A professor's rebirth: I entered Tsinghua University in 1977.

"what?"

"35mm grenade launcher?"

Even though Tan Dexi was a well-known figure in the field of weapons design, he was still shocked when he heard the term uttered by Liu Hongyi. He suddenly widened his eyes and looked at his favorite student in shock.

Small-caliber portable grenade launchers are not new in the world's military field.

The most famous of these is the US military's M79 grenade launcher.

It began to be developed in the 50s, was officially equipped to the US military in the 60s, and was first used on the battlefield in Vietnam in 1962. It received unanimous praise from the front-line troops and played a relatively important role in the war.

The M79 grenade launcher is a single-shot, sliding-barrel, breech-loading individual weapon. It has a simple and sturdy structure, is easy to use, has good shooting accuracy, and a maximum killing range of less than 400 meters. It can fill the gaps of grenade throwing distance not being far enough and grenade launcher not being powerful enough.

At present, our army is not equipped with similar products.

When front-line infantry fight at distances between 50 and 400 meters, they mainly rely on "40 fire".

It's a 40mm rocket launcher.

However, the 40mm grenade launcher weighs much more than the M79, has a lower rate of fire than the M79 grenade launcher, and is far less convenient to fire than the M79. In particular, the long tail flame easily reveals the target, making it unusable in enclosed spaces.

In fierce battles, the tail flame may also cause accidental injuries to comrades.

In close-range infantry combat, the density of firepower projection cannot be compared with that of a grenade launcher.

However, as a veteran army artillery designer, Tan Dexi is very clear about the current attitude of the troops towards grenade launchers - they don't take it seriously.

It is far less important than the importance attached to barreled artillery.

It is believed that having 40 rocket launchers and 82 recoilless guns as first-line infantry support weapons is sufficient.

What shocked him most was that this design was actually created by Liu Hongyi.

How long had Liu Hongyi been his student?

Can you design weapons independently?

I know you are talented, but you can’t be so talented as to be “crazy”.

However, this is only the beginning.

Tan Dexi opened the stack of design materials Liu Hongyi gave him on the small table in the dormitory and widened his eyes again.

"what is this?"

"MK19?"

"Grenade machine gun?"

MK19 is also a standard weapon currently in service with the US military. It was developed and finalized in the 60s and then widely equipped in the front-line troops of the US Army. It can also be equipped on helicopters and small ships.

It can fire more than 40 40mm grenades per minute, and has extremely powerful lethality against personnel within 1500 meters and light armored targets within hundreds of meters.

To be honest, this kind of weapon is absolutely cutting-edge technology in our country, and we haven't developed it yet.

The troops were extremely envious of this weapon, but they could only swallow their saliva.

We don’t have it!

Think about it, being able to fire 40mm grenades like a machine gun, with each grenade having an effective killing range of 15 meters and a lethal range of more than 5 meters, what does this mean on the battlefield?

An absolute super killer.

Especially when dealing with dense infantry charges, it is a disaster-level nightmare.

"That's about it... But I think the MK19 is still too heavy. It mainly needs to be transported by vehicle, which is not convenient for a single soldier to carry. It weighs over 60 kilograms, and it takes two people to carry it, which is quite strenuous. So I think the caliber can be appropriately reduced to reduce the weight of the entire system to make it easier for infantry to carry. Such improvements are particularly important in complex terrain, especially in jungle areas where vehicles are not convenient to move."

In front of Tan Dexi, Liu Hongyi no longer hid anything and new terms came out one after another.

Anyway, Old Tan won’t care about these things.

He was already stunned.

That’s right, Liu Hongyi’s design was specifically designed for the war on the southern front that was about to break out in more than two years.

In the era when Liu Hongyi lived, many secrets of the war on the southern front had been declassified, and with Liu Hongyi's level, he had access to these secrets.

In that war, our army had an absolute advantage in large-caliber artillery.

Statistics show that 90 percent of our army's effective killing of the enemy came from artillery bombardment.

However, our frontline infantry, especially at the company and platoon levels, were significantly inferior to the enemy in equipment. In close combat, without effective artillery support, the frontline infantry suffered greatly from the enemy's intensive firepower.

Most of our army's casualties came from close-range encounters with frontline infantry.

Apart from light weapons such as rifles, submachine guns, machine guns and grenades, the supporting firepower of our front-line infantry is very weak.

The only thing they rely on is the 40 rocket launcher.

The 82 recoilless rifle has become a battalion artillery piece.

When the squad was fighting, there was basically no artillery support.

"How did you come up with this thing?"

Tan Dexi asked in extreme shock as he flipped through the documents.

Teacher, you told me.

Liu Hongyi said in his heart.

This is the "prophet" advantage.

In later generations, as an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering living in Chuzhou area, Tan Dexi received high care from Chuzhou officials. Liu Hongyi visited him many times and they became close friends regardless of age difference.

The 576 Factory, where Tan Dexi served as chief engineer, was responsible for the production of 35mm grenade launchers and various supporting grenades.

In the original history, this grenade launcher would not be equipped to the troops until almost ten years later. It was researched and designed by a famous weapons industry company in the north.

Factory 576 is responsible for part of the production tasks.

The reason why the country was determined to develop this "howitzer" was that during the war on the southern front and the subsequent ten-year-long war between the two mountains, our army's front-line infantry lacked effective close-range artillery support and suffered great losses.

By the time this "howitzer" was produced and equipped to the troops, the war was already coming to an end and it did not play much practical role.

Tan Dexi has always been brooding over this, and has blamed himself to Liu Hongyi more than once, saying that he did not think of developing this weapon at the time.

If this grenade machine gun had been developed earlier, our army would have achieved a more glorious victory in the war on the southern front and the two-mountain war, and casualties would have been greatly reduced.

Many young soldiers, the most lovely people, might not have shed their blood on the hot land of the south, and would not have frozen their young lives forever in their teens and twenties.

Because Liu Hongyi was a local leader and Factory 576 was within his jurisdiction, Tan Dexi trusted him very much. He invited Liu Hongyi to personally test-fire the 35mm grenade launcher many times and explained to Liu Hongyi in detail the structural principles of this "grenade machine gun".

With Liu Hongyi's academic level, and having learned systematic weapon design knowledge from Tan Dexi in this time and space, it is completely reasonable for him to design this "howitzer" in advance.

Not surprising at all.