Transmigrated as the Crown Prince

Missile and rocket launches have been dangerous for a long time. For example, early missiles and rockets, due to technical limitations at the time, used unstable materials that were highly corrosive and easily combustible and explosive. A little carelessness could lead to terrible accidents. Even in later generations, the fueling process of rockets and missiles is no joke.

During World War II, Germany's ME163 "Comet" interceptor aircraft using rocket engines suffered frequent accidents. Unlike ordinary fighters, once the fuel tank leaks, the pilot in the cockpit near the fuel tank will be dissolved by the highly corrosive and toxic fuel! More Comet aircraft were lost to fuel explosions than were shot down by the enemy.

Therefore, Yannick doesn't really like liquid fuels in his heart. "How is the research on solid propellants?" Liquid fuel accidents occurred frequently. During World War II, the German army wanted to switch to solid propellants, but was unable to do so due to the end of the war.

The earliest solid propellant was black gunpowder, one of the four great inventions of ancient China. As early as the early Tang Dynasty, around 682 AD, the recipe for black gunpowder was found in the book "The Book of Alchemy" written by the alchemist Sun Simiao. It uses 15% charcoal as the combustion agent and 75% potassium nitrate as the oxidant. 10% sulfur is both a burning agent and a binding agent for charcoal and potassium nitrate.

Black powder rockets were used as a weapon in warfare by 975 AD. In the 13th century, this kind of rocket was introduced to Arab countries and later to Europe.

However, black powder has low energy and poor strength, and cannot be made into a larger powder column. It generates a large amount of smoke and solid residue when burned. Solid rockets using black powder have short range and low lethality. Black powder is no longer found on modern missiles and rockets.

With the development of industry and science and technology, various solid propellants have sprung up.

There are many materials that can become propellants. Any material that can sustain combustion independently of external force without the presence of external oxidants and can produce a large number of high-temperature gas molecules or solid jets during combustion has this potential. Generally speaking, combustion is a violent and rapidly exothermic redox reaction, so the propellant itself must contain both an oxidizer and a combustion agent that acts as a reducing agent.

Propellants in which both the oxidizer and the combustion agent are solid are called solid propellants. They are made into geometric shapes that meet the design requirements and are cast or filled in a container that is open at one end. When ignited, the chemical energy of the propellant is converted into the thermal energy of the gas. When it passes through the engine nozzle, it is partially converted into kinetic energy to form thrust.

Dr. Kramer said respectfully. "The composite solid propellant is still under development, and it will be successfully developed within a year if possible."

In fact, solid propellant is readily available, which is the smokeless gunpowder used in bullets and shells, that is, nitrocellulose.

Nitrocellulose is a fibrous substance that is difficult to make into a fixed-shaped projectile charge. People use viscous nitroglycerine as a plasticizer and mix it with nitrocellulose to form a double-base propellant. For a long time, dual-base propellants were the main raw materials for solid rocket motors.

Both nitrocellulose and nitroglycerine themselves contain both oxidizing and combustion agent components. Nitrocellulose is somewhat fuel-rich (it contains more combustion agents), while nitroglycerin is somewhat oxygen-rich (it contains more oxidants).

Originally, the cooperation between the two of them was ideal. However, with the increasing requirements for engine performance, the specific impulse produced by this classic combination has gradually been unable to meet the needs. The amount of change in momentum. For the same weight of fuel, the higher the specific impulse, the greater the momentum it can provide.)

After a moment of hesitation, Dr. Kramer added. "But even this solid propellant is still inferior to liquid propellant in performance. While we are developing solid propellants, we are also working hard to improve the long-term storage technology of liquid propellants."

Liquid propellant has large thrust, strong load capacity, and is technically relatively simple. Therefore, early ballistic missiles were generally liquid. However, the inherent disadvantage of liquid missiles is that they cannot be stored for a long time, and the transportation process is dangerous. They will explode if they are slightly bumped. With breakthroughs in long-term storage of liquid fuel, fuel can be stored for years after refueling, eliminating the need to refuel before launch.

The advantage of solid missiles is that they are maneuverable and flexible, but their disadvantage is that they have poor throwing ability because the specific impulse of solid fuel is low. The price of solid rockets is high, and it is difficult to develop large-scale solid rockets. The solid fuel has aging problems after the rocket is stored for a long time, and it is very difficult to detect.

In general, liquid missiles are suitable for achieving higher technical indicators with lower technical difficulty when the technical level is not reached. Therefore, it is mostly used in early ballistic missiles, such as V2, Scud, etc. It is also used for long-range missiles and intercontinental missiles that require relatively high throwing capabilities. The advantage of solid missiles is rapid response, so they are often used for mobile-launched missiles and tactical short-range missiles.

Yannick sighed helplessly. "You must pay attention to safety when using liquid fuels, and you must not be careless." No matter how hard he uses the knowledge of future generations to promote the development of science and technology, it is impossible to leap forward twenty or thirty years at a time, and he still has to proceed step by step.

After some exhortations, we talked about the guidance mode of air-to-air missiles. The guidance method of this X-4 air-to-air missile is different from the infrared/radar guidance method of modern air-to-air missiles. It is visually guided by the pilot and controlled manually. However, for single-seat fighter jets such as the BF-109 and FW-190, it is difficult for the pilot to control the aircraft and the missile at the same time. Therefore, the X-4 can only be deployed on multi-seat aircraft.

The X-4 missile body has four large, X-shaped swept wings in the middle and rear. There are pay-off barrels on the tops of two of the elastic wings. The original space-time design was to store 5,500 meters of thin copper wires in the barrel, but now it has been changed to optical fiber.

The other end of the wire is connected to the controller on the aircraft. During combat, the pilot controls the pitch and yaw of the missile like a game controller to make it fly toward the target. The maximum flight speed of the missile is 1152 kilometers/hour, and the attack distance is between 1500-2500 meters. This is beyond the effective firepower range of the heavy machine gun and is enough.

The original space-time missile had three detonation methods: one was a trigger fuse; the other was a manual detonation by the pilot; and the third was a sound-sensing proximity fuse called "Kranich" which was very advanced at the time.

Because Germany did not develop a radio proximity fuze at that time, it could only use a sound proximity fuze instead.

The acoustic proximity fuze is excited by the Doppler frequency shift principle. The German army set its frequency to 200 Hz, which is the roar of the B-17 bomber engine. The activation distance of the fuze is about 40 meters, and the start-up distance is 7 meters. As long as the pilot guides the missile to the vicinity of the aircraft, he can blow it up, which is very effective.

Now that the German army has been equipped with radio proximity fuzes, there is no need for such sound proximity fuzes.

Yannick briefly described the principle of infrared/radar guidance to Dr. Kramer. Dr. Kramer was greatly inspired and said that he would start research and development immediately.

However, even if the development is successful in a short period of time, Yannick has no intention of putting infrared/radar air-to-air missiles into this war.

Typical products of the first generation of infrared air-to-air missiles in the original space are the American AIM-9B "Sidewinder", Russian K-13 and other missiles. A typical product of the first generation radar air-to-air missile is the American "Sparrow 1" air-to-air missile.

The first generation of air-to-air missiles had relatively poor attack capabilities, only slightly stronger than aircraft cannons. At that time, there was a saying in a certain country that "missiles are not as good as artillery shells, and bayonets are still used in the air."

In the 1960s, troops began to prepare second-generation air-to-air missiles. Among them, representative products of infrared air-to-air missiles include the American AIM-9D "Sidewinder", the French Matra R530, and the Russian R-60T. Representative products of radar-guided air-to-air missiles include the American "Sparrow 3A" (AIM-7E) missile and the British "Fire" missile.

Due to the poor reliability of the missile system, the U.S. Air Force launched a total of 589 Sparrow 3 missiles on the Vietnam battlefield. Only 55 hit the target, with a success probability of only 10%. At the same time, only half of the missiles were able to perform normal combat duties.

In view of this, Yannick felt that it would have to be developed to the end of the second generation before it could be put into mass service.

As for this war, this X-4 missile is enough. Its production process is simple, and unskilled workers can quickly become competent after simple training. Even when Germany was extremely short of resources in the later stages of the war during World War II, the Ruhr Blackwelder Factory produced 1,300 missiles in half a year.

After visiting surface-to-air missiles, air-to-ship missiles, anti-radiation missiles, etc., Yannick left the missile research and development center and returned to the palace.