The rise of great powers: starting from military industry

A veteran looked at the mighty "Type 80" main battle tank in front of him, his eyes were shining, and his hands couldn't help but touch the armor of the tank.

This person is in charge of the armored forces.

According to the intelligence collected so far, this tank has indeed reached the world's leading level, and it is not Liu Tao's boast.

In the Iran-Iraq war, the M60, the main tank equipment of the US military, was completely crushed by the foreign trade version of the 'Type 80' main battle tank. Often the M60 tank was destroyed by the 'Type 80' main battle tank before it could find the 'Type 80' main battle tank.

Even if the Iraqi army's use of the '80' main battle tank was a bit stupid and they stopped and fired directly, the M60 tank's main gun shells hitting the '80' main battle tank would not be able to break the '80' main battle tank. Armored defense.

Even, the '80' main battle tank can withstand the attack of anti-tank missiles.

This was truly a test of war, destroying those world-famous main tanks.

"Good stuff! If only it were cheaper!" The veteran couldn't help but said, his words full of regret.

Liu Tao couldn't help but said: "It's already very cheap. The American M60 tank is already a 20-year-old product. Its performance is far inferior to our Type 80 main battle tank. The current price is 1.53 to 1.7 million US dollars per vehicle!"

"The price we give to the troops is already the cost price. It can even be said to be a subsidy to the troops. It really can't be lower!" Liu Tao didn't want to complain anymore. The personal version of the Type 80 main battle tank cost 1 million yuan. The troops are actually too expensive.

One million yuan, at the current bank exchange rate, is almost equivalent to US$562,800.

This price is not even as good as the price of the US military's 160 main battle tank.

The price of the 160 main battle tank is US$458,000/vehicle. The price of the 160 main battle tank has risen to US$830,000/vehicle. As for the purchase price of the M60 main battle tank this year, it has soared to US$1.53 million/vehicle.

As for why the price of the M60 main battle tank continues to rise, it is naturally because of the depreciation of the US dollar.

When other countries purchase American M60 main battle tanks, they will naturally not be at this price. The performance will be reduced, and the price will also rise.

The price of the personal version of the Type 80 main battle tank is 1 million yuan per vehicle, which is still too expensive for our own troops.

This is simply unreasonable.

The veteran couldn't help but blush slightly, and he couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed.

The army would rather purchase more Type 81 medium tanks than Type 80 main battle tanks. First, because a Type 80 main battle tank costs 1 million yuan, while a Type 81 medium tank only costs 700,000 yuan, which is almost the same as the Type 80. The difference between 70% and 70% of the main battle tanks is only 300,000 yuan, and the difference of 1,000 tanks is 300 million yuan. Coupled with the difference in the price of artillery shells, there is a difference of at least 2 to 3 billion yuan!

Secondly, it is considered that the Type 81 medium tank weighs about the same as the Type 59 tank and has a wider range of use. Unlike the Type 80 main battle tank, which is too heavy, many bridges have to be specially reinforced or rebuilt. This is absolutely impossible during marching battles. is very disadvantageous.

The Type 80 main battle tanks currently purchased by the entire army are all in the north. Even for additional orders, the equipment will be in the north.

This is the limitation of the current Type 80 main battle tank. It is currently more suitable for the north. Fighting in the south faces transportation problems.

However, veterans also know that the price of the Type 80 main battle tank is indeed very cheap.

Even the prices of various weapons provided by Panshan Machinery Factory to the troops are far lower than the foreign trade prices.

The price of the foreign trade version of the Type 80 main battle tank has climbed to US$2.16 million/vehicle, and the price of the foreign trade version of the Type 80 self-propelled anti-aircraft gun has climbed to US$6 million/vehicle. As a result, the prices given to the troops were still 1 million yuan for each Type 80 main battle tank and 3 million yuan for each Type 80 self-propelled anti-aircraft gun.

The discounts in this area are indeed very large.

Of course, people always want things to be as cheap as possible.

"After the plan to streamline the troops is completed, we can definitely purchase a batch of more Type 80 main battle tanks and Type 80 self-propelled anti-aircraft guns!" the old man said with a smile, "What we want to pursue is the quality of the troops, not the quantity of troops! Quantity! No matter how much, it’s useless without combat effectiveness!”

Liu Tao said: "It is indeed imperative to streamline the troops. Troops without combat effectiveness are just cannon fodder no matter how large they are!"

Although the army was prepared for war at any time in the past thirty years, and it was not a local war, but a world-level war, it was obvious that the army had many shortcomings.

The first point is redundant officials and redundant administration. Who would have imagined that the ratio of officers to soldiers actually reached an unimaginable 1:2.45. At the same time, although the Soviet Union had an equally large number of personnel, it also had a level of 1:4.65. For Western military powers like France, the officer-to-soldier ratio is only 1:17. It can be seen how huge the difference is in this regard.

Moreover, in addition to the overly complex and redundant establishment, a large number of almost useless deputy positions have appeared in many leadership positions. There are dozens of deputy leaders under each unit's main leader. No one can say for sure whether these deputy leaders have closed their doors. As a result, many strange roles such as "regiment security keeper" and "battalion typist" appeared.

Anyone who has a clue knows that it is difficult for such an army to maintain strong morale and reliable combat effectiveness, so it is imperative to streamline the army.

Although the number of troops was as high as 6.02 million before, many veterans complained that the combat effectiveness was not as good as the 5 million thirty years ago. In other words, from the paper data, the number of troops increased by 1.02 million, and the weapons and equipment were much stronger than thirty years ago, but the combat effectiveness of the troops did not increase but decreased.

As for streamlining the troops, it has been done for the past thirty years, because the leaders have come from the war years and know what the combat effectiveness of the troops depends on, not the number.

Like the streamlining of the troops last year, it was just a supplement to the streamlining of the troops a few years ago that was not implemented.

And this year, the streamlining of the troops began again, which is to streamline the troops from 5.3 million to 4.3 million.

The number of troops is reduced, but the combat effectiveness of the troops will not necessarily decrease, but will increase.

But Liu Tao knew that this time the streamlining of the troops was not the end, but the beginning of a new round.

"Oh? Do you also think that the troops should be streamlined?" The leader was a little surprised.

Liu Tao said: "The quality of soldiers is more important than the number! The army should be built into a mechanized army, and it is imperative to streamline the army!"

Several leaders nodded. They all came from the war period and naturally knew the truth that the quality of soldiers is more important than the number.

To be honest, the huge casualties of "Red Dragon's Roar" shocked many leaders. According to their original assumptions, even if the army of thirty years came to fight, it would be a big deal to have 10,000 casualties.

When summarizing, the leaders realized that the combat effectiveness of the army had declined seriously. The soldiers had never fought a war. In fact, the soldiers who had never fought a war were all rookies.

In addition, even the grassroots commanders and fighters had not experienced war, and their execution and command capabilities were very average, far from being comparable to the experienced army thirty years ago.