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dy031101's Mental Notes

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dy031101:
This is where I'll post my mental notes...... and until I could get new stuff done...... guess I'll post old ones in groups according to themes.

The first batch has its background based on Arc3371's Soviet Manchuria buffer state story.  The People's Republic of China (PRC) was proclaimed in Manchuria after the ROC's Nationalist government army successfully reversed the Communist momentum at the Siege of Nanking in 1949 and pushed the Communist forces to the Northeast until the 1950 Soviet Intervention.  From that point forward, Manchuria has been given some of the best military aids the Soviet Union has to offer (CCP in this timeline has learned to keep their ideological conflict with the Kremlin to themselves).





The Sun Yat-Sen tank has been in the Republic of China service since before the end of World War II- alarmed by the news of Japanese purchase of a Tiger I tank, the Republic of China Army wanted something for a counter in case such a purchase either leads to a more-extensive acquisition or inspires a comparable design.  To that end they sent a delegation to inspect a Tiger tank captured in North Africa...... without prior experience in building a heavy tank, Chinese engineers mistakenly assumed that heavy tanks are meant to have overlapping road wheels and copied the so-equipped suspension of the Tiger.  They did make some adaptations for local manufacturing techniques and available raw materials (which by co-incidence became very similar to late model Tiger I, also modified to cope with material shortages).  Sprocket drive wheels were mounted to the rear in an attempt to further simplify the automotive scheme- it ended up lowering the vehicle's overall height, as the Americans found out during the development leading to the M26- and the hull and turret were mostly made of flat but sloped armour plates that were more easily put-together.

A French-made 90mm DCA gun was used to arm the tank due to non-availability of US-made 90mm gun (as of 1944); initially three ZB vz. 26 7.92mm machineguns functioned as a co-axial weapon, a hull-mounted weapon, and a commander's cupola weapon, respectively.




As US-made arms started coming in, SYS tanks also began to be produced with machineguns replaced by M1919 (hull and co-axial mounts) and M2HB (commander's cupola).  The main gun remained unchanged- in fact, the SYS tank would have been stuck with either 3" gun M7 or 76mm gun M1 in the first place if it wasn't for the French eagerness to regain prestiege by trying to establish its status as a full partner among the Allies after the liberation of France......

The tank overall outclassed Shinhoto Chi-Ha, the most numerous Japanese tanks during World War 2 (it took the higher-velocity gun of Chi-To just to stand a fighting chance, and only a planned version of Chi-Ri, to be armed with a 88mm gun, could compete on an equal footing- it never made it into mass-production), continued to reign supreme on Mainland China after the War of Resistance Against Japan is over- during the Chinese Civil War, the only true counter this tank available to the Communist insurgents are captured or defecting SYS tanks (otherwise they must rely on sappers pouring gasoline or throwing explosives)- until T-54 and T-55 were deployed by the Soviet Russian and Manchurian armies, whose nightfighting equipment gave the Soviet tanks an edge during the various border conflicts with China.





The eventual number of SYS tanks produced means that the type remains numerous into the 21st Century and has along the way received several stages of upgrades, with the latest (and quite possibly the last) being an European-inspired, 120mm gun turret originally developed for another new indigenous MBT.  The one as depicted above is being readied for the 2001 Afganistan campaign in concert with NATO forces.  Granted, it won't be this clean after a few RPG hits.



In the sky over and around Manchuria, the People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) was able to maintain a qualitative advantage in terms of hardwares from late 1960s to early 1990s: the Soviets had been willing to supply the PRC with reasonably up-to-date aircraft as well as technical assistance for licenced-production (MiG-19, MiG-21, and MiG-23 as J-6, J-7, and J-8 respectively), whereas purges of political dissidents, territorial "arguments" with Japan and South Vietnam, and American paranoia that a well-equipped air force might make the ROC confident enough to militarily provoke the Soviets and then drag the US into the mess, led the Americans to place restriction on arms sales: licenced-production of F/TF-104G were granted, but request to purchase the F-4s had been repeatedly turned down.

Nevertheless, the ROCAF didn't remain still.  Their training remained formidable, and bits and pieces of advanced technologies continued to come through Europe as well as Israel to reinforce indigenous R&D efforts aimed at creating self-sufficiency.  Seeing the slow but increasing pace of Sino-European cooperations, the Americans did also gradually relaxed the restrictions they placed, and by early 1990s the ROCAF began a large-scale modernisation programme......

With the decision made in 1997 to mass-produce the TC-2 medium range air-to-air missile (built around a seekerhead based on design that lost the AIM-120 contract), F-104s capable of using this missile are rolling off production line.  In addition to a further improved fire control radar capable of supporting the TC-2 BVRAAM, this new variant of the Starfighter also comes equipped with licenced-manufactured Israeli Python III (as the TC-1B) and an indigenous helmet-mounted sight.  AIDC attempted a joint venture with Lockheed to market it under the designation "F-104GX" but found no taker (not that there are that many to begin with since the 1990s).






The F-CK-101 is the Chinese response to the MiG-29 Fulcrum and Su-27 Flanker then being introduced by the USSR in the 1980s and Manchuria later on.  During AIDC's cooperation with General Dynamics (after a previous venture with Lockheed was unable to receive continued US approval), American advisors have always maintained that if AIDC is interested in using the J79 turbojet to power the new fighter jet, using F-16/79 as the basis will save a lot of time and money.  This proposal was later accepted in 1982, when the US finally approved the export of the J79-17X (or J79-119, as the mass-produced turbojet is designated) after having thwarted all previous Chinese attempts to purchase the engine.

Under the design designation XX-101, the basic F-16/79 was modified initially with a double-delta-wing planform.  This was reverted to the traditional delta-wing planform after analyzing the Mirage-2000, which proved that manuverability can be achieved with the progress of aviation technology such as fly-by-wire and relaxed static stability airframes.  The engine air intake was also replaced by one that turned out to be very similar to that of the later Eurofighter Typhoon (although both efforts are unrelated) to improve the airflow, and to satisfy the ROCAF's request "the more AAMs it can carry, the better", a wingtip over-under twin rack for short-range air-to-air missiles was devised, with the added benefit of the twin racks' aerodynamic fairing providing space for ECM equipment.

Fire control radar borrowed heavily from the APG-67 with some features of the APG-66 and was produced locally as the Golden Dragon 53 (as in real-life except for optimisation to conform to the F-16's avionics capacity and the presence of a CW illuminator for AIM-7 guidance).  Interestingly, the aircraft is provided with Bendix-King AN/ARC-200 high frequency single-sideband radio and the Teledyne/E Systems APX-109 Advanced IFF system, both otherwise reserved for fighter interceptor version of the F-16 defending Continental US, and a 150000 candlepower night identification spotlight was installed on the port side of the nose (below and in front of the cockpit) to aid in the identification of nighttime intruders.

Fixed armament is composed of the usual M61A1 Vulcan cannon, and there are 13 store attachment points- one twin over-under rails on each wingtip for AAMs, three under each wing (similar to the stock F-16A), one on each main landing gear bay door specifically for beyond-visual-range AAMs (although this feature was rarely used), and one under the fuselage centreline for either a 300-gallon fuel tank or the ALQ-184 ECM pod.

Anti-aircraft-specialized weapons at first included AIM-9P Sidewinder missiles and local copies of the AIM-7 Sparrow, reverse-engineered from ground-launched examples used by the Skyguard system.  Two can be carried under the wings, and two more on the main landing gear bay door rails.  Later on the Tien Chien 1 and 2 missiles would round out the air-to-air arsenal of the aircraft.  Although initially meant as an interceptor, surface attack stores, such as the HF-2 AShM and its derivative cruise missiles, were integrated as their developments were complete to conform the changing national defense strategy of the ROC, and the type has seen prominent deployment of rockets and guided bombs during ROC's 2001 campaign in support of the Global War on Terror in Afghanistan.

The F-CK-101 would later be joined by the EF-2000 Typhoon.



Meant as an early experiment on operations of aircraft carriers, the ship's design was altered so that the rear superstructure was offset to the starboard side, and an angled flight deck was sponsoned to the port side.  In addition, the ship serves as a test ship for command and control systems (which indeed started in a rudimentary configuration) that would eventually be used for indigenous warships, a high-speed diesel engine (which allows for a maximum speed of 26 knots but is deemed impractical on the smaller major surface combatants), and a helicopter-mounted airborne early warning radar inspired by an ex-ARVN ELINT UH-1H that force landed on a ROCN LST during the Vietnam War.  When Philippine started stationing F-8P jet fighters on Thitu Island, a small airgroup of five FV-8Cs are embarked operationally to provide air defense for South China Sea naval patrols.  The ship itself as built was armed with a Sea Chaparral missile launcher, two Phalanx cannons, and various small arms.



ROCS Yi-Xiān is an aircraft-carrying cruiser, first of its kind in the Republic of China Navy, and the second aircraft-carrying ship after the Mt. Shei AOEH with its experimental STOVL support facilities.  Only one was built, and its stint as an ASW taskforce flagship against Manchurian and Soviet navies in case Cold War goes hot is brief, being supplemented by the larger Ning-Hai class cruisers, but along with Mt. Shei, it  operates frequently in South China Sea against the encroaching Filipino and Vietnamese.

It follows the layout defined by the Soviet Kiev class aviation cruiser and the abortive US Strike Cruiser Mk.II- armaments forward, superstructures offset to the starboard side and a flightdeck aft and offset to the port side- although its outside appearance does nothing to hide the heavy influence placed upon it by ROCN's existing fleet of multi-role export variant of Spruance class destroyers.  The armament comprised a single 120mm TAK-120 turret, one 44-round Mk 26 Mod.4 launcher for RIM-66 Standard MR SAM and ASROC anti-submarine rockets, two quadruple Hsiung Feng II missile launchers, and two Phalanx Mk 15.  The air group comprised six FV-8C (American version of Sea Harrier based on AV-8C airframe and initially equipped with a version of AN/APQ-159) and nine Seahawks helicopters.  Three hangars in the superstructure could house six of the Seahawks, the rest of the air group being carried in an aft below decks hangar.



Two STOVL carriers, based on the Spanish export design that became the Royal Thai Navy carrier Chakri Naruebet, were ordered in the late 1990s to further expand upon the ROCN's aviation cruiser forces.  Unlike other ships of their family, they are equipped with their own ASW sensor suite and armed with RGM-84L launchers, anti-submarine torpedoes, as well as 40mm L70 guns to give them some "cruiser" characteristics.  Despite the illustration calling for F-35 Joint Strike Fighter as part of their airwings, the JSF programme going the way it has means that Sea Harriers would soldier on aboard.



As previously explained, the PLAAF was able to maintain a qualitative advantage in terms of hardwares from late 1960s to early 1990s: in addition to the Red Army units stationed in Manchuria, the Soviets had been willing to supply reasonably-up-to-date technology to the People's Republic of China.  The MiG-29 was acquired in 1992, replacing J-8s and the oldest J-7s in the PLAAF arsenal.  They are capable of firing R-77 missiles, although initially the Fulcrums came with R-27 as their primary BVRAAM.

dy031101:


So...... what if Bell designed the P-39/XFL-1 around a radial instead of a liquid-cooled engine?

Yeah, I suppose it's only a matter of time before I think about putting colours into it.  What do you think for this first try?

Tophe:
I love your radial-engine Airacobra/Airabonita, most of all... :-*

Empty Handed:

--- Quote ---What do you think for this first try?
--- End quote ---

Count me in as a fan!  :-*

JP Vieira:
Great Work!

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