In the old days, the aiming of machine guns was definitely a technical task. If you could shoot guns in the sky, it would be no problem to operate all kinds of artillery on the ground, because the principles were almost the same. The difference is that when shooting in the air, the shells fly in three-dimensional space, and it is even more difficult to hit the target.
Old-fashioned sights are called active halo sights. It relies on the light of the illuminating lamp to pass through the condenser tube, through the overlap of the shading sheet and the engraved line of the ring plate group, to form a halo consisting of a prismatic light spot and a ring center; and then through the reflector, through the gyro mirror, reflection The mirror is reflected on the objective lens for magnification and then projected onto the scope. The pilot can see the aiming halo and the distance number by aiming.
Every firing is a great challenge to intelligence and patience, so many pilots are accustomed to firing close, even from a distance of 300 meters to 50 meters. The result is that the opponent blows into the air and explodes at the same time. His own plane was also hit by flying debris.
It was this way until the Vietnam War. In 1969, American aviation soldiers, who were intolerant of active halo sights, based on the Vietnam War experience, asked the United States to develop a new principle cannon aiming method.
Don't be too cumbersome, it must be simple and reliable! This kind of sight using brand new technology, based on electronic computers, head-up displays, and radar, achieved a breakthrough in principle in the early 1970s and has gradually been widely used. This is hotline aiming, also known as track aiming or continuous hit aiming; but the name that best reflects its essence is fast shooting aiming.
The traditional movable halo sight is very complicated, because both the enemy and the enemy are moving, and the pilot is required to calculate various data by himself. Now, with the development of technology, it can be handed over to the computer!
Therefore, with the electronic computer as the core, each projectile (regardless of the conditions such as altitude, speed, angle of attack, sideslip angle, pitch, slope, warhead initial velocity, ballistic coefficient, etc.) fired by the fighter jet At this time, whether the cannon has actually fired) The impact points relative to the position of the aircraft are calculated and connected into a dynamic curve, which is displayed on the head-up display.
This line is the hotline.
The advantage of the hotline is that it is clear, and it can be seen at a glance whether it can be hit.
The starting point of this hotline is a cross, representing the muzzle, and the farthest point corresponds to the maximum range in the sight design.
In this way, the pilot does not have to cut into the opponent’s back hemisphere for stable tracking and complete the tedious firing action. As long as the nose (to be precise, the ballistic direction of the projectile) is accurately pointed at the opponent within the range of the cannon, there is also considerable It is possible to complete a successful fatal attack and shoot down the other party.
(Forgive Huadong Zhixiong for showing off, everyone did not realize the significance of this hotline aiming. You must know how much admiration for this kind of hotline is when our country's 7th and 8th pilots change to fly third-generation aircraft!)
For the U.S. Navy, the Tomcat fighter was the first fighter to use hot-line aiming, so it was easier to target in the air.
Nathan pushed the joystick to the left to the end, and at the same time pushed the right rudder to the head with his foot. In an instant, the sky turned around. The smooth-looking fighter began to spin around the middle axis, as if it was spinning around a bucket.
For pilots, barrel roll is one of the most commonly used offensive and defensive tactics. At this time, the swept wings of the Tomcat fighter are at the minimum angle, and the wings are open, which is the most flexible control situation.
During the rotation, the Tomcat fighter approached the target. For him, not only did he need to let the flying miss to press on his hotline, but also to see clearly that the target drone in front should not be pressed on the line, otherwise, the shells would fly. To the towed drone.
One thousand meters, five hundred meters, three hundred meters. When the trajectory of the target was about to coincide with the hot spot, Nathan pressed the button on the joystick.
"Om, tom tom tom..." A hydraulically driven 20mm M61 Vulcan cannon, bursts of smoke from the muzzle, amidst the flames, the shell flew towards the target ahead!
This kind of built-in cannon was designed with the vibration of the cannon in mind, so although the firepower is now fully fired, the vibration of the aircraft is not obvious. If it is an F-4 with a cannon pod, then at this time The bodies of the two crew members in the plane trembled as if being stimulated by electric current.
One after another, the shells accurately hit the mop, punching holes in it one by one.
Nathan's hands didn't stop.
"The maximum rate of fire, this Nathan, intends to light the shells all at once." Lieutenant Colonel Mark, the squadron leader of the mop in front, couldn't help but say when he heard the movement behind him.
Because the M61 machine gun is a multi-barrel Gatling method, the rate of fire can be very high. its
The limit rate of fire can reach 7200 rounds per minute, but it is not so high in actual operation, because it is too fast and it is useless. It only has 676 rounds of ammunition. If this limit rate of fire is as long as five or six seconds, it will not be shot. Up.
Therefore, it usually uses a rate of fire of 4000 rounds per minute or 6000 rounds per minute.
Now, Nathan must have adjusted the cannon to the maximum rate of fire. He didn't plan to keep the cannonballs, he was going to burn them all at once.
In air combat, only the novice can only light up in one breath. Press and hold the cannon button. The veteran doesn't do it like this. There is only one reason for Nathan to do it.
Everyone has only one chance to hit the target. If Nathan wants to get the best result, he needs to shoot more shells in a short time, and the attack time is limited. It takes only a few seconds to enter and then go out. To project more shells, it is necessary to increase the rate of fire.
No wonder Nathan is going to be the last one to hit the target, because when he finishes, the people behind don't have to hit the target.
Lieutenant Colonel Mark in the front was not easy to see the target, but the other pilots who had finished shooting in the back could see clearly. The white nylon target in the air was shaking fiercely in the air under the attack of the cannon. It was flying, dancing, and holes appeared on the target, and soon the target became a hornet's nest.
When they were shooting, most of them did not leave fifty holes in the target, and now, Nathan left at least two hundred holes in the target.
Suddenly, the target cracked a big hole, just like a broken parachute, and like a beggar's clothes, that big hole is constantly getting bigger!
Oops, I've played it! Nathan couldn't help but cried out in his heart. He only wanted to be happy and wanted to create a target shooting record. Unexpectedly, the target did not support it, so he shot more than 300 shells. The target seemed to be completely destroyed. There is no way to count the holes.
How to do
Destroy the evidence altogether and save yourself from getting scolded!
Thinking of this, Nathan lifted the nose slightly, and in the continuing barrel roll, the shell traversed an arc, and went straight to the rope that dragged the target!
The rope is only ten meters long. In the air, the two planes are flying at high speed. The distance of ten meters is almost instantaneous. When the tracer trajectory of the cannonball starts to move up, someone has already begun to be in the radio. Roared: "Young Eagle, what are you doing?"
Before the word was over, I saw that the shell swept across the rope towing the target, and the rope was suddenly interrupted. The whole target was like a kite with a broken wire, falling downward.
Everyone was dumbfounded. (End of this chapter)