Chapter 1360 Offense and defense from outer space
At the same time.
North America, Colorado.
In the combat center of the Space Command Reconnaissance Bureau located underground in the Cheyenne Mountain, Major General John Raymond was holding his chin with both hands and sitting in front of the podium with a serious face, staring at the large size in the distance. Screen on the LCD screen.
According to the employment practices within the army, General Lance Lord promoted the confidant to a first-level military rank in the last year of his career, and helped him to a relatively easy and easy-to-get successful person. Excellent position.
If nothing unexpected happens, Raymond will make a smooth transition to the new position of the Director of the Reconnaissance Department for 2-3 years, and then enter the management of the Space Command.
In the best case, he may even become the new commander in about 10 years.
Even if it didn't go so smoothly, there would be no problem with retiring as the rank of lieutenant general.
However, perhaps some people are in trouble.
Raymond had only taken office for less than half a month, and before he even waited for General Lord to retire, he had already encountered the most complicated situation since the end of the Cold War...
In the past few months, China's Second Artillery Force has experienced intensive activities that have not been seen since 1996.
Although most of the actions are concentrated in the northwest and central China, and there is no evidence to be related to intercontinental ballistic missiles, the Pentagon is still worried whether the other party wants to take advantage of the white house in 2008-09 The change of leadership will bring about a big event.
So, the heavy burden was pressed on Raymond, who was not yet fully familiar with the business.
If something goes wrong in this matter, don't think about promotion.
Take a report directly to the second department of logistics...
Therefore, Raymond mobilized almost all the available resources at hand, not to mention obtaining a 100% accurate result, but at least he had to ensure that the report he submitted was procedurally impeccable. "General, the data returned by the RUBY-07 satellite has been analyzed..."
Col. Devin Kenton, head of the intelligence analysis department responsible for image data processing, came to the major general, Sound reports.
Although the United States already has the most complete space-based reconnaissance network in the world, it is still unable to achieve real-time monitoring. The preparation time required for solid fuel missiles is very short and has strong maneuverability. It has completely differentiated the number of people with the need for solid fuel missiles. It may be possible to find a way to complete the launch in the gap between the two satellites over the top.
For this reason, they temporarily launched this new satellite code-named "Ruby".
Raymond took a deep breath: "Hurry, put it on the big screen!" He smelled the familiar anxiety in the air, which was the image analyst applying mint pyrene cream The taste.
As a female captain next to her draw five parallel trajectories on the touch console, the processed satellite photos unfold one by one on the screen like playing cards sent by the dealer.
On the infrared imaging image, several eye-catching scarlet spots were squirming on the vast Gobi Desert, and the tail of each spot was dragging the comet-like afterglow.
Raymond was a civilian, and in his opinion, this was completely incompatible with the general signal characteristics of missile launchers. Instead, it was like some kind of high-energy laser weapon charging.
But he also knew that this speculation was unreasonable, and rashly speaking would only bring ridicule.
So, I just waited quietly for the other party's further explanation.
"This is the latest technology on the Ruby 07 satellite...it can trace back time to a certain extent and capture some features that cannot be captured by both optical and radar."
Col. He is a standard technical officer, regardless of his leadership, he is still introducing the magical satellite, just like an ant on a hot pan.
Raymond couldn't bear it anymore: "Daven, we know that your ruby is very powerful...but the situation is urgent, so it's better to go directly to the conclusion." Kenton, who was interrupted, was also I had no temper, but just turned to look at the female captain who was in charge of the operation just now: "Ms. Levito, superimpose the spectrum analysis."
His voice almost made the air conditioner outlet The buzzing sounds quieted down.
The screen on the big screen seemed to have stuttered for a few seconds, but it was soon covered by a rainbow-like light belt. "It must be admitted that the Chinese have good training level, and the entire transfer and launch process avoided all satellite surveillance... Of course, it is also because our satellite network neglected maintenance after the Cold War."
Kenton pointed to the locations of the spots just now and said:
"But we still found some clues, such as the nitrogen oxide concentration at this location exceeds the standard four times, and the metal burns Typical remnants..."
He said as he came to the operating table and took over the keyboard and mouse from Captain Levito.
The messy picture quickly became clear: "This is the characteristic component left after the solid fuel engine is working... It is basically certain that no more than three days ago, a missile has just been carried out here. Launched, and there is a high probability that the real warhead was not installed, so it was impossible to observe obvious landing marks at several shooting ranges. "Kenton called out the optical images saved in the past and saw that there were only a few coordinate points. Tent:
"About half a year ago, there were no traces worth analyzing here, so this time...or there may be several other test shots, which should be a temporary plan, Normal training that was not prepared for a long time…”
Although the way of speaking was a little anxious, his ability level was absolutely unspeakable, otherwise he would not be able to do his current position.
A missile launch 2-3 days ago was detected by satellites and sounded unbelievable at first, but since the tracks of large ships can be discovered through bubbles in the wake, the residual material in the air will invert the work of the solid engine. The situation is also very reasonable.
So, Raymond nodded, as if he had accepted the other party's analysis results.
Dropping down his eyelids and thinking for a few minutes:
"In other words, the Chinese might be testing a new ballistic missile?"
In fact, this is what happened to this At that time, he had already breathed a sigh of relief.
Although it is also very troublesome to test-fire missiles, it at least proves that the other party does not really want to live out the whole life in the southeast direction.
Kenton's expression was very twisted: "I can only say that this is the most reasonable speculation at present... but based on our experience, including their past habits, It doesn't look like a normal missile test."
The huge underground command center fell into silence.
Only the low buzzing sound of the ventilation system and computer operation is left.
No mistakes, one song, one content, one in 6, one book, one bar, one reading!
A few minutes later, Colonel Kenton broke the silence to the point where he almost frozen: "Also, General, there is one more thing...but it's not sure if there is any correlation at this time. ”
He released another satellite image on the secondary display.
But this time it was an ordinary optical image.
"Huaxia dismantled an abandoned antenna at Maodao Radar Station in Longyuan Province, and was obviously preparing to replace it with new radar equipment."
Kenton's laser pointer pointed to the upper half of the picture, and it is not difficult to see the reinforced concrete foundation. Brand new cutting traces on the seat: "The base itself was built in the 1970s. The original plan was to install the second 7010 strategic warning radar, but in the end, the following was gone for various reasons. The next semi-finished product... Although the subsequent radar station is put into use, it is equipped with radar models with certain maneuverability, and this base has not been moved until recently."
"Recently..."
Raymond frowned slightly:
"In other words, it has not been completed yet?"
"In fact, there have been obvious traces of construction in recent days, otherwise we should have discovered it long ago..."
Kenton put it again The picture on the second screen switched to the third picture:
"Of course, the equipment and supplies of this radar station rely on external transportation. Usually, there are many heavy vehicles entering and leaving, and the main body of this radar is hidden. Inside the base, it is possible that construction has started a long time ago, but recently it has started to replace antennas on the surface... If this is the case, then based on the efficiency of the Chinese, it will be estimated that it will be about 3-4 months. It will be completed later."
Raymond lowered his head and glanced at the map of China on the screen in front of him:
"Do you think there is a connection between these two things?"
This time, Kenton did not give a direct conclusion, but just analyzed:
"The observed launch location is in the central part of Mongolia. , effect shooting range is located in the western part of Longyuan. Although the radar station is not on the flight path between the two, you also know that radar of this size is not sensitive to position. As long as the antenna is generally aligned, 50 kilometers and 500 kilometers. There is almost no difference between kilometers..."
Raymond felt some implicit sounds from this sentence.
He has worked in an office for many years and is very familiar with such speech.
"I can hear that you are inducing me to reach a conclusion..."
He looked at Devin Kenton, who was standing not far away:
"You might as well talk about you directly The conclusion, colonel."
The latter, who was directly exposed, did not show any embarrassment, but just shrugged:
"I think China may be preparing to test a kind of gliding Hypersonic weapon, similar to our HTV-2. ”
Raymond's eyes narrowed instantly, and a reflection flashed under the light.
Combined with the situation they observed in Huairou Science City before, this conclusion is also somewhat traceable.
But it took only half a year to complete the whole plan, and if you want to prepare for the test...
"Can it really be so fast?"
He tapped the walnut tabletop in front of him. He made a rhythmic and dull sound, and asked to himself.
(This chapter ends)