Chapter 163: Unsustainable Motorization
Infantry, the next development direction is mule and horse.
Mule and horse is the most irregular and least popular level in the development of the army, which is a transition.
After mule and horse, it is motorization. Motorization does not mean that all soldiers ride motorcycles, but that all soldiers ride wheeled vehicles when marching. Those who do not march on foot all ride in vehicles, that is, motorized marching. Motorization is only reflected in the ability to advance in motorized mode. After arriving at the battlefield, soldiers still need to adopt infantry combat mode, and vehicles are only responsible for transportation, that is, using vehicles instead of walking.
Each combat unit has a wheeled vehicle assigned to it, and artillery has an artillery towing vehicle, and artillerymen ride on the towing vehicle.
Motorization simply means driving in a vehicle and getting off the vehicle to fight, which is its biggest feature.
Motorization is a long stage, and the armies of many countries are stuck at this stage.
During World War II, the military powers of Europe, the United States and the Soviet Union could be regarded as motorized or semi-motorized, while the German army showed semi-mechanized.
It is precisely because of the strength of the German semi-mechanized army that after the end of World War II, the Soviet Union, the United States and other countries began to reform their armies, gradually realizing the motorization of the army, and then after the motorization of the army, they continued to reform and develop in the direction of mechanization.
In the end, the Soviet army achieved mechanization in 1964, and the United States announced the realization of mechanization last year.
As for mechanization, it is the next development direction of motorization. There are two elements of mechanized troops. One is the advance element. All members ride on the combat vehicles assigned to the organization to advance, and the other is that all members ride on the weapons and equipment assigned to the organization to fight.
Mechanization is to form a tank armored assault cluster with weapons and equipment such as tanks, infantry fighting vehicles, armored transport vehicles, self-propelled artillery, etc., which can carry out large clusters or small clusters or even small-scale operations. Driving in and fighting in vehicles are the biggest characteristics of mechanization. Mechanization is a manifestation of a systematic combat mode!
The Afghanistan War is a model of the Soviet mechanized combat.
At present, only the Soviet Army and the US Army have achieved mechanization in the world, and no other troops have achieved mechanization.
Because the difficulty is very great.
It is precisely because the mechanization of troops is difficult and takes a long time, so some scholars have introduced semi-mechanization.
For example, the German army during World War II achieved semi-mechanization.
Of course, some people also believe that during World War II, military powers such as the German army, the US army, and the Soviet army had achieved mechanization.
This debate has always existed, and even after another forty years, this debate will not disappear.
"As the two poles of the world today, the Soviet Union and the United States lead the world trend in their military construction. According to the development direction of their army, after achieving mule-horse, our army should achieve semi-motorization, motorization, semi-mechanization, and mechanization! This is a cyclical and gradual process." Liu Tao said: "Motorization requires a large number of cars and troop carriers. Do you think our country's automobile industry can support the current semi-motorization and motorization of the army? How much money does the army need to spend to achieve semi-motorization and motorization?"
Zhao Guoping shook his head.
How is it possible?
Last year, the national automobile production was less than 190,000 vehicles, and this automobile production is not just cars, but also includes motorcycles, with a total of 26,500 motorcycles.
China's automobile industry can't be supported at all.
Moreover, cars are very expensive, and imports are even more expensive.
Zhao Guoping knew that the cost of each Hongqi car was between 60,000 and 200,000 yuan, and it would be a big loss if it was sold to the state for 50,000 yuan.
Imported cars were mainly imported from the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, and many GAZM21 'Volga' and FSO 'Warsaw' were used as special cars for leaders at all levels.
In 1972, Nixon visited China. After China and the United States announced the normalization of relations, the Japanese responded quickly. Japanese Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka came to China and directly promoted the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Japan. As part of the demonstration of Sino-Japanese friendship, China agreed to import a batch of cars from Japan. This was also the first time that advanced cars were imported from Western countries in large quantities after the founding of New China.
At that time, 200 Toyota Crowns were imported, each costing US$5,700!
If all the cars were imported from Europe and the United States, then even if all the foreign exchange in the country was used to buy them, it would be far from enough for the troops to achieve semi-motorization, let alone motorization.
As for mechanization, it seemed that there was no hope.
Liu Tao was also quite emotional. According to normal development, after the 1980s, the Chinese army carried out reforms again and again, continuously streamlined the army, and then used the saved military funds to reform the army, gradually realizing semi-motorization. By the 1990s, semi-motorization was basically completed, and it was not until the millennium that motorization was completed. Then, as if it was a cheat, it took only about ten years to complete semi-mechanization and mechanization. In the first decade of the 21st century, the army was basically mechanized.
But at that time, the US military and other Western military powers had already achieved informatization.
"Then why did the factory director still set up a combined battalion?" Zhao Guoping was puzzled, "and said that this would be the future direction of our army?"
"Although I think that the reform of the army is a cyclical and gradual process, it does not prevent us from conducting exploratory experiments. Reform is always crossing the river by feeling the stones. If this road is successful, there is no doubt that experience can be accumulated, providing direction and templates for future army reforms, which can save a lot of time and unnecessary waste." Liu Tao smiled, "Even if it fails, it is nothing more than a waste of some bullets and shells. The skills of the soldiers have improved, and the weapons and equipment are all there and will not be destroyed."
"Failure also brings us lessons, which are also valuable assets." Liu Tao is very optimistic.
Synthetic battalions are very expensive, and Liu Tao knows this.
Just one synthetic battalion requires 20 Type 80 tanks and 2 Type 80 self-propelled anti-aircraft guns, which is a huge investment.
But he thinks it is worth it, and now Panshan Machinery Factory can afford a synthetic battalion.
Once successful, the significance is extraordinary, which means that the future development direction of the troops will be explored.
Having a development direction is definitely much better than groping in the dark.
After completing mechanization, the Soviet and American armies were not clear about the future development direction, and the money spent on exploration every year was huge.
It was also the Gulf War, a hearty victory that reshaped the US military's heart of victory and opened up a modern war mode.
You must know that the current US military, although officially announced the realization of mechanization, everyone only recognizes that the US Air Force and Navy are strong. As for the army, it is far inferior to the Soviet Army, and even many countries are full of contempt for the US Army.
After all, in the past thirty years, all the wars experienced by the US military, which were a little bit decent, ended in failure.
The US military, which looks very powerful on paper, has world-class weapons and equipment, but it seems that the US military can no longer fight.
On the contrary, the Soviet army, the steel torrent is definitely the nightmare of countless people.
As long as Liu Tao can find the way of the combined battalion, it is no exaggeration to say that at least tens of billions or even hundreds of billions of military expenses can be saved for China.