The engine problem has been basically solved through international cooperation, but this does not mean that the Red Air Force can rest assured. Through previous air combat, especially after bombing Nalvik and Knerburn, another problem was placed in front of the Air Force.

That is, there is insufficient firepower! Whether it is fighter jets, bombers and attack aircraft, it generally reflects that the equipped shkas aviation machine guns are not powerful enough and cannot effectively destroy enemy fighters.

It seems that shkas is a bad guy? Well, I really can't say that. To be fair, shkas are not only bad, but are quite sharp among the air machine guns of the same level!

The 7.62x54r shkas are about 10 kg (the maximum weight of S type is 11.1 kg, and the lightest K type is 9.8 kg), and the maximum speed is as high as 1800 rounds per minute (the speed limiter of S type is also 1600. As for the ultrashkas type, it will scare you to say it, and the rate of fire is as high as 3000 rounds per minute). Compared with the same caliber aviation machine guns of the same caliber period, shkas are simply raped.

It can be said that a shkas can surpass two or more of other countries, and its firepower is amazing. It can only be said that the Russians are Russians. Whether it is Tsarist Russia or the Soviet Union, the country name is changing, and the nature of the fighting nation will not change. The Russians have always liked to pursue absolute excellence in weapon design, and sacrifices in secondary performance. Therefore, some weird things that look so strong that they are perverted. Later, we will see the monsters that are produced due to this strange "national soul".

However, the monster shkas is also problematic. For example, after the German seized the shkas test, he looked disdainful of this weapon. He even thought it was very inferior. However, Germany was really not sure about the situation when he was aloof this time. Although shkas also used 7.62x54r ammunition, it was not ordinary rifle bullets that could be used on shkas. The shkas used special bullets that specifically strengthened the shell. Hans did not know why he tested the ordinary bullets, and the results were naturally not good-looking.

Anyway, let's put it this way, the shkas's firing rate was second to none at that time, and its reliability was acceptable. Although the lifespan was a little worse, it was not a problem for the Russians who fought the war of attrition. The only problem was that the shkas's caliber was small. The 7.62mm rifle bullet seemed a bit insufficient for the increasingly sturdy all-metal fighter.

For example, in the previous air battle, there was an example of bf109 being knocked into a sieve by shkas and flying back safely. Pilots on the frontline generally reported that it would take a lot of bullets to shoot down enemy aircraft with shkas. Often, even if they shot down their opponents, they had to go home to replenish their ammunition.

Not only fighter and attack aircraft pilots have many complaints about the shkas, but bombers, especially the four-engine bomber pilots, had no good feelings about the shkas. For example, in the previous bombing of Knerben, the low-flying Tu 3 and Peak 8 were hit by two shkas at the nose and ground air defense firepower. The effective range of the 7.62mm rifle bullet is too limited, and it can only exert effective lethality at a distance of about 800 meters. Even the 20mm anti-aircraft guns with ground air defense firepower can beat them one thousand meters away, let alone the larger caliber 37mm, 40mm and 88mm anti-aircraft guns.

The bomber pilot believes that the fighter's self-defense firepower must be raised immediately. Not only can it be able to pour bullets, but it is best to improve the lethality as much as possible.

Under such circumstances, the Air Force immediately carried out a round of research and discussion. The more optimistic bureaucrats believed that since the young men felt that the firepower was insufficient, there would be endless people with larger calibers. Anyway, the Red Army did not lack 12.7mm aviation machine guns, and the Berekin mm aviation machine gun was very good!

Objectively speaking, the ub machine gun is indeed good. The performance of this aviation machine gun that fires 12.7x108mm ammunition can be said to be surprising, with a firing rate of up to 1050rpm. Even the ubs that are slowed down due to the shooting coordinator can reach 800rpm, which is comparable to the American an/m2 machine gun, and the weight is even lighter.

You should know that m2 is a classic among classics, and the ub can be slightly stronger than the classics. It is not an exaggeration to call it the best performance among World War II large-caliber aviation machine guns. For example, there is a ub installed in the back seat of the Il 2. Since that's the case, what else can I discuss? Change it quickly!

However, Li Xiaofeng disagrees that the ub machine gun is very powerful, but it is not without problems. A US wartime intelligence declassified in 1952 has an interesting description of the life of the ub machine gun: "The shkas are a very complex and well-processed weapon. The increased cost is to ensure that the entire gun can be kept available through repair and replacement of parts. Compared with the shkas, the Berekin machine gun was deliberately designed to be consumeable. The Soviets' plan was to scrap the entire gun when the parts were damaged after a short period of use."

Let me put it this way, the Russians deliberately made the parts of the ub series using softer steel without heat treatment, so that the moving parts can slowly deform without breaking under the violent friction and collision of high-speed emission until the deformation exceeds the allowable value and is scrapped. Therefore, it can be said that the abnormal performance of the ub series is exchanged for a very bad service life.

Of course, it’s nothing but a lifespan problem. Anyway, Li Xiaofeng is not the kind of stubborn person who snatches lifespan. There are other problems with the ub machine gun, such as ammunition. In order to enhance lethality, when Russians shot 12.7x108 ammunition, they created md and mdz high-explosive bombs.

You can imagine that 12.7 mm is just a little over a centimeter, and it is necessary to load explosives and fuses into high-explosive bombs in such a small volume. You can imagine how difficult it is. Anyway, Americans thought that at that time, don’t bother with high-explosive bombs at level 50. It’s not suitable at all. Save it!

However, the Russians did not believe in evil, but they wanted to do it, and they even made it. However, the performance of this high explosive elasticity of md and mdz is not very reliable, because the Russians created a very unique "air compression fuse".

This kind of fuse has no firing needle. The fire cap is installed at the bottom of a hollow tube. When the warhead hits a hard object and deforms, the air in the tube is compressed sharply, thereby firing the ignition cap and detonating the charge in the warhead. Since there is no firing needle and it requires a high-speed impact to get fire, the storage and transportation safety of this kind of fuse is relatively guaranteed.

At the same time, since the fuse itself is very light, more charges can be installed in the warhead of the same weight, which is beneficial to improving the damage effect. The same 41g warhead, the md bomb is loaded with 2.4gp, while the mdz is loaded with 1.5gpetn + 1.2g combustion agent, and the loading coefficient reaches 5.9% to 6.6%. It is even higher than similar warheads in Germany, Italy, Japan and other countries. The disadvantage is that the air compressed fuse is not very reliable, and the angle, speed and target material of the warhead hits the target is relatively high. Of course, the more important thing is that this high-explosive bomb is relatively small and it is difficult to destroy enemy aircraft with a small amount of ammunition.

This is also what Li Xiaofeng is most unacceptable. The power of the 12.7mm machine gun is still too small. Instead of changing it again in the later stage of the war, it is better to be in place in one step. He believes that the Red Army will be equipped with at least 14.5mm level aviation machine guns, preferably 20mm level aviation guns.

Moreover, Li Xiaofeng's requirements are not ordinary high. It is stipulated that the fire rate of this new weapon must not be less than 1500rpm and the weight must not be greater than 100 kilograms. It is these two abnormal requirements that have worried the famous weapon designers of the Red Army.

For example, the shvak 20mm air cannon widely used in the history of the Red Army, weighing about 45 kilograms, but its firing rate is only 700 to 800rpm. The B20 air cannon designed by Berekin on the ub machine gun weighs 25 kilograms, which is quite excellent, but its firing rate is only 700 to 800rpm, unless two jacks are connected in parallel, they can meet Li Xiaofeng's requirements. As for the Vya air cannon installed on the Il 2, its power is sufficient (x152 bomb), but its firing rate is completely insufficient. Moreover, its recoil is too large and it is not suitable for fighters and bombers.

Even if it only catches the tail of World War II, the NSS cannot meet Li Xiaofeng's perverted requirements, and even the improved version of NSS NRS does not meet the standards. I am afraid that only GSH can really satisfy Li Xiaofeng.

For this reason, the Red Army's light weapons designers argued with Li Xiaofeng, and emphasized that someone's request was too perverted and could not be completed at all. However, Li Xiaofeng did not believe in this evil and made a tough statement that these technical indicators must be realized and there is no discount at all!

So why is Li Xiaofeng so tough? The reason is very simple. In his opinion, these designers are still lying around in the frame of shkas and ub machine guns. With traditional automatic principles, such as the short rear seat of the barrel, the rate of fire is simply impossible to increase.

To increase the rate of fire, you must think of solutions from the root, such as using the Gatling or Gast principle. These two are not big problems at all. The former has served in the Red Navy through the AK630, while the latter is the Germans also took the lead. As long as these designers open their horizons, designing weapons that satisfy Li Xiaofeng is not big problems at all.

I'm afraid the fundamental reason why these designers are unwilling to do this is because they think that the traditional automatic air cannon can meet the requirements and do not make a big move to start a new battle. Unfortunately, they had to take this step when they hit Li Xiaofeng.

Soon, the designers proposed their own design plans based on the principles of Gatling and Gast, among which the slowest firing rate is around 1200rpm. Anyway, the firing rate is no longer a problem. The only thing that bothers the Air Force is which caliber it uses.

As mentioned earlier, the caliber of the Red Army's aviation gun is quite complex, with 20mm, millimeters, and even 37mm and 45mm freaks in the later stages. Among them, millimeters are divided into two types, one is x152, and the other is x115. As Li Xiaofeng said before, the 14.5mm caliber is also considered, that is, there are actually three calibers participating in this round of aviation gun competition.

Among them, x152 ammunition was quickly eliminated. This thing is powerful, but the back seat and weight are not acceptable. Let Il2 continue to use it to bombard German tank armored vehicles. The real competition is actually between x115, 14.5x114 and 20x99r.

It's funny to say that the first two ammunitions with completely different calibers are actually tied to the same origin. The x115 ammunition is just flaring the shell of 14.5 and then installing a millimeter warhead. Weird, right? But it works. The only problem is that the x115 initial velocity is not enough. The ballistics are relatively curved (there is no way, the gunpowder thrust is not enough).

Li Xiaofeng was not satisfied with the frustrated x115, but compared with 20x99r, it seemed that mm had greater development potential, so he first eliminated the 20mm caliber. Next, in the PK between the two brothers, it was really hard to tell the difference between Zhongbo. The mm warhead was more powerful, but the 14.5mm initial velocity was better with high accuracy. Anyway, it seemed hard to tell the difference between Zhongbo.

In desperation, the Russians were lazy again. Since it was difficult to tell the difference, then let's get on the horse at the same time! So the two caliber "aircraft cannons" were launched at the same time. Of course, the Red Army also made specific requirements. The 14.5 mm one was mainly used to replace the shkas machine gun, which required a high rate of fire, preferably reaching the original shkas level. The millimeter one was used to replace the ub machine gun. The firing rate could be slightly lower, but the weight must be controlled.

Soon the designers proposed several different plans. Almost every caliber came up with at least four plans. After detailed comparison, the Gatling plan was more popular among the senior Air Force leaders. Soon, and the NSS (not the old version, but the designers were still the two) were born.

The firing rate is as high as 2,000 rounds per minute, and the total gun weight is also controlled at 40 kg. The ns fire rate is even higher, which can be adjusted from 250rpm to 3,000rpm, and the total gun weight is 65 kg.

Of course, this is not all, because the millimeter three-barrel Gatling machine gun that was dismissed at that time was later noticed by Li Xiaofeng. After changing its caliber to 7.62 mm, it was widely used as a support weapon on the Red Army's general-purpose helicopters.

Starting from July 1942, the pilot of the 3rd and 8th had just left the national test site and was impatiently installed on the plane by the Pilot 3. The reason was no exception. In the first year of the Patriotic War, the shortcomings of the four-engine bomber's frontal firepower were discovered by German pilots, and they frequently adopted head-on attack tactics, which made the Red Army pilots unable to resist.

The 2,000-round fire rate and its stronger power than 12.7mm ammunition made the Red Army pilot very satisfied. Within a very short load, the nose gunners could pour more bullets into German fighters. After being popularized, the German army quickly gave up on the front-end attack tactics against the Red Army's four-round bombers, because it was not worth the effort. On the contrary, after the United States joined the war, when the weak b17 and b24 ran to the German army with great force in a swagger during the day, it was a good fight.

As for the Red Army's stronger NNS, it was even more like a magical existence. When Jacques 3, Jacques 9, 5, and 7 equipped the cannon, it once made German fighter jets swell. As for German bomber pilots, they were even more afraid of NNS, because an average of four millimeter shells could completely destroy it, and if it was replaced with a 12.7 millimeter machine gun, it would take hundreds of them.

Please note that solving the problem of completing the air cannon is not the end, and the Air Force still has problems. However, this problematic unit is more special than a helicopter unit. Since the mid-1930s, the two major designers Sikorsky and Miri began to make a splash, and the Red Army became the first army to widely use helicopters.

Before the outbreak of the Patriotic War, the Red Army had initially established a considerable army aviation force. Of course, it was not called the Army aviation force at that time, and helicopters were under the control of the Air Force. It was not that the Air Force had too long hands and had to control everything that could fly, but the Army did not pay much attention to it.

Yes, the army just did not pay attention to helicopters. When Yegorov was the chief of staff, helicopters had initially shown their unique combat capabilities. However, Yegorov's generals always believed that the helicopters at that time were too simple, with limited load capacity and too small combat radius, and could only undertake reconnaissance, school shooting, rescue pilots or emergency rescue of wounded people.

Therefore, during the Yegorov era, most of the helicopters purchased by the Red Army were light or medium-sized helicopters that undertake these tasks, and the number was relatively limited.

When Tukhachevsky came to power again, the days of China Airlines would be even more sad. Tukhachevsky's understanding of helicopters is no different from that of Yegorov. He attaches more importance to airborne troops. Moreover, with the imminent war, the aviation industry must tilt towards fighter jets, attack aircraft and bombers, which led to the great limitation of the source of the helicopter engines, and the output would naturally be extremely limited. If Li Xiaofeng had not been emphasizing the role of helicopters, the General Staff would have cut off these bamboo dragonflies without hesitation and used precious engines for fighters and bombers.

In order to solve the dilemma of the helicopter troops, Li Xiaofeng thought of two solutions, one was to import engines from the United States for emergency response, and the other was to tear down the east wall and repair the west wall.

How to tear down the east wall and repair the west wall? It's very simple. Before 1939, did the Red Army produce a large number of Iranian 15 and Iranian 16 series fighter jets? These two types of fighter jets used the m25 and its development model m62. After the outbreak of the Patriotic War, these old Iranian 15 and Iranian 16 were quickly proved to be of limited value (even cannot even be used to train pilots).

If there is no accident, these fighter jets will either be destroyed by the German army soon or will slowly rot at the airport. But in Li Xiaofeng's view, they are still valuable, at least their engines are valuable. He is preparing to suggest to the Politburo and the Military Commission to dismantle some of the less valuable Yi 15 and Yi 16 and transfer the engines to helicopter production. This is also a waste utilization, right? At least in Li Xiaofeng's view, this is a good thing.

But what he didn't expect was that the suggestion was just put forward, and Tukhachevsky firmly opposed: "We need more fighter jets now, how can we artificially reduce the number of fighter jets at this time? Even if the value of Is 15 and Is 16 is limited, it is valuable as fighter jets or attack aircraft. If they are dismantled and engines are used for helicopters, it is really worthless!" (To be continued...)

ps: Bow to thank the lost Cannon Feng, os, Frost Magician, qq_1, duanjunyi, Xuanyuan Ji Shengtian Emperor, hzangdd, s_ak74, Wind drifting shadows, dog playing with frogs, fat cat ick, Ula, kk30, remember to add halo, Prince Chu, make the earth fly, schistosomia parasites, terde, hakli and Comrades Onfen!
Chapter completed!