Development of productivity started in 1981

Chapter 271

"General Hayes, this is bad. All the electronic equipment of our guided missile frigate No. 31 has been destroyed. We have lost contact with it."

Inside the U.S. Navy's Pacific Command, a staff officer hurried over to report the bad news.

"What? All electronic equipment is destroyed and contact is lost? Then how did they transmit the message?" Admiral Hayes asked.

"General, their power system is still working normally. After losing their communication equipment, they quickly withdrew from that sea area and contacted the Kidd-class destroyer No. 113 patrolling the periphery through flag signals. Then they reported the situation back through the radio on the Kidd-class destroyer." The staff officer told Admiral Hayes all the details he had learned.

"Damn it! We only asked them to monitor the impact point of Myanmar's intercontinental ballistic missiles. How could all the electronic equipment be destroyed? Could it be that the other party's experimental warhead has an EMP function?"

"General, Captain Coffey and his crew were very close to a Burmese destroyer at the time, and the other side seemed to have activated radio silence one minute before they saw the test warhead fall into the sea.

Captain Coffey was wondering why the other party stopped sending out any electronic signals at that time.

Unexpectedly, in less than a minute, a loud bang was heard in the air, and then the radar and radio stations on their ship stopped working, and even a small flame came out of an electronic equipment cabinet.

Fortunately, the damage control personnel handled it in time, otherwise their warship would have been burned.

Therefore, Captain Coffey judged that the other party's test bomb was equipped with some kind of bomb that can generate EMP electromagnetic pulses, and the purpose should be to test the electromagnetic destructive capability of future nuclear weapons. "

"So Burma is already conducting preliminary tests of nuclear weapons. Take note and report our situation immediately to the Pentagon and the President.

It's time to update our fleet equipment. We can't even defend against the EMP bombs used by the other side for testing. We will be no match for the Soviet Navy in the future." General Hayes said to the staff officer in a serious tone.

While recording the order, the staff officer was thinking that except for the nuclear submarines of the Soviet Navy that could fight back and forth with them, the other surface ships were simply not comparable.

However, the navy must know how to cry poor and exaggerate its opponents in order to obtain more funding and build more and more powerful warships.

So he faithfully recorded the general's orders and then reported to the relevant departments.

At this time in the South Pacific exercise area, Myanmar's test fleet was calmly salvaging simulated warheads, titanium alloy data cabins, and a large number of mid-range and terminal fragments.

Originally they thought that the mission would be difficult to complete perfectly because an American frigate, relying on its large size, had been trying to insert itself into the exercise area.

If the two newest destroyers were not slightly faster, more flexible in turning, and were not willing to ram each other to stop the American frigate, the American frigate would have really been allowed to intrude into the exercise area.

Even though the two destroyers were determined to fight and their guns had completed the aiming action, the American frigate was still unwilling to leave and kept sailing close to one of the destroyers.

Fortunately, the EMP component of the missile exploded and it actually worked.

At that time, thick smoke was coming out from under the radar somewhere on the American frigate.

The Burmese Navy, who had been nervously preparing for battle, were overjoyed when they saw that scene.

They didn't even take any action, and the missiles in the sky helped them vent their anger.

They opened the electronic reconnaissance cabin after the scheduled time and found that all electronic signals disappeared after the missile frigate caught fire.

People on the opposite ship were busy coming and going. Some were using water pipes to put out the fire, some were climbing up the antenna with tools to check, and there were people on the watchtower using flag signals to ask them for certain information.

The destroyers of the Quanjie formation ignored them and directly shouted through the loudspeaker, asking them to leave the restricted exercise area as soon as possible.

The other side waved flags so diligently, but the Myanmar side just didn't respond and kept urging them to leave quickly.

The US Navy frigate circled around for more than 10 minutes before quickly leaving.

Because they found that all the antennas on the outside of the ship were damaged, the entire ship had lost contact with the outside world, and the damage control personnel on the ship tried to repair it, but there were insufficient spare parts.

Although there were plans for such extreme situations, no such accidents have occurred in the more than 10 years since they were delivered to the Navy, so some of the spare parts were not updated after they expired.

Therefore, in order to restore communications, we must return to the port immediately, urgently transfer parts from the spare parts warehouse, and then repair the damaged antenna.

Fortunately, the internal power system was not affected and was able to maintain power, otherwise they might really have become iron coffins drifting on the sea.

By the time they left the restricted exercise area and found the Kidd-class destroyer cruising on the periphery, more than half an hour had passed.

After the two warships reunited, Captain Coffey of the missile frigate contacted the headquarters with the help of the radio on the Kidd-class ship.

Under such circumstances, the original mission to closely monitor and even seize Myanmar's test warheads failed.

In addition, the terminal tracking data is also incomplete. It only contains the missile signal that reaches more than 10 kilometers above the sea surface after the opponent leaves the thermal barrier area.

General Coffey looked at the surveillance signal stored in the shipboard computer and remained silent for a long time.

Because it's really incredible.

The opponent's missiles could actually maneuver at the terminal, instead of only being able to adjust their trajectory slightly like their missiles.

In this case, the enemy's missiles seem to be able to be used to attack moving targets at sea.

Thinking of this, he couldn't help but break out in a cold sweat.

From now on, their large and medium-sized ships will face attacks from this type of missile.

Once the opponent's missile enters the mid-stage, our side currently has no effective means to block it.

Although they proposed the Star Wars plan, and many test projects for anti-satellite and anti-space target weapons have been carried out, the results are still very unsatisfactory.

For example, space-based laser weapons have encountered many difficulties.

For example, energy supply systems, calibration systems, high-power laser generators, etc., are not problems that can be solved by current technology.

Many scientific researchers are working on these issues one by one.

However, whether and when it will succeed is still an unknown, but the opponent's ballistic missile attack on warships seems to be about to complete the test.

In addition, the other side installed an EMP bomb in the experimental bomb to simulate electromagnetic pulses, which may be a test for nuclear weapons.

After Captain Coffey read the data, he chose to have the Kidd-class destroyer upload the data on his behalf.

Within the Pentagon, several departments quickly launched an analysis after receiving intelligence about Myanmar's intercontinental ballistic missile tests uploaded by multiple overseas bases.

"Minister, the Philippine radar station has sent back intelligence. We have recorded the data of its ascent phase and entered it into the database."

The head of the Pentagon at this time was Caspar Weinberger, President Reagan's first Secretary of Defense, who led the reconstruction of the US military in the late Cold War, including promoting the "Star Wars" program (Strategic Defense Initiative, SDI).

"Very good, did the data analysis reveal anything?"

"Uh~, it's very strange, there is only the section from 40 kilometers to 90 kilometers above the ground, and there is nothing after that." The intelligence officer replied.

"No more, you mean?"

"That's right. Our radar cannot clearly see the flight path of the enemy missile after it is 90 kilometers above the ground."

"How could this be? I remember that the radar there was specially strengthened. It was previously used to deal with the armed forces of the Soviet Union's base in Cam Ranh Bay and guard against the ballistic missiles deployed by the other side there. It should not only be able to record signals within 90 kilometers, but at least it should be able to observe within 180 kilometers."

"That's the truth, Minister. Do you think the other party has any special technology?"

"Special technology? What do you mean?"

"I don't know either, but we have relevant experts, we can ask them."

After getting the minister's approval, the intelligence officer began to contact an expert in the relevant field.

After listening to the radar performance and observation data, the expert gave his judgment.

"If I'm not mistaken, the enemy's missile body has an ablative carbon-carbon composite heat shield. When it reaches a certain temperature, it will begin to sublimate and form an ionosphere, which is equivalent to electromagnetic shielding."

"Electromagnetic shielding for ballistic missiles? Do we have the technology to do that?"

"It can be manufactured experimentally, but it should be difficult to equip it on a large scale. This ablative carbon-carbon composite heat shield is very difficult to manufacture and the cost is very high. In addition, the technical stability is not enough. Over time, the strength and other properties will significantly decay, so it is basically impossible to mass produce it."

"Okay, thank you very much, I'll buy you coffee after get off work." "Okay, don't forget it, bye."

The intelligence officer hung up the phone with the expert he had contacted several times before, and then reported the situation to Weinberg.

"You said that the enemy's missiles use some kind of ablative carbon-carbon composite heat shield, and that this heat shield is something that even the United States cannot produce stably?"

"Yes, that expert is an authority in this field, and his words are very credible. If you want more accurate information, I will consult a few other experts."

"No need. I will believe it for now, because the enemy's missile is indeed extraordinary."

It turned out that Secretary Weinberg had already received observation data from a large ground-based telescope in Hawaii, data from the U.S. Space-Based Infrared System (SBIRS), and intelligence transmitted back by the Pacific Navy.

The radio telescope in Hawaii did see the other party, but the target was far away in space 1200 kilometers above the ground.

The United States currently does not have any weapons that can shoot down missiles in outer space.

The space-based infrared system did not work this time and did not see the other party at all. I don’t know why.

In fact, it was the gallium nitride jammer on the intercontinental ballistic missile that emitted L-band noise, suppressing the staring sensor of the US Space-Based Infrared System (SBIRS), which made the US defense system blind.

There are some useful data on the Pacific side.

However, after reading it, Minister Weinberg couldn't help but have a headache.

Because the data shows that the opponent's warhead is capable of large-scale terminal maneuvers, and at a hypersonic speed of Mach 15.

When this analysis conclusion came out, the relevant experts couldn't believe it and even suspected that the data was wrong, so they asked the Pacific Naval Command to check it carefully.

However, the final conclusion is that the opponent's missile is a hypothetical waverider structure.

The concept of waverider was first proposed in the 1950s by British scientist Terry Nonweiler, who pointed out that aircraft can achieve a high lift-to-drag ratio by using the pressure difference generated by shock waves.

In the 1960s, NASA's X-15 rocket plane (maximum speed of Mach 6.7) verified the feasibility of hypersonic flight, but did not adopt a waverider design.

After that, during the arms race between the United States and the Soviet Union, the two countries tried to optimize the aerodynamic shape in the research of ballistic missile reentry vehicles (RVs), but due to limitations in computing power and material technology, waveriders were not put into practical use.

In the 80s, the popularity of supercomputers made complex shock wave simulation possible, and NASA Langley Research Center developed waverider optimization algorithms (such as the cone-guided method).

However, by 1987, the United States had not yet completed the design, and there was no corresponding hypersonic wind tunnel, so it was not known when the design would be finalized.

After learning all the reconnaissance observation data and analysis conclusions of Myanmar’s missile test, Weinberger quickly reported to the president who was waiting for the news.

"Mr. President, the Burmese missile is a weapon that uses a variety of epoch-making technologies. We must pay attention to it. In addition, I suggest checking with the Soviet Union and China to see if they have provided any help. Otherwise, I really can't imagine how Burma could design and manufacture such a strange missile."

"Weinberg, go contact the Soviet Union. Their top leaders have basically accepted our peaceful propaganda. We can discuss some cutting-edge scientific research openly so that we can be prepared when we accept their scientists and related technologies in the future."

"Okay Mr. President, I'll make the call right away."

At this time, the Soviet leadership had undergone a major reshuffle.

The leader of the Soviet Communist Party was Mikhail Gorbachev.

He came to power on March 1985, 3.

After taking office, he began to lead "Reform and New Thinking" (Перестройка и Гасность), and was a key figure in promoting the transformation of the political and economic system and in the US-Soviet nuclear disarmament negotiations.

The Chairman of the Council of Ministers is Nikolay Ryzhkov.

He came to power on September 1985, 9, and was in charge of economic reforms. He attempted to introduce market mechanisms, but encountered a lot of resistance due to the inertia of the planned economy.

The Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet (nominal head of state) was Andrei Gromyko, who came to power on July 1985, 7.

He is a senior diplomat who served as Foreign Minister for 28 years (1957-1985) and strongly supports Gorbachev's reforms.

The Minister of Defense is Sergei Sokolov.

He came to power on December 1984, 12, and was responsible for military reforms and responding to the Afghan War and the US-Soviet arms race.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs was Eduard Shevardnadze.

He came to power on July 1985, 7 and pushed for the signing of the Intermediate-Range Missile Treaty between the United States and the Soviet Union to ease the Cold War confrontation.

The person Weinberg wanted to contact was Soviet Defense Minister Sergei Sokolov.

That's right, they were in touch through a dedicated line.

"Hello! Sergey Sokolov, I'm Weinberg."

"Hello, Weinberg. Are you calling at this time to discuss the Intermediate-Range Missile Treaty?"

"We'll talk about that later. I'm here to talk to you about Myanmar. You should know that they tested an intercontinental ballistic missile a few hours ago."

"Yes, our Cam Ranh Bay base has detected some orbital data. If you want, you can exchange it with the other party's terminal reentry data."

It turned out that the Soviet Union did not have any supply bases in the South Pacific at that time, and their surface ships basically did not operate there. Only some ballistic missile nuclear submarines would occasionally cruise or pass by there.

Therefore, the Soviet side did not have the final data. They were originally thinking about how to get it, but now that the United States asked first, they put forward the conditions first.

"Um, that's not what we want to talk about. I want to confirm with you whether there is anyone from Myanmar who can provide some research assistance, such as hypersonic wind tunnel testing, carbon-carbon composite material research, etc."

Weinberg asked all the questions he wanted to know on the phone.

Sergei Sokolov said firmly on the phone that no help was provided, and they were also wondering why the opponent's missiles could not be detected more than 80 kilometers from the ground.

The two sides reconciled their accounts over the phone and found that Myanmar's technology was indeed very strange, and that those technologies were either imagined by scientists and were basically difficult to achieve, or they were technologies that the two countries were working hard to develop and it was unknown when they would be realized.

After checking the accounts, the two men talked about military and technological cooperation.

At this time, the negotiations on the INF Treaty between the two countries were nearing completion. The Soviet Union changed its previous tough attitude and was now very soft towards the United States.

In fact, it is not difficult to understand that the United States has completely grasped the lifeline of the Soviet Union through the weapon of food.

The Soviet Union’s previous policies led to a continuous decline in domestic grain production capacity. After entering the 80s, a large amount of grain had to be imported from overseas every year to make up for the domestic supply gap.

The United States discovered this weakness of the Soviet Union in time and adopted various methods to deal with food.

The early low-price dumping made the Soviet Union believe that there was plenty of grain on the international market and there was no need to rush to increase domestic grain production.

Then in the medium term, natural disaster warnings were issued from time to time, causing food prices to soar and consuming the Soviet Union's foreign exchange and gold reserves.

By 1987, the Soviet Union's treasury was basically empty due to food shortages.

In order to maintain domestic stability, the newly appointed leadership team had to ease relations with the United States.

Then they gradually accepted the ideas promoted by American economic experts and politicians.

After verifying the intelligence from the Soviet Union, Weinberg immediately contacted the president.

President Reagan also communicated with domestic parties through diplomatic channels and basically concluded that China did not have this technology.

Therefore, the two had to accept the sudden rise of Myanmar.

Originally, they envisioned that after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the United States could take a breather from the arms race and invest more resources in people's livelihood.

Now Myanmar has suddenly risen and is refreshing their cognition at an extremely fast speed.

They had to convene a special meeting to discuss how to deal with Myanmar's rise in the military field.

(End of this chapter)