Eh? Do you also want to try the iron fist of the humanoid girl?

These are objectively unavoidable problems.

Even if they join, they can at most assist in resource allocation within the scope of their own disposal, but those equipment and parts that need to be purchased from outside will have nothing to do with them.

Chapter 119 Comprehensive Expansion

At the end of 38, with the arrival of the first batch of culturally trained workers at the shipyard, the U.S. Navy entered a new era.

Before signing a ceasefire agreement with the Latin American alliance, the Navy proposed expanding the aircraft carrier battle group to 14.

Without reducing the Pacific Fleet, the Atlantic Fleet's aircraft carrier battle groups will be expanded to eight, ensuring that two to three aircraft carrier battle groups can be deployed in hot spots at any time.

In addition, the construction of the Pearl Harbor Naval Base in the overseas enclave of Hawaii will be strengthened so that it has two large slipways capable of maintaining aircraft carriers.

The previously popular "Littoral Combat Ship" had all remaining orders canceled due to lack of modules, poor reliability, high price and unsuitability for large-scale wars.

The "Littoral Combat Ships" that have already been in service will be immediately withdrawn from active service and buyers will be sought on the international arms market at relatively low prices.

Also during this period, Vice Admiral Noah William Harris, Chief of Naval Surface Warfare (USFFC), said in an interview that the Navy's recent force structure study placed more emphasis on large surface combat ships, and their missions would be expanded from land strikes to the destruction of sea targets.

This shift in priorities requires the surface force to rebalance its ongoing modernization program.

His deputy said: "We want to build a large number of frigates, while adding a smaller number of highly capable dedicated air defense ships to the fleet."

As a member of the system and also a member of the production side, Raphael inevitably came into contact with more practical content.

The battleship evaluation and demand study was just completed not long ago and is still confidential to the outside world, but Raphael already has the specific content in his hands.

The Ticonderoga-class cruisers have reached the point where they will all have to be retired from service, and the improvement strategies adopted by the Burke III-class destroyers currently under construction have caused concerns.

These upgrades have improved the performance of the warships to a certain extent, but they cannot fundamentally solve the inherent defects caused by the hull.

As the platform that was to take over the fleet's maritime air defense command and control, its hull upgrade potential has been exhausted. With no plans to commission a new generation of destroyer platforms, the Navy has continued to rely on the Burke class for the past 10 years.

A recent shipbuilding report indicated that the purchase price of the Interim II Burke-class destroyer, which was built using some Type III technology, has soared to $42 billion per ship.

In comparison, in 12, the purchase price of the Burke II/A, which was built without new technology, was only $18 billion.

Now the cost of the Type III destroyer on the slipway of Bath Iron Shipyard has soared to a staggering $48.2 billion.

The high purchase price and slow construction speed have forced the Navy to review all existing shipbuilding plans and question whether the high spending over the years is really worth it and whether this will affect the allocation of funds for other military projects.

Soon after, the first conclusion was to abandon the two DDG-1000 Zumwalt-class warships and all corresponding plans.

Then, under the instruction of General Eric, the Navy Materiel Command issued a tender for the FFG(X) project, proposing that the main missions of the ship include:

It provides air defense support for aircraft carrier strike groups and Marine expeditionary strike groups, and can also operate independently; it has comprehensive anti-submarine and patrol capabilities; in medium and low threat environments, it can independently escort transoceanic logistics support ships; it also has large-scale intelligence surveillance and reconnaissance and independent electronic warfare capabilities.

At the same time, and more importantly, we hope that bidders will participate in the bidding based on mature design plans, and we plan to purchase 30 ships.

In order to train engineers and scientists under the Naval Equipment Command, the command divided them into three research teams and required them to submit warship plans to replace the Ticonderoga-class cruisers within 3 months.

In 16 months, these projects will compete with proposals from outside companies, whose project is called CG(X) and is expected to discharge 15000 tons of water.

In terms of aviation, in addition to accelerating the purchase of F-35C, the Navy abandoned the F-35C's "air combat performance improvement" plan and instead planned to develop a carrier-based heavy air superiority fighter similar to the old F-14 Tomcat.

In addition to these numerous and large-scale military projects, the US military has also made comprehensive improvements to existing equipment.

There is only one focus for improvement: to adapt to future wars that are more complex and more intense.

These military projects have made every American, as well as people in other countries who are paying attention to these things, realize that the United States has returned to the conservative and radical Cold War era, and that the opponent it faces this time is likely to be the Soviet Union that crawled out of hell.

The new Soviet Union, with its ultra-productive robots, has become a more powerful, more difficult to defeat, and more sustainably competitive opponent than ever before.

Although from now on, the United States will inevitably not be able to complete all military projects as planned, because this means that starting from 39, the defense budget will increase at an annual rate of 38%, and the starting point is the expenditure base of .

Not to mention lasting 20 years, even if it only lasts 10 years, it will bankrupt the federal government.

But the wars against Canada and Latin America could largely offset some of the expenses.

Compared with the United States, the new Soviet Union's arms expansion plan can only be described as "gentle."

More importantly, the new Soviet Union's military expansion would not be effective in a short period of time.

Whether it is a frigate, destroyer, aircraft carrier, or attack nuclear submarine, the construction cycle of the navy is very long, and it takes sufficient time to form combat effectiveness.

It is impossible to pose a threat to the United States in just a few years, and it is impossible to have the ability to conduct ocean-going operations overnight.

The rebirth of the 1144.2M-type cruiser "Frunze" was more of a masterpiece of the new Soviet Union for experimenting with general-purpose robots and training shipyard workers.

According to intelligence provided by the CIA, the new Soviet Union only plans to modify one of the remaining Type 1144 cruisers.

That is, when the Frunze left the slipway of the Moscow Shipyard and entered the outfitting stage, a cruiser in slightly better condition was selected from the remaining Type 1144 cruisers for modification.

The new Soviet Union has the worst naval foundation. Even if it devotes all its efforts in the next 10 years, it will be difficult for them to gain an advantage in the Atlantic or Pacific Oceans according to their situation.

The ports in the Black Sea are a bunch of empty ports; Nakhodka and Vladivostok in the Far East are in the Sea of ​​Japan, and the extremely high concentration of collapse fluid has directly blocked these ports; only Murmansk in the Arctic Ocean meets the requirements, but if you go out, you will be blocked in the North Atlantic.

It would be difficult to gain an advantage in a confrontation with the US Navy.

Therefore, the new Soviet Union focused more on the army and air force in national defense construction and was no longer afraid of military conflicts on the ground.

If absolutely necessary, the new Soviet Union will not shy away from using military means to resolve problems.

Chapter 120 Exploration

Because at night, Raphael could only see two rows of landing lights on the runway and the lighted control tower. Judging from the location and size of the control tower, as well as the brightly lit city in the distance, it should be a large civilian airport.

It's another two hours' drive from the airport to the base.

When he arrived at the experimental base, the first person Raphael saw was not a DARPA researcher, but Air Force Lieutenant General Harry B. Carnegie in military uniform.

"Harry, why are you here?"

"Why can't I be here?" Harry smiled at Raphael, then turned to the people around him and said, "Find two more people to look after the warehouse. Those are all valuable assets, and nothing can go wrong."

"clear."

Harry waited until everyone around him had left before calling Raphael.

"Come on, I'll show you around and we'll go find them later."

"Are you the person in charge here now?"

"Not really. I'm just responsible for some management work."

After saying this, Harry didn't say anything more, and Raphael didn't ask any more questions.

After entering the experimental base, Raphael suddenly remembered that this was the "Advanced Autonomous Humanoid Research Base" that was built at the beginning of the year.

Judging from the name alone, this laboratory has nothing to do with the military.

Since the birth of "Raphael", artificial intelligence and autonomous humanoids have not made any major breakthroughs for a long time. No matter how many bodies are made, as long as there is no suitable carrier, it is just a waste of manpower and materials.

Unless they intend to continue manufacturing the relic cores used by "Raphael".

Ultimately, there has been no absolute theoretical breakthrough in artificial intelligence.

The base wasn't very big, so the two of them took a look around and then went to Harry's office.

"This is my temporary office. I come here occasionally and don't stay for more than a few days. It's a bit messy, so just sit anywhere."

It wasn't just a little messy, it was very messy. Raphael moved the documents piled on the chair away before he found a place to rest his butt.

"Well, it's surprising, isn't it?"

"One thing, this is my first time here."

"I heard that you participated in a lot of things when you were working in Leipzig. I didn't expect that you could really digest and use that knowledge. If you had been used in this area from the beginning, you would probably have been a well-known young scientist long ago."

Raphael smiled and said nothing more.

"How well do you know this place?"

“First time here.”

"Actually, I don't know much about it. I only came here once eight years ago when I stopped the core research of the ruins." Harry smiled and said, "To put it simply, this base began to be built when the US military discovered the ruins."

"During World War II?"

"It should be 1953, when the Soviet Union's Tabashar-B made a breakthrough."

At that time, an arrow-shaped computer deployed on Tabashar-B had an unknown interactive communication with the remains of the ruins migrated from the first ruin (Urkunde-01).

The remains of the ruins were communicating and calculating directly with the Arrow Computer through a gravitational field, which lasted for 651 seconds before stopping due to overheating and overloading of the Arrow Computer.

The remains of the ruins devoured some surrounding materials in an unknown way: half a steel bracket, a cotton glove, a notebook, half a wooden table, and then expanded its own volume as if it was "growing".

"…After we received the intelligence, we immediately took it seriously."

"Then this place should be called the Relic Weapon Research Center, not the current Autonomous Humanoid Research Base."

"The Relic Weapon Research Center has moved. They felt that this site was too small to operate. They found a place in Nevada. This place is nothing compared to the site in Nevada."

Raphael smiled, knowing that Harry was talking about the weapons testing site in Nevada. It was indeed a good place, but he felt that humans were really scary at times.

"The site is old and sparsely populated, so it's easy to make a fuss about it. According to my understanding, this base was created for you at that time, and the restart funds were allocated from other departments' projects. No one knows the specific flow of funds."

"CIA operation?"

Harry made two cups of coffee, took a sip and said:

"Only by letting the intelligence agencies take charge can we ensure absolute confidentiality. Because the production of your body and core needs to be kept strictly confidential. To this end, we hollowed out a mountain behind the base. Because digging the bunker requires the transportation of a large amount of earth and stone, and a large amount of reinforced concrete, unprecedented infrastructure work was carried out in two nearby cities at the same time. Including a civilian airport that has been put into operation,"

Raphael knew that the airport Harry was talking about was the airport she had seen in the sky not long ago.

"how much did you spend?"

"The initial investment is nothing, the subsequent investment is the key."

Raphael's brows twitched a few times. In Harry's mouth, money seemed to be just a number.

At this time, Harry stood up and walked to the wall, fiddled with it for a while, and then turned on the inconspicuous CD player.

The clarinet notes danced around the humming bass, and the French horn's sounds were like the fluttering wings of colorful butterflies, slowly interweaving into layers of soft and magnificent sound waves.

The bright and sacred "Pilgrim Chorus" is played by clarinet, French horn and bassoon in E major, then leaps into its dominant direction, and then descends a semitone. The melody reveals Tannhauser's inner pain.

The string orchestra joined in just right, delicately playing Tannhauser's "confession" motive, revealing the protagonist's silent confession over and over again.

"Pilgrim's Chorus" and "Confession" alternated, the music gradually became louder, and the particles of sound filled the entire office, and even the music could be heard in the corridor outside the room.

The double bass and flute played one after another, and the tremolo produced by the string group was also a foreshadowing.

The sound of the oboe flew up into the air like a torn silk, and the flute joined in the performance, and the performance of various woodwind instruments began.

The melody was so beautiful that Raphael couldn't help but close his eyes.

"Tannhuiser." Harry sighed, "Did you like the gift I gave you at that time?"

“At first, I didn’t like it.”

"now what?"

"..."

"I hoped it would relieve melancholy and irritability when you were unable to move, and it seems to have fulfilled its duty."

Harry paused for a moment, and when the middle section reached its climax, he said:

"Now that there are no more bodies suitable for you here, are you worried?"

He didn't wait for Raphael to answer, and said to himself: "Those little actions you took in Germany must have solved the problem. It can be considered that the things I gave you were not wasted."

"Uh……"

Raphael didn't have the nerve to ask how you knew that. Apparently, there were more people watching in secret.

"So what do you think? Are you going to shut me down?"

"No need."

"Huh?"

“Even if others want to close it, I don’t agree with it.”

"Your opinion is invalid."

"Yes, but that doesn't mean I can't help you in other ways."

Harry naturally put his hand on Raphael's head and rubbed it gently twice.

Raphael squinted his eyes and suppressed the urge to push his hand away.

"This only represents the views of Eric and I. We hope that you can integrate into the lives of ordinary people from a human perspective. But things did not go as planned. You had to put on this uniform and then fight in the east and west. What's more ironic is that the birth of the controllable artificial intelligence that some people now regard as a treasure is largely related to you."