Chapter 897 Submarine-Launched Missile
Just as missiles fell in downtown Washington, exploding into gorgeous fireballs, a missile test base somewhere in Germany.
"Boom!"
Accompanied by a loud bang, a giant "swimming pool" stirred up a column of water, and a group of scientific researchers in the observation post in the distance shook their heads helplessly. "Failed again."
The research project here is submarine-launched missiles. In the original time and space, the United States and the Soviet Union chose to start with the mature design of land-based tactical ballistic missiles when developing submarine-launched missiles. Therefore, the two countries' attempts at submarine-launched ballistic missiles were to use the method of launching land-based ballistic missiles on ships and using the method of launching on the surface of the water. That is, when launching, the submarine needs to float to the surface of the water, and then the missile that has completed the filling process is raised and ignited and launched. The submarine is exposed outside the water during the entire launch. This method has no concealment in actual combat, so Yannick directly skipped this step and wanted to develop submarine-launched missiles that can be launched underwater.
It's just that submarine-launched missiles are the most technically difficult of all missiles, without a doubt; how big is it? There are many countries that have submarine and missile technology in the future. Only five of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council have submarine-launched ballistic missile technology (there are as many as nine countries with nuclear weapons).
And its difficulty is multi-faceted and multi-level.
The first difficulty is the carrier of the missile, the submarine.
Submarines must not be ordinary submarines. Limited by factors such as size and power, if you want to achieve missile submarine launch, you must have strong power, long range and large missile volume. Only nuclear submarines meet these basic requirements. As a national weapon, only five permanent members of the UN Security Council have nuclear submarines. It is conceivable that this alone has stumped most countries. On the other hand, ordinary nuclear submarines only meet the basic requirements of missile submarine launch. If you want to complete the missile launch underwater, you must improve the ordinary nuclear submarines, such as increasing the missile load, eliminating the turtleback and reducing noise. This adds a certain degree of difficulty to the difficulty of ordinary nuclear submarines.
If you are lucky enough to have a nuclear submarine with missile submarine launch capability, then the next thing to consider is missiles.
Missiles cannot be ordinary land-based missiles. They must be launched from water and enter the air, and work stably in two different media. This step takes the shortest time, especially the moment of breaking through the water surface, which is calculated in seconds, but it is the key to the success or failure of submarine-launched missiles.
Because the density of water is 800 times that of air, the forces on objects flying in water and in air are completely different. To give a simple example, a bullet can fly stably for a long distance in the air, but when it enters the water, it will instantly lose stability and can only move a short distance. The arrow-shaped bullets used in underwater firearms have a straight trajectory underwater, but once used on shore, they will fly around. Therefore, submarine-launched missiles must be applicable both in water and in air.
If you happen to have a nuclear submarine with missile submarine-launching capabilities and a submarine-launched ballistic missile, then the launch method of the submarine-launched ballistic missile is the top priority. Submarine-launched missiles in later generations are roughly divided into three methods according to different ignition stages.
The first method is that the missile is ignited directly in the launch tube; the second method is that after the missile rushes out of the launch tube, it leaves the submarine for a distance and ignites underwater; the third method is that the missile is ejected out of the water and ignites in the air.
Each of these three methods has its own advantages and disadvantages.
The Soviet Union/Russia in later generations adopted the first method. Before launching, fresh water must first be poured into the launch tube from a special water storage container. When the pressure inside the tube is close to that outside, the launch tube cover is opened, and then the missile liquid engine is ignited in the tube. The missile's own thrust is used to exit the tube, and a high-pressure air cavity will be formed at the tail of the tube to buffer the gas impact force generated during the launch.
Using such a "wet" launch helps solve the problem that liquid rocket engines inherently need to be pre-cooled for a certain period of time during startup, and helps alleviate the disadvantage that the ignition time of liquid rocket engines is longer than that of solid rocket engines.
The disadvantage is that the use of liquid missiles plus "hot" launch requires more suspension and shock-absorbing equipment than the solid missile + surface launch method. It is also necessary to prevent the possibility of liquid fuel leakage of liquid missiles, so an automatic spray system needs to be installed. These devices make the launch tube more complex than the solid missile launch tube. Of course, the sealing design corresponding to the missile itself is also indispensable.
The second way of ignition in water does not require high requirements for the launch tube, and it is powered out of the water, which is more controllable as a whole and less affected by wind and waves, but it has higher requirements for the missile itself because the underwater launch environment is relatively harsh. The French M51 submarine-launched missile of later generations adopted this launch method, and its reliability has always been problematic.
The last one is to use high-pressure gas to launch the missile out of the water and ignite it in mid-air. The United States' submarine-launched missiles use this method. Its biggest difficulty is that the timing of ignition must be very precise. After dozens of tons of missiles break through the water surface, they are basically exhausted. The rocket engine must be started before it falls, otherwise the missile will fall into the sea.
Today, Germany's research and development direction is to ignite and launch directly in the launch tube, but the research progress is not very smooth. This is the fifth time that a missile has exploded in the launch tube.
"Should we change the launch method?" Someone muttered as they watched the huge water column scatter with a bang, most of which fell back into the "swimming pool". In addition to igniting directly in the launch tube, Yannick also told them the principle of ignition on the water surface.
Another researcher shook his head. "But our cold launch technology for missiles has not been perfected yet." Cold launch is a launch method that uses auxiliary power to eject the missile from the launch tube, and then ignites the main engine when the missile reaches a certain height. The missile and its launch equipment are not affected by the high-temperature combustion gas generated by the missile's main engine, so it is called cold launch.
Cold launch is not a new technology, and it has been used on submarines for a long time. During World War II, submarines of various countries launched torpedoes by injecting high-pressure gas into the launch tube before the torpedo was launched to equalize the internal and external air pressures. During the launch, the front sealing cover opens, and high-pressure air rushes in from the tail of the launch tube to push the torpedo out.
However, ejecting a torpedo weighing one or two tons horizontally and ejecting a missile weighing several tons or even more than ten tons vertically are not at the same level of difficulty.
Just as the middle-aged man who was leading the argument spoke. "You're going to give up after just a few failures? Could there be anything wrong with what His Highness proposed? There must have been negligence that led to the failure. Pump out the water and clean the launch pad." As soon as His Highness Yannick was mentioned, everyone fell silent, left the observation post, and became busy again.