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Chapter 2803 Deadly and Cheap (First Update, Please Subscribe)
Studying airplanes!

To outsiders, any kind of airplane is still an airplane.

But what if Zhao Zhanpeng told outsiders that he researches drones?

What are other people's instinctive reactions?
"It's like one of those toy remote-controlled airplanes."

Zhao Zhanpeng has never offered an explanation in response to such views.

Because you can't reason with people like that.

"This war shows us that the era of drones has arrived, and our job is to develop better drones."

In the conference room, as the manager recounted the role of drones in the "Permanent Commitment" war.

Zhao Zhanpeng was still gesturing there when suddenly, as if he had thought of something, he stood up and left the conference room.

The manager, who was speaking now, merely glanced at this. Then he continued to describe his vision for the new type of drone.

During this period, some people may choose to leave.

This is a characteristic of SEA companies. Back in the company days, Li Yi'an established a rule that made everyone uncomfortable—if you didn't contribute any more value in a meeting, you didn't need to say goodbye to anyone; you just stood up and left. It wasn't that you were allowed to leave; it was that you were required to leave.

Li Yi'an established this rule because he believes: "Sitting in a meeting that is useless to you is not polite, but a waste of everyone's time."

There is no time to waste in sEA.

So, at first everyone felt very uncomfortable, but now companies in SEA have long been accustomed to this management style, so there will always be people leaving during meetings.

After leaving the meeting room, Zhao Zhanpeng continued to sketch out his ideas in this office with a pen in hand.

"Are these drones useful?"

However, he then muttered to himself:

"It should be a very good target, at least it will be very cheap."

Nodding vigorously, Zhao Zhanpeng continued:

"So what does he need?"

A few hours later, in the manager's office, Zhao Zhanpeng explained his idea to the manager:

“We believe we need a cheaper drone—or rather, a suicide drone.”

Gu Jingchen looked at Zhao Zhanpeng with some confusion:
"Suicide drones?"

"Yes, because of the success of the integrated investigation and strike drone, we... or rather all companies, have turned their attention to the integrated investigation and strike drone."

Our company is not a particularly powerful one. The technology for detecting and cracking down on integrated drones is extremely difficult.

Of course, we can solve many technical problems, but... how can we compare to companies like Nanyang Aerospace Industry?

Gu Jingchen nodded, not refuting him. He was telling the truth; in reality, Gu Jingchen hadn't considered competing with those large corporations.

His idea was very simple: sell drones to small countries.

That is, a cheaper, smaller drone that can be used for both reconnaissance and strike.

Smaller countries need reconnaissance and strike drones to provide air support, since many small countries can't even afford to maintain their own air forces, but they certainly can afford to maintain drones.

Therefore, the market should be very broad.

However, what Zhao Zhanpeng said was true—large companies also have small, integrated search and strike drones.

"So I think if we want to stand out from the competition, we need to have more innovative products, such as suicide drones."

Zhao Zhanpeng continued to explain his ideas to the manager:

"This kind of suicide drone, how should I put it? It's like a cruise missile. Only it's much cheaper, like a toy airplane, made of engineering plastics and fiberglass."

Even its engine is a small engine—perfect for something like a powered paraglider engine.

As Zhao Zhanpeng explained his idea, Gu Jingchen even looked at him with surprise.

The engine of a powered paraglider.

However, gasoline piston engines use regular gasoline for automobiles.

Is such a rudimentary engine really suitable as a drone engine?

This is far too rudimentary.

"It weighs only about 200 kilograms and uses inertial guidance and GPS guidance—yes, the guidance equipment is the most expensive part of a drone, along with the engine."

As Zhao Zhanpeng explained, he drew his vision of a "suicide drone" on the whiteboard.

Looking at the drone drawing on the whiteboard—it was just a cylinder with a delta wing.

The structure is so simple it's outrageous.

What is its speed?

"He doesn't need to be very fast."

Zhao Zhanpeng stated bluntly:

"It's like a consumable item. How so? It's even cheaper than a man-portable air defense system, and its radar cross-section is extremely small. This isn't because it incorporates stealth design, but because its size is inherently very small. It's probably only a little over 2 meters long, about 3 meters in length. In addition, it's made of engineering plastics, which inherently have a very small radar cross-section, making it extremely difficult to intercept."

speed……"

Zhao Zhanpeng shook his head and said:
"It doesn't matter at all. What matters is that he can send a bomb weighing around 50 kg to hit the target hundreds of kilometers away, just like a cruise missile."

However, it does not have a complex guidance system such as terrain matching.

But its biggest advantage is its low price.

"cheap?"

"Yes, manager, just like I said before. It's cheaper than a portable anti-aircraft missile, which means... with current defense capabilities, it's unprofitable to intercept it by any means necessary."

and……"

After a slight pause, Zhao Zhanpeng drew a shipping container on the whiteboard.

"This is its launch box. These drones are placed inside the launch box at a certain angle. They are launched using small booster rockets, and can launch 5, 50, 500, or even thousands at a time..."

When Zhao Zhanpeng mentioned launching over a thousand aircraft, Gu Jingchen's eyes suddenly lit up, and he said...

"That's a saturation attack; it will penetrate the enemy's air defense system."

"That's right, it's to penetrate the enemy's air defense system. To attack their air defense missile sites, air defense radars, command centers, and similar targets."

Even if the other side intercepts 100 or 200, what's the point?

And even more suicide drones rained down.

"As long as the price is cheap enough, it's even possible to launch tens of thousands at once..."

Tens of thousands of aircraft launched at once...

For a moment, Gu Jingcheng was speechless. He looked at Zhao Zhanpeng in astonishment and said:

"It's like a missile..."

"It's just cheaper than a missile; one Tomahawk cruise missile can buy dozens or even more suicide drones."

Zhao Zhanpeng stood on the whiteboard and wrote down some of the most expensive components, then said:
"Its biggest advantages are that it is cheap and the technology is simple."

Gu Jingchen, who hadn't been very interested in this weapon before, stood up and walked to the whiteboard, looking at the sketch that Zhao Zhanpeng had drawn on it.

He pondered for a moment, then said:

"I think this weapon could very well cause us even more serious harm."

Then he looked at Zhao Zhanpeng and said:
"After all, as you said—its technology is very simple, and the price is extremely cheap."

This also means that less developed countries are more likely to copy this weapon. They might then use it to attack us.

Shrugging, Zhao Zhanpeng said bluntly:
"That is indeed a possibility, but manager, even if someone copies this suicide drone, it won't pose a serious threat to us."

Conventional interception methods are certainly very inefficient, but—"

Looking at Manager Zhao Zhanpeng, he said directly:

"This also creates a new business opportunity for us: how to intercept him. What do you think?"

Uh……

For a moment, Gu Jingchen didn't even know what to say. He felt that Zhao Zhanpeng was even more suitable to be the company's manager than himself. After all, a qualified arms dealer should not only sell spears, but also shields.

"However, I think the military would welcome this weapon very much, after all, what they need are cheaper long-range precision-guided weapons,"

Zhao Zhanpeng continued:

"In this war, the military dropped more than 100 million tons of iron bombs left over from World War II using strategic bombers."

However, as is well known, the most effective weapons in war are precision-guided weapons such as laser-guided bombs and Tomahawk missiles, while iron bombs are merely a deterrent.

Future wars will inevitably require a large number of precision-guided weapons.

I believe that the cost of such a suicide drone might even be cheaper than the military's cheapest laser-guided bomb, and it doesn't require aircraft delivery. It can be launched directly from hundreds or even thousands of kilometers away.

"Just like a Tomahawk missile."

Gu Jingchen said.

"This means that pilots don't need to risk penetrating enemy air defense networks, even in the presence of electronic jamming,"

"Yes,"

Zhao Zhanpeng nodded, and then said
"Not only does he not need to risk enemy air defense fire to deliver bombs, but he can also destroy enemy radar and anti-aircraft missile launch sites at the very first moment of the war, thereby dismantling their air defense network."

Of course, it was a little slower, but... a suicide drone doesn't require a pilot to deliver the bomb over the enemy's head.

Although it is inexpensive, I believe that in the future, its role on the battlefield will far surpass that of the Tomahawk cruise missile.

Then Zhao Zhanpeng looked at the manager and said:
"Manager, I only need 20 yuan in funding and six months. Then we can create a weapon that has never been seen before."

(End of this chapter)