harleyscars Chapter 132 Return Flight
Chapter 132 Return Flight
After a simple measurement, Lorraine discovered that the length of the main road's operating area was actually two kilometers.
Then, Lorraine looked at both sides of the road to confirm that there were no objects obstructing flight in this area.
"The only thing to worry about now is the carrying capacity of this main road."
Platinum smiled and shook his head.
"I had Cleveland search for information about this area a long time ago. This road has a maximum load capacity of 20 tons and it uses the design specifications for a skid track."
"So how do we refuel these aircraft?"
Lorraine looked around but couldn't see any charging stations or charging ports for the aircraft.
Platinum sighed and said with a hint of helplessness.
"Commander, you didn't even check the warehouse floor!"
Upon hearing this, Lorraine's lips twitched slightly, and at that moment, he thought of a possibility.
"You're not going to tell me these warehouses were designed as wartime hangars with underground energy transmission channels, are you?"
Seeing Bai Jin's silent smile, Lorraine knew she had guessed correctly.
"Sigh! Do you think I'm just looking for a better option while still using a less desirable one?"
As Lorraine called out to Ouyang Nian, she and Bai Jin walked toward the transport vehicle.
"Perhaps."
The three then boarded the transport vehicle and returned to the transport ship.
Under Cleveland's control, the transport ship slowly left the dock, then formed a single column with the flagship and headed towards the shipyard at a speed of 37 knots.
During the two-hour return journey, the three did not return to the flagship, but instead stayed in the cargo hold of the transport ship, studying how to modify the cormorant-type drone.
Lorraine first carefully scanned the cormorant-type drone's airframe structure with the data board.
After the scan was completed, Lorraine and Ouyang Nian studied the wing folding mechanism of the cormorant drone, while Bai Jin studied the cargo space of the cormorant.
"Tsk, this wing is designed entirely for energy conservation. Once it reaches its economic cruising altitude, the two small propellers on the wing alone can maintain a cruising speed of 160 kilometers per hour."
After their research, Luo Lin and Ouyang Nian did not deny the design of the cormorant-type drone. In the civilian market, as long as it is maintained and repaired according to its prescribed maintenance cycle, this unmanned rotorcraft does have a greater advantage than other models.
However, in the military market, its relatively complex wing folding mechanism significantly reduces its maintainability and reliability.
Lorraine and Ouyang Nian first tried to change the folding method of their foldable wings to a simple and reliable upward folding method, resulting in two sizes: 9.4 meters wide and 8 meters wide.
The 9.4-meter width is achieved by folding the wings tightly against the top of the fuselage.
The 8-meter width is achieved by fixing the folded wing to the top of the fuselage with a bracket, and the overall structure is similar to a triangle.
However, considering the storage problem of the drone, the two chose a solution with a fuselage width of 9.4 meters. This solution can fix the drone with its wings folded up to the top of the cabin, greatly improving the space utilization.
After finalizing the modification plan, Ouyang Nian prepared to start designing the modification scheme. Before that, she discussed the loading capacity of the cormorant drone and the direction of cargo warehouse modification with Bai Jin.
Lorraine walked to the side and checked the information being transmitted back by the reconnaissance drone.
At this moment, the drone in the distance had already circled the mine three times, adjusting its flight path and beginning its return journey.
[Reconnaissance data collection complete. All enemy units have been confirmed. Directional antenna in place. Information transmission commencing.]
A series of information gradually appeared on the data panel, and Lorraine carefully examined the enemy units inside the mine.
There are a total of 485 enemy individuals in the mine: 1 large enemy individual, 15 medium enemy individuals, 44 small to medium enemy individuals, and 425 small enemy individuals.
[Large enemy unit]
[The vessel is 23 meters long and 5 meters high, carrying one large-caliber electromagnetic railgun and two smaller-caliber electromagnetic railguns. The calibers are estimated to be 200 mm and 40 mm.]
[Enemy medium-sized unit]
[It is 15 meters long and 4 meters high, and carries a medium-caliber electromagnetic cannon on its back, with a caliber between 125 mm and 155 mm.]
[The enemy's medium to large-sized individuals resemble pangolins in appearance, with their bodies covered in a large amount of metal and their tails relatively short.]
[Small to medium-sized enemy units]
[It is 7 meters long and 1 meters high, with one medium-caliber electromagnetic cannon on its back and two small-caliber electromagnetic cannons on its back, with calibers of approximately 75 mm and 23 mm respectively.]
The medium-sized individuals are more tiger-like in appearance, with extensive metallic coverings on their backs, heads, and outer limbs.
[Small enemy units]
[Standing two meters tall, with an electromagnetic gun on its shoulder, its appearance resembles a silverback gorilla; it can walk upright or move quickly on all fours.]
The metal layer only covered the chest cavity, back, and head.
Looking at this information, Lorraine visibly breathed a sigh of relief.
"Phew, the enemy's combat units are not as powerful as I thought, but there are more of them than I expected."
Lorraine proposed modifications to the unmanned combat group designed for Cleveland, suggesting improvements to its mobility, firepower, and redundancy. He also recommended replacing a small number of engineering units with support and command units.
"Cleveland's operational style is defined as guerrilla warfare, continuously depleting the enemy's strength, making flexible use of air power to strike, and guiding them to the naval base for a decisive battle."
Upon seeing Cleveland's recorded battle plan, Lorraine was first taken aback, then let out a helpless laugh.
"Sigh! This battle plan looks so familiar. I hope I've taken the best parts and discarded the worst."
The operational plan has been finalized, the unmanned combat group has been adjusted, and it is awaiting the supply of raw materials.
"Cleveland, test this operational plan and confirm its effectiveness."
While waiting for Cleveland to complete its combat testing, Lorraine pondered a plan to efficiently and safely eliminate the enemy squad.
"Got it!"
Lorraine walked back to the two women and asked them about the space inside the cargo hold.
"Is there any space left in the drone's cargo bay after installing two 18-cell anti-tank loitering munition launchers?"
Upon hearing his question, Ouyang Nian pulled up the installation instructions for Cleveland and showed them to Lorraine.
"Cleveland's design involves fixing two 18-cell launchers upside down on top of the cargo hold. Once in the launch position, the bottom hatch of the cargo hold is opened, and the two 18-cell launchers rotate downwards to launch loitering munitions diagonally downwards towards the aircraft."
"That means we can design a composite launcher to drop all loitering munitions using a horizontal bombardment method."
Ouyang Nian nodded and showed the two newly designed composite hanging racks.
One type of composite pylon consists of two steel bars as the main body, with three loitering munitions installed on each of the left and right sides. The cargo hold can accommodate six of these pylons at the same time.
The Type II composite bracket consists of a steel bar as the main body, with two rotatable hanging parts on the left and right sides. After equipping six Type I brackets, there is still space left to install three more Type II composite brackets.
This scheme allows the cormorant drone to carry 48 anti-tank loitering munitions.
Before Lorraine could speak, Ouyang Nian pointed out the shortcomings of the Type II composite bracket.
"Compared to Type 1 racks, Type 2 racks are more difficult to manufacture, more difficult to maintain, and have a higher failure rate. Unless absolutely necessary, we do not recommend using a combination of two racks for extreme loading."
Lorraine nodded, indicating that he understood, but in order to carry out a saturation attack, he still used the maximum loading.
Subsequently, Ouyang Nian gave the mounting solutions to Cleveland and put these mounts into the production sequence.
Before the composite could even begin production, Cleveland sent over the results of the simulated operation.
The three people gathered together, looking at the information displayed on the data panel.
[The operation plan was effective. The unmanned combat group suffered 97% damage, eliminating all small and medium-sized individuals. Five medium-sized individuals remained, and the main and secondary guns of the large individuals were damaged.]
Looking at this information, Lorraine felt a chill run down her spine.
Although the damaged unmanned combat units can be recovered, such losses are still unacceptable.
The extremely high number of losses also means that in actual combat, this unmanned combat group has almost no redundancy to deal with emergencies.