The military-industrial scientific research system of the academic master.

Chapter 1376 Those who wish take the bait

Peterson Air Force Base, Colorado.

Admiral Lance Lord loosened his tie that was making it difficult for him to breathe, stood up and walked to the door of the C37 VIP transport plane, waiting for the cabin crew to lower the gangway.

About three hours ago, he completed a fascinating hearing on Capitol Hill, using a data-rich report to demonstrate the need for increased investment in the national missile defense system.

Of course, the hearing itself will not make any decisions, but the participants include many heavyweights from both the Senate and the House of Representatives.

The difference in these people's thoughts will directly determine the outcome of the new year's congressional budget in a few months.

If we look further into the future, the tone of military spending allocation over the next four or even eight years will also be affected by this.

The financial backer behind the admiral, Lockheed Martin, will undoubtedly be the biggest winner.

Especially in the context of the current global financial crisis, the significance of a stable investment is not just the billions of dollars, but more importantly, market confidence.

"Sir, the journey is over. I wish you good luck in your work!"

As the cabin door of the business jet closed, the voice of the flight attendant pulled Lord out of his thoughts.

"Thank you."

The latter responded politely.

Of course, this plane does not belong to Lord himself, but is a member of a series of government special planes.

It was only temporarily assigned to him because of today's work requirement.

"Maybe after I retire, I can rent one from Lockheed Martin for a long time..."

Lord thought this as he strode out of the cabin.

A corner of the dark blue military uniform was lifted up by the dry night wind of Colorado. The outline of the Rocky Mountains in the distance was faintly visible in the twilight, like a silent line of defense.

The admiral has worked at Space Command for more than 30 years, and sees this scene almost every day.

But it has never been as refreshing as it is now.

However, the good mood did not last long.

Lord had just returned to his office, and before he had time to think about his performance at the hearing, he heard hurried and heavy footsteps in the corridor.

Major General John Raymond, the chief of reconnaissance, soon appeared at the door.

"Sir, half an hour ago, the ALOS-1 satellite passed over the western part of Longyuan Province in China."

Raymond's voice was as hoarse as if it had been rubbed by sandpaper. It was obvious that he hadn't had a good rest for some time:

"A new impact point has appeared at the Second Artillery Mass Effects Range. It is located within the area where we previously observed engineering activity. Preliminary judgment is that it is near the center of a concrete target."

As he spoke, he took out several large-size photos from the file bag in his hand and arranged them one by one on Lord's desk.

ALOS-1 is an Earth observation satellite launched by Japan two years ago. It is nominally owned by JAXA and is used for routine tasks such as geographic mapping, resource exploration and disaster warning.

But in fact, the satellite was also equipped with an L-band synthetic aperture radar with the best performance at the time, and was naturally incorporated into the US Space Command's space-based reconnaissance system.

Previously, due to insufficient satellite resources in the sun-synchronous orbit, Raymond "temporarily" requisitioned ALOS-1 from its allies, as well as the ADEOS-2 launched earlier, to ensure the frequency of information updates for the western part of Longyuan Province.

In the end, it did play a decisive role.

Lord took a deep breath, barely calmed down his excitement, and looked down at the dozen or so satellite images in front of him:
A hideous hole appeared in the middle of the dark gray rectangular target, and spider-web-like cracks radiated from the dark patch in the center, with regular ring-shaped ridges distributed around it.

"It is obvious that a subsurface explosion occurred... There is no sign of shrapnel diffusion around the crater, and the shock wave transmission pattern is consistent with the characteristics of a ground-penetrating warhead."

He made a quick judgment based on his experience, and then glanced at the analysis content under another picture.

It is almost exactly the same as what I just said.

But the admiral had just made the entire Air Force proud on Capitol Hill, so it was impossible for him to be satisfied with such a preliminary conclusion now.

"Can you confirm other more specific details, such as the time of impact and the launch location?"

"ADEOS-2 did not find any abnormalities when it passed by this afternoon, which is 3:25 a.m. tomorrow morning local time, so it can be basically confirmed that the opponent completed the entire process from launch to hit in about three and a half hours between 0325 and 0703, which is consistent with the consistent behavior characteristics of the Chinese missile force when testing new models."

Lord frowned in disbelief at this conclusion:

"So you think... this is a new model?"

Raymond nodded:

"The Chinese missile force has tested several different specifications of earth-penetrating weapons in the past, but the intelligence analysis department compared the results of the two previous tests and found that the bullet hole characteristics were very different."

"The crater left at the Yunnan shooting range last year was funnel-shaped, with jagged edges and limited depth. It was obviously a very basic model with very limited penetration capability. The penetration channel in front of us is smooth and deep, just like a steel nail driven vertically into the earth..."

He gestured in the air as he described: "So they must have changed the structure of the penetrator, and it may also have a secondary killing capability with delayed detonation. The target's fragmentation rate has increased by at least one third compared to the last test. As for more specific data, we have no way of knowing it yet."

L-band synthetic aperture radar has a certain ability to penetrate the ground, but it is obviously still powerless when facing reinforced concrete and can only see through to a very shallow depth.

The first thing Lord thought of after hearing this conclusion was the several mysterious test launches that China had previously conducted in the central part of Mongolia.

At that time, it was initially judged to be a new type of medium-range and short-range tactical missile.

It seems to match the current situation perfectly.

"Have the Ruby 12 satellite focus on observing the launch site in the central part of Meng Province to see if there are any traces of recent launches."

He gave the order with a serious expression:
"Once the analysis data comes out, notify me as soon as possible."

Sun-synchronous orbit satellites have a fixed 24-hour revisit period, so this matter cannot be rushed and we can only wait.

Moreover, Lord also needs some time as a buffer to analyze the current situation——

A few days ago, he personally ordered to shift the focus of satellite reconnaissance to the area around Base 55 outside Hecheng City, but in the end only a strange but not sensitive solid rocket backup launch was observed.

Although the report portrayed it as a test launch of an intercontinental missile carrying multiple independently targetable reentry vehicles (MIRVs), the admiral himself knew very well that the DF-31 did not have the capability to carry multiple warheads in any way.

And logically, since the warhead carrier itself also has power, China's multiple warhead missile will definitely be named Dongfeng 4X.

In other words, although it would be impossible to admit it, the launch in Hunan Province was indeed just a bait to cover up the real test that hit the Longyuan test range.

And at this moment on the eve of the election, the combination of the two key words "earth-penetrating weapons" and "tactical missiles" will undoubtedly irritate the sensitive nerves of some people.

So what I need to do now is to increase the degree of stimulation as much as possible without causing critical misjudgments.

On the one hand, it can divert everyone's focus and avoid the conclusions in the analysis report being put under the spotlight and finding loopholes.

On the other hand, it can further intimidate the new occupant of the White House next year.

No matter which one it is.

……

Due to recent high-frequency use, Colonel Devin Kenton and his intelligence analysis department have become familiar with the data processing process of the Rubis-12 satellite.

Just a few hours later, the analysis results appeared on the big screen in the underground command center.

"No new suspicious traces appeared at the locations of the previous launches, but we found residual materials after the solid rocket engine worked at another coordinate also in the western part of Mon Province."

Colonel Kenton held an antenna in his hand and pointed it at a red-marked location on the screen:
"It is confirmed that there was a missile launch here in the past 6-12 hours... or a round of missile launches."

Using burning residues to give early warning of missile launches is certainly a cutting-edge technology, but the accuracy of the time tracking is indeed limited and can only be confirmed until early this morning.

It just fits the range of speculation given by Raymond earlier.

"What about the signal characteristics? Have you analyzed them?"

Lord demanded.

"It is slightly different from the previous tests, but the difference is very small. It is basically confirmed that it still belongs to the same model series... It may just be that the composition of the surface or air is different, and after contact with the tail flame, a trace amount of new products are formed."

"In other words, the range this time is longer than before?"

The Admiral glanced at the new launch position, which was clearly further northeast.

"If we calculate it completely based on the shortest path, it would be about 1500 to 1600 kilometers. Of course, considering the trajectory planning issue, the actual distance may be slightly farther."

Raymond swallowed his saliva:

"This is not the range that the Dongfeng 15 series can achieve..."

“Range is not an issue.”

Lord interrupted him and shifted his gaze to the coastal area in the lower right corner of the large screen:

“The question is what they want to nail through.”

The cold light shone on his silver-white temples, reflecting a cold edge like a blade.

Outside the glass curtain wall, dozens of surveillance screens are silently consuming and spitting out data streams, like eyes peeking at the earth.

This issue is actually already clear.

It's just that no one has made it clear yet.

(End of this chapter)