With the appearance of artillery, there was a gunner named Baron Munchhausen abroad. Because he is often accompanied by artillery and has experience as a scout, he often has a bold idea in his heart: if only he could ride a fast artillery shell to spy on the enemy!
One day, he finally realized this beautiful wish in his dream ... At the beginning of the battle, he sat on the spherical shell and went out. Accompanied by the whistling sound of shells flying in the air, he landed on the uneven ground like walking on clouds. He immediately hid in a small forest. Although the position was filled with smoke and shrapnel flying everywhere, he still clearly saw the enemy's artillery position and position. Satisfied, he took the opportunity to take the shells fired by the enemy and return to his position. ...
The story of this soldier can only be a dream at that time. However, with the development of science and technology, especially electronic technology, this wonderful dream has come true. It is a "cannon-fired TV" and the smallest TV transmitting station in the world.
Gun-launched television is a new means of military reconnaissance. It is to install TV cameras and transmitters in large-caliber shells, then launch them over the enemy with artillery, and then float into the air with parachutes. At this time, the image shot by the TV camera is sent back by the transmitter in real time, and the activity on the enemy position can be directly seen at the receiving place.
In 1960s, the United States developed the world's earliest gun-launched television, which was modified from 155mm flare, and kept the shell, parachute, parachute opening mechanism and racemization device of the original flare. Part of the lighting torch in the bomb was replaced by a small TV station. The TV camera in the bomb is small and exquisite, with a diameter of 9.6 cm and a lens length of about 10 cm.
This kind of artillery TV is like a clever military scout. However, compared with other TV stations, its working environment is really "shabby" and bad. People put it in a small black shell casing, which has to withstand the test of high temperature and high pressure in the gun bore, and also bear the huge centrifugal force generated by the shell rotating tens of thousands of revolutions per minute in the gun bore and after flying out of the gun bore. So although its head is small and its height is only about 20 cm, it is strong and not afraid of violent falling and collision. It can really be said to be a "hero".
Although the cannon TV is short, it is full of courage. In addition to the camera, transmitter and parachute, the shell is also equipped with batteries, antennas and fuses, which can be called a small and complete TV transmitting station.
In the early 1970s, with the appearance of new generation TV camera equipment such as solid-state cameras, the volume of gun-launched TV was further reduced, and its ability to resist shock and vibration was stronger. The TV camera made in Britain is only as big as a matchbox and weighs only 0. 1 kg, but the lens of the camera is as small as the button on the clothes. These pocket TV cameras have the characteristics of high sensitivity, no fear of collision, small size, light weight and low working voltage (DC 15V), which can completely meet the requirements of being a "scout" in artillery shells.
The artillery is busy shooting TV, and the position reconnaissance is excellent. When artillery shells carrying "scouts" fly over enemy lines, the fuze detonates the projectile explosives in the shells, pushes the gun-launched TV with deceleration parachute out of the shells, and then immediately opens the parachute, slowing down the descending speed of the gun-launched TV. At this time, the "little scout" was still hidden in a small cylinder. The small cylinder is equipped with several small rotating wings. When the parachute opened for 8 seconds, another explosive in the shell detonated, removing the small cylinder and parachute from the "little scout", so the "little scout" fell at an altitude of 1000 meters with the main parachute, and then slowly descended at a speed of 5 meters per second.
At the same time as the main parachute opened, the camera began to shoot, and the intense reconnaissance work of the "little scout" began. At this time, the camera lens is aimed at the ground and scans the artillery dense area 300 meters long and 200 meters wide on the enemy line.
When the camera starts shooting, the transmitter also starts working. The image taken by the camera is transmitted by the transmitter to the ground mobile receiving station on its own side by radio waves. At the receiving station, the images taken by the "Little Scout" are quickly displayed on the TV screen for the commander to observe and study. Sometimes, these images are recorded on tape recorders for playback and further research and analysis. This kind of reconnaissance is actually a live TV broadcast, which is fast and real, and it is much stronger than the previous reconnaissance means.
Gun-launched TV has the advantages of standing high, wide field of vision, large reconnaissance range, clear image and reconnaissance behind enemy lines. Using the artillery TV equipped with 155 mm howitzer, we can observe the topography of the enemy position 20 kilometers away from the front line, the position and quantity of enemy tanks, artillery and other weapons, and the deployment of the enemy. In addition, we can also observe the casualties of the enemy and the killing and destruction effect of our own firepower weapons, and use this to correct the re-firing of firepower weapons.
What's even more surprising is that the images taken by "cannon TV" in the air are very clear, even objects on the ground 1.5 meters long can be distinguished clearly. It also has a "cat's eye at night", that is, infrared and low-light cameras can shoot images of enemy positions at night, even if the enemy's weapons and equipment are hidden under camouflage, they can be completely exposed.
The birth of "gun-launched TV" made howitzers more powerful and provided advanced means for low-altitude battlefield reconnaissance. However, from people's dreams to reality, "cannon-shot TV" has an important contribution, that is, the ultra-small solid-state omni-directional TV camera.
Because of the high working voltage, huge volume and exquisite structure of the camera tube, the general TV camera can't bear the huge impact and centrifugal force encountered in the shell, so it can't be put into the shell and can't carry out reconnaissance work under this special condition.
1970, with the major technical breakthrough of charge-coupled devices, solid-state cameras with solid structure, small size and high sensitivity came into being, which also made the "gun-fired TV" come out soon.
At present, gun-launched TV is not only used for TV reconnaissance in the military, but also for target location and regional surveillance. It is believed that with the development of high technology, gun-launched TV will be widely used.