Chapter 101

Qin Miao was first stunned, then reacted: "Do we need to use it in the south?"

"Yeah, under our artillery suppression, the monkey's artillery troops dare not take the field at all, but… they're not willing to stay suppressed, so they got a batch of Frog-7s."

Our artillery has the advantage in range and power; the monkey's artillery, if it fires, will be covered, so they dare not take the field, but if we let this situation continue, our howitzers will keep destroying the monkey's forward positions.

The monkey is unwilling to accept defeat, went to cry to Old Maozi, and ended up getting the Frog-7.

After the Cold War began, the West noticed that Old Maozi had a large rocket projectile, 850 mm in diameter, 1.2 tonnes in weight, so NATO gave it the nickname "frog."

At the time, this thing had a maximum range of only 25.7 kilometers, but its dispersal accuracy was as high as 1 kilometer!

Old Maozi was naturally not satisfied with this weapon, so he kept improving it, and NATO kept giving it numbers, so in order came Frog-2, Frog-3, and so on.

Frog-7, short for Frog-7, is the last model in the whole Frog series; actually, it's completely different from the previous models, being a newly developed rocket, 544 mm in diameter, with a warhead over 400 kg, and a maximum range approaching seventy kilometers.

It uses an eight-wheel truck as chassis, launches at an angle; to improve accuracy, a rotating motor is installed at the front of the rocket, allowing it to spin at high speed after leaving the launch rack, thus enhancing stability.

But actually, its accuracy… remains pathetic, often off by two kilometers or more.

So, this thing wasn't very popular in Old Maozi's army; after little use, they started exporting it abroad—not just the finished product, but even the production line could be sold together, mainly to make money!

If Qin Miao remembers correctly, the monkey didn't import this weapon system; it seems they were beaten badly on the front lines, went to Old Maozi to complain, and specially begged for this handout.

Because its accuracy is so poor, even though the monkey used it on the battlefield, our side suffered hardly any loss—just… frustrating!

Although we also have missiles, their range is too great and they're too expensive to produce; converting the Red Flag-2 is the best choice, so… Old Yuan sent a telegram back to see if we've got it ready here.

"Well, after our efforts this period, the technical problems are mostly solved; in about ten days to half a month we can do a test launch, and if the test launch is fine, we'll urgently produce a batch and send it south!"

What's a Frog-7 with a seventy-kilometer range! Our Red Flag-2 has a range of at least 150 kilometers; even hiding in the rear, it can completely suppress the enemy!

Although our accuracy isn't high either, at least it's strapdown inertial navigation, surely better than theirs; worst case we fire a few more, since they're going to be scrapped anyway!

"Great!" Representative Zhao said with excitement: "During this time I'll stay at Ha Gong Da and work with you!"

"Okay."

One week later.

The entire Northeast had thoroughly entered the bitter cold, all around a expanse of white snow, silver-clad and wrapped; on the plain, not a person could be seen, only the occasional villages that appeared, with wisps of blue smoke rising from their chimneys, indicating habitation.

An Old Liberation truck chugged along, its cargo bed carrying a missile; because it was too big, the missile protruded a large section out of the cab.

Behind it followed other vehicles, with fuel tanks, equipment, and the last one was a tall, mighty off-road vehicle.

On the vehicle, Representative Zhao felt moved: "The performance of this foreign car is just good; in such a freezing winter, you don't even need to warm it up..."

In the Northeast, a necessary step before starting a vehicle is to warm it up by fire! Engine, transmission, axle, even the tires must be warmed; otherwise they'd freeze to the ground and the vehicle couldn't move at all.

"Yeah, our country's industry is still too backward." Qin Miao looked at the line of Old Liberations ahead and felt deeply.

To see how advanced a country's industry is, look at its aviation industry, especially aircraft engines; to see how solid its industrial base is, look at its automobile industry.

The East is too backward.

Take the Old Liberation for example: in 1956 the first Old Liberation rolled off the line, marking the history that the East couldn't make cars, causing a sensation; and even now, FAW still produces the Old Liberation! This vehicle is a copy of Old Maozi's ZIS-150, and Old Maozi's vehicle itself is a copy of the International KR11 military truck, directly traceable to pre-WWII!

"It's pretty backward; can you guys at Ha Gong Da help out and improve it?"

Qin Miao shook his head repeatedly: "We at Ha Gong Da don't have an automotive specialty."

In 1988, Ha Gong Da and FAW jointly ran a school, creating the Vehicle Engineering major; in 1996 it moved to the Weihai campus.

"We don't have one now, so let's just create one!"

Qin Miao's eyes lit up: "This… actually could be tried!"

The country needs development; without a modern auto industry it's impossible. In the 1980s, technology was improved through joint ventures, encountering many problems; the East's auto industry stumbled through the 1990s, only after the new millennium did it begin explosive growth, and in the electric vehicle era it even leads the world.

Let's talk about it later; besides, we can't rush—right now the most important thing is still the missile test launch.

A military camp appeared ahead.

With a 150-kilometer range, the artillery's firing range is definitely insufficient, so we had to find a military camp 150 kilometers from the artillery range, launch from here toward the range; the areas along the way are all farmland, avoiding all villages and towns.

The camp had long been prepared; the garrison commander personally led a convoy to the training field, saw the vehicles lined up, began pre-launch preparations, then looked at the flags fluttering and worried: "The wind today is too strong—won't it blow our missile off course?"

"Of course not, this is a missile, not a shell!"

A missile carries a guidance system; once the target is set, it continually corrects its course during flight!

If the wind blows it off course, it can just fly back, right?

"Report, the Red Flag-2 missile is fully prepared!"

"Report, the range calls, ready to receive the missile!"

"Fire!"

Flames gathered, the missile over ten meters long shot up swiftly, its searing flame drawing everyone's eyes.

Seeing the missile in good condition, Qin Miao finally breathed a sigh of relief; you know, at takeoff the speed was slow, and we really feared the wind.

The booster fell away, the main rocket motor ignited, the missile kept accelerating, and soon vanished from everyone's sight.