But..." The pneumatic director of Chunlei Factory fell into thought.

"But what?" Gao Zhendong was a little surprised. Logically speaking, at this step, there should be no problem with the aerodynamics. The only thing left was blowing the wind tunnel. This thing was very simple and the wind tunnel was also easy to blow.

(End of this chapter)