Chapter 1373 Who will defend the United States?
At the same time.
In the conference briefing room on Capitol Hill, Admiral Lance Lord was typing at the keyboard in front of him quickly. The blue light emitted from the screen shone on the silver hair on his forehead, emitting crystal reflections. .
Inside the headphones, Major General John Raymond, the voice of the reconnaissance director, seemed urgent and nervous: "Genius, about 90 minutes ago, the DSP satellite was captured in southwestern Hunan Province. A clear working trace of a solid rocket engine was judged to be a model similar but different from the Dongfeng 31..."
DSP is a dedicated satellite early warning system that provides early detection of missile launches and nuclear explosions at the first time by detecting the combustion characteristics of solid propellants.
The telemetry results given by it are almost 100% accurate.
However, Lord was in the final stage of preparing for a hearing, and was at the most stressful and headache. He could not help but waved his hand with some headache when he heard this:
"This is not the same as what we judged before. Besides, Colonel Kenton has sent the briefing, and I am adding details of the report..."
A few days ago, the Space Command had already passed the lock Eye satellite noticed the abnormal movements of the 55th Base of the Second Artillery of China and mobilized reconnaissance resources to conduct high-frequency monitoring of a mountainous area around Hecheng City.
Finally, with the help of the vehicle trajectory analysis system, it was inferred that a seemingly ordinary forest clearing may be the launch position to be launched soon, and China is likely to test the launching position of the latest Dongfeng 31 Type A ballistic missile.
On the one hand, it is used to fill the vacant delivery capability caused by the insufficient range of the Dongfeng 31 prototype, and on the other hand, it also plays a deterrent role at this time node.
Now that the inference has become a reality, it undoubtedly further confirms the conclusion that the General is preparing to throw at this hearing-
The missile warning and interception systems must be added in the next few years. Investment in R&D, otherwise the United States will not be able to maintain the current strategic balance.
In fact, Lord knew very well that in terms of the scale and delivery capabilities of the China Intercontinental Ballistic Missile, it was still a long way to truly achieve effective deterrence.
But because of this, it is an excellent weapon to intimidate the men of Congress.
However, Raymond on the other end of the screen was not so optimistic.
He raised his head and wiped the sweat from his forehead: "But, according to the subsequent reconnaissance results, the mid-section correction parameters of the target ballistic trajectory are abnormally smooth, and the thermal signal distribution when the terminal load is separated is even more Like satellite fairings rather than nuclear warheads, and the measurement and control department has also confirmed that three new objects have appeared in low-Earth orbit, which may not be maintained for a long time from the altitude. It should be an emergency launch test."
Lord's eyes twitched slightly, his eyes locked on another window.
Everything was normal on the synthetic aperture radar scanning map of the shooting range in the western Longyuan, with no new craters, no abnormal electromagnetic activity, and even the abnormal thermal radiation from the camouflage net disappeared.
The Gobi Desert in China is as calm as if it had never been disturbed by missiles.
Of course, an intercontinental ballistic missile that uses high ballistic simulation full range will not carry real warheads, nor will it involve accuracy testing. It can be smashed into another unmanned area.
So a simple satellite map cannot overturn the conclusion he wants to get.
However, Raymond's conclusion was like a thorn piercing the decision-making chain.
If the Chinese just launched a solid rocket for quick restocking, then the hearing report at hand would undoubtedly make Lord a laughing stock on the entire Capitol Hill.
The general himself is about to retire in half a year, but he doesn't care about his face, but if he can bring Lockheed Martin the second huge contract except HTV2 in the final stage of his term, he will undoubtedly give him a gift. The quality of life in his later years has brought great improvements.
Once the money issue is involved, it is not so easy to see.
So, in the face of a situation where political and economic demands are superimposed, all details are irrelevant noise.
"Listen, Joe."
The communication line used by Lord is specially encrypted, and only a few special departments can retrieve it after obtaining the White House authorization.
So after he confirmed that there was no one around, he didn't care about being more explicit:
"The Congress Military Committee held a closed-door hearing in half an hour and asked us to confirm whether China was testing the range. Enough to cover our local intercontinental ballistic missiles... Have we obtained any more intuitive evidence, such as images during launch?"
Raymond did not hear the subtitles of his superiors. But he still answered conscientiously: "Some of you, the Earth Eye 1 satellite in the sun-synchronous orbit happened to take images of the rocket's ascending process, but this satellite is not specifically used for Reconnaissance, so due to the shooting angle, the imaging situation is not optimistic. ”
While speaking, he had already called up the black and white photo on the screen with only grayscale information.
As sure as he said, the clarity is quite a bit sorry, and I can only tell that something is flying. If I hadn't known in advance that there was a rocket here, it would have been judged as a large aircraft or airship with a lower altitude, or even ignored it as a shadow.
"Hu——"
Lod was also a little numb at this time.
After all, although their Aerospace Command controls most of the space-based reconnaissance resources, other units such as NASA also have remote sensing and orbital monitoring capabilities.
In other words, the MPs participating in the hearing may also receive reports on similar content.
If you cannot produce more convincing evidence, it is difficult to ensure that there will be no exaggeration.
"Enlarge the objects captured by the satellite."
He suddenly spoke and ordered.
"Ah?"
Raymond was shocked immediately.
Now the image is blurred into a lump. If you zoom in, you may not only see some pixels...
No mistakes, one song, one post, one content, one in one 6 One 9, one book, one bar, one read!
But he still enlarged the picture according to the other party's request.
Lord looked at the front of the screen in a pretense for a while, then said, "Look, there are three silver orbs here that break out of the secondary rocket, and the surface is still covered with a honeycomb-like texture."
< br>He made a judgment with a firm look on his face:
"I have to add relevant content to the report... This is a typical configuration of the 'orbital re-entry vehicle', the FOBS of the Soviet SS18 back then (partial orbitals The bombing system has used similar designs…”
The Raymond people were stunned when they heard these contents, and hesitated for a long time but couldn't put up a complete sentence.
He suddenly felt that he was not like a major general who had served for more than 20 years, but a rookie lieutenant who had just graduated from military academy for less than 20 days.
What silver sphere?
What honeycomb-like texture?
Why didn't I see it?
There is also part of the orbital bombing system, which is only at the concept stage and has never been put into use?
When did you get equipment on SS18?
Raymond had ten thousand questions flashing through his mind, but he was worried that if he asked, he would look stupid.
The emperor's new outfit belongs to yes.
However, after a long struggle, he still spoke tentatively: "But the load of SS-18 is a thermonuclear warhead, and these..."
Raymond grabbed an analysis report: "The orbital mechanics simulation and radar detection results show that the object projected by this rocket is fully in line with the characteristics of satellites operating in orbit and cannot be a weapon payload... Even simulated loads are impossible."
Lord shook his head helplessly, and finally made the topic clear:
"You think Congress allocated us tens of billions of dollars a year Is it to pursue the so-called 'truth'? ”
He knocked on the ballistic simulation curve on the screen:
"What they need is the 'possibility' that is enough to scare voters, not a rigorous technical report... On the one hand, Montana's arsenal workers make up 12% of the total voter, and lawmakers are concerned about missile defense systems How many jobs can be brought is not orbital mechanics, nor is it the result of radar detection..."
He still did not mention his plan after retirement, but instead made excuses with another overall view of the past.
"On the other hand, John, times have changed."
After easing his tone, Lord tapped the table lightly, adding in a plain tone:
"What is defending the United States now is no longer the missiles in the silo, but the stock index of Wall Street."
(This chapter ends)