The rise of a great power: starting with military industry

The situation seems tense.

But no actual war broke out.

The American warships were kept out, and the two sides negotiated in a friendly manner and fired fish together.

During this period, Panshan Group unveiled its first nuclear-powered aircraft, which conducted a long-distance 5.5-kilometer intercontinental cruise, shocking the world.

Nuclear-powered aircraft, this is a model that feels both strange and familiar.

During the Cold War, the United States and the Soviet Union formulated a series of crazy weapons development plans in order to gain an overwhelming military advantage over each other. Nuclear-powered aircraft were the most crazy of the crazy.

For example, the United States' NB-36H and the Soviet Union's Tu-119!

However, the problem of nuclear radiation protection of reactors troubled the United States and the Soviet Union. In addition, both sides already had intercontinental ballistic missiles, so nuclear-powered aircraft seemed redundant, so they both abandoned their plans to develop nuclear-powered aircraft.

But now, Panshan Group has secretly developed a nuclear-powered aircraft, which is expected to carry out a long-distance intercontinental cruise of 5.5 kilometers.

The chain reaction caused by this is extremely terrifying.

American aviation experts could not figure out how Panshan Group solved the nuclear radiation problem of the reactor.

You know, for an aircraft that stays in the air for such a long time, the cumulative effect of radiation is very large.

What's even more terrifying is that the nuclear-powered aircraft produced by Panshan Group can cruise at a supersonic speed of Mach 2.5 at high altitudes.

Such a high speed means that it is extremely difficult to intercept.

Not to mention, this nuclear-powered aircraft has strong air combat capabilities and can intercept missiles and aircraft.

When did China develop nuclear-powered aircraft? How many models of nuclear-powered aircraft did it develop? How many nuclear-powered aircraft did it have?

Countless problems have troubled everyone.

That nuclear-powered aircraft that was flying publicly was like a sword of Darkness hanging over everyone's head, making those who wanted to take risks feel deeply chilled.

No one who can become a decision-maker is a real fool.

Ordinary people only see a nuclear-powered aircraft, but they see more and have more to think about.

Ordinary people can watch the fun, but they can't.

This thing is a strategic-level weapon and equipment, and what it does is drop nuclear warheads on their heads as soon as possible.

This is definitely the kind of thing that would make them unable to sleep well at night, and even if they sleep, they would have nightmares. In the nightmares, this nuclear-powered aircraft breaks through the multiple defense systems, and then drops a nuclear warhead at their location, causing a mushroom cloud to rise.

In the past, a terrifying nuclear balance was formed between the United States and the Soviet Union.

The so-called nuclear balance refers to a state of balance of power formed by the mutual restraint of nuclear forces between the United States and the Soviet Union in the field of nuclear weapons. In the presence of nuclear weapons, the United States and the Soviet Union maintained a fragile state of peace by having sufficient nuclear counterattack capabilities to prevent their opponents from using nuclear weapons. In this state, neither side dared to launch a nuclear attack easily, because this might lead to a nuclear counterattack from the other side, which would lead to catastrophic consequences. The stability of the nuclear balance depends on many factors, including the quantity, quality, delivery means, command and control system of nuclear weapons, and the decision-making willingness of the country.

Everyone knows that the nuclear balance is not absolutely stable. It is affected by many factors, including technological progress, changes in the international situation, and strategic relations between countries.

In fact, today the nuclear balance has been broken.

The five permanent members of the UN Security Council are all aware of this, but ordinary people are not aware of it, and most countries are not aware of it either.

In today's world, everyone has a consensus that the five permanent members are countries that enjoy the right to freely arm themselves with nuclear weapons. In today's world system, the right to enjoy nuclear armament is a privilege of a major power, that is, the privilege of the five permanent members. Any other country in the world other than the five permanent members is not recognized by the international community as having the right to possess nuclear weapons.

Under the current international order, even the attempt of other countries to possess nuclear weapons is not tolerated by the international community. After so many years of experience and lessons, nuclear weapons have become a political taboo that countries and regions other than the five permanent members of the UN Security Council cannot approach.

In fact, the five permanent members of the UN Security Council are well aware that nuclear weapons are like a sharp weapon of the state, truly showing their cold light and truly becoming the first lifeline for defending national security! Whoever possesses nuclear weapons is qualified to be at the table in the region, rather than being put on the menu.

However, it is almost impossible for countries and regions other than the five permanent members to possess nuclear weapons.

Once a country is detected and begins to develop nuclear weapons, it will be boycotted by the international community. If it is stubborn, it may be hit by military action.

Unless this country has sufficient military strength to be able to withstand the worst moment and ultimately develop nuclear weapons in the worst case scenario.

If we can do this, then we will definitely be qualified to have a say in regional affairs.

The five permanent members of the UN Security Council also have their own development directions in terms of nuclear power.

Russia has the largest scale and largest number of nuclear warheads. Its goal is to make it impossible for the enemy's defense system to stop it when using nuclear weapons. Its goal is to perish together. If I can't survive, you can't survive either.

Although the UK now has nuclear weapons, the missiles used as launch vehicles are from the United States. To use nuclear weapons, the Americans must agree. If the Americans do not agree, then the UK cannot use nuclear weapons. Other countries have a triad of nuclear strike forces, that is, through land-based missiles, submarine-launched missiles, and strategic bombers. The UK can no longer do this because it no longer has strategic bombers, and the missiles used as carriers are from the Americans.

France does have a triad nuclear strike capability, but only in a broad sense, because the nuclear warheads carried by French bombers can only hit Moscow but not New York. France's nuclear strategy is self-protection. If anyone dares to drop a nuclear warhead on France, France will drop a nuclear warhead on Russia and influence the world through Russia's nuclear strategy.

Since the 90s, the United States has been working hard to build up national strategic defense capabilities to weaken the threats posed by other countries' strategic bombers and missiles, thereby establishing its own nuclear advantage.

China has long pursued nuclear asymmetry. There is no other way. It has neither quantity nor quality. It can only pursue asymmetry to deter those with ulterior motives. The number of nuclear warheads is also kept strictly confidential. When anyone asks, the answer is "enough".

As a result, after so many years, China has truly achieved "enough" and has inherited some ideas from the United States and is truly implementing them.

No one has the confidence that they can penetrate China's defense system!

China now has both sharp spears that can penetrate the shields of other countries and solid shields that can defend against the spears of other countries. If China had not truly pursued peace, the world would have undergone earth-shaking changes long ago.

Just as Panshan Group's nuclear-powered aircraft stunned the world, Liu Tao was inspecting the national nuclear project.

China has always attached great importance to nuclear weapons.

Contrary to the common impression that nuclear weapons are expensive weapons, in fact, nuclear weapons are a relatively cheap and fast deterrent option in terms of both deterrence effectiveness and actual combat effectiveness. Modern land, sea and air forces plus related C4 electronic combat support facilities at all levels are extremely expensive for any country, and require long-term training, equipment procurement, equipment updates and maintenance, and a large amount of personnel expenses. The two tasks of firepower and mobility that can be accomplished are far from what nuclear weapons can accomplish.

Nuclear weapons can quickly and efficiently form a country's military deterrence and combat capability, thus giving a country a huge strategic deterrent capability. The same deterrent capability must be achieved using conventional weapons. First, it is almost impossible to achieve in theory, and second, the cost is huge, far exceeding the cost of nuclear weapons.

The explosive yield of nuclear weapons is hundreds of thousands of times that of conventional chemical explosives, so nuclear weapons can balance existing conventional forces with a power equivalent to ten thousand.

Nuclear weapons are essentially a weapon system with the highest performance-to-price ratio for the same military destructive effect.

What Liu Tao was inspecting at this time were tactical nuclear weapons!

Nuclear weapons are divided into tactical and strategic levels according to their purpose. Strategic nuclear weapons are large-yield, long-range nuclear weapons used to destroy enemy cities on a large scale. People's impression of nuclear weapons is actually that they belong to strategic nuclear weapons.

Tactical nuclear weapons are of small yield and short range, and are mainly used to directly support operations on land, sea, and air battlefields and to strike important targets within the enemy's tactical depth.

The development of tactical nuclear weapons is later than that of strategic nuclear weapons, and the requirements for nuclear energy technology required by tactical nuclear weapons are also higher and more complex, and the prerequisite is to have the technology of strategic nuclear weapons.

The characteristics of tactical nuclear weapons are small size, light weight, good maneuverability, high hit accuracy, and explosive power of hundreds of tons, thousands of tons, ten thousand tons and one hundred thousand tons of TNT equivalent. They are mobile and projected by vehicles, aircraft, and ships. They are mainly used to attack important targets that have a direct impact on military operations, such as missile launch sites, command posts, assembled troops, aircraft, ships, tank groups, field fortifications, ports, airports, railway hubs, important bridges and warehouses and other tactical targets.

At present, the five permanent members of the UN Security Council have strategic nuclear weapons, while only the top three permanent members have tactical nuclear weapons.

In front of Liu Tao is a nuclear shell that can be fired directly through the gun barrel. The power of a nuclear shell is much stronger than that of an ordinary shell.

Miniaturization of nuclear weapons is very technical.

Sometimes we hear about the miniaturization of nuclear weapons. The result of the so-called miniaturization of nuclear weapons is what we see today.

The miniaturization of nuclear weapons includes the miniaturization of explosive devices and nuclear charges.

Just this one nuclear bomb had an explosive equivalent of an incredible 50 tons of TNT!

There is also a not-so-big nuclear mine, but its explosive equivalent reaches a terrifying 20 tons of TNT. It is conceivable how horrific the effect would be if a large nuclear-powered aircraft carrier was hit by such a nuclear mine.

Liu Tao and the nuclear technicians were communicating in a low voice. To be honest, the number of China's current tactical nuclear weapons is just enough and definitely not too many.

At that time, the number of tactical nuclear weapons of the United States and the Soviet Union reached more than 4.14, with each country possessing to tactical nuclear weapons.

In comparison, China has far fewer tactical nuclear weapons.

As for small-yield tactical nuclear weapons, they range from as small as a few hundred tons to as large as hundreds of thousands of tons!

Different tactical nuclear weapons are suitable for different scenarios.

Of course, there are also neutron bombs, shock wave bombs, etc.

In terms of tactical nuclear weapons, China is closely following the United States and Russia in terms of performance and is in the first echelon in the world.

China has a concept in the development of weapons, which is that one must have a sword in one's own hands. One can choose not to use it, but one must have it.

In fact, China has suffered too much in this regard.

If you fall behind, you will be beaten!

This sentence is deeply engraved in the Chinese bones.

Over the years, there have been countless examples of China being cheated.

For example, the aviation engine data released by the Americans was actually fake. However, China believed it to be true and pursued it as a goal, overcoming numerous difficulties. When China's aviation engines reached the target, it was discovered that the American data was fake.

For example, the lunar soil that the Americans gave us back then was studied with great interest by China, and we never suspected that it was fake. But when China's own lunar probe arrived on the moon, it obtained lunar soil and studied it, and found that it seemed to be different from the lunar soil given by the Americans. That's it. At first, China thought that the lunar soil it obtained was only in one place, and it was normal to have errors. Then, it landed in three places, and the lunar soil research data obtained were quite different from the lunar soil given by the Americans, so it had to be doubted.

The whole world is now questioning whether the United States' "Apollo Project" actually landed on the moon. Even many Americans question whether the "Apollo Project" was actually completed in a Hollywood studio. Only China has not yet doubted that the United States' "Apollo Project" was fake.

Even the Americans have been postponing their plans to return to the moon.

To be honest, even Liu Tao was somewhat puzzled, because in the field of aerospace, the Soviet Union had always been leading, and the Soviet aerospace industry had created countless world firsts. And in terms of manned lunar landing, the Soviet Union tried its best to prove that the probe could go back and forth between the earth and the moon. As for sending astronauts to the moon, the demonstrations had always failed, but the Americans succeeded, and they succeeded in manned lunar landing more than once.

Now facing China's rapid prospects in the field of aerospace, everyone knows that China's manned lunar landing is a foregone conclusion. The United States has also announced a plan to return to the moon, but it was postponed by Barack.

In recent years, NASA's return plan has remained a show, with astronauts being selected from all over the world for manned lunar landings, but in terms of technology, there is no sign that NASA is making down-to-earth preparations to return to the moon.

Liu Tao really couldn't believe that NASA could just dig out the Saturn V launch vehicle from the warehouse and complete it in one go.

You have to know that today, not only are the observation stations on the ground much more advanced than they were back then, but the performance of satellites in space is also not comparable to what it was back then.

China is in the lunar orbit, but it also has satellites. (End of this chapter)