Go back in time and be a chaebol

Chapter 2617 The Crisis Behind the Iron Curtain (Third Update, Please Subscribe)

Moscow.

On the opposite bank of the Gorky Cultural Park on the Moscow River, a magnificent building stands like a fortress on the Frunze Embankment, quietly overlooking the shimmering waters of the Moscow River.

This is the Soviet Ministry of Defense building.

In one of the meeting rooms, the heavy wooden door was tightly closed, isolating the room from the outside world. Only the fluorescent lights overhead emitted a soft glow.

The air was thick with the smell of smoke; the pungent tobacco odor, combined with the somewhat oppressive atmosphere, made it hard to breathe.

Experts from various fields, including aviation, air defense, and armored forces, sat around a long conference table, their eyes fixed on the projection screen in front of them.

As the experts watched the images on the screen, they even unconsciously held their breath, and the only sounds in the large conference room were the faint sounds of people smoking.

The video projected onto the screen wasn't particularly clear, but it was clear that it was a mountain road with a densely packed convoy of vehicles marching in two columns. Among them were Shilehe self-propelled anti-aircraft guns, their barrels pointed proudly at the sky.

They were familiar with such a grand marching formation; after all, such scenes appeared every time the Soviet army conducted military exercises or mobilizations.

But now, this scene, as they saw it, seemed ominous, causing everyone's expressions to turn serious.

Because there is also a square bar for aiming on the screen.

"The footage was taken by a drone."

Someone said in a low voice, with a barely perceptible sense of gravity.

These images were captured by drones, which appeared like ghosts above the convoy. Hundreds of kilometers away in the control room, the operators watched the same footage and then aimed at the convoy on the road.

When a small square in the aiming square circled the target, the image suddenly changed.

Everyone's heart skipped a beat; they knew what was about to happen.

On the screen, a burst of fire erupted from the top of the turret of a Shilehe self-propelled anti-aircraft gun, sending steel fragments and thick smoke billowing into the sky.

The chariot was instantly reduced to a pile of burning scrap metal.

This scene made everyone frown even more.

A tense atmosphere filled the meeting room, and someone subconsciously took a breath.

The attack in the video did not end there; drones launched their attacks like a grim reaper.

A T-62 tank stopped on the road had just started its engine when it was locked onto by a drone. A missile hit the turret, and the violent explosion blew the tank turret several meters into the air. The footage was obscured by black smoke.

What's even more alarming is that throughout the entire process, the air defense weapons used by this unit were completely ineffective; neither the self-propelled anti-aircraft guns nor the SAM air defense missile launchers reacted at all.

Only a few Shilehe self-propelled anti-aircraft guns fired wildly and indiscriminately. Although the barrage they fired formed a dense fire net in the sky, it posed no threat to the drones.

The counterattacks from those self-propelled anti-aircraft guns made them prime targets, and one after another, the self-propelled anti-aircraft guns were destroyed, with the burning black smoke obscuring the sky.

A sea of ​​fire.

The entire highway was engulfed in flames!

Tanks, self-propelled artillery, anti-aircraft missile launchers—everything was burning.

The faces of these experts from various fields were filled with disbelief and astonishment. Some had their mouths slightly agape, their eyes wide with shock. They stared in disbelief at the one-sided attack on the screen.

These experts were elites in the Soviet military-industrial complex. They had personally participated in the design of the Soviet-style air defense system, including anti-aircraft artillery and missiles—all of which were achievements they were proud of.

They believed their weapons were no worse than those of the West and would certainly help the Soviet Union win future wars.

But at this moment, these weapons, which they believed would help the Soviet Union win the war, were so easily destroyed!
They were not destroyed by Western fighter jets or armed helicopters. They had long been prepared for such destruction, after all, weapons are made for combat, and combat inevitably involves destruction.

Instead, they were destroyed by seemingly insignificant drones. What's worse, their equipment was as fragile as paper in the face of these drones, leaving them with no chance to fight back.

While they stared in stunned disbelief, the battle continued on the projection screen.

The convoy traveling on the highway was thrown into complete chaos. Tanks and armored vehicles fled frantically, but could not escape the drone attack. One after another, they were destroyed, flames engulfed the sky, and thick smoke obscured the heavens.

The once grand convoy on the road has now been reduced to a pile of scrap metal, with burning wreckage of tanks everywhere, and the burning vehicles occasionally triggering secondary explosions.

The original mountain road eventually became a death road paved with steel and flames.

The final image shows those figures fleeing in disarray. Threatened by the drone, they didn't even have the courage to raise their heads and fight back; they could only run desperately, leaving behind only a pile of burning scrap metal.

This is the highway of death!
The battle in which this Syrian armored brigade was completely annihilated by a swarm of drones in the Bekaa Valley once shocked the world.

Although the coalition forces had previously announced the results of the battle and released some footage, the footage they were seeing was not public, but rather internal video material from the coalition military.

These are video recordings used for postwar debriefing and study, obtained by the KGB through channels within the British military.

Once they were sent to Moscow a week ago, they immediately caused a huge uproar in this building. Although they had accepted the reality that a Syrian armored brigade had been completely wiped out by drones, who could have imagined that the real battlefield would be even more brutal than they had imagined?

When they saw the tanks and anti-aircraft missile launchers that were supposed to protect them being easily destroyed like lambs to the slaughter, all the marshals could no longer sit still.

This is the fundamental reason why these experts were summoned here.

This is to counter the threat posed by drones.

When the video feed froze on the scene of a devastated battlefield, the conference room fell into a deathly silence.

The light from the projection screen shone on everyone's faces, their expressions terrifyingly solemn.

Still in shock, the experts pulled out cigarettes, their hands trembling as they lit them. Amidst the swirling smoke, their brows furrowed in deep frown.

In fact, everyone was like that. The sounds of lighters and melting matches rose and fell, but no one said a word. Only the hissing of cigarettes burning was particularly clear in the silent conference room.

Everyone's brows were furrowed, and the shock and heaviness in their eyes were hard to conceal.

The conference room was instantly filled with smoke, and the atmosphere became so tense it was almost frightening.

The destroyed tanks and artillery were the equipment they were most familiar with; they should have been rampaging across the battlefield.

But in the face of drones, they became lambs to the slaughter, undetectable by radar and uninterceptable by weapons. This sense of powerlessness was more despairing than any defeat.

Is this the war we will face in the future?
At this moment, a Soviet colonel stood up, his gaze sweeping over the experts, and then he spoke:

"This is the Battle of Bekaa Valley that we all know—an entire armored brigade was destroyed in just over ten minutes, without them even launching a counterattack."

Because they didn't detect the drones in the air at all, meaning they didn't know where the enemy was until they were destroyed.

After the drone attacks in the Bekaa Valley of northern Lebanon ended, a coalition spokesperson told reporters, "Welcome to hell."

Yes, this is hell, a one-sided hell, like a slaughterhouse.

The colonel's gaze swept over each expert present, his eyes filled with anxiety:
Is it just hell for Syrians?
No. This will inevitably become our hell too!
The Syrians used our air weapons, our Shile River artillery, our anti-aircraft missiles, but all of it was useless against drones!

He raised his finger, pointing to the burning battlefield on the projection screen, his tone becoming increasingly urgent:

"Our radar cannot detect those drones, and our tanks can only passively take hits in front of them!"

Now, the only question is, what should we do?
How can we protect our military from such drone attacks?
If we cannot solve this problem, then in future wars with Western countries, we will have to face an extremely harsh reality.

The colonel raised an eyebrow, then said in a serious tone:
"Our proud tank force will become a pile of scrap metal, and our country will lose all protection."

At that time, Western countries will inevitably invade our country just like Hitler did.

This is the reality we must face, comrades; it concerns our survival.

After the colonel finished speaking, the conference room remained deathly silent, and the oppressive atmosphere became even more so.

The experts bowed their heads, amidst the swirling smoke; some shook their heads gently, some sighed deeply, and some looked utterly despairing.

Many of them participated in the Great Patriotic War; they were all survivors of the war, having lost their relatives, classmates, and friends in the conflict.

This is precisely why they have an extremely profound understanding of the cruelty of war; too many people around them died in the war. And it is precisely because of this that, after the war ended...

Those who have dedicated themselves to the military industry are committed to building indestructible, powerful, and invincible weapons and equipment.

They built all of this bit by bit.

Just when they thought they had succeeded, they never imagined that the powerful weapons of war they had created with their life's blood would be completely destroyed by such a small and flexible weapon.

Break defense.

In that instant, all the experts were thrown into disarray.

What broke their resolve was, as the colonel said, that if they couldn't solve this problem, then perhaps the brutal Great Patriotic War would inevitably be repeated.

Faced with the colonel's question, no one could provide an answer; a heavy weight was pressing on everyone's mind.

It was the despair from the battlefield, the panic of technological backwardness, and the deep anxiety about the future of the Soviet Union.

Under the fluorescent lights, the smoke in the conference room became even thicker, and the ashtrays were overflowing with cigarette butts.

At this moment, all the experts felt how serious the mission they were shouldering was.

Their responsibilities now concern the future and fate of the Soviet Union.

So, how should they resolve this crisis?
(End of this chapter)