Great Power Industry: You're a private company building an aircraft carrier?

Princess Tomb, Yellow Tower.

"Everyone, I'm really sorry to have called you all here on the third day of the Lunar New Year. But, a new year brings new beginnings, so let's take advantage of the fact that we've just started working again to assign some new tasks and set some goals for the year..."

Leader Zhang was talking non-stop up there when he saw Qin Chuan dozing off. He was speechless. Okay, enough of my rambling. Let's get down to business!

"Next, please let Engineer Zhu introduce our latest 052C design scheme to everyone."

As Pan was getting old, he retired behind the scenes after leading the development of two destroyers, and Engineer Zhu from Institute 701 took over the heavy responsibility to continue developing the new destroyer.

The projection screen opened, revealing an overall design drawing of a warship, with its four phased array radars standing out prominently.

"Ladies and gentlemen, our Type 052C destroyer uses computer-aided design. When the drawings are sent to the factory, it will all be paperless. If you find it inconvenient to look at the shipyard, you can print them out as blueprints."

Below, representatives from various shipyards wore complex expressions.

We're just here to observe. We abandoned warship production a long time ago. Apparently, the Laiyang Group has already adopted CNC technology extensively in their production, which is a perfect match for your electronic design drawings. Do you think we don't know?

"First, regarding the overall design of the warship, our Type 052C guided-missile destroyer adopts a large clipper bow, high freeboard, flush deck, and square stern..."

Qin Chuan looked at the design drawings, which were almost identical to the 052C of later generations, after all, they were designed by the same group of people.

"Excuse me, why is the installation position of our 346 radar array so low?" Tang Shiyuan, an engineer from Dalian Shipyard, asked.

Currently, the only mass-produced Aegis-equipped warship in the world is the American Aegis system, with all four shields mounted at a relatively high position, while ours is at least three to five meters lower.

On warships, the higher the radar is installed, the farther it can detect missiles flying at extremely low altitudes over the sea! The British Type 45 destroyers even installed phased array radar at the highest point of the bridge mast! A giant sphere overhead, overlooking the whole world.

"Because our design displacement is only over 6,000 tons, and the hull is not much different from the Type 052B, if the radar is installed too high, it will easily cause the center of gravity to shift upward."

A shield weighing three or four tons is no joke.

"What about dealing with the threat of ultra-low-altitude targets over the sea..." an engineer from Jiangnan Shipyard began.

Pfft... Qin Chuan suddenly laughed.

"President Qin, what are you laughing at?" Director Zhang asked.

"We came here to bid for the construction of the Type 052C destroyer, and the result... I feel like I'm in the atmosphere of a project review."

Everyone blushed slightly. The navy had already approved it, so naturally there was no need for everyone to worry about it. However... the reason everyone asked this question was because they were concerned about the navy's development!

"President Qin, I understand everyone's feelings. After all, this is the navy's most powerful destroyer, so it's normal for everyone to be concerned about the warship's design," Engineer Zhu began. "Let me continue introducing the propulsion system; it still uses our previous diesel-gas turbine combined cycle propulsion..."

Although Laiyang Group has begun investing in the research and development of integrated power systems, the research and development takes time, so using the mature diesel-gas alternation is the safest solution at present.

"Regarding the most critical launch system, we use 650mm caliber launchers, with six sets of six-cell launchers arranged in front and two sets of six-cell launchers arranged in the rear. This gives the entire warship 48 vertical launch cells, which can accommodate 48 HQ-9 air defense missiles."

The Navy's lack of area air defense missiles will be completely resolved by the Type 052C!

The previous Type 052B missile was a hasty solution and lacked omnidirectional search capability. The combination of the Type 346 Sea Star radar and the HQ-9 missile has finally solved this problem completely!

Qin Chuan frowned.

"President Qin, do you have any objections?"

"Ahem, Director Zhang, I have something to say."

We were just saying that everyone turned the event into a project review meeting, and now Qin Chuan has other opinions to offer. I'm really a little embarrassed.

"please say."

"The US Aegis warships use the MK41 universal vertical launch system, which can be equipped with a variety of missiles as needed. Our revolver-style vertical launch system can only carry the HQ-9 missile, and some..."

The renowned Aegis warships of yesteryear relied not only on the Aegis radar, but also on the MK41 vertical launch system! Countless chocolate-block-like vertical launch units on the deck could carry a mix of missiles: Standard anti-aircraft missiles, Sparrow medium-range missiles, Harpoon anti-ship missiles…

What about us?

Our vertical launch systems can only carry the HQ-9 missile; they can't carry anything else! The Type 052C destroyer also only carries this one type of area air defense missile!

The HQ-9 has a range of over 100 kilometers, which can provide a protective umbrella for the entire fleet. This is something the fleet would love to have. But what if the incoming target gets too close?

The HQ-9 missile, weighing 1.3 tons, is mainly used to deal with long-range targets. If the target flies to a distance of 20 or 30 kilometers, or even 10 or 20 kilometers, the HQ-9 missile would be overkill for interception!

In later generations, it was rumored that the minimum firing altitude of the HQ-9 was 500 meters, meaning it could not deal with ultra-low-altitude sea-skimming targets below 500 meters. Later, the navy fired one and destroyed a target drone flying at a height of several tens of meters with the HQ-9, which put an end to these rumors.

Even so, using the HQ-9 to eliminate close-range targets is still a waste!

When carrying out missions, the Type 052C destroyers are often deployed in formation with the Type 054 destroyers. This is a complementary approach: the Type 052C provides area air defense, while the Type 054 provides medium-range air defense. At close range, they are positioned close to each other to protect against artillery fire, thus ensuring complete protection.

Why not equip the Type 052C destroyer with medium-range air defense missiles?

It's definitely the fault of the vertical launch system! This thing isn't universal; it can't be used with anything other than the Hongqi-9!

Actually, the problem isn't with the fire control software; the key issue is the hardware incompatibility.

"President Qin, currently we only have the H/AJK03 ship-to-air missile vertical launch system, which is a copy of the Russian S-300 vertical launch system. Compared to the Russians, ours doesn't require rotation, and each cover can be opened, which is already a big step forward..."

“No, no, I think this still has major flaws,” Qin Chuan said. “We need a universal vertical launch system with an 850mm caliber!”

What?

Everyone was stunned. Why did it have to be so big?

The Americans' MK-41 has a diameter of 635 mm, while the vertical launch system we use in our Type 052C program has a diameter of 650 mm, which is already larger than the Americans'. Are you trying to launch a satellite? 850 mm!

Navy leader Zhang took a deep breath: "President Qin, please continue!"