Black technology: a super empire spanning two worlds

Chapter 400 [Estimated Cost of Integrated Aerial Base]

Once military bases themselves become mobile, they can be deployed and adjusted more flexibly on a global scale.

The air base that was withdrawn from this little brother's house has just been negotiated with another little brother, so we can just fly the base over there. How can such a deployment not be fast?
If we follow the traditional approach, we would have to build a base from scratch in this place, which would take several years even with the fastest efficiency.

The major Eastern power is facing industrial overcapacity. Many of its current overseas deployments and strategic maneuvers, including the development of the Belt and Road Initiative to revitalize the economic belt along the route, are aimed at exporting excess industrial capacity to those regions, which also happen to need industrial products. It can be said that there is a strong complementary relationship between them.

This also means that the major Eastern power will have increasingly larger overseas assets in the future, which will definitely require military force to provide protection. Therefore, there will certainly be a great demand for overseas military bases in the future.

"The advantages of a mobile, integrated air base are self-evident..." Zhao Heyang said in a deep voice, then looked at Xiao Yu: "But the question is, can this even be done?"

Upon hearing this, Xiao Yu smiled and said, "It's definitely impossible to do it now, but it will be a different story in twenty years. The premise that it can be done in twenty years is that we need to make plans and arrangements now. The work is done now, and the result will be in twenty years."

Zhao Heyang immediately pressed, "What do you mean by that?"

Xiao Yu continued, "To build such a massive integrated aerial base, the energy source must be nuclear energy, and the most ideal energy source is fusion energy. Currently, research on controlled nuclear fusion has seen a series of encouraging developments. I predict that it is very likely that a breakthrough in the application of controlled nuclear fusion will be achieved in twenty years."

Upon hearing this, Zhao Heyang countered, "But what if I don't break through? That's also possible."

Xiao Yu nodded and smiled, "That's right, it's certainly possible that there won't be a breakthrough. If there's no breakthrough in controlled nuclear fusion, we can still use our current fission nuclear energy technology. If aircraft carriers can be nuclear-powered, then air bases can be built just as easily."

Zhao Heyang nodded upon hearing this. Existing nuclear energy technology is essentially a safety net in terms of power energy. If the application of controlled nuclear fusion can be successfully implemented in twenty years, that would be ideal, as we could directly implement controlled nuclear fusion.

Without a breakthrough, current nuclear fission technology can serve as a substitute and a transitional solution to the energy problem of air bases. Just think of air bases as larger aircraft carriers, the difference being that the former floats in the air while the latter sails in the sea.

Xiao Yu said, "With sufficient energy support, the extensive use of room temperature superconducting materials in the airborne base would be enough to levitate the massive airborne base and lift it off the ground, thus achieving mobility."

Zhao Heyang had no doubts about this at all. One J-36 fighter jet had already been delivered to the Air Force, and its vertical takeoff and landing capability was due to its superconducting levitation capability.

Besides the J-36 fighter jet, the air railway project in Linzhou City, where air trains can float in the air, also benefits from room temperature superconductivity.

After a moment, Zhao Heyang pondered and said, "Room temperature superconducting materials are indeed a good thing, but they are so expensive. If we want to build an aerial base, the scale of room temperature superconducting materials used will definitely be measured in 'tens of thousands of tons,' which is definitely not economically feasible."

Upon hearing this, Xiao Yu smiled again and said, "Based on the current material costs, it's definitely unsustainable, but it will be a different story in twenty years. I've roughly calculated that, based on the current cost reduction cycle of room temperature superconducting materials, by the middle of this century, the price per ton could drop to 30 RMB, or at least 50 RMB."

"what?"

Zhao Heyang was taken aback when he heard the number and quickly calculated it in his mind.

Xiao Yu's smile remained unchanged as he slowly said, "Let's assume we build an aerial base with a capacity of 200 million tons..."

As soon as these words were spoken, Zhao Heyang, who was mentally calculating, was stunned upon hearing the figure of 200 million tons. He looked at Xiao Yu in astonishment, speechless. Xiao Yu continued, "A 200 million-ton aerial base would require approximately 35 tons of room-temperature superconducting material to achieve levitation and movement." "Based on a price of 30 yuan per ton, the cost of 35 tons of room-temperature superconducting material would be around 1050 billion yuan. The total budget for the entire base should be around 1500 billion yuan."

The numbers are large, but as a military base, the overall budget is actually not expensive. Traditional large-scale comprehensive military bases cost more than 10 billion US dollars.

Some of the super-large strategic bases, such as the Turtle Air Base on the border of Croatia and Bosnia, cost a staggering $70 billion when they were built and put into operation in the 60s, making them one of the most expensive military construction projects in Europe.

This cost is a huge sum even today; this figure alone is more than three times the combined annual military budgets of Serbia and Croatia in 2010.

If we factor in inflation over the past half-century and various exchange rate adjustments, it would be approximately US$442 billion today, equivalent to about RMB 3180 billion.

This is equivalent to the total budget of two 200 million-ton-class air bases. Most importantly, air bases are "mobile assets." It's not that if you invest 1500 billion, the money will remain permanently overseas as a sunk cost that you can't take with you. Instead, it can be taken away at any time.

This calculation obviously can't be done like a traditional military base. Let alone 1500 billion, even 2000 billion or 3000 billion would be worthwhile.

More importantly, due to the unique characteristic of the mobile nature of the air base, such a large structure was built domestically, meaning that the investment money remained in China, and even sunk costs remained in the mainland.

Just building an aerial base of this size, with a capacity of 200 million tons, would drive a huge industrial chain and a massive economy.

It can easily create a job gap of hundreds of thousands, even with the extensive use of intelligent robots and automated equipment.

However, the benefits of boosting the economy and employment, alleviating excess industrial capacity, and building technological reserves are not directly reflected in the financial results.

Such a large aerial base cannot be made entirely of metal or alloys; it certainly cannot be a solid block of iron. Apart from the main core load-bearing structure, other modules, including the buildings on the base's surface, all require a large amount of concrete.

Moreover, the total weight of the various concrete structures used certainly accounts for more than half of the total tonnage of the base, which is over 100 million tons.

Therefore, its cost will not be as high as that of an aircraft carrier with a displacement of 100,000 tons, which costs as much as 50 to 60 billion.

It is, after all, an air base, not an aircraft carrier.

At this moment, Xiao Yu said calmly, "I have initially decided on four standard tons for this integrated, mobile air base."

"The minimum standard for small-tonnage vessels must be above 60 tons, because it is not cost-effective to go below that tonnage. There is a hard standard for the budget to be spent. Whether to go for 30 tons or 50 tons, the amount of money spent will not be reduced much just because the tonnage is reduced. Going too small is actually not cost-effective."

Xiao Yu added: "The standard for medium-sized tonnage vessels should be around 200 million tons, the standard for large tonnage vessels should be around 500 million tons, and the standard for super-large tonnage vessels should be above 1000 million tons."

……

(End of this chapter)