"Academician, this is the live combat test report of the unmanned Titan and the general variant Titan at the Aleppo Defense Line." A staff member handed a report to Chen Xin.
"Next time, send these reports directly in electronic format. It's more efficient that way." Chen Xin took the report and casually remarked as he opened it, but after a brief glance, he frowned and looked up, "They were hit by friendly fire on the battlefield?"
"Yes, at the time the defending forces used mortars attempting to provide cover and fire support, and one shell landed around them." Having already read the report, the staff member could naturally answer Chen Xin's query.
Upon hearing what the staff member said, Chen Xin discontentedly shook his head.
Although incidents of friendly fire and mishaps on the battlefield are inevitable, he instinctively disapproved of such occurrences.
Continuing to browse through the report and flipping to the summary table of various tests, he saw a few items marked as incomplete and dissatisfiedly asked, "The other project tests were completed quite well, why are there a few shield tests still unfinished?"
"The combat efficiency of the unmanned Titan is very high, and the general variant also performed well. If they don't worry about ammo consumption, no alien creature can penetrate their firepower net, so some close combat tests couldn't be conducted." The staff member defended the pilots, explaining to Chen Xin: "You instructed that safety should be the priority during the tests, so throughout the live combat test, they were following standard combat procedures without taking the initiative to test the shield effectiveness."
"Oh, if that's the case, then they're not to blame for not completing the mission." Chen Xin shook his head, if that's the situation then indeed the issue wasn't with the pilots.
Although he wasn't entirely pleased with the tests not being fully completed, Chen Xin clearly wasn't a rigid doctrinalist who would demand frontline soldiers to complete tests or take unnecessary risks for them.
"Have the test troops returned?" Chen Xin asked the staff member.
The testing tasks weren't directly arranged by him; such matters were handled by the staff below, and Chen Xin only needed to be concerned with the results.
Regarding the concern about whether the test troops had returned, it required inspection of the mecha that underwent live combat tests, and retrieval of test data.
"They're en route back, and should return by this afternoon." The staff member, checking his watch, reported to Chen Xin.
These test troops wouldn't come to this air force base; they'd be sent to the Research Center responsible for the development of new Titan units.
Although unmanned tactical mecha is part of the Southern Celestial Gate plan, Chen Xin's current air force base primarily focuses on developing large aerospace strategic carrier platforms and aerospace unmanned fighters, not other projects.
"Once they're back, have the research department quickly complete the data recovery and analysis, to identify any problems." Chen Xin instructed the staff member, emphasizing: "Even though mature technologies were employed, we must remain vigilant and not overlook any potential issues."
Pausing slightly, Chen Xin continued speaking to the staff member: "The situation now differs from before; previously our goal was to equip the troops with usable equipment as fast as possible, and some minor flaws could be adjusted during combat and were acceptable.
But now with the change in the war situation, we must provide the troops with more reliable equipment, focusing on refining quality not merely provisioning equipment."
"Yes, Academician!" The staff member quickly responded, noting Chen Xin's words.
Although Chen Xin didn't directly manage the new Titan project, as the overall head, he clearly had direct influence, especially since he personally provided the design schematics and shield technology, further enhancing his influence and control over the project.
Of course, Chen Xin wouldn't use his influence to interfere with the project, his requirements aimed at optimizing the project.
After the conversation, Chen Xin let the staff member leave, while he meticulously reread the test report.
This report primarily documented the projects completed during live combat by the pilots, along with some simple opinions from them.
It's more of a mission brief rather than a thorough test report.
As for a more detailed test report, it awaited the test troops' return home and the mecha's delivery to research institutions for data collection and analysis, yielding more detailed and accurate results.
Despite being a mission brief, immediate feedback from the pilots still offers invaluable reference, and thus Chen Xin carefully examined this portion.
"Shield active state, unable to attack from inside?" Chen Xin noted one feedback line, and upon thought, realized the issue.
Although the Energy Shield is new technology, belonging to highly advanced science, the electromagnetic shield Chen Xin developed was actually quite crude and primitive.
It simply and roughly used magnetic confinement devices to form a shield with high-energy charged particles, lacking precise or sophisticated usage.
Like crudely piling stones to form a wall, without arranging them neatly, let alone converting it into a fully supplied defensive structure.
The shield effectively intercepts attacks, but undoubtedly causes two-way obstruction—blocking external attacks, but also internal attacks.
These test units operated normally and continued standard combat as the shield remained inactive, only on standby mode, thus not disrupting their operations.
Realizing this, Chen Xin broke into a cold sweat; if close combat occurred and the shield activated due to close-range attacks, aliens couldn't harm mecha and pilots inside, but Titans couldn't attack enemies outside the shield.
Unless the shield is turned off, bullets, missiles, everything would be blocked by the shield.
This issue must be resolved! Chen Xin contemplated immediately opening the system upgrade interface for the shield, but reconsidered, choosing instead to forward the matter to the project team for resolution attempts.
