When he arrived at the front line, Liu Zunshan did not stay with Ding Zhennan anymore, but went to his own battalion commander's car, a command tank equipped with several radio stations.

If you want to say it, the Marines have also invested a lot this time.

So far, only two armored battalions of the Marine Corps have completed the replacement work, and used the "ZT-99AL" main battle tank to replace the "ZTT-69BL" medium tank that has been in service for more than 30 years. The Marine Corps has also had the same technical equipment as the main army for the first time.

Over the past few decades, the Marine Corps has been treated as an "adopted son" and its main technical equipment is one generation worse than that of the Army.

In fact, before becoming an independent army, except for special equipment such as amphibious tanks and water and land tanks, the main combat equipment of the Marine Corps was almost all second-hand goods picked from the Army.

Even now, there has not been much change.

The production of the "ZT-99" series main battle tanks has exceeded 7,000, and has developed to the second generation. The number of equipment of the "ZT-99B" alone has exceeded 2,000. The main force of the army has long replaced the "ZT-80" series main battle tanks and has become the pillar of the front-line troops.

As a result, the Marines only obtained the purchase rights last year, and the number of equipment so far is less than 100.

To be said, the Marines are not as good as the Allied Army.

Prior to this, approximately 1,000 "ZT-99AGs" had been exported to several major allies, of which at least 400 were second-hand goods from the Army.

In fact, the first batch of "ZT-99AL" taken over by the Marine Corps were also second-hand goods eliminated by the Army, but they were only improved according to the requirements of the Marine Corps.

The most important transformation is to replace the latest 52-diameter 125mm tank gun.

As for electronic devices, especially the crucial infrared imaging night vision device, due to funding restrictions, it is still the old model and has not been replaced with the new model of "ZT-99B".

However, changing the gun is the most critical improvement project.

Compared with the 48-diameter 125mm smoothbore tank gun that was first equipped with the "ZT-80DG", it was developed for the "ZT-99", but it was not able to catch up with the progress. The biggest change is that the 52-diameter 125mm smoothbore tank gun that was officially equipped with the "ZT-99B", is not that the body tube is longer, but that is, the entire shell is used, so it can use a larger length-diameter ratio, that is, a more powerful tail wing stable shell-out armor-piercing projectile.

According to the tests conducted by the Imperial Army, the new tail-stabilized armor-piercing shell developed with a supporting new tail wing, with an equivalent armor-piercing depth of up to 600 mm at 2,000 meters. It was previously developed for a 48-diameter 125 mm tank gun, and the best performance sub-packed armor-piercing shell had an equivalent penetration depth of only 500 mm.

The performance improvement of 20% can be said to be very amazing.

However, this is not the best.

The second-generation armor-piercing bomb, which has been developed and is about to start mass production, has a theoretical armor-piercing depth of 750 mm, while the design indicators of the third-generation armor-piercing bomb are as high as 850 mm.

In fact, even the first generation of armor-piercing bombs can penetrate the frontal armor of all the active main battle tanks.

With this tank gun, the Marine Corps has the same anti-armor power as the Army for the first time!

Before this, in addition to anti-tank missiles, the most sharp anti-tank weapon that the Marine Corps possessed was the 105mm rifle of the "ZTT-69BL".

In a sense, "ZT-99AL" is also Liu Zunshan's greatest confidence.

During last year's "Forward 149" joint exercise, another armored battalion equipped with "ZT-99A" won the best results in the entire army in the competition part. The scores in the firepower part crushed all the army's armored battalions, and their performance was very eye-catching, which can be said to have a big face for the Marine Corps.

In addition, during the firepower test conducted during the exercise, an armor-piercing projectile fired by a "ZT-99AL" actually drilled into the sand wall behind the front and rear armor of the "ZT-55" turret that acted as the target, and finally tested the penetration depth of more than 2 meters.

To exert the power of the tank gun, equally advanced sighting equipment is needed.

Compared with all the main battle tanks in the past, the biggest change in the "ZT-99" is actually in the viewing system, or in other words, the idea of ​​developing tanks.

After the end of the last war, especially before the end of the Boei War, the Imperial Army's dominant military idea was still to prepare for the global war. Therefore, in terms of attitude towards main combat equipment, the Imperial Army has always insisted on putting quantity first and it doesn't matter how poor the quality is.

The result is that from "ZT-55" to "ZT-80", we strive to be simple when designing.

Of course, we cannot say that this idea is wrong.

In the last war, especially in the first three years, the average service life of the tank was less than half a year, and the huge loss of war made any advanced technology very pale.

In the late period of the war, even the Tiaoman Empire, which had always paid attention to technology, put aside its craftsman spirit and began to focus on production.

In addition, the changes brought by technology are not large enough to change the balance of the battlefield.

The end of the Boeh-Iran War, which was the beginning of the second military revolution after the war, this development idea of ​​winning by number was challenged.

What to say is the key lies in technology.

To put it simply, tanks armed with new technologies have stronger maneuverability, stronger armor protection and more fierce firepower.

In addition, firepower accuracy has been increased by several orders of magnitude.

Relying on the two-way stability system, the main battle tank has the ability to accurately fire targets 2,000 meters away for the first time.

According to the test conducted by the Imperial Army, the "ZT-99A" hits the starting hit rate of no less than 80% for the target of traveling at a speed of 35 kilometers per hour from 2,000 meters away. Even if it moves at the same speed, the starting hit rate of "ZT-99A" can reach an astonishing 60%.

In the past, this was definitely something that I could not imagine.

During the entire war, the hit rate of tank guns on targets 1,000 meters away was less than 20%, and there was no more than 10% of them in the event of movement.

The previous generation of "ZT-80" has no real dynamic-to-move shooting ability, and in the case of static-to-move, the hit rate is less than 50%.

This is such a high hit rate that essentially changes the armored warfare led by tanks.

In addition, the powerful night combat capability granted by thermal imaging night vision instruments also gave the armored troops the ability to launch attacks at night for the first time.

To be precise, it has raised the threshold for night battles and made night the home court for mastering advanced technology.

In short, it is the technological advancement that has made the tank's performance sharply improve, and thus the armor tactics have undergone an essential change.

It was not until the advent of "ZT-99" that the imperial armored forces began to transform from multi-directional essence.

Against this background, the Army attached more importance to the aviation corps led by armed helicopters.

In the words of the army general, in the past, they relied on massive tanks to deal with the enemy's steel torrents. When there were not enough tanks, they could only rely on anti-tank-based armed helicopters, that is, relying on the strike power provided by the aviation force to make up for the shortcomings of armored power.

Of course, many people have overlooked a more critical issue.

The root cause of the transformation of the Army armored forces from multi-directional essence is cost, or money.

The ex-factory price of "ZT-99A" is almost twice that of "ZT-80DG", and the daily maintenance cost is 50% higher, and the full life cost is even more expensive.

If the unit price is expensive, I can only buy a little less.

In addition, tanks became more expensive, which made the army feel that the armed helicopters seemed approachable and easier to accept.

Although the purchase of the "ZT-99" series has exceeded 7,000 units, which looks like a lot, it has been 13 years since its official installation. In the same 13 years, the production of "ZT-80" exceeded 20,000 units, while the "ZT-55" reached 30,000 units.

It can be seen that the relative output of "ZT-99" is actually not much.

To be said, it is precisely because the procurement price is too expensive that the Marine Corps decided to purchase "ZT-99AL" after waiting for more than 10 years.

The least you need to worry about is the combat effectiveness of the "ZT-99A", and the most you need to worry about is that there are only 68 vehicles in total in the two battalions.

In fact, this is also where "Finger-10A" reflects its value.

Without the battlefield information provided by "Finger-10A", more armored troops must be deployed, and more main battle tanks must be used.

With the information provided by the joint command plane, the number of defensive forces can be reduced, or the number of the same forces can be used to guard longer fronts.

Simply put, it is to change from defending positions to mobile defense tactics.

After arriving at the front line, the troops began to move northward.

According to the battlefield information provided by "Finger-10A", an Iraqi armored force is moving towards the border, and the force is from Nasirie, south of Baghdad, so there is reason to believe that it is the elite force of the Republican Guard and is likely equipped with the latest T-72 tanks.

In addition, this armored force is very large in scale, with at least 100 tanks.

It was at this time that Ding Zhennan received a message from Shi Suliang from the Joint Force Headquarters.

The Prime Minister has approved that he will immediately deploy the "Arrower" long-range air defense system to Khalid King Military City, and will also deploy long-range strike forces mainly based on "War-16A" in advance.

For this reason, Shi Suliang asked Ding Zhennan to go back as soon as possible.

Ding Zhennan does not need to worry about the deployment of air defense systems, but the operation to attack Iraqi missile launchers must require Ding Zhennan to formulate a combat plan.

According to Shi Suliang's intention, after the "War-16A" fleet arrives, it is necessary to consider launching an air strike operation against the ballistic missile forces in advance.

In other words, adjustments are needed to be made to combat deployment.

It only took a few days before and could not be delayed at all.

"Sir, we're here."

After hearing the commander's reminder, Ding Zhennan noticed that the command car had stopped, and several accompanying officers and soldiers had already got off the car and were busy moving the communication equipment down.

This is the front line!

About 2,000 meters north is the border between Saudi Arabia and Iraq.

It is said to be a border, but there is actually nothing. The recognizable sign is a boundary monument carved out of rock every 1 kilometer.

After getting off the car, Ding Zhennan, led by a battalion officer, climbed up the sand dune in front.

The staff officer also brought a low-light night vision device.

It is a model used by special forces and has laser ranging function, but it is very bulky and troublesome to operate.

The night sky is clear and half a month, so the visibility is not too bad.

Tanks and tanks have been deployed and hidden on the spot.

All tanks and tanks were on the sides and sides of the turret, and a fluorescent "V" pattern was painted.

Using a low light night vision device, you can see it thousands of meters away.

That thing is actually an enemy-enemies identification sign.

Friends on the side and behind can be seen, but enemies on the front cannot be seen.

The Iraqi armored forces are about 20 kilometers away, and several commanders, including Liu Zunshan, are issuing combat orders to other chariot commanders.

Although you can contact us via the radio, if you really fight, no one will care about anything else.
To be continued...