Chapter 1053. New early warning aircraft platform?
What Chang Haonan was most worried about did not happen after all.
After all, this time, the American's cast forward swing was too long.
After the flight test institute reported the emergency air situation discovered accidentally, the final feedback was that the Air Police 2000 be required to continue testing without disrupting the plan due to the activities of overseas air targets.
Obviously, although there is currently no dedicated "hotline" across the Pacific, there is still some basic mechanism to prevent miscalculation between major powers.
In other words, when the U.S. military conducts large-scale operations in the hinterland of Central Asia, the top leaders of major surrounding countries should have been notified in advance.
However, the superiors did not expect that the Air Police 2000 could capture the low-altitude activities of large targets 500 kilometers away, so they did not notify the flight test institute of the relevant information.
It was only at this time that Chang Haonan learned that Haiyang 1 had captured the approximate location of the US fleet more than a dozen times in the past half month.
The number of aircraft carriers involved is as many as seven.
Although due to the insufficient number of networks, the timeliness of each positioning is basically at the 1-2 day level, which obviously cannot be used for the mid-stage guidance he envisioned.
However, for the Chinese military, which in the past could only rely on unreliable means such as public reports and AIS information monitoring, it is enough to be ecstatic to be able to locate the approximate coordinates of the opponent completely by independent and controllable means.
After all, even if the fleet is free to run, it will only cover about 1,000 kilometers a day.
The current reconnaissance timeliness of 1-2 days can at least completely eliminate the possibility of the enemy using fake AIS signals to make attacks in the east and west.
In short, with the advancement of technological means and the improvement of China's international status, there are fewer and fewer cases where it is necessary to rely on a single source of information to judge the direction of the situation.
As for what happened next, it was almost the same as the previous timeline...
March 17th.
Although it failed to obtain Security Council permission due to two objections and one abstention from the five permanent members, the United States still issued an ultimatum in the name of "checking the abuse of chemical weapons."
By this time, even ordinary people can see it.
War is inevitable.
Sure enough, three days later.
March 20th.
Operation "Shock and Awe" officially begins.
In terms of scale, this is undoubtedly the largest military operation since the end of the Cold War.
But because the defenders gave up most of their resistance almost from the beginning, the whole process was more like a march than an attack.
Still marching along the highway.
Completely lackluster militarily.
Even so, there is still a serious disconnect between the northern and southern coalition forces, which is surprising...
However, military is military, and technology is technology.
Compared to Operation Desert Storm 12 years ago, as well as the relatively small-scale Operation Allied Forces and Operation Enduring Freedom, the U.S. military in this war did demonstrate commendable joint command. ability.
Not to mention anything else, during Operation Shock and Awe, the proportion of precision-guided munitions used by the coalition air force exceeded that of Desert Storm by ten times, but the reaction time was shortened to one-tenth.
Moreover, the frequency of accidentally hitting friendly forces is also greatly reduced.
All this is largely due to the as many as 50 early warning and command aircraft of various types, with nearly a hundred flights per day, ensuring the smooth flow of intelligence acquisition and command links across the entire battlefield.
Therefore, it has also become an area of focus for Chang Haonan and others...
...
"Mr. Chang, it seems that we have prepared a plan in the command system. The 200 nodes left...not to mention meeting the needs of the three armed forces in the future, even just meeting the needs of the Air Force, may not be enough..."
One day during his lunch break, Guo Lin sighed while flipping through the report in his hand.
“In terms of information warfare, we do still have a lot of room for improvement, but don’t be frightened by American propaganda.”
Chang Haonan put down the cup in his hand and raised it He started to answer:
"Firstly, with the improvement of communication hardware level, the scale of the command network can be further expanded in the future. Secondly..."
He stood up and came to the blackboard. , and randomly drew several circles connected to each other:
"Don't forget, every node in our self-organizing network is a non-central node with equal status. In addition to the receiving and responding functions of ordinary terminals, it also has complete message forwarding capabilities."
< br>"Such a node setting is mainly aimed at a more flexible, smaller and more sophisticated combat style in the future. It is believed that even combat units have certain reconnaissance, surveillance and intelligence collection capabilities. In other words, they are central communication networks themselves. "
Speaking of this, he then drew more solid dots:
"If we really need to command hundreds or thousands at the same time, or even more. If the unit conducts operations, then a certain node in the self-organizing network can be used to command more ordinary nodes through the traditional communication network. Even if it is only calculated at a ratio of 1:20, it can be expanded to more than 4,000..."
When Chang Haonan mentioned a number like 4,000, Guo Lin’s hand holding the report trembled slightly:
"4000... If it were placed on the ground in a regiment-level battlefield, wouldn't every ordinary soldier be included in the command node?"
As a technical staff member of the Dianke Group, he We usually face a variety of parties, so our thinking is broader than that of colleagues in the aviation industry who stare at airplanes every day.
After Chang Haonan heard this, he suddenly couldn't help laughing.
Mainly because he remembered a joke he heard during the PLA military reform in his previous life -
Synthesize spirit to synthesize soul, synthesize squad leader to synthesize human...
If the informatization level is decentralized to the end, then we can only rely on individual informatization soldiers. "Ahem - the long-term goal is indeed like this."
Looking at the confused Guo Lin, Chang Haonan coughed twice and quickly returned to the topic:
"Furthermore, the application of information technology does not have to be limited to the battlefield. Just like the 4,000 nodes mentioned just now, even for a factory, as long as it is not a particularly complex type, it can control each operation with sufficient precision. Node.”
“Such a factory...doesn’t it need people at all?”
Guo Lin's eyes widened slightly.
"Theoretically this is true..."
Chang Haonan nodded.
In the moment before he was reborn, the black light factory was no longer a particularly rare thing.
But for people in the early 21st century, it sounds somewhat dreamy.
And if you imagine that the empty factory is still busy with production...
It seems a little scary.
Therefore, Chang Haonan decided to return to reality first:
“Of course, these are things at the communication principle level. Even if the construction is completed, if you really want to implement it, you still have to provide the hardware level. Guarantee."
"No matter how advanced the theory is, if there are no aircraft equipped with data links or communication satellites with sufficient bandwidth, it will only be blind..."
However, Guo Lin seemed to be still immersed in his imagination about the unmanned factory and did not react immediately.
It wasn't until a few seconds later that he took a deep breath and nodded:
"Indeed... just like the Americans this time, they actually dispatched more than 40 early warning aircraft. To achieve such a command effect..."
As he spoke, he turned to look at the Air Police 2000 prototype that was undergoing routine maintenance in the assembly workshop.
Although the mass-produced aircraft carrier platform will be made domestically, the cost is still a bit too high for the People's Liberation Army, where all services and arms are eagerly waiting for replacement.
Many times, quantity itself is also a kind of quality.
"Not all the Americans dispatch E3, half of them are relatively small E2C..."
Chang Haonan sat back in his chair:
"In fact, everyone's ideas are similar, both high and low, but the scale of the US carrier aviation is large enough, so all the 'low' parts can be handed over to the Navy's E2C, while the Air Force only needs to operate the strategic-level E3 , looks much simpler, and we cannot have such a large-scale carrier-based aircraft in a short time, so the Air Force needs to equip both high and low models at the same time..."
"..."
< br>
These words seemed to comfort Guo Lin.
Because even the relatively low-level Air Police 200 has a relatively small number of equipment in China——
Up to now, including the prototype that was later converted into a mass-produced aircraft The planes are only one each for the naval aviation force and the air force aviation force.
Moreover, after the initial period of surprise, the subsequent purchasing desire shown by the two military services was not very strong
This is not just a cost issue.
In fact, neither Party A, who is the user, nor Chang Haonan, who made the overall design of the aircraft, are very satisfied with the Air Police 200.
The main reason is that the carrier aircraft is not satisfied.
Although the safety of the Y8 III platform has been greatly improved, apart from the localization rate, there are really no other advantages.
For users, the speed is slow, the range is short, and the comfort is poor...
Furthermore, as the planned "light" early warning aircraft, the 60-ton class is actually not very light. .
Even the size of the ground support units required to serve it is larger than that of the Air Police 2000, which uses a passenger aircraft platform.
There is also one more crew member.
There is really nothing to reason about.
At that time, it was about solving the problem of whether or not, and after the ring project was put forward, it gave China a sigh of relief, so it became popular for a time.
With the advancement of the Air Police 2000 project, the essence of Mrs. Niu was quickly restored in contrast.
For Chang Haonan, as the 14 institutes' verification of the principle of optically controlled phased array radar becomes more and more in-depth, he becomes more and more eager to find users in the international market to serve as guinea pigs.
Especially after this deterrent operation, I am afraid that the understanding and demand for early warning aircraft in various countries will be even higher.
It is definitely a market with considerable potential.
Although I considered learning from David's Falcon system and flexibly matched carrier aircraft by selling only airborne equipment, this was obviously a no-brainer.
Making more platform money is the next best thing.
The main reason is that the structure and aerodynamic characteristics of different carrier aircraft are hugely different. If each order is customized, the production cost and delivery cycle will be greatly increased, which is not conducive to competition in the international market...
Chang Haonan He rubbed his forehead in distress, preparing to put this problem aside and take a lunch break first.
However, it is at this moment.
A bold idea suddenly appeared in Chang Haonan's mind...
(End of this chapter)