Chapter 1958 Main Gun Selection

The 72-K 25mm anti-aircraft gun, just by looking at the caliber, you can tell that this is definitely a rapid-fire woven barrage anti-aircraft gun.

It was developed in 1939 and finalized and put into production in 1940. Its iconic feature is the long main gun barrel and

the excellent ballistic performance it brings, which has a good effect on any low-altitude enemy aircraft.

After all, the aircraft in this era are still electric fan fixed wings, and jets have not yet been popularized on the battlefield. Low-altitude and low-speed targets are exactly what small-caliber rapid-fire anti-aircraft machine guns are best at dealing with.

The 72K actually delivered to the Red Army was given the mission of regimental-level low-altitude defense, and in most cases it was equipped to the Red Army's infantry regiment as a towed anti-aircraft gun. A small number of them were installed in the back of a GAZ truck, and equipped with an anti-aircraft gun group that moved with the vehicle, that is, a simple self-propelled anti-aircraft gun, which is quite similar to the Middle Eastern green uncle pickup truck that galloped across the yellow sand in the 21st century.

Now, this anti-aircraft gun with excellent ballistic performance and simple and reliable structural design has been selected by Kotin as the main weapon of the new concept infantry fighting vehicle and mounted on a newly designed turret to be tested.

The role played by Malashenko and his opinions on Kotin are indispensable in choosing such a small-caliber anti-aircraft gun as the main weapon, which is definitely a new approach now, instead of directly carrying a single large-caliber gun on a small vehicle like traditional medium and heavy armored vehicles.

At the beginning of the design, according to Kotin's idea, a low-caliber but large-caliber low-pressure gun may be the most suitable for this infantry fighting vehicle. After all, according to the design expectation, the mission of the infantry fighting vehicle is to transport and provide fire cover for the infantry accompanying the vehicle, and provide fire suppression during the attack.

Since it is to suppress the enemy with firepower, it is naturally cool to have a large-caliber artillery.

Besides, there is no need to emphasize the range anyway, and the curvature of the battle is basically within the visual range, so the relatively compact low-caliber, large-caliber, low-pressure main gun is simply the most suitable choice. The group of designers under Kotin also think that this design direction is reliable. To suppress the enemy, what other weapons are more exciting and effective than large-caliber artillery?

When Kotin relayed this design idea to Malashenko and said that he planned to install a 76mm low-pressure, low-caliber main gun on the new infantry fighting vehicle, Comrade Lao Ma immediately felt that it was familiar!

What is the purpose of installing a large-caliber main gun with "double low" characteristics on the first-generation infantry fighting vehicle? Is it the BMP1, the ancestor of the BMP family? The entire weapon system is missing a baby anti-tank missile. Kotin can restore the weapon system design of BMP1 to the "youth version" so many years in advance. To some extent, is this too destined?

Let's not talk about the current dual low-characteristic main gun, which is not as capable of firing tail-stabilized armor-piercing shells as the BMP1. Even against hard targets with armor protection, it is not without the ability to fight back. Some of the bad drawbacks that can be expected now are enough to give people a headache. Malashenko feels it is necessary to let Comrade Kotin know how bad this design idea is.

"No, no, no, this is not that simple, Comrade Kotin."

"You have to consider several issues. First of all, this design we made is to accommodate people, and it has to accommodate an entire infantry squad. And our body chassis is not a new design. It is a modification of the chassis of a medium tank. Even the power system has not changed, only the layout direction has been changed."

"The front is a longitudinally arranged power compartment, the middle is also filled with a turret fighting room and a gunner and a part-time loader. The rear is a special infantry compartment. This layout is already quite cramped and very crowded. Especially the power system originally designed for medium tanks is very space-consuming. time, and the reality is that we can't redesign it, so we can only use it universally. "

"Think about it carefully, Comrade Kotin. Based on what I said above, let's think about the problem of large-caliber artillery shells and ammunition racks, which already take up a lot of space. To give a simple example, do you think that after a squad of infantry is stuffed into a T3476, and the rest of the original crew and internal structure remain unchanged, is there still room for artillery shells? Even if you force it in, how much can you stuff in? What about the continuity of firepower on the battlefield? Once the continuity of firepower is interrupted, there will be big problems. "

"

Malachenko raised a very simple and straightforward question: ammunition capacity.

Yes, the space inside the chassis of the T43 is similar to that of the T3476, and strictly speaking, it is even smaller. After all, the height of the vehicle is deliberately lowered to reduce the frontal projection area and reduce the probability of being hit.

In this way, it means that you have to put a smaller volume than the T3476, and restore the original contents in the chassis without any changes. After stuffing a whole infantry squad in, calculate how much ammunition can be loaded - 76mm main gun ammunition and coaxial machine gun ammunition.

Kotin, who was careless, did not consider this problem. He was asked by our old comrade Ma on the spot and was a little confused.

He wanted to refute it, but Kotin thought carefully about what Malashenko had just said, hey! It seems to make sense, that's the situation.

As for Malashenko, Comrade Lao Ma clearly knows that the various makeshift designs of the T43 are not as good as professional infantry fighting vehicles like the BMP1. This thing is at most easy to produce in wartime. In order to finalize and put into production as soon as possible and quickly increase production, the design is compromised. The actual battlefield role is limited to "some use is better than using human flesh to pound up".

The BMP1 has a specially customized and designed body with a reasonable layout, but your T43 magic modification does not have it.

The BMP1 has a specially customized and designed small but powerful power system, but your T43 magic modification does not have it.

The length, width, height and internal structure layout of the BMP1's body chassis are all the optimal configurations based on professional infantry fighting vehicles. Your T43 magic modification still does not have it, and it is full of "makeshift" atmosphere.

In short, it is simply unrealistic to put a large-caliber main gun on this emergency infantry fighting vehicle that has been modified from the T43. In addition, Malashenko has not mentioned many issues such as high-rate fire suppression, fire suppression accuracy, and effective suppression distance, which are difficult to achieve under the current fire control equipment and technical conditions. It is simply not feasible to use a "double-low" gun as a main gun.

It may look ideal and awesome on paper, but Malashenko can fully guess how bloody this thing will be on the battlefield and how big the problems will be exposed.

It is no exaggeration to say that it is a light punishment to make people want to cry without tears, and it is a basic daily routine to make people die without a burial place.