"The research and development of any main battle tank cannot be achieved overnight, and it takes a long time and technical precipitation." On the plane to the United States, everyone was also talking.

This is a huge military inspection group, which is to inspect all aspects, and there are personnel from the navy, land and air force, so it is a special charter plane, and on it, the big guys can talk freely.

Qin Zhenhua was sitting with He Lao, and when he just got on the plane, He Lao beckoned him over, so he could only sit next to He Lao, and Zhu Lao was next to him on the other side, and the three of them were together, discussing these.

This time I want to investigate, the focus of the army's inspection is naturally the M1 tank, speaking of this kind of main battle tank, Qin Zhenhua is also very sighing.

If you want to talk about tank technology, in fact, the Soviets are the fastest, the Soviet armor torrent has always been a nightmare for Europe, in the case of not being able to compete in quantity, they can only take the road of quality, although I have a small number, but I can kill you ten.

European countries can't afford to fight, and the United States can't afford to fight.

They all want to have cross-era tanks, including the United States.

Since the 60s, the United States has been developing a main battle tank with new technology, hoping to break away from the basic design of the previous Patton series tanks and achieve a leap.

However, the technology of the Americans could not be achieved overnight, and the T-95 pushed out in the early days, (I don't know if this model is right, it is said that the tank of the Soviets at the beginning of the T is right, it may be the design model) The technology is immature and full of problems, and they soon died halfway, so they had to continue to use the technology of the M-48 tank to develop an improved Patton, that is, the M-60 tank.

However, of course, the Americans will not give up, after the MBT plan with the Germans failed, the US Army launched a new generation of XM1 main battle tank research and development project, the United States, with deep pockets, took the road of bidding, Chrysler's military products department and General Motors developed, after evaluation and testing, Chrysler's design won, and eventually evolved into the M1 tank.

At the time of the test, the U.S. Army also tested the German Leopard-2 tank, but if you think about it, it is absolutely impossible for the Americans to want a German-made tank, just go through a process.

The mass-produced M1 tank officially entered service with the army in 1981, and by this year, the order had reached more than 7,000 units, and it was clear that the US Army was satisfied with this tank and intended to use this tank as the main tank of the army.

It's just that what is embarrassing is that although Chrysler won the bid, it sold its military division to General Motors in 1982, so the manufacturer of M1 became General Land Systems, and the XM1 project also removed X and became an M1 tank.

This is somewhat similar to the F-15 and F-16, although it was developed by McDonnell Douglas and General Dynamics, and later sold to other companies.

Now, when it comes to the M1 tank, it is still very impressive.

"The biggest feature of this tank is its weight, like the Leopard 2 tank, it uses a structure of seven pairs of load-bearing wheels, and its own weight is said to be about 55 tons." Qin Zhenhua said: "It is said that it uses Chobham armor, which is quite strong. ”

The M1 tank with depleted uranium armor has not yet appeared, with a good relationship with the United Kingdom, the M1 tank is first used, is the Chobham armor, the legendary performance of this armor is quite good, but at the same time, another feature is that it is heavy, this kind of armor, the weight is quite large!

"When it comes to armor technology, the British are still very good." Zhu Lao sighed on the side.

Ceramic armor is also being developed in China, but it cannot be achieved overnight, I don't know how much hard work it takes, how many failures it has experienced to achieve results, which takes time and luck.

Now, in accordance with Qin Zhenhua's suggestion, China has first come up with glass fiber composite armor, in short, the performance is better than ordinary steel armor, and after the use of welded car body, this layer of composite armor can actually be replaced at any time, and it is more adaptable.

"It is said that the German Leopard-2 tank is not very protective well, so it is also negotiating with the British to buy Chobham armor from the British, but it is estimated that the British will not give them the same performance." Qin Zhenhua said.

The maneuver and firepower of the Leopard-2 are quite strong, but in terms of protection, it is not known, after all, this kind of data is strictly kept secret by all countries.

"Who was the designer of the M1 tank?" He Lao asked there.

"This sentence stumped us." Zhu Lao said: "The West and the East, the ideas are different, the culture is also different, in them, I really can't say who is the chief designer." ”

Take the Soviet Union as an example, when it comes to MiG aircraft, it is Mikoyan, and when it comes to tanks, it is Morozov, and any scientific research institute is almost named after the leader in research and development, relying on personality charm, so, when it comes to a certain product, who developed it? You can get a name out of it all at once.

But the West is different, the Tomcat fighter, strong enough, right? Who developed it? Who is the Chief Designer? Few people know.

Because the West pays more attention to the experience of the group and the cooperation of the team, and rarely promotes the ability of the individual.

It's strange that although in movies, they often like to portray individual heroes, but in research and development, they pay more attention to teamwork.

Hearing Zhu Lao's words, Qin Zhenhua smiled: "Yes, this is not easy to say, but I just know that I read a foreign literature some time ago, the chief engineer of the M1 tank project, called Dr. Wright, he is a very legendary person, he participated in all the research and development processes of the Abrams tank." So, there is information that makes him the father of the M1 tank. ”

Although advocating collective cooperation, but at some point, there will still be reports, for example, when talking about the mushroom bombs of the Americans, it is natural to think of Oppenheimer, and now, when talking about this M1 tank, you really have to mention this Dr. Wright, not to mention, the M1 tank uses a gas turbine, which is finally adopted by this old guy at his strong insistence.

So, on the plane, Qin Zhenhua told everyone about this Dr. Wright, this person's experience is also very special, he was born in 1922, in a poor village called Newton in the southern United States, and grew up in the small town of Ozek.

If it were in the later generations, it would be difficult for civilians of this class to make a difference, because they had received a technical education since childhood, and they grew up happily and couldn't fart, but at that time, it was the war years!