Chapter 1361 Electromagnetic Prism

"Nothing is impossible."

A few days later, on the other side of the earth, in the Gobi Desert where the morning mist had not yet dissipated, Chang Haonan squatted down and grabbed a handful of gravel, watching the cold and fine quartz particles slip through his fingers:

"Since we can evade space-based reconnaissance by calculating the time it takes for the other party's satellite to pass overhead, the other party can also do the opposite and obtain some useful information by suddenly changing orbits or conducting follow-up inspections... For example, last week, the Americans suddenly launched a technical test satellite using a Minotaur-4 rocket. Although the reason given on the surface was to verify the reliability of the launch vehicle for the HTV-2 project, it is hard to guarantee that this is not an attempt to divert attention."

Wang Hongrang followed beside him, looking up at the endless snow-capped mountains in the distance, rubbing his ears which were red from the cold:

"So you think the satellite is the really important part?"

Chang Haonan took out a black leather-covered notebook from his pocket and quickly wrote down a few coordinates:

"That satellite doesn't actively send out many signals. We can only confirm that it is not a synthetic aperture radar satellite, but we can only guess what it does..."

After a short pause, he suddenly smiled and said:

"Besides, it's entirely possible that both parts are important... We've done this before."

Wang Hongrang also laughed out loud:

"That's true..."

Without talking about the distant past, just the use of DF-16 to test the "Xuanniao" hypersonic verification platform can barely be regarded as a typical example of "both parts are important".

In fact, the US's confusion strategy was quite successful.

The key lies in the choice of rocket.

Generally speaking, if it is a very important payload, a relatively safe launch method will definitely be chosen.

If you want to verify a new rocket, you can at most hit some unimportant objects, or simply install a counterweight.

The situation of Kominota-4 is rather special.

As a solid rocket improved from a mature ballistic missile, you are right to say it is a new model, and there is no problem in considering it a mature model.

It’s really hard to judge.

But Chang Haonan's principle has always been to take precautions before problems occur.

"So, we are currently preparing...to prevent satellite reconnaissance?"

He nimbly climbed onto the hood of the jeep next to him and looked at two technicians in desert camouflage who were busy working in target area No. 3 in the distance.

The two were debugging some kind of umbrella-shaped antenna device, and the metal frame was shining coldly under the winter sun.

As the person in charge of the entire effect range, Wang Hongrang naturally doesn't like others messing around in his area of ​​responsibility.

But the person before me really cannot be judged by common sense.

Just do it.

Chang Haonan shook his head and corrected himself seriously:

"Strictly speaking, it's not prevention, but confusion..."

He was about to explain it in detail when he heard the intercom next to him suddenly ring;

"Report, the reflective layer of R-7 area has been laid, but the weather station said there might be a sandstorm in the afternoon. Should we continue with the original plan?"

Sandstorms in winter are not common, but to some extent, this is a good thing for them.

"Go ahead, but remember to deepen the fixing stakes of the carbon fiber net by half a meter. Also notify the crew of car number three to deploy another nine sets of antennas, arranged in a three-by-three pattern in two groups of large and small in a triangular shape..."

He issued new instructions decisively.

"Yes!"

Chang Haonan put down the walkie-talkie and was just about to continue the previous topic when the encrypted radio at the back of the jeep beeped again.

"How come you all got together..."

He sighed helplessly, turned around again, opened the back door, and pulled out a wired communication device shaped like a telephone receiver.

Compared with the walkie-talkie used for on-site communication within two kilometers, this regimental command radio station actually belongs to Wang Hongrang's equipment. However, due to the special nature of the effect target range, he rarely had the opportunity to use it before.

Now it can be used to contact Dingxin which is hundreds of kilometers away.

"Academician Chang, radar information has detected that a satellite numbered US-193 just performed an orbit change maneuver about 20 minutes ago. The information about the satellite itself is incomplete, but it is speculated that it should be a synthetic aperture radar satellite belonging to the National Reconnaissance Office..."

Chang Haonan thought to himself, "As expected," and then asked:

“Can we tell what their observation focus is by the conditions in the new orbit?”

There was silence on the other end of the radio for a while, probably calculating the specific data:

"The orbit change is not significant. It is expected to pass over the western part of Longyuan three hours earlier than the old orbit. However, it is still close to dusk, so it is unlikely to be a real reconnaissance. It is more likely to be an advance drill..."

Most reconnaissance satellites operate in a sun-synchronous orbit, which allows the satellite to traverse most areas on the earth within a period of roughly 24 hours. Therefore, it can pass over the same place at the same time every day. Deliberate orbit change maneuvers are usually performed to adjust the time of passing overhead to ensure sufficient light, which is of little significance for a radar reconnaissance satellite.

"Forget it. I'll ask the staff to adjust today's schedule...try not to reveal too much information."

Compared with the entire shooting range area, their current actions are not big, but we still have to respect the Americans' capabilities in intelligence gathering.

Wang Hongrang did not hear the entire conversation, and could only guess some information from a few fragments:

"A new satellite threat?"

"Ah, yes..."

Chang Haonan slammed the car door shut and replied indifferently:

"But it's not a big problem... We won't have to worry about it soon."

At first, Wang Hongrang felt that he didn't quite understand what was said, but then he remembered what Chang Haonan had just emphasized:

"So that's why you said you wanted to...confuse the reconnaissance satellites?"

Chang Haonan showed an expression that said, "You are quite intelligent."

"In the future, there will be more and more remote sensing satellites. Optical satellites can be shielded by night, smoke or weather conditions, but radar satellites can remain transparent almost at all times... It is not a good idea to hide like this all the time. We must find a way to take the initiative into our own hands."

Wang Hongrang was deeply touched by this judgment.

The most important part of the Second Artillery Force’s daily training is how to counter enemy satellite threats.

As the density and performance of reconnaissance satellites have continued to increase over the years, the difficulty of this training has increased almost exponentially.

"so……"

"So I plan to lay a circular reflective layer at intervals of 30 km within 1.5 kilometers around the No. 45 target area, and then use twelve sets of phased array jammers arranged in a triangular shape to roughly turn the area within a radius of 50- km into a blind spot for radar satellite observation..."

Wang Hongrang took off his hat and gently scratched the back of his neck:

"Isn't that radar jamming?"

"of course not……"

Chang Haonan covered his face:

"Interference makes it difficult for satellites to see the target clearly, which means the other party will know that their actions have been discovered. This will only make them mobilize more reconnaissance resources and put more pressure on us."

"As for confusion, it is to use false signals to make the other party think that everything is normal in the area... Although it is impossible to deceive for too long, it is enough for you to deal with the main traces of the bomb drop area."

At one point, Wang Hongrang thought he had misheard:

"what?"

There are certainly many ways to interfere with satellite reconnaissance, and he has used a large part of them himself, but most of them are passive means.

When it comes to active use, it's basically blinding with directed energy weapons, which is difficult to do in peacetime.

However, it is unheard of that an area can be directly erased from the satellite's view and then replaced with a false reconnaissance result.

After a long while, he finally thought of a concept that was somewhat close:

"It's like in the movies... hacking into the backstage of the surveillance camera, replacing the live surveillance with pre-made videos, and then infiltrating?"

Chang Haonan nodded:

"Almost... but I will call it the 'electromagnetic prism' system for now."