Chapter 1053 New early warning aircraft platform?
?The thing that 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 inadvertently, the final feedback was that Air Police 2000 was 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 US 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 allowed to run freely, 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 noises from east to 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 happens next, it is almost the same as the previous timeline...
March 17th.
Although it failed to obtain permission from the Security Council due to two objections and one abstention among 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 unavoidable.
Sure enough, three days later.
March 20.
Operation "shock and awe" has officially begun.
In terms of scale, this is undoubtedly the largest military operation since the end of the Cold War.
But since 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.
Militarily, it is completely lackluster.
Even so, there is still a serious disconnect between the northern and southern coalition forces, which is surprising...
?However, military belongs to military, and technology belongs to 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 has indeed demonstrated commendable joint command capabilities.
?If nothing else, during Operation Shock and Awe, the proportion of precision-guided munitions used by the coalition air force was ten times greater than that of Desert Storm, but the reaction time was shortened to one-tenth.
?Furthermore, the frequency of accidentally hitting friendly forces is also greatly reduced.
?All this is largely due to the presence of 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 the 200 nodes we have reserved in the command system...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 scared by American propaganda.”
?Chang Haonan put down the cup in his hand, raised his head and replied:
“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 walked to the blackboard, and casually drew several connected circles:
“Don’t forget, every node in our self-organizing network is a centerless node with equal status. In addition to the reception and response functions of ordinary terminals, it also has complete message forwarding capabilities.”
"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 themselves are advanced in a centralized communication network. node."
Having said this, he then drew more solid dots:
"If we really need to command hundreds, thousands, or even more units to fight at the same time, then we can completely let a node in the self-organizing network command more ordinary nodes through the traditional communication network, even if it is just according to 1: The ratio calculation of 20 can also 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 technician at Dianke Group, he usually faces a variety of clients, so his thinking is broader than that of his colleagues in the aviation industry who stare at airplanes every day.
When 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 the spirit to synthesize the soul, synthesize the squad leader to synthesize the human being...
If the informatization level is decentralized to the end, wouldn’t it mean that we can only use individual informatization soldiers???????“Ahem—that’s indeed the long-term goal.”
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 is enough to control each operating node in a refined manner. "
“Such a factory…doesn’t it mean that there is no need for people at all?”
??Guo Lin''s eyes widened slightly.
“Theoretically this is the case…”
?Chang Haonan nodded.
At the time before he was reborn, the black light factory was actually not a particularly rare thing.
But for people at the beginning of the 21st century, it sounds somewhat dreamy.
??And if you imagine an empty factory building but busy maintaining production...
?Looks like he''s still a little scared.
Therefore, Chang Haonan decided to return to reality first:
“Of course, these are things at the level of communication principles. Even if the construction is completed, if you really want to implement it, you still have to provide hardware-level guarantees.”
“No matter how advanced the theory is, if we don’t even have aircraft equipped with data links or communication satellites with sufficient bandwidth, we 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, which has all the services and arms eagerly waiting for replacement.
Many times, quantity itself is also a kind of quality.
“Not all Americans use E3, half of them are relatively small E2C…”
?Chang Haonan sat back on the chair:
"Everyone''s thinking is actually similar, both high and low. However, the scale of the U.S. carrier aviation force 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. It 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..."
…”
?These words were somewhat comforting to Guo Lin.
Because even the relatively low-level Air Police 200 has a relatively small amount of equipment in China—
?Up to now, including the prototype that was later converted into a mass-produced aircraft, there are only one each for the Naval Aviation and Air Force Aviation.
Furthermore, after the initial period of surprise, the subsequent procurement desire shown by the two military services was not very strong.
This is not just a matter of cost.
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 a 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 using a passenger aircraft platform.
There is also one more crew member.
There is really nothing to reason about.
?At that time, the issue of whether or not it was necessary was solved, and the ring project was put forward to give China a sigh of relief, so it became popular for a time.
As the Air Police 2000 project progressed, 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 deterrence operation, I am afraid that countries’ understanding and demand for early warning aircraft will rise to a higher level.
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.
Earning more money from the platform 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 also not conducive to competition in the international market...
Chang Haonan 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)