Chapter 868 Global Nuclear Balance
After leaving the Commission of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense, Chang Haonan quickly contacted Wu Yifan.
I learned that the latter was in the country.
So, he asked the other party to meet the next day.
The location is naturally in the private room on the second floor of the Torch Group cafeteria.
Compared to a few months ago, Old Wu has become much whiter.
However, the price is that the passive skill of seamlessly disguising the Buryats is also lost.
"Brother Nan, what a coincidence. I was planning to ask you out these two days."
After meeting, Wu Yifan spoke first.
"In a hurry?"
Chang Haonan, who had just picked up the chopsticks, stopped moving.
"It's an important matter, but it's not urgent. Otherwise, I definitely wouldn't wait until I meet you to tell you."
Wu Yifan picked up the teapot and poured a glass of water for each of them, while answering:
"What I heard last month was that Ermao's denuclearization steps were suddenly suspended."
"what?"
Chang Haonan's pupils shrank slightly in shock:
"How dare Ermao do this?"
This is really important.
A huge problem caused by the disintegration of the Soviet Union is the huge number of nuclear weapons scattered across the territories of the former republics and the loss of unified custody.
This is not only troublesome for other countries, but also for the CIS countries themselves except Russia.
Since control of nuclear bombs remains in the hands of Moscow, the nuclear weapons they have are essentially useless.
It can neither be fired nor detonated.
But you can't really treat it as a hammer.
If it is leaked due to improper storage, or stolen by someone, and the warhead is disassembled and the entire dirty bullet comes out, no one will be able to withstand it.
Therefore, most countries got rid of these hot potatoes as quickly as possible shortly after their independence.
But the situation in one country is rather special.
It's Ermao.
There are simply too many nuclear bombs deployed on its territory.
So much so that by 1992, it was the third largest nuclear arsenal after the United States and Russia.
Far more than the sum of the following three constants.
Moreover, Ermao itself is a country with certain scientific research capabilities, and no one can guarantee that it will not be able to unlock nuclear weapons.
Therefore, in 1994, the five permanent members of the UN Security Council drafted a Security Council Resolution 984 specifically for it:
If a nuclear-weapon state abandons its nuclear weapons and returns to being a non-nuclear state, the permanent members of the Security Council will jointly guarantee not to use nuclear weapons against that state.
Then, the "reassured" Kiev regime began to destroy and transfer its nuclear arsenal under the joint supervision of the United States and Russia.
In the original timeline, this process lasted until the beginning of the 21st century, when the last silo deploying the RT23 intercontinental missile in Ermao was dismantled.
But I haven't heard of any repetitions in the middle...
"No, Ermao, Ermao can't wait to get rid of these things."
After hearing Chang Haonan's doubts, Wu Yifan shook the chopsticks in his hand:
"Didn't I tell you last time we met that because of Operation Allied Force, there were some conflicts between the US and Russia over the nuclear issue?"
Chang Haonan nodded to indicate that he knew.
This is also the basis for his layout using the D436 engine.
First, send Lao Wu to poach key technical personnel from the Ivchenko Design Bureau and the Motor Sich Factory.
It is not necessary to dig in China.
As long as it's not Ermao, you can go anywhere.
The main reason is that they are unable to supply engine parts on time, resulting in a large amount of liquidated damages.
These two companies are already on the line between life and death, and they certainly cannot afford to pay the penalty for breach of contract.
According to the contract, in this case, Ermao official, as the guarantor of this transaction, will bear the liability for compensation.
But Ermao has to borrow money from Damao even to buy natural gas, so he obviously cannot afford the compensation.
Then the only option is to resort to compensation in kind.
Chang Haonan actually had this idea a long time ago.
But it was just an idea before.
After all, the Tu-160, as the world's largest and longest-range strategic bomber, is not just a simple weapon.
It is also part of the global nuclear balance.
Even though the Cold War era is over, any nuclear-related issues remain highly sensitive.
It was not until the end of the Allied Operation that some conflicts arose between several countries that had originally had a tacit understanding on the issue of the US-China nuclear issue. In addition, China itself is one of the five great benevolent countries that legally possess nuclear weapons, which made this matter at least theoretically possible.
but……
That is theoretically possible.
Even Chang Haonan himself has to admit it.
Not completely sure.
A 50-50 chance of success and failure is considered a relatively optimistic assessment.
But from what Old Wu said, it seems that the situation has changed again?
After drinking a mouthful of soup, Wu Yifan explained:
"In the beginning, the conflict was just the Americans putting pressure on Ermao to destroy all nuclear carriers instead of handing them over to the Russians in the name of paying off debts. As for the debts, the Americans could help pay them off."
"In fact, this change only involves about 6-8 Tu-160 bombers and about 20 rail-mobile intercontinental missiles. The other vehicles are still being destroyed as usual."
"But later, the two sides seemed to be arguing more and more, causing the entire denuclearization work to be suspended, or at least greatly slowed down..."
After listening to the whole process, Chang Haonan didn't know what to say for a moment.
Although only a little over a year had passed since he had changed the outcome of Allied operations, the impact had already spread far beyond the Balkans.
Since the 90s, the U.S. military’s accumulated prestige as a “heavenly force” has been its core capability in implementing its national strategy.
But this property has another side effect.
God cannot shed blood.
The U.S. military chose to cut its losses and retreat at the time, also taking this into consideration, fearing that if it continued fighting it would repeat the mistake of the "talking tree."
At least the game ended in a draw for both sides.
But obviously, when a superpower and a small country tie, that is a big problem in itself.
Once the idea of "heavenly soldiers are nothing more than this" is formed, it will be difficult to completely eliminate it from other people's minds unless they perform another plowing and sweeping of the courtyards and holes...
Overall, this should be good news.
But once nuclear-related issues unfold, either nothing will happen, or something serious will happen...
In short, my scalp is tingling.
"Let's take one step at a time..."
Chang Haonan sighed, and then solemnly instructed:
"Please pay more attention to the information related to this matter, but unless you receive a request from the country, do not take any substantive action."
Old Wu nodded obediently:
"Of course I know that, but I'm not brave enough to touch anything related to nuclear weapons..."
After he finished speaking, he paused for a moment, and then perhaps wanted to change the topic to a lighter one, so he asked again:
"Speaking of which, Brother Nan, I remember you told me before that after Ermao defaulted on the delivery of the D436 engines, we would get some more stuff from them."
"Now they have basically lost the ability to enforce the contract. What exactly are you going to do?"
However, Old Wu didn't know that the new topic he just changed was actually the same as the previous one -
Chang Haonan had never fully told anyone the idea of "bringing back a few Tu-160s".
It was only many years ago that Ding Gaoheng hinted at the higher authorities' intentions.
The result...is what you want, of course.
Otherwise, they would not have sent a delegation to inspect the condition of those aircraft in 95.
However, now is not the time to talk about it.
So, Chang Haonan took a deep breath:
"I haven't thought about it yet. According to the contract, the penalty will only be incurred if the delivery is delayed for more than half a year. The longer the delay, the greater the amount. So... let's talk about it next year..."
In fact, he was waiting for an opportunity.
An opportunity to cooperate with Russia and control the Americans.
According to the original timeline, in just over a year, the US military would rush into the graveyard of empires without looking back.
And that process requires the two countries to open their airspace as a logistical transportation route.
But the course of history has now changed beyond all recognition, and Chang Haonan cannot 100% guarantee that these things will happen as they did.
We can only take one step at a time.
