Chapter 1346 Lockheed Martin or Boeing?

Just as Chang Haonan estimated, with multiple key domestic departments making such a huge move simultaneously, it would be impossible to completely conceal it from the outside world, even without considering the factor of internal channel leaks.

Soon after Kadena Express entered the formal development stage, all parties involved basically caught some clues.

Considering that the United States had just conducted a groundbreaking hypersonic vehicle test just a few months ago, this series of reactions was naturally seen as a targeted response.

It can also explain why China did not give immediate feedback like other countries after the first flight of X51A.

After all, they really have the goods.

At that time, it will be much more useful to bring out the competitors' products than to publish a few PPTs.

As for why China has made such rapid progress in the field of hypersonics...

On the one hand, over the years, countries have gradually adapted to the emergence of new players in the high-tech industry.

On the other hand, until the JF14 wind tunnel was put into use, China had never missed the "Ground Test Award" selected by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.

This award is somewhat similar to the supercomputer computing power rankings. It is up to the equipment owner or operator to decide whether to participate. If they participate, they need to submit some basic performance data.

Although no specific technical details are involved, the approximate performance level can still be inferred from it.

Therefore, all countries have some understanding of the conditions of the two old wind tunnels, JF8 and JF10, and are not completely unprepared.

At most, I didn't expect that China could transform the basic theoretical research results into projects so quickly.

And for most countries, it is more in their interests if the east and west coasts of the Pacific Ocean are caught in a certain degree of tit-for-tat, but maintain a state of fighting without breaking up.

So everyone is just there to watch the fun.

But for the other country involved, America, the situation is not so easy.

When the X51A test went wrong, they were able to use the mentality of celebrating a funeral to create a "partial success". In addition to wanting to evade the project review by the Accountability Office in this way, there was another factor that they were not in a hurry.

Yes, the first flight did not meet expectations.

But at least we have made significant progress compared to the past, and looking around the world, there is no significant competitor to compare with.

Who would have thought that in less than half a year, this competitor would suddenly emerge?

As a result, the originally relatively balanced situation among all parties involved in the X51A project was quickly broken.

Soon someone couldn't sit still anymore...

Colorado.

Peterson Air Force Base.

For the past few days, General Lance Lord, commander of the Air Force Space Command, has been feeling a little anxious.

As the actual commander of the United States' land-based and air-based strategic forces, he certainly could not be satisfied with just knowing that "China is developing a new weapon", something that even the spectators have already heard about.

So as early as last week, he had ordered his space units and intelligence departments to carry out more specific intelligence collection and analysis.

However, after a few days, the whole matter was like a drop in the ocean, with no response at all.

After failing for the third time to concentrate on reading the work report for the previous quarter, Lord simply gave up completely, closed the folder and threw it aside, then opened an encrypted document named [Force Application and Launch from Continental United States] on his computer.

"Military Employment and Local Launch" is abbreviated as FALCON according to the United States' usual alphabetical naming method.

Although it sounds like a civilian transportation project, it actually involves a series of hypersonic verification aircraft using different technical solutions.

In fact, it is not a brand new plan. As early as the beginning of the 21st century, it had received some financial support from the Space Command, and Lockheed Martin was selected to be responsible for the concept development.

However, after the X43A, led by NASA and with Boeing taking on specific tasks, entered the fast track, the FALCON program was given "restricted funding" by Congress at a key hearing in 2005, and has basically stagnated since then.

It was not until the test of X51A did not meet expectations at the beginning of the year that someone dug out the relevant documents and handed them to Lord, hoping that he could lead his brothers to make another attempt.

Lord is still relatively positive about this matter.

Although both are for the air force, the X51A is closer to a cruise missile and will inevitably be controlled by the aviation force in the future. The HTV series aircraft in the FALCON program needs to be launched by a ballistic missile, which is more in line with the positioning of the Space Command.

He will retire in about two years, so he has to leave something behind that will be remembered by future generations.

Of course, more importantly, Lord himself has a closer relationship with Lockheed Martin, which has promised to give him a well-paid external relations specialist as a pension position in the future.

However, human desires are always unlimited.

If he can secure another big project for Lockheed Martin before then, this "specialist" may be promoted to "director"...

……

Just when Lord was looking forward to his wonderful retirement life, a hurried sound of footsteps was finally heard outside the door.

After knocking on the door, Brigadier General John Raymond walked into the office with the report he had been thinking about for several days tucked under his arm.

Lord raised his head, and a gleam of light flashed in his eyes for a moment, as if the new nursing job and the annual salary of one million and a half dollars were beckoning to him. The anxiety in his heart disappeared instantly, and he even had the leisure to make a joke:

"John, I thought you had forgotten about this."

But Raymond's expression remained serious, and he obviously couldn't laugh:

"Admiral, we have tried our best, but the information we can get is very little."

Lord's heart tightened, but he didn't show it on his face:

"You tell me first."

The ideal situation right now is that he can obtain specific information about China's research and development progress, and then use the other party's threats and the delay of X51A to make his case. Even if he cannot replace it, he can at least get Congress to lift the funding restrictions on the FALCON program.

Of course, his fundamental purpose is to gain greater benefits from the revolving door, so even if there are some discounts, it is not unacceptable.

Raymond opened the folder:

"First, the Keyhole satellite observed new situations in a missile range in the northwest of China. China was conducting an anti-ship ballistic missile experiment and successfully hit a simulated target that may have the ability to move... According to the rules, they should collect relevant data from this experiment and restore the target area facilities to prepare for the next test launch, but now most of the personnel and equipment activities have stopped. Some of them have been moved to another area about 6.5 kilometers away, but there have been no new actions. It is speculated that they are preparing to deploy special targets for the test launch of new weapons..."

"Our intelligence personnel tried to analyze some clues from the peripheral mobilization of the Huaxia Engineering Corps, but the other party was very confidential. We only know that an engineering brigade affiliated with the Second Artillery Corps and an engineering brigade affiliated with the Army recently received mobilization orders, but we were unable to obtain more detailed information..."

He turned the document to the next page and was about to continue when he was interrupted by Lord:

“What about the procurement of raw materials?”

"Construction work can be handed over to the engineering corps, but it's impossible to let military factories produce building materials... and even if it is produced by military factories, such a large-scale operation should have some traces."

Raymond shook his head:

"The intelligence department has also considered this, but they really haven't found anything worth noting... All we can say is that either they have found some new channels, or the raw materials are not used in large quantities, so the usual reserves are enough and will not affect war preparedness. In this way, the purchases can be dispersed into other orders. Unless there are directly related internal materials, no trace will be left."

Lord directly ignored the first possibility:

"Mobilizing the personnel and equipment of two engineering brigades, but using very little engineering materials?"

For a moment, Lord couldn't figure out what kind of target this would be.

Most of the U.S. missile weapon tests are done on the sea or lake, either directly hitting a target ship or simply diving into the water. There is really no experience in this area, so the U.S. had to signal Raymond to continue.

"In addition, China has recently gathered a group of R&D personnel. It is speculated that they have restarted a medium- and short-range missile project that has been stagnant for a long time. It is very likely to prepare for their new hypersonic weapons project, or to use the opportunity of developing new models to advance old projects that were previously blocked. You know, they are very good at doing this..."

Hearing this, Lord, who had been in a lazy posture, sat up straight instantly:

"Tell me in detail, how did you make the inference?"