Chapter 1184 Dongfeng, launch!
Spring passes and summer comes.
After solving the biggest technical difficulty of sweat cooling, the development of the entire verification bomb has entered the fast lane.
Compared with similar research in other countries, China’s hypersonic weapons project presents a rather peculiar state——
The configuration and cooling issues that others were scratching their heads about were solved almost immediately.
What really troubles Chang Haonan and the others is the matter of "reaching hypersonic speed" itself.
Facts have proved that even if high-altitude launch and liquid power have been chosen, for China at this stage, it is still much more difficult than expected to propel the double-cone warhead to the expected speed in the atmosphere.
Chang Haonan himself is not a rocket power expert, and many key issues are limited by industrial capabilities.
For example, most of the supporting facilities and industries built for the development of new-generation rockets have not yet been implemented. No matter how powerful he is, he can only solve some technical problems at most, and it is impossible to move a factory or an assembly line out of thin air.
Therefore, from the beginning of the project, the test of the warhead part was singled out and planned to be completed within half a year.
As for the test method, I chose a more evil approach:
Take a bullet and shoot it with a high trajectory.
The process of reentry into the atmosphere is used to simulate the aerodynamic heating effect.
Although the degree of restoration is definitely not as good as the verification bomb in its complete state, in the absence of a high total temperature wind tunnel, it is worse than putting the warhead on the ground and waiting...
……
One morning in early May 2005.
In a dense forest somewhere on the outskirts of Lianhai City.
An almost invisible light mist filled the surroundings of more than a dozen cars, reflecting a slightly gorgeous halo under the rising sun.
However, beneath the mist, there are almost the most core secrets of a country hidden...
The commanders and fighters of the 810th Brigade of the 51st Base of the Second Artillery Corps were wearing heavy protective clothing and quickly and carefully refueling a green missile.
Compared with the same model of product at the combat readiness launch position not far away, the appearance of this one has been obviously modified.
Specifically, the warhead part under the fairing is extremely small, and even feels weird and incongruous against the huge 24-meter-high projectile.
Dongfeng 3A.
The first medium-range ballistic missile developed by China.
From the perspective of the 21st century, even if this model has been improved, it has already lagged behind the times.
Not to mention paper performance such as range accuracy, the huge logistics fleet and hours of pre-launch preparation time are enough for an imaginary enemy in a high-level confrontation to destroy the position several times.
In fact, the reason why this unit can be retained as it is today is not only due to the insufficient number of newer Dongfeng 21s, but also due to external factors——
For more than 20 years, Huaxia has been providing technical and support support for more than 30 products of the same model exported to Saudi Arabia.
Therefore, the country must retain a unit capable of operating Dongfeng 3.
As a result, Chang Haonan was so cheap.
For him, as long as it can hit a sufficient trajectory height, it doesn't matter whether the missile itself is advanced or not.
These old Dongfeng equipment of the 810th Brigade are embarrassing equipment that the commander would shake his head upon seeing. Taking one out of them for test firing will not have any negative impact on the actual combat readiness level.
In addition, from the perspective of other countries, the only reason for China to test-fire a Dongfeng 3 seems to be to conduct random inspections to prevent these old guys from becoming ineffective over time and having a relatively low sensitivity.
Therefore, the test application got the green light all the way, and Chang Haonan got the opportunity to enter the missile base for the first time in his life...
At this time, he was in the command post several hundred meters away from the launch vehicle, and together with several technicians accompanying him, he was conducting the last mission inspection before launch.
Brigadier Wei Shijun took off his gas mask and pushed the door in. He stood at attention with a snap, and then saluted Chang Haonan and others.
To be honest, he himself was a little unsure about this mission.
Reducing the range by increasing the launch height is a common test-fire method for long-range and intercontinental missiles.
After all, China has no overseas territories, and its own territory span is relatively limited. To conduct a full-range test of thousands of kilometers, the only way is to launch into the Pacific Ocean, which is too loud.
However, the maximum range of Dongfeng 3A is less than 4,000 kilometers. It can hit Lop Nur directly from Base 51, so there is no need to hit the highest trajectory.
Even the launch parameters for this mission were specially determined before.
Moreover, Dongfeng 3 is a single-stage missile. In the past, the payload itself was the fairing. This time, in order to cooperate with the test, an additional small modification was made, giving the missile the ability to independently release the dual-cone warhead.
In short, this missile, which is almost as old as him, reveals details that are incomprehensible...
But in any case, compared to most of his peers who never had the opportunity to actually press the launch button throughout their careers, he was quite lucky. Putting aside the random thoughts in his mind, Wei Jianjun took a deep breath:
"Reporting to Academician Chang, the missile has completed all preparations before launch. It plans to adopt a high ballistic mode with a trajectory peak of 1450km. The maximum speed when re-entering the atmosphere is expected to be Mach 6.5. The expected landing point is the Bohai Sea area. The specific coordinates..."
"..."
These contents are actually written on the mission briefing in Chang Haonan's hand, but in order to be sure, the commander still needs to check with him.
"Ready to launch!"
Chang Haonan ordered in a deep voice.
"Yes!"
Wei Shijun saluted again, then turned around and began to issue evacuation orders to the frontline positions.
Through the telescope, Chang Haonan could clearly see that the support frame used for erection was slowly lowered, and the missile entered the final stage before launch.
"Listen to my command, countdown..."
The originally bustling position had completely fallen silent, and only the radio waves carrying Wei Jianjun's command commands echoed among the mountains in the northeast.
"3...2...1..."
"Launch!"
As the missile battalion commander in the launch vehicle presses the launch button, the nitric acid and dimethylhydrazine inside the missile body tumble along the turbine pump and enter the combustion chamber. The covalent bonds complete the break and recombination within one thousandth of a second after contacting each other. , bursting out with astonishingly huge energy, sending high-temperature reaction products into the engine nozzle...
"Boom——"
The next moment, as if a silent life suddenly came to life, a dazzling red flame lit up from the rear of the launch vehicle. Amidst the white and light brown smoke and deafening roar that almost covered the entire position, the missile began to slowly climb.
The oldest missile bodies carry the most advanced payloads, delivering game-changing deterrents into space.
Even Chang Haonan, who had seen rocket launches before, was inevitably shocked by this spectacular sight.
"The prelude to the hypersonic era has begun..."
Xing Muchun came with a somewhat literary sigh.
Others’ reactions were much simpler and cruder:
"I*, it's really spectacular..."
"..."
Soon, the fire disappeared and the dust dispersed.
The launch site returned to calm, and the missile disappeared from everyone's sight.
Only a few nearby computer screens still displayed signals from radars and missile-borne sensors.
100km……200km……300km……
Although the mission belonging to Wei Shijun had ended, perhaps due to the influence of the atmosphere at the scene, he did not bother to celebrate with his subordinates at all. Instead, he dared not leave the scene and stared at the constantly moving curves and numbers in front of him with Chang Haonan and others.
Soon, the missile reached the highest point of its trajectory of 1,750km.
"Report, head and body separated!"
The signal on the radar screen first split into two, and then quickly left only the relatively small one in the center of the screen.
There was sparse applause in the command post, but most people still held their breath and waited for the most critical moment to come...
The full range of medium-range missiles does not take a long time.
Just a few minutes later, the warhead returned to the re-entry altitude of about 150km.
The speed displayed on the screen stayed at 2160m/s.
The air inside the command post almost solidified.
No one knows what is happening on the surface of the warhead. They can only see a falling curve generated in the coordinate system.
Until almost half a minute later when seconds are like years...
A brief report cut through the air of substance:
"Report, seeker powered on!"
(End of chapter)