Rebirth of the 1980s: The Military Industry Empire

Everyone was stunned. That's right, how could they lack confidence in Chief Qin? If Chief Qin says it's feasible, then it definitely is!

"Chief Qin, we believe in you."

"That's right, Chief Qin, we're waiting for your Factory 960 to develop a brand new wheeled infantry fighting vehicle for us. You can develop whatever you want."

The tank project is a key project and receives a lot of attention. What about this wheeled infantry fighting vehicle? It's just because the army saw that Factory 960 had introduced Mercedes-Benz heavy trucks that they had this temporary idea.

The army will definitely not invest heavily to help develop advanced infantry fighting vehicles. They only hope to eat ready-made meals, which means that Factory 960 has to pay for this investment. Can they do it?

"If we want to develop an advanced AT transmission, it's still difficult for the time being, but we can develop an electronic control unit on the basis of the existing heavy truck manual transmission and create an AMT transmission."

There are many routes for automatic transmissions. The most mature one is of course the AT transmission. It relies on a hydraulic torque converter to buffer in the front and a planetary gear train to shift gears in the back.

The advantage of this type of transmission is that the shifting is smooth. After all, the hydraulic torque converter is not directly rigidly connected. It relies on hydraulic oil to transition. Of course, this also requires a good enough tuning skill. Many people only buy cars with AT transmissions, but after buying them, they find that the AT is not very easy to use, because the tuning skill is not good enough.

However, because it relies on a hydraulic torque converter to buffer, this type of transmission consumes more fuel. It is normal for cars to consume one more liter of fuel per 100 kilometers than manual transmissions. If it is a truck, it may consume three to five more liters.

Therefore, the number of AT transmissions installed on trucks is very small, because the most important thing for trucks is fuel consumption, which is directly related to the level of profit. Fuel costs may account for more than half of the freight expenditure. Saving is earning.

However, trucks are also transitioning to automatic transmissions. How do they use them? That is, they add a set of automatic shifting components to the original manual transmission and use a computer to control the shifting. This forms the AMT.

There are also AMTs on cars, but whichever manufacturer uses them is scolded. This transmission is too unintelligent and cannot be driven at all!

But when it comes to trucks, it becomes a treasure. After all, truck drivers are all experienced drivers. Using AMT to free their left foot and right hand is a joy. As for shifting jolts, they can be completely found by exploring the rules.

The first to develop this type of transmission was Mercedes-Benz. However, due to technical limitations, this type of truck still had a clutch pedal. It had to be used when the car started. After all, starting is the most difficult for heavy trucks. If you don't know how to drive, it will stall as soon as you get in, and you won't be able to start the car at all. Later, with better and better tuning skills, you don't need to step on the clutch to start, and the system takes care of all the shifting.

In the 21st century, domestic manufacturers also began to tinker with AMT transmissions. By 2020, almost one-fifth of the heavy trucks leaving the factory were equipped with this type of transmission, which can be regarded as completely mature.

Now, of course, it is still breaking new ground.

However, this road must be taken, because military vehicles in later generations need this type of transmission. FAW's MV3 has been redesigned to the big-nosed structure and is also equipped with an AMT transmission. China's Type 09 infantry fighting vehicle also uses this type of transmission.

Since we have to take this road sooner or later, we might as well start research now.

Of course, in addition to these two technical routes, there are other automatic transmissions, such as DCT, which is a dual-clutch transmission. This thing has two sets of input shafts and shifts quickly. It was initially used on racing cars and later gradually transferred to ordinary household cars. Although it had a bad reputation at the beginning and even had something called death flicker, this is not the fault of the gearbox, but the clutch in front of the gearbox does not dissipate heat well. After switching to a wet dual-clutch, there will be no such problem.

However, this is not suitable for trucks. The input torque is limited, and the maximum volume is too large.

As for another type of CVT that relies on steel belts to transmit power, don't even think about it. Even passenger cars with turbocharged engines may not be able to withstand the torque, let alone trucks.

For trucks, AMT is the most suitable. For wheeled infantry fighting vehicles, AMT is also the most suitable choice in the absence of a suitable AT transmission.

At this time, hearing Qin Yang say this, everyone fell into contemplation.

Such a transformation is very simple, but the requirements for the electronic control part are very high.

"Chief Qin, how long will it take for this thing to mature?"

"Five to ten years," Qin Yang replied conservatively.

"So long?"

"This hardware is not difficult. The difficulty lies in debugging," Qin Yang said, "We need to constantly improve and constantly improve. The initial equipment for the troops is still mainly manual transmissions, with only a few automatic transmissions. The troops give feedback, and we continue to improve. After many times, this transmission will mature."

Some car factories, in order to seize the market, take out immature things, and then there is a wave of scolding in the market. The former Volkswagen DSG was like this. Qin Yang certainly would not make the same mistake. This is not in a hurry. We have to take it slowly, even if it is in the hands of the troops, it is still mainly for trial use. After a lot of time for trial use, it will slowly mature.

It takes time to free your left foot and right hand.