Chapter 1344 Our actions have already begun, there is no secret left

Just one month after Jing Zhiyuan visited Huairou Science City.

Western Longyuan Province.

Second Artillery Effects Test Range.

Range director Wang Hongrang was wearing a heavy explosion-proof suit and taking samples and measurements next to a charred crater. From time to time, he would pick up the camera hanging on his chest and take pictures of the various debris scattered around for archiving.

After the verification missile test ended two and a half years ago, this place entered a long period of tranquility.

After all, ballistic missile tests are very expensive and require a long preparation cycle. Frequent test launches will also cause unnecessary external pressure, so it is impossible to fire a few rounds when in doubt like artillery or light weapons.

What's more, this place is mainly responsible for the verification and testing of new technologies and new tactics, while daily training is also handled by other military region-level shooting ranges.

It was not until about a year ago that various engineering equipment entered the site and a new round of site renovation began.

The main task is to lay a standard railway track with a total length of about 10 kilometers, including two quarter-circle sections with a radius of 1100 meters, and to pre-place enough spare materials so that they can be quickly repaired after each test launch.

Of course, such great efforts are definitely not for the purpose of testing the accuracy or destructive effect of ballistic missiles on railways.

Instead, the purpose is to use a "dry land sailing" approach to simulate an aircraft carrier in the process of maneuvering, in order to test the DF-21D's radar-guided warhead's ability to locate moving targets.

This project seems simple, but due to the special geological conditions and harsh climate of the Gobi Desert, its actual implementation is not as easy as imagined.

What's more, for radar, the reflection characteristics of the ground are completely different from those of the water surface.

When the missile was tested, the feasibility of the synthetic aperture radar guidance scheme was only verified, so the contrast was simply increased.

However, for a model that really needs to be put into service to perform anti-ship missions, more tactical issues still need to be considered.

So, until three days ago, the first test mission in more than two years was completed here.

A warhead equipped with a simulated warhead was launched from about 2000 kilometers away and hit a simulated target that was converted from a diesel locomotive and was traveling in a straight line at a speed of 30km/h.

Although it contained no explosives and the impact position was not exactly in the center of the circle, the falling speed of nearly 2000m/s still brought huge energy, igniting the diesel in the target and inducing a not-so-violent secondary explosion, causing the debris to be scattered far beyond the expected range. More data needs to be collected to restore what happened at the time of the impact.

However, searching such a large area in fully enclosed protective clothing under the scorching sun in midsummer is obviously not a pleasant job.

Even though Wang Hongrang has never given up exercising over the years, he still needs to take a break every half an hour or so.

Daily work at the shooting range is basically this boring.

But on this day, when he left the work area for the third time, he found an unusual figure under the awning in the safety zone.

His old buddy, Qiu Yijun, the political commissar of the shooting range.

"Old Qiu?"

Wang Hongrang took off his helmet and looked at the other party with some surprise:

"Why are you here at the shooting range?"

The leadership combination of the effects test range is more in line with the stereotype. The political commissar comes from a research background in explosion and damage theory and is rather bookish. The key is that he does not have the relevant qualifications for bomb disposal operations and most of the time he works within the camp.

Qiu Yijun did not answer immediately, but took two steps forward and moved closer to Wang Hongrang:

"Zhou Shuguang, the confidential secretary of the Second Artillery's Operations Department, arrived at our firing range an hour ago and said that there was an important order to be delivered and that our two chief officers must be present at the same time."

This title made the latter stunned:

"Operation Department?"

The Effect Target Range is organized as a military scientific research unit and is directly under the jurisdiction of the Second Artillery Headquarters. Its daily work is basically coordinated with the Equipment Department.

Apart from routine meetings, I rarely deal with the Operations Department.

Qiu Yijun thought he was being extremely alert, so he quickly explained:

"There is a letter of introduction signed by President Jing and stamped by the headquarters. I have met Zhou Shuguang before, so it can't be fake."

Wang Hongrang didn't think about such a wild thing. On the one hand, it was very difficult to fake a military order. On the other hand, even if someone really wanted to cause trouble, they would not come to them where they didn't even have a hundred guns.

However, this extra sentence helped him calm down. He quickly signaled a non-commissioned officer in the distance to come over, and with the other's help, he took off the heavy protective suit.

"Let's go..."

Forty minutes later, the two finally met Colonel Zhou Shuguang in the operations command room.

After they saluted each other and took their seats, Wang Hongrang looked down at his wrinkled training uniform:

"I'm so sorry, I just came back from the work area and I was sweating all over in the car..."

Before he could finish, Zhou Shuguang waved his hand:

"Don't worry, I understand the actual situation of the front-line business units, and we are not here to inspect the military appearance..."

As he spoke, he took the briefcase from a lieutenant next to him and took out a file bag from it.

After opening it, there was a red-headed document inside.

What surprised Wang Hongrang was that there were only a few lines of content on the document.

[We now order the Second Artillery Effects Range to suspend the current test mission, give priority to cooperating with the 8th Engineering Brigade and the 810th Missile Brigade to complete the renovation and expansion of the No. target area, and wait for further instructions...]

"We obey the instructions of our superiors, but..."

Qiu Yijun hesitated for a moment:

"But the No. 3 Target Area currently only has preliminary planning. Not to mention the facilities and equipment, even the design plan has not been fully finalized. I'm afraid it won't be possible to start construction in a short time, right?"

Since it is an order, it must be executed.

However, the People's Army has always attached great importance to military democracy and does not shy away from allowing officers and soldiers to raise their doubts.

"This is a completely new test requirement. All previous plans for Target Area 3 have been scrapped. A new plan is being developed by experts from the Engineering Corps, and we will notify you as soon as it is finalized."

Zhou Shuguang replied:

"As for the efficiency issue... the logistics department will do its best to guarantee your needs for materials, personnel, and equipment. If necessary, we can also mobilize some personnel from the army. However, you need to plan the confidentiality gradient of different areas in advance. The core part can only be completed by the 8th Engineering Brigade."

Hearing this, Wang Hongrang and Qiu Yijun couldn't help but look at each other.

Both of them saw some shock in each other's eyes.

Obviously, this is a more special and more confidential mission than the one two and a half years ago.

"Yes!"

The two replied in unison.

……

Similar to the situation at the effect range, as the gliding hypersonic project entered the engineering development stage, almost half of the military industry system and the Second Artillery Force took action around related work...

As for the core technical team responsible for the development tasks, they entered a high-intensity working state of working in two shifts.

In Huairou Science City.

As usual, Chang Haonan was looking through the summary of last month's work.

After the design concept of the series combined waverider was determined, the progress of the work gradually began to accelerate.

In just one month, a lot of details have been added to the concept model that originally only had an outline and structure.

Especially in terms of longitudinal control strategy, a separate feedback loop is specially set up.

Although a gliding vehicle's weight will not change due to fuel consumption, it still has very high precision requirements for the re-entry angle because it has to go through multiple rounds of bouncing actions similar to skipping stones.

Once the deviation exceeds 3°, it may cause the spacecraft to fail to drift and re-enter the atmosphere prematurely.

By then, a test launch failure would be a minor matter, but if it affected the safety of ground facilities on the flight path, that would be a real big trouble.

No matter how confident you are, you still have to be extra careful about safety issues.

However, as he was flipping through the pages, Chang Haonan suddenly discovered that this summary report actually had a separate section to count the consumption of materials and electricity over this period of time.

This made him feel a little amused, and he joked to Xing Muchun beside him:

"Old Xing, our project... shouldn't be short of funds and resources, right?"

The latter did not show a joking expression, but answered seriously:

"It's not about the money..."

"This section was added to compare with the previous phase. In the past month, our daily average electricity consumption has increased by 150% compared to before, and the number of vehicles transporting supplies has more than tripled... I am worried that it will attract some unnecessary attention."

As a veteran engineer from the 921 Project, Xing Muchun's sensitivity in this regard is indeed beyond doubt.

Chang Haonan thought for a moment, and finally shook his head:

"Science City, military industry, Second Artillery Corps, shooting range... Such a big operation has already begun. There is no secret left."

"The sudden increase in the frequency of vehicles entering and leaving the Science City and the average daily electricity consumption will definitely attract the attention of those who are interested, but now that things have come to this, considering that such a large-scale project cannot be kept completely secret, efficiency must be the priority."

"Moreover, even from the perspective of intelligence, dragging it out for too long will easily lead to more trouble. It is better to cut the Gordian knot and give the other party a surprise before they can react!"