Fang Lang's statement that the Sherman was nothing special was obviously wrong. Moreover, the current US military had no intention of eliminating the Sherman. You know, on the battlefield on the peninsula, the Sherman tank could be considered a well-deserved main force.
Although the U.S. military already has the M26 Pershing heavy tank, it is not so luxurious as to directly replace the Sherman. The reason why Fang Lang said this is actually to highlight the power of the tank he is about to produce.
Wolfe Fairclough naturally had doubts about this. After all, as an army officer, he was very clear about the US military's current main equipment, and he also understood that Fang Lang's words were too exaggerated.
This made him look at Fang Lang with a strange look in his eyes. He began to wonder in his heart whether this kid was getting too cocky at such a young age. He even looked down on the current equipment in the United States and shamelessly said that he wanted to eliminate it for the Americans.
At the same time, he couldn't help but sigh that Fang Lang had indeed prepared a path to success for him. This was completely different from what he had imagined. In his opinion, even if he joined Fang Lang's team, the most he could do was become a powerful leader, which would be pretty good.
However, he did not expect that the other party's thinking was completely different from his own. He directly skipped the process of climbing up step by step from the grassroots level and was sent directly to the American Military Academy for some training. Then, when he came back, he was promoted to a higher level in rank, breaking through the barrier of school-level officers that he could not break by himself, and became a real general.
After becoming a general, he did not directly compete with the army leaders for the command of two armored divisions, but instead made a roundabout arrangement to take over the command of a motorized division.
If we ask the army leaders to give up the command of the armored division, they will definitely not be willing to do so, and it will definitely cause a fierce backlash, and even General Crook will find it difficult to suppress it.
But Fang Lang’s approach is different now. I don’t want your armored division, I just want the command of a motorized division. The difficulty will be obviously reduced a lot.
...
...
With General Crook's reputation and Fang Lang's strength, nominating him to become the commander of a motorized division is difficult, but not impossible.
Then, when the time is right, this motorized division will be reorganized into an armored division. This will obviously enhance the strength of the army, and the bigwigs in the Army Department will certainly not refuse it. At most, they will arrange people to come in and reap the benefits.
However, at this time it depends on the ability of Wolf Fairclough. If Fang Lang has already paved the way for him and he still cannot gain command of this new armored division, then he will have no chance of success.
Even Fang Lang might give up on him without hesitation, and he would be even less able to forgive himself.
"Ahem... General Fang, I think the Sherman is pretty good. I'd be satisfied if I could command a Sherman tank division."
Hearing this, Fang Lang smiled slightly and said:
"So, Wolfe, you agree with my proposal?"
Wolfe Fairclough thought about it and nodded without much hesitation. He knew very well in his heart that if he relied on himself, his life might be like this.
Although following Fang Lang might make him a traitor in the army, Fang Lang gave him so much! Even if he only got promoted to a higher rank and broke through the barrier of school-level officers, he felt that he had made a fortune. What's more, there was an opportunity to study at West Point Military Academy.
Even after returning from his studies, he would at least be a commander of a motorized division, which made him very excited from the bottom of his heart.
"Hehe... I agree. How can I not agree? General Fang has already paved the way for me. If I don't agree, wouldn't it be ungrateful?
However, if you really plan to add an armored division to the army in the future, I think the Sherman is pretty good."
Hearing this, Fang Lang knew what he was thinking. He smiled, patted the other person's shoulder and said:
"Why? It seems that Mr. Wolfe doesn't trust our domestically produced tanks?"
"Well! It's not that I don't believe it, but I think that judging from the current situation, the American Sherman is far from being eliminated."
Seeing the other party's look, Fang Lang smiled and took out a stack of information from the briefcase beside him, placed it in front of the other party and said:
"First, take a look at the design data and corresponding technical indicators of our first domestically produced tank, and then think carefully about whether you want a Sherman or our new tank."
Wolf Fairclough obviously did not expect Fang Lang to throw a stack of information in front of him. When he saw the tank design drawings on the first page of the information, he could not take his eyes away.
For a moment, he forgot to answer Fang Lang's words, and instead picked up the information on the table and studied it carefully.
At the beginning, Fang Lang had the idea of designing a domestic tank after obtaining the design data of the Tiger tank from the Porsche factory. However, he never implemented it. However, with the beginning of the Peninsula War, he knew that even if he designed a powerful tank, it would not be used against his hometown, so he put this plan on the agenda.
Fang Lang had a direct understanding of the future development direction of the tank, the king of land warfare. Although he had never actually come into contact with the real thing, he had seen a lot of tanks from online videos, movies and TV.
I don’t know if it’s because he lives in his hometown, but he is more familiar with Soviet tanks. During the Cold War, the Soviets developed a series of excellent tanks including T62, T64, T72, T80, etc.
As for the US, he was most impressed by the M60 and the M1 Abrams tank, which was still in large numbers in use by the US military until he was reborn, as well as the German Leopard tank, which was praised as a miracle tank.
However, he only had a general understanding of the situation of these tanks and had not conducted in-depth research, so he could not directly copy and paste them.
But even so, he still has an understanding of the future development direction of tanks far beyond ordinary people. For example, the current heavy tanks and medium tanks will become main battle tanks in the future.
The development direction of tank main guns will change from the current rifled guns to smoothbore guns, and the type of shells will also change to armor-piercing shells.
There are two ways of loading: manual loading and Soviet-style automatic loading. The tank gun must be equipped with a smoke extraction device to prevent gunpowder smoke from polluting the tank cockpit.
In terms of observation and aiming equipment, there are not only the T62's infrared night vision devices, but also the laser rangefinders developed by the US military and the development trend of computerization of fire control systems.
In terms of protection, composite armor, shielding armor, reactive armor and depleted uranium armor have appeared. Among them, composite armor seems to be divided into many layers of different materials, which consumes the concentrated kinetic energy of the shells and changes the direction of the jet.
Reactive armor seems to reduce the kinetic energy of the shells and weaken the damage to the tank through active explosion.
What impressed Fang Lang the most was the tank turret's stabilization system, especially the later videos showing a wine glass or a wrench placed on the muzzle of a moving tank. No matter how the tank body was bumped around, the object on the muzzle could remain stable and motionless, which really shocked Fang Lang deeply.
He also knew that this was the technical key that enabled tanks to develop from having to stop and aim to fire to being able to fire at any time while driving at high speeds.
Of course, all of the above are just some of the technical directions in Fang Lang’s impression. As for how to implement this technology specifically, he has no idea.
But it didn't matter if they didn't understand. As long as he provided good ideas, he would naturally organize people to conduct research on it. With his advanced ideas as guidance, he believed that the tanks they produced would definitely become famous in the international market.
Maybe, in the future, what countries will pursue will no longer be the German Leopard tanks, but the Tiger tanks produced in Brazil.
However, things cannot be accomplished overnight, and Fang Lang did not think about designing a perfect tank all at once. His plan was to design a basic model first, and then, as technology continued to advance, slowly add various new technologies to the tank, and finally, achieve the requirements in his mind.
Of course, deep down in his heart, he also knew that although the tanks of the future were very powerful, they also had their own natural enemies, which were helicopters, which were known as treetop killers. This was why he actively introduced Bell 47 production technology and manufactured Bell 47.
As the factory began to produce Bell 47 on behalf of others, and as the Bell 47 had originally been sold in Brazil as an agricultural aircraft by Fang Lang and his team for some time, Embraer had already trained a group of excellent helicopter production workers.
With a lot of experience in the production of Bell 47, Fangyuan Aviation's designers have already started the development of new helicopters. Just like tanks, Fang Lang revealed his knowledge of the development direction of helicopters to the company's researchers early on.
However, for the purpose of training the team, Fang Lang planned to first manufacture a helicopter similar to the UH-1 Huey helicopter, which was the most commonly used by the US military in the Vietnam War.
The topic has gone too far, let's get back to the point. But when Wolf Fairclough picked up the information in his hand and looked at it carefully, he found that the shape of this tank was obviously different from the common T34 and the US military's Sherman.
First of all, its size is larger than those two tanks. Look at the seven road wheels, the low body and the non-hemispherical turret. It looks very different from the current mainstream tanks.
At least, in Wolf Fairclough's opinion, the driver of this tank must have a bad vision. Of course, the concealment of the tank must be better than the Sherman currently equipped by Brazil.
Although he could still vaguely see some shadows of the German Tiger tank on this tank, it must be said that the design style of this tank was completely beyond his expectations.
What he didn't know was that the tank design that Fang Lang gave him actually had many similarities with the Leopard 1 tank developed by West Germany in the 1960s.
Although the Leopard 1 has the disadvantage of weak protection, it cannot be denied that it is a very excellent main battle tank. More importantly, it also explored the direction for the later Leopard 2.
"General Fang, this... is this true? Do we in Brazil have the ability to manufacture such a tank?"
Wolfe Fairclough was obviously shocked by the design of this tank. After all, the picture might not show much, but the design parameters really scared him.
Seeing his look, Fang Lang couldn't help but smile.
"Haha... Mr. Wolf, you probably don't know the history of our Fangyuan Automobile! Before our Fang family took full control of it, it was actually a car factory of German Porsche, and German Porsche was the research and development company of the Tiger tank during World War II.
Our tank was developed based on the German Tiger tank. You should know that we have introduced the full set of technology from Porsche in Germany, and many designers and engineers are the original team of the Tiger tank.
In this case, do you still think we don't have the ability to manufacture this tank?"
Hearing this, Wolf Fairclough was somewhat stunned. He looked at Fang Lang, then lowered his head to look at the tank information in his hand. After a long while, he swallowed hard and said:
"Then...when will this tank be finalized?"
"Haha...Woolf, don't be anxious. There's an old Chinese saying that goes, 'You can't eat hot tofu in a hurry.'
I must ensure that the commander who uses the new tank is one of my own before I can officially start the trial production of this tank. Otherwise, given the relationship between our navy and the army, there is no need for me to invest huge amounts of money in the research and development of this new tank. What do you think?"
Wolfe Fairclough understood that Fang Lang was asking him to make a clear statement. He only hesitated for a moment and nodded without hesitation:
"I am honored to be able to serve you, General Fang, as you have shown me great respect."
After saying that, he stood up and saluted Fang Lang with a solemn military salute.
Seeing this, Fang Lang also stood up with a laugh, saluted Wolfe Fairclough, then reached out to shake hands with him, gave him a big hug, and then motioned for him to sit down, raised his glass and motioned to him:
“Haha… With Wolfe’s joining, I believe our Brazilian Army will soon usher in a new era of rapid development.
Let us drink to the future General Wolfe Fairclaw."
Hearing Fang Lang's statement and promise, Wolfe Fairclough also smiled, picked up his glass and gently touched Fang Lang's glass and said:
“Haha… Cheers!”
After saying that, he picked up the wine glass and drank it in one gulp.
Seeing this, Fang Lang naturally would not evade and emptied his wine glass in one gulp.
After both parties sat down, Wolfe looked at Fang Lang awkwardly and said:
"General Fang, the development of this tank..."
Fang Lang laughed at Wolfe Fairclough's impatient expression. He hadn't realized that this guy was also a tank fanatic! However, thinking about the army soldiers who had gone through two world wars, there shouldn't be anyone who doesn't like tanks!
“Don’t worry, Mr. Wolfe. Since I have produced this design drawing, it proves that we have the ability to manufacture it. You should know that our Fang family’s current mechanical manufacturing capabilities are no joke.
I plan to combine the technologies of Caterpillar in the United States, Porsche in Germany, and Mercedes-Benz to trial-produce this tank.
But you also know that this kind of national weapon cannot be developed by our Fang family alone. The Ministry of National Defense must come up with a sum of money to support it.
But now most people in our Brazilian Army would rather purchase ready-made tanks from the United States and the Soviet Union than support our independent research and development.
Therefore, we must further gain the voice of the Army Department before we can officially start trial production."
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