Chapter 1239 Anti-satellite?

Raymond was actually mentally prepared for Admiral Lord's request.

In fact, the Air Force Space Command has been planning to get its hands on the Sea-based Standard 3 system for a long time.

Moreover, they did seize the opportunity of China's test launch of anti-ship ballistic missiles to get the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Ministry of National Defense to approve it in principle.

Even the Navy itself, considering that the Aegis system alone could not provide complete missile mid-course flight data, was slightly relieved for technical reasons.

As a ship-borne weapon, it is of course impossible for the Standard Missile 3 to be completely controlled by the Air Force. It will never be possible in this lifetime.

However, he agreed to Lord's previous request for "unified access and joint command."

Considering that the U.S. Air Force was essentially derived from the Army, this is definitely a huge concession.

"To be honest, I am really grateful to the Chinese people."

As Lord spoke, he leisurely picked up the bottle, poured a glass of sparkling wine for himself and Raymond respectively, and then picked up the glass and drank it all:

"If they hadn't conducted such a targeted test, we would probably have been arguing about this for a long time..."

As an air force officer in charge of strategic nuclear forces, although he holds a high position and has more say than the Air Force Chief of Staff in certain circumstances, his presence is actually not that strong.

Especially after the Cold War, with the doubling of the number of nuclear weapons and nuclear carriers and the sudden decrease in the probability of a world war, the status of the Air Force Space Command has gradually begun to shake.

Correspondingly, funding levels have been reduced again and again.

The additional research funding within the National Missile Defense Program is far less than the losses from the retirement of the LGM-118 Peacekeeper missile and the cancellation of the next-generation land-based intercontinental ballistic missile program.

But with what we have done now, even if it cannot reach the level of being recorded in history, it can at least leave a strong mark in the history of the US Air Force -

Great American Love Text: "Air Force General Lance Lord uses sea-based missile defense system to shoot down incoming ballistic missiles"

However, compared to Lord, who was already immersed in beautiful fantasies, Raymond, as a relatively grassroots officer, obviously considered the issues more concretely.

He did not pick up the wine glass immediately, but rubbed the rim of the glass with his knuckles for a while:

"General, if we want to respond with a targeted missile interception, how should we choose the target missile?"

This question directly stopped Lord, who was smiling.

Indeed, this is a very realistic problem.

Since we want to target it, the best thing to do is of course to intercept an identical or similar medium-range missile.

However, because the Intermediate-Range Missile Treaty was signed that year, the United States does not have a model of the same level as China's Dongfeng 21.

This is certainly not the first time that the missile defense system has been tested, but in the past there were basically only two types of target missiles.

One is to combine the Minuteman 3, which is about to be retired, and the old Polaris to fully simulate intercontinental ballistic missile targets.

However, the difficulty of intercepting this type of target missile is too high. Even for the GBI interceptor missile with the longest range and largest size, the success rate is never more than half.

The Standard 3 had been scrapped and rebuilt once before due to a failed test launch, so it was not suitable for directly challenging the big boss.

The second option, which greatly reduces the difficulty, is to directly use the Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) equipped with the M270 rocket launcher as the interception target.

In the case of a high trajectory, the altitude can basically fall within the interception comfort zone of Standard 3.

It's easy to hit this thing, but it doesn't seem to have any deterrent effect.

After all, the terminal speed is only about 3-4 times the speed of sound, which is even similar to some faster aircraft...

Lord suppressed his smile and sat back in his chair.

This is my first battle under the command of the Sea-based Standard 3, and I have to do it to perfection.

Otherwise, you will become a clown.

"you're right……"

He quickly scanned the news brief in front of him:

"The first batch of mass-produced standard 3block1A for testing has been shipped and will soon be deployed on the USS Shiloh missile cruiser. It will arrive in the waters east of Japan by the end of the month. It will definitely be too late to temporarily develop a new target missile, even if it is modified based on the existing model..."

For a moment, the only sounds in the huge office were the breathing of two people.

"I have an immature idea."

It was not until a few minutes later that Raymond raised his head first:

"However, we need to call our aerospace equipment database first..."

Lord was stunned when he heard this, but immediately pointed to the phone on the edge of his desk, indicating that the other party should contact the archives department on his own.

After making two consecutive calls, Raymond strode out of the commander's office, but soon returned.

This time, there was an extra folder in his hand, and an indelible excitement on his face:

"General Lord, look!"

Then he flipped open the document and placed it in front of Lord:

"In 1991, NASA and the National Reconnaissance Office cooperated to launch an Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS) from the Discovery Space Shuttle. The satellite was nominally designed to study the physical and chemical processes in the stratosphere, mesosphere and troposphere, and to monitor the evolution of the ozone hole. However, it was actually equipped with two sets of high-resolution Doppler imaging equipment for ground and sea reconnaissance, so it was also filed with us."

"Coincidentally, the satellite was decommissioned in December last year and has now completed system passivation, but is still operating at an altitude of 12km and an inclination of 585° to the equator. It is planned to be adjusted to a lower configuration orbit next month."

The latter quickly glanced at the parameter table on the data, and the expression on his face softened:

"This orbital altitude is just close to that of a medium-range ballistic missile, and we can use it as a target."

When saying this, the tone used was not a question.

Because of the similar working principle, almost all mid-course interceptors outside the atmosphere have anti-satellite capabilities.

Of course, since the orbit of satellites is relatively fixed, the difficulty of anti-satellite attack is still slightly lower than that of actually intercepting missiles.

But it's better than using an ATACM to fool around.

Moreover, even in a real anti-missile test, in order to ensure the minimum success rate, the ballistic parameters must be disclosed to the intercepting party.

"Not only that."

Raymond turned the page again:

"UARS is very large, weighing nearly five tons, so it is very likely that it will not be completely burned up when it is adjusted to the configuration orbit and finally falls into the atmosphere. In addition, there is still some toxic fuel that has not been exhausted. If the wreckage falls to the ground, there will be a great risk of injury."

"The warhead of the Standard Missile-3 is a kinetic interceptor. Even if some fragments are produced after the impact, they will quickly fall into the atmosphere due to the sudden decrease in speed. This time, we did not directly mention anti-missile defense, but conducted the test in the name of eliminating the risk of spacecraft falling. Not only will the diplomatic pressure we face be much smaller, but we can also prepare public opinion for the future deployment of space-based anti-satellite weapons."

Lord's originally calm face showed joy.

It's really amazing that this kills two birds with one stone.

After the end of the Cold War, the Air Force Space Command, with a deepening sense of crisis, has been seeking new sources of large funds.

In addition to the missile defense system that is currently being promoted, another major direction of effort is space weapons.

However, due to the restrictions of the Treaty on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space, related research can only be carried out in private under other names.

This will not only affect the speed of project advancement, but also the efficiency of their interest groups in making money from it.

"This is a good idea!"

Admiral Lord did not hesitate for too long before making a decision:

"Go contact NASA first and ask them to stop the satellite's orbit reduction operation. We'll talk about it later after we come up with a specific interception plan..."

"Also, put the previous test plan on hold and have the Space Operations Center's staff hold a meeting this afternoon to develop a new anti-satellite combat plan in detail and report it to the Air Force Headquarters as soon as possible!"