Chapter 1318 The Chinese warships are coming!

"This mission may be technically complex, but in terms of the submarine's role, there is nothing too special... except for breaking through the first island chain."

Fan Chaohui took out a file bag with the word "confidential" printed on it from his briefcase and said to Han Xiangjie:

“So I’m highlighting improvements that need to be made to the boat… some of which may affect sailing performance.”

Hearing this official tone, the latter couldn't help but curl his lips.

Why do I feel like I'm being looked down upon in my words?

But he also had to admit that the entire submarine force, and even the entire People's Navy, was relatively lacking in ocean-going experience, and the situation underwater was far more complicated than on the surface. Even for a senior captain like him, most of his abilities in his career were acquired in the East China Sea and the South China Sea.

Reality is not a computer game. Boat handling techniques in shallow water and complex terrain and in deep ocean waters are two relatively independent skill lines. It is normal for superiors and brother units to consider this.

"It seems that we need to record some additional navigation data this time to lay a foundation for similar operations in the future..."

Han Xiangjie had a hunch that this mission would not be an isolated case like the 0990 test (a record of a nuclear submarine diving for 90 consecutive days) or the 580 mission, but would become the prologue to the Chinese Navy's ocean-going era.

And he was fortunate enough to become an important note in this prologue.

While he was thinking about it, Fan Chaohui had already taken out the information from the file bag and spread it out on a table.

Han Xiangjie and Wang Kang took two steps forward and found that it was a... or a series of design drawings.

"The current plan is to install a foldable antenna assembly in the No. 8 launch tube at the rear of the boat, and set up a background processing and information recording terminal under the No. 7-10 tubes. Of course, it is also relatively lightweight and does not require too much modification to the boat structure..."

This also happens to explain the doubts that Han Xiangjie had just started to have, that is, why a ballistic missile nuclear submarine like the Long March 9 was specially sent to carry out this mission, rather than the relatively quieter Long March 7/8.

Fan Chaohui continued to introduce:

"The only problem is that a total of 20-25 operators are needed, so the submarine crew number needs to be reduced to about 90..."

Wang Kang frowned when he heard this and glanced at Han Xiangjie next to him with an inquiring look.

The 09IV is not known for its degree of automation. The full crew strength reaches more than 120 people, which is a bit too much for a submarine with a displacement of about 9000 tons.

Although this included some redundant manpower, cutting down a quarter of the staff at once, especially during a relatively unfamiliar ocean voyage, still made him, as the base commander, sweat.

However, Han Xiangjie himself had a confident expression and paid attention to another point:

“Why can’t it be placed further forward?”

Looking at the other two people who looked puzzled, he continued to explain:

"Behind the missile compartment is the nuclear reactor. Although a special shielding design can ensure that the radiation level near the power compartment is maintained below the human safety threshold, your equipment looks a bit... plain. Will it be affected?"

He wanted to say crude, but settled on a milder adjective.

Fan Chaohui also showed a somewhat helpless expression and turned to the second page of the design drawing.

Here's what the antenna looks like when fully extended:

"In order to ensure the interception probability, the antenna designed by China Electronics Technology Group has a relatively large span size. We must ensure that the installation position is as close to the middle part of the submarine as possible."

"In addition, a multi-functional unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV) will be installed in front of the No. 1 and No. 2 launch tubes and behind the casing, which requires some additional space..."

"Unmanned submersible?"

Han Xiangjie finally couldn't help it and interrupted the other party:

"Isn't this an air surveillance mission?"

"And how come I have no idea when our army was equipped with this kind of thing?"

This question finally touched upon Fan Chaohui's old profession:

"Perhaps you have heard that many years ago, a conventional submarine of our army captured a UUV of the Self-Defense Forces... or the US Army in the East China Sea. Since then, our Naval Engineering University has started to develop similar equipment in the name of scientific research equipment. Now this one is even the second generation."

"As for the purpose..."

Fan Zhaohui lowered his head and looked at the UUV on the drawing in silence for a moment:

"The mission area planned for us by our superiors happens to be near the landing point of the X51A booster. Although the booster itself will sink soon, we may be able to collect some debris or contaminated water samples... Anyway, your launch tube is empty anyway, so it doesn't matter if you carry an extra piece of equipment..."

If Han Xiangjie thought about it calmly, he would be able to analyze that it was most likely Fan Chaohui's own idea to bring the UUV to participate in the test, because the submarine itself could actually complete the task of collecting water samples and debris.

However, the key to the answer just now is obviously not here.

"Superior... even knows where the X51A booster will land?"

Han Xiangjie felt that he had asked fewer questions in the past year than in the past half hour.

As an officer, it seems that he should not have so many questions, but on the one hand, it does not violate discipline, and on the other hand, he really can't suppress his curiosity.

The Americans have always been overbearing in their style of doing things. For example, the warning area marked out for this test was not a few risky locations where falling objects might exist, but an entire strip of several hundred kilometers. There was no way to directly determine the separation point and landing point.

This time, Fan Zhaohui just shook his head:

"I'm not sure either... maybe there's some special source of information?"

In fact, Wang Kang, who remained silent, had some guesses about this question.

Of course, it is unlikely that special intelligence sources exist. If the superiors have such channels, then why would they send the navy on a long journey to conduct surveillance?

On the contrary, China also has its own corresponding hypersonic weapons development plan. If there happens to be an air-breathing model similar to the X51A, then perhaps it can combine its own development experience and infer some useful data from public information.

And if this is true, then the development progress of domestic hypersonic weapons is probably not much behind that of the Americans...

It’s just that the military ranks of the other two are not high enough, so this cannot be said directly.

Only after the briefing was over did he clear his throat and begin his summary:

"In short, the Americans have given us a lot of time this time. There are still about two months before the mission begins. We must seize this opportunity to prove the capabilities and value of our naval submarine force..."

"Comrade Han Xiangjie, you are responsible for drawing up a list of personnel to board the boat. During this period, all personnel involved in the mission must hand in all personal communication devices and must not leave the base. They must maintain combat readiness and conduct targeted training throughout the entire process!"

……

In fact, the reason why the Americans set the test time of X51A to April 4 was entirely due to an accident.

Please...collect 6...9...books...!

According to Shapur Collinger's original plan, since LENS-2 does not have sufficient total temperature restoration capability and single operation time, the X51A should be put into test flight as soon as possible after the two rounds of wind tunnel tests are completed.

However, during the second flight test conducted at the end of January 2007, the B52H bomber that was specially converted for use as a vehicle experienced a power failure.

Since many of the equipment on the test aircraft are unique, in order to ensure safety, the Pentagon and Boeing were forced to decide to postpone the first flight mission by one month to conduct a thorough overhaul of the carrier platform.

It is precisely because of this that China was given sufficient time to prepare.

Two months later, Edwards Air Force Base, California.

Colonel Victor Manning, commander of the 412th Test Wing, walked into the operations command room and saluted Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Peter Pace and Air Force Chief of Staff Mitchell Moseley, who were sitting at the head of the conference table:

"Report, the B52H bomber participating in the test has been overhauled. According to the parameters obtained by the meteorological aircraft, the weather conditions in the northwest waters of Santa Cruz Island will remain good in the next 24 hours, and it can take off at any time to perform the launch test mission..."

General Pace nodded, and then spoke to a brigadier general in naval uniform next to him:

"Confirm again, is the sea and airspace around the flight path clear?"

In the early years, when other projects were being tested, an oil tanker inexplicably broke into a closed waters, resulting in the entire plan being forced to be postponed.

The latter opened the folder in front of him, turned around and handed it to Pace:

"It has been confirmed that the area is clear. Only a Chinese naval fleet that set sail last month has been hovering around. However, the Mustin, Shope, and Prebel are closely tracking and monitoring it. It seems that the other party has no intention of going deeper and has been hovering around 120-150 nautical miles from the test area."

Pace frowned.

In a way, the western part of Santa Cruz Island is already near the west coast of the United States.

Over the past half century, only the US fleet had unilaterally run into the first island chain to show off its strength. But now a Chinese fleet has appeared so close to its own homeland, which makes him feel quite unacceptable.

But no matter how hard it is to accept, that place is international waters, and we can only try our best to force the other party to stay away from the test area.

"What about the size of the fleet?"

he asked again.

"A Nancang-class supply ship, identified as the Qinghai Lake, two Luyang-class destroyers, identified as the Jincheng and Yecheng, and an electronic reconnaissance ship, the Polaris..."

It is obvious that even if a fleet with this configuration is not specifically for collecting intelligence, it is at least here with the idea of ​​trying its best.

So, Pace looked at Dr. Collinger who had been silent beside him.

"If the other party does not get closer, but maintains a distance of 120-150 nautical miles, it will be impossible to effectively detect the flight process of the X51A..."

The latter answered straight to the point:

"For hypersonic aircraft below 3 meters, it is difficult for radars that have not been specially optimized to accurately capture signals. As for electronic reconnaissance ships... our sensor signals are sent through directional relays, and no useful information can be intercepted."

"So."

Pace raised his wrist and looked at his watch:

"Four hours later, at 4 a.m. Western Time, the test officially begins!"