Chapter 2335: Chapter 2337: Showing Off
Feng Jun has a lot of things worth digging into? Beauty Lin firmly believes this.
But she still replied weakly, "It depends on whether he’s willing; only then might he talk about it. We can’t just rely on our skills to uncover it... I have a feeling that the more he’s willing to tell now, the more ruthless he’ll be once he turns against us."
This answer made the person opposite feel a bit helpless, but he still had to encourage the only subordinate who could get close to Feng Jun, "No rush, take your time. You can feel that he still has affection for Huaxia."
Two days later, near the training field in the Taklamakan Desert, Huaxia’s military launched a small-scale military exercise, practicing how an armor cluster could face drones’ long-range strikes.
This exercise wasn’t as simple as it seemed; it actually practiced electronic warfare confrontation.
In the usual confrontation between an armor cluster and fighter jets, the armor cluster is definitely at a disadvantage, although fighter jets are much more costly than armored vehicles and tanks, and the training cost for pilots is much higher.
Therefore, the confrontation between these two usually requires a statistical analysis of the casualty ratio to conclude who the winner and loser are.
However, there is a current saying that drones are the key weapon against armor clusters, mainly because drones are much cheaper than fighter jets, and the real pilot hides far behind; if shot down, there’s little heartache.
Of course, drones aren’t too cheap either, but since they don’t need dogfighting, they can fly very high, making shooting down drones still more difficult than tanks.
So some people believe that the era of steel torrents is over, and drones will inevitably dominate the future. However, Huaxia’s military disagrees, believing that drones will be affected by electronic warfare.
Drones can take off, which is due to mechanical power. But once airborne, how do they fly when encountering targets? How do they identify, lock, evade attacks, see through deception, and initiate attacks?
This is achieved through the operator in the rear, but the connection between the operator and the drone requires radio waves.
The Huaxia military believes that when two small nations engage in fierce battles, they mainly use drones to attack each other’s tank clusters, seemingly having considerable effect and seemingly changing the future warfare landscape.
However, battles between major nations aren’t played this way. With substantial national strength and technical support, drones... what kind of plaything are they? Can’t electronic interference solve the problem?
Rather than believing drones could dominate future battlefields, it’s better to consider developing unmanned tanks, which might be even more powerful.
Feng Jun is unaware of these disputes; otherwise, he would jump in and express: In the Insect World, the mechas are also controlled by people, and no one believes unmanned control is the king of future battlefields.
Can unmanned control become the king of the battlefield? It’s possible, but there are many prerequisites, at least you need absolute field control strength, akin to an archer facing a firing squad in an overwhelming battle.
Of course, when two small countries peck at each other, they might amplify certain advantages unilaterally; however, those aren’t absolute advantages. Some grand scenarios are beyond the play of tiny nations.
This isn’t discrimination but a realistic phenomenon; there’s a real difference in warfare between small and major countries.
When going bigger, in wars between major nations, drones and electronic interference also experience losses, engage in mutual games of wits and courage, but ultimately, it boils down to comprehensive national power—those who can afford depletion win, those who can’t lose.
Aside from the routine, the final determinant of war is people. If encountering a bizarre nation like the Roman country, war outcomes and national power... doesn’t seem to have much connection.
In summary, Huaxia believes drones are a new weapon of war, but asserting they can change the battlefield, we don’t believe—at least try electronic interference testing first?
Thus, this small-scale exercise was held—to test under various complicated conditions, evaluating how formidable drones truly are.
The forces prepared for the exercise weren’t many, but various systems and module units were involved, and several friendly nations’ military observers were invited to watch from not too far from the battlefield.
The original choice of weather was overcast; Huaxia never said it was to prevent reconnaissance satellites, only claiming this weather provides a certain protection for drones, increasing the difficulty of counter-attacking them.
But actually, it was really to prevent reconnaissance satellites because several rumored weapons and application systems under development were already showcased, forming suppression against drones.
Drones also had counter-suppression measures, with the red and blue teams engaging fiercely and intensely.
Yet unknowingly, the weather started to clear up. Foreign reconnaissance satellites, tired of waiting in the sky, finally had the chance to see Huaxia’s small-scale exercise.
Just then, a series of white lights suddenly flashed on the battlefield, rapidly hitting drones in the sky. The drone jolted sharply, smoking as it crashed toward the ground.
An observer from abroad couldn’t help but ask aloud, "What’s that weapon?"
This weapon was beside a self-propelled artillery gun, with Huaxia’s rumored domestically-developed CIWS system on the other side.
However, the CIWS system only fired once today and had no opportunity to be used during actual combat, disappointing several observers.
Now, they wanted to know what weapon emitted the white light.
Those beside didn’t provide answers, claiming unfamiliarity, eventually offering a vague reply after some contact—that it might be an independently-developed high-explosive graphite shell.
"That’s impossible!" an observer from Ba Tie couldn’t help it, "Even if you don’t want to answer, don’t treat us like fools tricking us; high-explosive shell... its initial speed must be at least Mach ten plus. Is there even a cannon that can reach such speed?"
"The key is the graphite shell," someone else bluffed, "Graphite shells have enormous potential in electronic warfare."
"I’m talking about the initial speed!" This observer is also old Huaxia, refusing to be fooled, "Graphite shells are another issue. I just don’t understand... is this a new type of electromagnetic gun?"
He understood very well, only electromagnetic railguns might achieve such fast initial speed.
"I don’t have a grasp on this situation," the accompanying staff could only use diplomatic language.
The people present remained silent, yet the spy satellite above recorded the entire process and quickly relayed it to the ground.
In fact, more than one satellite was spying on the exercise field above, which has always been a norm for Western countries; if they find something potentially valuable, they spectate uninvitedly—in the Sino-Japanese War in 1894, there were more than one naval vessels observing.
Those shocked were not just the Merrick people. They even somewhat doubted the authenticity of the images, so they contacted other nations of the "Wuyan Alliance," asking their view on Huaxia’s weapon.
People of Britain decisively stated, stronger electromagnetic gun, it’s definitely an electromagnetic gun, as for the short barrel—their massive CIWS system developed by Huaxia was right beside it, wasn’t it?
Due to the angle, the reconnaissance satellites could see an individual plasma cannon wedged between the self-propelled artillery and CIWS system, but no one considered it as a personal weapon. In reality, the plasma cannon was installed in the side of the CIWS for show.
The CIWS is a gigantic monster in size, along with various vague-purpose radars and a dense array of antennas, giving the impression that mounting anything on it makes sense—this is merely a still-form prototype test.
Because of this, people of Britain believed that this CIWS might just be a smokescreen released by Huaxia, starting a round of test firing, likely to cover up the truth with all their might, and the truth of the matter should be—it’s a new type of electromagnetic gun.
Huaxia’s electromagnetic gun data has always circulated externally, with land-based, shipborne, and tank variants speculated upon.
Regardless, the electromagnetic gun observed by satellites today far exceeds any known versions in terms of initial shell speed.
Merrick people fell silent—could it be that we alone realized there’s an issue with the shell?
In truth, even they couldn’t conclusively determine the shell had a problem; an initial velocity nearing Mach twenty, even its projectile must undergo special processing, higher temperatures are normal.
Ultimately, satellite reconnaissance filming can’t compare with real-time observation, the technological gap can’t perfectly bridge the distance deficit.
Yet this doesn’t hinder Merrick people; when information isn’t enough, rumors make up for it. Soon, Merrick media quoted a military general, saying that near the Gold Smeltery in the Taklamakan Desert, Huaxia has deployed powerful laser weapons.
"Huaxia attempts to safeguard Huaxia currency’s gold standardization; laser weapons near the smeltery can effectively destroy high-altitude satellites."
"Freedom-loving Merrick is comprehensively lagging in laser weaponry behind Huaxia; medieval Yellow Peril might reappear globally."
"Mr. President likes asking where our aircraft carriers are. Now, he should perhaps ask where our laser weapons are?"
Merrick people want to bring up "Huaxia currency’s gold standardization" alongside "laser weapons," pressuring Huaxia while also impacting the Western Alliance slightly, rallying them to challenge Huaxia collectively.
This idea is quite savvy but a tad greedy; relentlessly pursuing one aspect is the correct strategy for attack; hoping to tackle two points simultaneously is somewhat unrealistic.
Soon, Western countries responded, most directly targeting "high-power laser weapons."
They hope Huaxia can publicly share related information, at the very least, adopt Huaxia’s approach to Muhai weapons and provide the world a commitment not to use them first—if this request is too high, at least promise not to use them capriciously, right?
(Updated to, requesting monthly minimum votes.)
