I can upgrade the shelter-Chapter 698 - 596: The Concept of Twin Mounts

"The idea of a dual-machine gun is indeed feasible, but not practical." After reviewing the report from Jiang Juan, Chen Xin concluded it was impractical.

"Why do you think it's impractical, Academician? Isn't the dual-machine gun design supposed to double the firepower delivery?" Jiang Juan, called into Chen Xin's office, was somewhat indignant.

Her idea was based on her actual battlefield experience, and to have it dismissed by Chen Xin was something she found hard to accept.

Chen Xin shook his head and asked her, "Since you are a Titan Driver, and have used machine guns... let me ask you, what type of machine gun is used for the Gongshi model?"

"The Gongshi model is equipped with a 23-1 type aviation machine gun, caliber 23mm, using 23mm standard-type aerial cannon shells, a single-barrel sliding breech machine gun." As a driver, Jiang Juan was very familiar with the Titan she piloted and its complementary equipment.

Chen Xin nodded slightly, satisfied with her professional capability, and then continued, "Setting aside the technical difficulties of dual-linked modification, let me ask you, if you parallel two machine guns to make a dual-machine gun, what would be the distance between the two barrels? Have you calculated it?"

"This..." Jiang Juan hesitated for a moment, but quickly responded loudly, "Report, no!"

"It would not exceed 20 centimeters." Chen Xin provided the answer and explained, "It's not that I haven't thought about the dual-linked machine gun design, or that there aren't dual-barrel machine guns we can use, but in the end, we still chose single-barrel machine guns. It's not that we can't afford dual-barrel or don't want to use them, but because compared to single-barrel machine guns, the doubled firepower delivery of dual-barrel machine guns doesn't result in better performance on the battlefield."

"Why? Doesn't adding an extra barrel mean an extra shot, causing greater lethality?" Jiang Juan asked curiously. 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

Chen Xin shook his head, evidently a bit disappointed by her question, but he explained, "If we're dealing with targets like airplanes or tanks, doubling the firepower delivery could indeed resolve issues. But our current target is alien creatures.

A single 23mm general machine gun shell is enough to penetrate an alien creature's outer shell and cause effective damage. Shooting an extra shell mainly hits the same spot, which, besides shredding the target into smaller pieces, doesn't effectively increase damage efficiency against alien creatures."

Indeed, adding an extra barrel can increase ammunition delivery, which, against armored targets like tanks and airplanes, can enhance the probability of effective kills.

After all, you can't always destroy a tank or an airplane with a single shell; shooting another can increase your odds of taking down the target.

However, when the target is an alien creature that can be killed with one shell, adding an extra barrel and doubling the ammunition delivery is just wasting it.

A target that can be killed with one shot doesn't need two to take it down. With the barrels so close, the two shells will mostly hit the same target. One ensures the kill, and two only shatter the target more, without achieving separate hits on different targets.

In fact, multi-barrel machine guns were just a stopgap measure from the past when the machine gun's rate of fire was insufficient.

But for modern military engineering, achieving extremely high rates of fire, with ammo delivery reaching thousands of rounds per minute, makes multi-barrel machine guns seem redundant and impractical.

That's also why modern warships have fewer gun barrels. Except for Gatling-style rotary barrel designs, you seldom see multi-barrel designs anymore.

Because with modern technology, a single barrel is sufficient, ensuring enough rate of fire to deliver ample shells to the enemy.

Hearing Chen Xin's explanation, Jiang Juan couldn't help but feel dejected. Although she was somewhat unconvinced, she now understood her idea was not very practical.

"But you don't need to be dejected. While making a dual-machine gun might be excessive, it doesn't mean it has no reference value." Chen Xin comforted Jiang Juan.

Yet this wasn't just comforting words; it indeed had some reference value.

"In fighting alien creatures, we do indeed need to increase firepower delivery." Seeing Jiang Juan's puzzled expression, Chen Xin explained, "Simply increasing the rate of fire or adding an extra barrel is meaningless because it only dumps a lot of ammo on the same target, which is inefficient for this war.

We do need to drop more ammo on the enemy within a given time, but we also need to avoid overloading a single target with too much ammo.

Achieving both goals simultaneously is why I designed the Gongshi model with three weapon slots. This way, the three weapons can fire at three different targets simultaneously, effectively increasing firepower delivery while also boosting damage efficiency."

"Doesn't this mean my idea is meaningless?" Jiang Juan now understood Chen Xin's thoughts; he clearly didn't want to waste large amounts of ammunition on a single target.

"It may be meaningless for the Titan, but it has different significance for ordinary weapons." Chen Xin wasn't merely trying to comfort her; her idea indeed held some reference value.

"Ordinary weapons? Academician, do you mean infantry weapons?" Although she was a Titan Driver, Jiang Juan was still knowledgeable about the weapons used by ordinary soldiers: "They currently use heavy machine guns, right? Are you planning to make that dual-linked?"

"Yes, for the 23mm machine guns, a single shell is enough to kill an alien creature. But for the 12.7mm heavy machine guns, it just barely penetrates the alien's shell." Chen Xin had long intended to enhance infantry weapon lethality, but never had a good idea until now.

With all the various tasks keeping him busy, he never had the time to design new-style weapons.

But now Jiang Juan's dual-linked idea gave him new inspiration. It only involved mounting existing weapons together, requiring minimal redesign, simple and practical—a very useful idea indeed.

"Your idea is very useful, and there will be a formal commendation for you later." Chen Xin said, smiling at Jiang Juan.

However, Jiang Juan bit her lip and asked Chen Xin, "Academician, could I not receive the reward? I still want to swap my Titan's machine gun for a dual-machine gun."