Chapter 535 Carrier-Based Early Warning Aircraft

For a country like the Soviet Union where there are drunkards everywhere, if a nationwide prohibition was implemented, then the drunkards in the entire country would definitely rise up and demonstrate. However, if there was no prohibition, those drunkards who were drunk during work would seriously affect production efficiency. Therefore, after Andropov came to power, he followed Andrei's advice and adopted a simple method to completely solve this problem.

That is, alcohol is not sold in the morning and at noon, but only at night. If some merchants do not abide by this law, they will be put in the small black room of the police station. As for alcoholics, the first thing they do when they have alcohol is to drink it all. Therefore, there is no need to worry that they will buy alcohol and wait until the next day to drink it, because they will definitely drink it all on the first night.

In this way, during the day, the drunkards could not buy alcohol and had to go to work honestly. This simple measure played a very good effect. Moreover, the factories now have begun to deepen reforms. They no longer eat from the same pot, and no longer treat good and bad work the same. They will evaluate everyone and let the fittest survive. Those who perform too poorly will have to lose their jobs. Under the stimulation of many aspects, the working order of the factory has also been greatly improved.

At the same time, this regulation has also reached the top level. For example, now, in the Mikoyan Design Bureau, alcohol is absolutely not served in the morning and at noon. Just last year, the regulation was secretly violated in the cafeteria of the Bolshoi Theatre. As a result, the top leader of the theatre was directly fired.

When Andrei and others came to inspect, they could not violate the system. They had to pay for their own working meals. All kinds of extravagance and waste left over from the Brezhnev era and all kinds of bad luxury habits were severely curbed.

After finishing the meal, at Andre's suggestion, they finally ended the inspection of the air force equipment and started to inspect the more important navy.

The Soviet Union is a traditional land power. The strength of its army made the whole of Europe tremble. However, its naval strength is not so good. Now, realizing its naval weaknesses, the Soviet Red Navy, which has gone through many detours, has finally begun to move in the right direction!

In addition to Defense Minister Ustinov, Andrei was accompanied on the inspection by Admiral Gorshkov, who was also the backbone of the Red Navy.

Sergei Georgievich Gorshkov, since he was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Soviet Navy by Khrushchev in 1956, has experienced the eras of Khrushchev, Brezhnev, and Andropov, and has always worked diligently in his position. In the Khrushchev era, he advocated the omnipotence of missiles and nuclear submarines, while Gorshkov attacked from the side and built the Moscow-class aircraft carrier in the name of protecting submarines. Later, in the Brezhnev era, he built a heavy aircraft carrier cruiser. His determination to own an aircraft carrier remained unchanged.

Until now, Gorshkov felt that his dream had finally come true. The Soviet Red Navy, which was regarded as a "yellow water navy" auxiliary to the army, was about to develop into a global maritime force that could compete head-on with the US Navy in all the oceans of the world! The confrontation in the Arabian Sea showed the Red Navy's powerful strength!

All of this is inseparable from aircraft carriers! Soviet aircraft carriers have finally gotten rid of their abnormal development and are on the fast track!

This was in early 1981. Gorshkov would go to the Black Sea Shipyard two or three times a year. Every time, he was extremely excited.

The New Year did not dampen the workers' enthusiasm and the Black Sea Shipyard was still busy.

Before the special plane that Andre and others were on landed, Andre saw the huge aircraft carrier docked at the dock from the air. Now, its construction has been completed and it is undergoing sea trials!

"That's the third ship, the Novorossiysk," Gorshkov said. "It uses a ski-jump takeoff and is still equipped with MiG-23Ks. After the new fighters are modified, they will be equipped with the latest fighters. At the same time, our carrier-based early warning aircraft has also been developed and is in the finalization test flight stage."

Carrier-based early warning aircraft! For an aircraft carrier, if it is in the vast ocean and there is no early warning aircraft, it is easy to be attacked by enemy aircraft flying at ultra-low altitude. In the last battle in the Arabian Sea, because there was no carrier-based early warning aircraft, the Soviet aircraft carrier formation had to send alert warships to the farther sea, and at the same time ensure the safety of the aircraft carrier formation by launching fighter planes to cruise. However, this is obviously not the final solution.

"What are the models of our current carrier-based early warning aircraft?" Andre asked.

"There are two models in total. The An-71 early warning aircraft of the Antonov Design Bureau uses the An-72 twin-engine short take-off and landing transport aircraft as its fuselage, with a radar installed at the tail. The other is the Yak-44 of the Yakovlev Design Bureau, which has a completely new fuselage design and looks similar to the US E-2 Hawkeye," said Gorshkov.

Andrei closed his eyes, as if thinking about the structure of the two early warning aircraft. Historically, there were more introductions to the An-71. However, this aircraft with a jet engine, a unique upper wing structure, and a large plate on the top of the tail was not suitable for loading on an aircraft carrier. The excessive height was the biggest problem. Therefore, the Soviet Navy first ruled out this plan, and the Yak-44 was the early warning aircraft that the Soviet Navy needed. It was precisely because it was selected as a carrier-based early warning aircraft that the Yak-44 project was not leaked and was rarely presented to later generations.

Unfortunately, these aircraft were never finalized because the Soviet Union collapsed. The Red Empire's navy was left with only the Ka-31 early warning aircraft converted from helicopters, which played a role that was better than nothing.

Now, with Andrei's crossing, these projects have made great progress compared to before. The Red Navy's aircraft carrier development and supporting systems must also be improved. And with the advancement of electronic technology, the technical difficulties faced by this early warning aircraft will also be solved.

"Our aircraft carrier formation cannot be without early warning aircraft, which is related to the safety of the maritime formation. By the way, are there these early warning aircraft in the Black Sea Shipyard?" Andre asked.

Gorshkov shook his head. "These are all in the process of finalizing their designs and testing flights. They are currently being tested in Ukraine to simulate the take-off and landing of carrier-based aircraft. They have not yet been brought to the Black Sea Shipyard. It is estimated that it will take another one or two years before they can be put into service. We are now preparing to select a suitable one from the two types of early warning aircraft."

At this moment, the plane vibrated and it had landed!

"Let's go and take a look." Andrei was very interested. In addition to the third Kiev-class ship undergoing sea trials, the new aircraft carrier under construction was also what Andrei was most concerned about!