Back in 1978, I was admitted to Northwestern Polytechnical University.

Chapter 139: The project was thus transferred from Institute 612 to Northwestern Polytechnical University.

Both of these missiles were brought back by Qin Liang! Moreover, the Air Force has been paying close attention to Qin Liang for the past year, so naturally they want to hear his opinions!
"Well, Institute 612 is the most professional air-to-air missile research and development unit in our country. Entrusting it to them is naturally no problem. However... I am also very interested in this missile, so could you take it apart on the spot and let me have a look?"

"Of course, no problem!" Old Lin nodded. "Old Dong, this missile looks a lot like a sparrow. You should know how to disassemble it, right?"

Engineer Dong from Institute 612 was beaming with excitement. In fact, he couldn't wait any longer! Taking it back to dismantle it or dismantling it here wouldn't make much difference.

"Okay, let's take it apart right here!"

Engineer Dong brought three engineers with him. The four of them surrounded the missile and quickly disassembled the guidance head. There wasn't much to disassemble in the missile body itself, just the solid rocket and servo motor. The key part of the missile was the warhead!

In a radar-guided seeker, the radar antenna is definitely at the very tip, followed by the control circuitry, and then the warhead.

Engineer Dong personally removed the guide head cover from the cone, and his eyes widened when he saw the antenna inside.

It's not a dish-shaped antenna, but a flat panel! And there are grooves on the panel... what kind of structure is this?
In the late 1950s, Dongfang captured Sidewinder air-to-air missiles on the battlefield. The wreckage was sent to the Russians, who then reverse-engineered the K-13 missile. In 1961, Dongfang established its own air-to-air missile research and development unit—Institute 612. Their first task was to digest and absorb the K-13 missile.

The subsequent PL missiles were almost all short-range infrared air-to-air missiles. The only medium-range radar-guided air-to-air missile was the PL-4. Everyone has only ever seen the dish-shaped antenna, but this flat-panel shape... I've never seen it before!

"The Sky Flash missile uses a monopulse seeker, and this antenna looks really advanced!" Qin Liang exclaimed. "Engineer Dong, could you explain it to us in more detail?"

Engineer Dong shook his head: "I don't understand!"

Upon hearing this, everyone present was stunned. The country's most technologically advanced air-to-air missile research and development institution simply couldn't understand the missile's guidance system!
If you don't understand it, you have to study it first and understand it thoroughly. Maybe... it will take ten or eight years!
"Most of the processing circuitry behind this is integrated circuits!" Just then, another engineer had already disassembled the missile skin behind the seeker head and couldn't help but exclaim as he looked at the black integrated circuits on the green circuit board inside.

The PL-4 missile was copied based on transistors. They started copying it in 66, but it still hasn't been finalized on the ground, let alone tested on a carrier aircraft. This guidance head... it will probably take another twenty years to copy!
Engineer Dong also took a deep breath: "This is definitely all digital circuits. We... I'm afraid we won't be able to replicate it in the short term!"

We all started out in analog circuits. If we want to simply copy the design, without the corresponding integrated circuits, and if we want to fully understand the technology... it might take more than twenty years!

I was just thinking about reverse-engineering this state-of-the-art seeker and installing it on the PL-4 to further enhance its performance, but now…

"This circuit board... looks very similar to the radar researched by Northwestern Polytechnical University," Professor Lin said. "Liangzi, does Northwestern Polytechnical University have the capability to replicate this kind of seeker?"

Qin Liang chuckled inwardly. He had just suggested taking it apart to discourage 612 from taking action! Now… “Professor Lin, if the Air Force needs it, Northwestern Polytechnical University will certainly rise to the challenge! No matter how much effort it takes, we will map and replicate this guidance head. However… this is a project under the jurisdiction of a brother unit. Is it appropriate for us to take it over?”

and many more!

Listening to Qin Liang's speech, which was different from his usual style, Old Lin suddenly realized: You brat, you're fearless, when have you ever cared about the face of other units in the system? You're forcing our brother units to make concessions!
"Engineer Dong, would your Institute 612 be willing to let Northwestern Polytechnical University copy the guidance head?"

"Leader Lin, this isn't a matter of willingness or unwillingness; it's about whether we can solve the urgent problem of the Air Force's lack of medium-range air-to-air missiles! The airborne radar has already begun testing; all that's missing is the air-to-air missile. How can our 612 Institute hold the Air Force back? If Northwestern Polytechnical University can reverse-engineer the guidance head in a shorter time, we'll install it on our PL-4 missile body without hesitation, and we can assemble a qualified medium-range air-to-air missile for the Air Force! We won't hinder the Air Force's equipment development because of face-saving!"

For a missile, the most important thing is the seeker!
Institute 612 is just a research and development unit; production is the responsibility of other sister factories. Since the mapping and imitation of the guidance head were outsourced, the missile project has almost nothing to do with them anymore!

However... they are willing to give up the project for the sake of air force equipment!
"Liangzi, Institute 612 has no objections!" Old Lin looked at Qin Liang: "Next, the replication of the guidance head will be entrusted to you! I believe in Northwestern Polytechnical University, you will definitely not let us down!"

"Yes, Elder Lin, we are confident that we can develop the guidance head within a year, and then combine it with the missile body of our brother units. By the way, if I remember correctly, the AIM-7D missile should have a maximum range of over 40 kilometers, right? At that time, the Air Force will be able to obtain a medium-range interception capability of 20 kilometers!"

No pilot would dare to launch a missile at its maximum range, because if the target maneuvers even slightly, their aircraft would be out of reach.

In actual missile launches, the range is halved from the maximum, or, for added safety, reduced to one-third...

Engineer Dong's face turned grim again: "That's right, the AIM-7D back then had a maximum range of 44 kilometers, but... our solid rocket engine technology is relatively poor. Our PL-4 has a maximum range of only... 18 kilometers."

"What? Only eighteen kilometers? At such a close range, a short-range missile would suffice. What's the point of having a medium-range missile?" Qin Liang's eyes widened. "Is our country's solid rocket engine technology really that bad?"

"Yes, there hasn't been much progress over the years..."

"Sigh, if the technology isn't up to par, then we can only tamper with other aspects. This medium-range air-to-air missile has a range of 40 kilometers, which is too low. We need to find a way to increase it to at least 60 kilometers so that it can fire at 30 kilometers in actual use. Otherwise, it's just a useless missile!"

"You have a solution?" Everyone's eyes widened.

　P.S.: As for the specific series of the seeker head used in the Sparrow game, even Huadong Zhixiong doesn't know.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)