Chapter 1376: The wisher takes the bait
Peterson Air Force Base, Colorado.
Admiral Lance Lorde loosened his tie that made him breathe a little, and got up to the hatch door of the C37 key personnel transport plane, waiting for the cabin service staff to lower the gangway.
About three hours ago, he completed a wonderful hearing and questioning session on Capitol Hill, and through a detailed data report, he demonstrated the need to increase investment in the field of national missile defense systems.
The hearing itself will certainly not make any decisions, but there are many heavyweights from the Senate and House of Representatives.
And the difference in thought among these people will directly determine the outcome of the New Year's Congressional Budget in a few months.
If you look at it longer, the tone of military expenditure allocation in the next four or even eight years will also be affected.
Lockheed Martin, the funder behind the General, will undoubtedly be the biggest winner.
Especially in the context of today's global financial crisis, the significance of a stable investment is not just the billions of dollars, but also more importantly market confidence.
"Your Excellency, the journey is over, I wish you a smooth work!"
As the business cabin door was lowered, the flight attendant's voice pulled Lord out of his thoughts.
"Thank you."
The latter responded politely.
This aircraft certainly does not belong to Lord himself, but is a member of the government's special aircraft sequence.
It was only because of today's work needs that he was temporarily assigned to use.
"Maybe after retirement, you can ask Loma to rent one for a long time..."
Lod thought this way and walked out of the cabin.
The dark blue military uniform was lifted up in the corner by the dry night wind in Colorado, and the outline of the Rocky Mountains in the distance was faintly visible in the twilight, like a silent line of defense.
The Admiral has been working in the Space Command for more than 30 years, and the scene in front of him can be seen almost every day.
But it has never been as refreshing as it is now.
However, a good mood didn't last long.
Lod had just returned to the office. Before he could recall his performance at the hearing, he heard a burst of rapid and heavy footsteps coming from the corridor.
Responsible Chief Major General John Raymond soon appeared at the door.
"Hissergeant, half an hour ago, the ALOS-1 satellite passed the western part of Longyuan Province in China."
Raymond's voice was as hoarse as if it had been worn by sandpaper, and it was obvious that it had been a while There is no good rest on the day:
"A new impact point appeared at the Second Artillery Mass Effect shooting range, which was within the area where we had observed engineering trends before. The preliminary judgment was that it was near the center of a concrete target."
said Take out a few large-sized photos from the file bag in your hand and spread them one by one on Lord's desk.
ALOS-1 is a ground observation satellite launched by Japan two years ago. It is nominally owned by JAXA and is used for conventional tasks such as geographic surveying, resource exploration and disaster warning.
But in fact, this satellite also installed an L-band synthetic aperture radar with the best performance at the time, which was naturally included in the space-based reconnaissance system of the US Space Command.
After that due to insufficient satellite resources in the solar synchronous orbit, Raymond "temporarily" requisitioned ALOS-1 and ADEOS-2 launched earlier from his allies to ensure that it is in the western part of Longyuan Province. information update frequency.
In the end, it did play a decisive role.
Lod took a deep breath, barely calmed down his excitement, and looked down at more than a dozen satellite pictures in front of him:
A ferocious hole appeared in the middle of the dark gray rectangular target. , the dark patches in the center radiate spider-web-like cracks around, and ring-shaped regular bulges are distributed around them. "It is obvious that an explosion occurred below the surface... There were no traces of shrapnel diffusion around the crater, and the shock wave conduction mode was consistent with the characteristics of the ground-boring warhead."
He made a quick judgment based on experience , and then glanced at the analysis content under another picture.
It is almost exactly the same as what I said just now.
But the General had just raised his face to the entire Air Force on Capitol Hill, so it is naturally impossible to be satisfied with such a preliminary conclusion now. "Can you determine other more specific details, such as hit time, and launch position?" "ADEOS-2 will be today at 3:25 am local time tomorrow, at 3:25 am local time today." No abnormalities were found when passing by, so it can be basically confirmed that the opponent completed the entire process from launch to hit within about three and a half hours between 0325 and 0703, which is also in line with the Chinese Missile Force when testing the new model. "
Lord frowned unanimously for this conclusion:
"So you think...is this a new model?"
Raymond nodded:
"The Chinese Missile Force has also tested several different specifications of ground drilling weapons in the past, but The intelligence analysis department compared the results of the previous two tests and found that there were great differences in the characteristics of the bullet marks. "
"The crater left at the Yunnan Provincial shooting range last year was funnel-shaped, with uneven edges and limited depth, which was obviously very The primary model has very limited ability to penetrate, and the through passage in front of him is smooth and deep, just like a steel nail perpendicularly nailing into the ground..."
He gestured in the air while describing: " So they must have replaced the structure of the invasion body, and may also have the secondary killing ability of delayed detonation. The target's rupture is at least one-third higher than the last test. As for more specific data, there is no way to know. ”
The L-band synthetic aperture radar has a certain ground-transparent ability, but it is obviously still a little powerless when facing reinforced concrete, and can only see through very shallow depths.
After hearing this part of the conclusion, Lord thought of several mysterious tests conducted by China in central Mongolia.
At that time, it was initially judged as a new type of medium and short-range tactical missile.
It seems that it can match the situation in front of you.
"Let Ruby 12 satellite focus on the launching position in central Mongolia to see if there are any recent launch traces."
He ordered with a serious expression:
"Wait until now After the analysis data is released, I will notify me as soon as possible. "
The solar synchronous orbit satellite will have a fixed 24-hour revisit period, so this matter cannot be urgent, so I can only wait slowly.
Also, Lord also needs some time as a buffer to analyze the situation in front of him—
A few days ago, he personally ordered the focus of satellite reconnaissance to be shifted around Base 55 outside Hecheng City, but in the end he only observed a strange but not sensitive solid rocket replacement launch.
No mistakes, one poem, one post, one content, one in 6, one book, one bar, one read!
Although it is rendered as an intercontinental missile test launch with a sub-guided multi-warhead in the report, the Admiral himself is very clear that Dongfeng 31 does not have the ability to carry a multi-warhead in any case.
More logically, since the warhead carrier itself also has power, the multi-warhead missile in China will definitely be named Dongfeng 4X.
In other words, although it is impossible to admit it on the verb, the launch in Hunan Province is indeed just a bait to cover the real test of the Longyuan shooting range.
At the moment on the eve of the election, the combination of the two keywords "ground drilling weapons" and "tactical missiles" will undoubtedly stimulate some people's sensitive nerves.
Then what I need to do now is to increase the degree of stimulation as much as possible without causing critical misjudgments.
On the one hand, it can divert everyone's focus and avoid the conclusions in the analysis report being placed in the spotlight to find loopholes.
On the other hand, it can further intimidate the new White House master next year.
No matter which one it is.
…
Due to recent high-frequency use, Colonel Devin Kenton and his intelligence analysis department are already familiar with the data processing process of the Ruby-12 satellite.
After just a few hours, the analysis conclusions appeared on the large screen of the underground command center.
"No new suspicious traces appeared at the locations of the previous few launches, but we found residual materials after the operation of the solid rocket engine in another coordinate, also located in western Mongolia."
< Colonel Kenton held an antenna in his hand and pointed to a reddish position on the screen:
"It can be confirmed that there has been a...or a round of missile launches in the past 6-12 hours."
It is certainly a very cutting-edge technology to warn missile launches by burning residues, but the accuracy of the time is indeed Limited, only to be sure until the early morning.
Just fit the speculation range given by Raymond earlier. "What about the signal characteristics? Have you analyzed it?" Lord asked.
"It is slightly different from the previous tests, but the difference is very small. It is basically confirmed that it still belongs to the same model sequence... It may be that there are differences in the components on the surface or in the air, and after contact with the tail flame, a trace of new products are formed."
"If you calculate it completely according to the shortest path, it will be about 1500-1600 kilometers. Of course, considering the ballistic planning problem, it may actually be a little further."
Raymond swallowed Spit:
"This is not the range that Dongfeng 15 series can achieve..."
"Range is not a problem."
Lod interrupted him and his eyes turned to the coastal area in the lower right corner of the large screen: "The problem is what they want to nail it."
The cold light hit his silver temples, reflecting a cold light like a blade.
Outside the glass curtain wall, dozens of surveillance screens are silently sucking the data stream, like eyes peeking at the earth.
This question has actually been clearly defined.
But no one has made it clear yet.
(This chapter ends)