Dreamer on the Gobi Desert

Struggle to ignite China's dream of launching ground-to-air missiles

　　"The Hongqi-9B long-range surface-to-air missiles and Hongqi-22 medium- and long-range surface-to-air missiles that have been read have all-weather combat capabilities and can intercept a variety of air strike weapons in a complex electromagnetic environment."

　　On the 70th anniversary of the National Day military parade, when the ground-to-air missile team passed Tiananmen Square, the live TV commentator once introduced the young members of the Chinese "Red Flag" family.

　　Every time he heard the words "surface-to-air missile" and "red flag", Li Guolin's thoughts would swim back to the desert Gobi 60 years ago, where the dream began.

　　In the 1950s, constrained by the situation of foreign weapons and equipment, China decided to rely on its own strength to develop missile weapons. After surveys, the ground-to-air missile test base was selected on a Gobi desert deep in the Badain Jaran Desert.

In 1959, the first batch of technical cadres, including Li Guolin, came to the base, which had been under construction for less than a year, after several levels of professional and technical screening and consideration.

The Gobi Desert is an excellent testing range for ground-to-air missiles

　　The first destination of the technical cadres was the missile launch position of the base. After getting off the car, Li Guolin saw the Gobi Desert for the first time.

　　He remembered the "Ancient Battlefield Essays" written by Li Hua, a writer in the Tang Dynasty, who he had read when he was a child-"It is vast, the sand is endless, and no one can be seen... the birds can't fly, and the beasts are dead." Li Guolin said to the distance. Looking, all I can see is the vast and boundless desert and wilderness, and I can't see people and birds.

In Mongolian, "Gobi" means "a land hard to grow vegetation".

　　A year later than Li Guolin, Wang Ying moved to the base west with students from a National Defense Military Academy in Beijing.

Sitting in the small house at the base station, the young student stared at the invisible Gobi beach and the large and small sand dunes dotted between them. Tears couldn't help but flow out, and they were soon covered by the flying sand that hit their faces and got into their necks.

The dormitory was not completed yet, and the boys moved into the tent that night.

　　"For people's lives, the environment here is harsh, but for missile tests, this is an excellent shooting range." Li Guolin said.

　　The land belongs to a temperate continental desert climate. The Badain Jaran Desert is dry and drier all year round, with many sunny days, small cloud cover, and long sunshine hours. This provides good visual conditions for missile launch observation.

In the memory of base technicians, 365 days a year, there are at least 300 days without clouds that are suitable for launch tests.

　　In addition, the desert Gobi is flat and sparsely populated, ensuring that missile launches will not cause harm to the surrounding area.

How flat is the terrain?

People on the base often joked with each other: our driver here is not afraid to doze off while driving. Even with his eyes closed and open, it is quite safe for at least 30 minutes.

　　"Just don't drive on a road paved with cement boards." Wang Ying said.

　　On the Gobi Desert, summer and winter are the longest seasons.

Wang Ying once put the thermometer outside, and measured that it exceeded 50°C at the hottest and below minus 40°C at the coldest.

The base is spliced ​​with cement boards to pave part of the ground. It shrinks in winter, and there are big cracks in the middle of the road. In summer, it expands in heat.

The engineers had to keep breaking the cocked cement board and then filling it with sand to level it.

　　Everyone was shocked at the first meeting with the nascent Chinese ground-to-air missile test base, but when they met, no one flinched.

Before coming to the base, Li Guolin had personally seen foreign aircraft hovering over Chinese territory. Chinese aircraft lacked high-altitude combat capabilities due to insufficient performance.

"The ancient battlefield is desolate, but thinking that this place will be a new battlefield for defending the country, I have hope again."

Extreme heat and cold work test

　　In the military circle, people often refer to surface-to-air missiles as "sacred arrows". The base where Li Guolin is located is called "sacred arrows cradle" because it laid the foundation for the development of China's surface-to-air missiles.

The new type of surface-to-air missiles that were read during the military parade on the 70th anniversary of the National Day in 2019 are based on the Hongqi-1 and Hongqi-2 surface-to-air missiles that Li Guolin and his comrades participated in the experimental research and development.

　　A new type of surface-to-air missile needs to go through multiple stages from research and development to deployment, and thorough testing of the missile's performance is one of them.

Testing and shooting not only need to be carried out under normal temperature conditions, but also to experience extreme heat in summer and extreme cold in winter.

　　Many early winter mornings, Li Guolin and his colleagues guarded the shooting range, drew their entire bodies into fur gloves, fur coats, and big-toed shoes. In less than a few hours, their bodies had already stiffened and lost consciousness.

Li Guolin doesn't feel bitter, because technicians can wear woolen gloves to keep warm, and for those technical soldiers, the assembly and debugging before launching needs to be done with bare hands.

　　After the missile is launched, the technicians use the data collected by optical telemetry to analyze the launch situation, and if necessary, follow to recover the shrapnel debris to further analyze the reasons for the success or failure of the launch.

In the vast desert, wind and sand frequently strike, and the difficulty of recovering the wreckage is as difficult as finding treasure in the sand. For this reason, the base has set up a search company.

　　Deng Guangjie remembered a search mission in July 1969.

At that time, as a technician, he was dispatched to the search company. The company received a task to recover the missile wreckage that fell in the Badain Jaran Desert. Eight fighters including Deng Guangjie and eight fighters from the car company. Under the leadership of the search company commander, take 4 off-road vehicles into the desert.

　　"Many areas are soft sand, there are no roads, and cars are usually not allowed. Our group brought supplies, water and tents, and instead rode camels. The temperature in the desert was so hot at noon, the thermometer in the first aid kit had already rushed to the head, and the socks were scorched. A group, just walked like this for another two days, and finally approached the bullet point."

　　After graduating from Tsinghua University, Deng Guangjie came to the base.

All college students who are new to the base must first sink their hearts to find and read information, and accurately grasp every design principle of surface-to-air missiles.

After dinner every day, the office area is always brightly lit, and the technicians will work until after 10 o'clock in the evening.

　　"If you can't finish the materials at night, you must return them to the data room first and borrow them the next day. You must never bring them back to your residence. This is the discipline of the base." Deng Guangjie said.

　　For technicians and practical fighters, the "secret class" is the first class on the Gobi Desert. Everyone must keep in mind the requirements of the "Code of Confidentiality" on not revealing the life and work of the base.

　　The family and friends were holding a mailing address of "a mailbox in Lanzhou", but they couldn't find anyone at the address, because this was only the first receiving place for the base to communicate with the outside world, and there will be several transfers thereafter. .

As the transit point approached, the train tracks began to change, and the train outside was intercepted in one place, unable to go deeper, so the letter had to be transferred to the base train to enter.

　　"No parents will be passed on, and no children will be passed on from the next." Everyone understands the meaning of keeping this secret, the ups and downs of life on the base, everyone can only hide in their own hearts.

Asking for food and food from the Gobi

　　Until now, when Wang Ying goes out, even if he doesn't bring anything, he still has to bring a pot of water.

　　Water is the most precious resource in the base.

When Wang Ying entered the arena, there was only one shallow well within a few kilometers of the base area, and the well water contained a large amount of alkali. "Everyone has had abdominal distension and abdominal pain. Listen, everyone is gurgling in their stomachs."

There is only one basin of water per person per day for washing and washing.

No one dares to walk into the desert easily, "will die of thirst."

　　The initial stage of base construction coincided with the country's three-year natural disaster.

"Many people suffer from night blindness. In addition to malnutrition, there is also the strong light stimulation of the Gobi Desert. In the evening, there is a cloud of black and red light in front of them." Wang Ying recalled, "The most troublesome thing is to go at night. The toilet, because the residence has not been completed, we have to go to the temporary toilet built by the engineering team. Everyone pulls one by one and walks the sandy road nearly 400 meters in the dark."

　　What to eat on the Gobi Desert is also a problem.

When Li Guolin arrived with the first batch of technicians, there were only coarse grains such as sorghum rice and highland barley. The grain bags were delivered with a weight of 70 kg. The actual molting was only 45 kg on the scale.

There are no vegetables, just pour a bowl of coarse salt water on the rice, and it will be a meal.

　　In order to reduce hunger, while ensuring the tasks of study and work, the technicians began to ask for food and food from the Gobi. Everyone digs reservoirs, repairs canals, grows vegetables and crops, and also undertakes the construction of large auditoriums, service agencies, hospitals and other factory areas. .

The weather suddenly changed when the ditch was dug. The strong wind was blowing yellow sand. By the time the wind stopped, it was midnight. Some tents were blown down and people were crushed under the tents.

　　In 1965, when Fang Zhen graduated from University and was assigned to the base, the situation has improved a lot. The house was built, the canteen was built, and running water was provided. "I have not experienced the hardships of the old comrades when they first entered the field years".

　　It's just that non-staple food is still in short supply.

Fang Zhen remembers that the pickles for breakfast in the cafeteria are always carrots that have been pickled for a year, and eating soybeans once in a while is to improve his life.

As winter approaches every year, the base will usher in a special coal train once a year.

"Only after unloading the coal can we boil water and take a bath."

　　"Every place on the Gobi Desert has left our footprints. Although it is hard, no one shouts tired to fight for the country's dream of ground-to-air missiles." Li Guolin said.

Every time there is a new launch mission, Li Guolin, Wang Ying, Deng Guangjie, Fang Zhen and countless base technicians will stay in their posts at all times, monitoring, analyzing, and writing reports, no matter how late it is. Leave.

　　Today, the dream builders of the year have entered their old age, but whenever they see or talk about new changes and new achievements in the development of China’s surface-to-air missiles, everyone’s eyes are lit up, as if back to 60. When I arrived in the desert early years ago, I saw my life at a glance.

　　(At the request of the interviewee, all names in the text are pseudonyms)

　　Beijing News reporter Feng Yajun