The world of American TV series: Starting with the L.A. Patrol.

"Todai is no longer the backward country that can only copy and imitate. They use their endless cheap labor and those damn low-quality industrial products to pose a huge threat to the entire free world.

The enemy is in the Senate, my friends. When those rotten old men who led the world's beacon were still immersed in our invincible aircraft carrier fleet, they did not realize that the country in the East had grown into a more terrifying existence than the red giant bear back then."

"Ahem!" Reacher coughed lightly, interrupting someone's self-absorbed impromptu speech. "From what you said, Lavoie didn't use any fair and honest methods to clear those red tapes?"

"Of course, I helped stuff the proposal into a thousand-page bill, while Lavoie shook hands with other members of Congress to get votes, so that no one would even notice the humble appropriations bill."

It was not known whether the white powder he had taken earlier had taken effect, but Boyd, who had already completely opened up, did not need much guidance and explained what had happened proudly.

"So you're saying that Lavoie did all this out of public good, to protect the entire free world? Without seeking any personal gain for himself?"

Reacher thought of the task Jack had given him and continued to guide the guy to speak.

Boyd laughed out loud. "Don't be so naive, okay? This is the most basic way of operating in Washington DC. Do you think those lobbying groups are working for free?

What's more, the 'little wings' are really useful. Lavoie and I have seen it with our own eyes. All we have to do is press the transmitter and we don't have to worry about anything else.

What does that country in the East call this? It's a win-win situation, isn't it? We have promoted a military technology that is beneficial to us, and this is the most important thing. Compared to what we got, it is just a tiny bit of insignificant reward. "

"Have you heard of these two numbers? 650 and 10 each." Reacher's question left Boyd confused.

"So you've never thought about the possibility of this advanced portable air defense missile leaking out? Just press the launcher outside any civil aviation airport and it can cause a plane crash," O'Donnell asked.

"How is that possible? The 'little wings' are used to save the lives of our soldiers. They can effectively destroy drones, armed helicopters and all low-flying aircraft.

New Age Technology is our own company. The technology is in our hands and cannot fall into the hands of others. They divided the manufacturing process into two parts. Only the special missiles and launchers are manufactured in Denver, and the chip production is in New York. "

Boyd was confused by the question, but he still defended himself, "Hey, listen, Lavoie and I did take shortcuts and used some dirty tricks.

But this is all about getting the bill passed and protecting the free world.”

"Then let's wait and see." Seeing that no more information could be squeezed out of this guy, Reacher glanced at the dark one-way glass, stood up, opened the door, and was about to leave the interrogation room with O'Donnell.

"Please, I've told you everything you want to know. The charges against him for drugging will be dropped, right?" Boyd asked quickly.

Reacher originally didn't want to bother with this guy anymore, but after thinking about it, he was worried that this idiot wouldn't figure it out, so he dropped a hint, "Who knows? I'm not a policeman."

-

"650 portable air defense missiles, $10 each, this is the only possibility I can think of." Reacher frowned.

The monitoring room was filled with smoke. Two freshly lit and two half-burned cigars instantly turned the room, which could only be ventilated by a small exhaust fan, into a fairyland.

"I have already notified Clay and Aubrey in Colorado. They will go to the Denver manufacturing plant tomorrow morning to inspect it in the name of the Defense Contract Management Agency. 650 missiles, this number cannot be concealed."

Jack's overly calm expression puzzled the others, especially Finlay, who was listening in on the whole thing. He was so nervous that he asked, "Aren't you worried at all that the missiles could fall into the hands of terrorists?"

Jack did not directly answer his doubts, but looked at Reacher and O'Donnell, two former soldiers, and asked, "Have you ever come into contact with the latest model of the Stinger anti-aircraft missile?

Tell Inspector Finlay what the effective range of this portable anti-aircraft missile is and how long its main rocket motor can last."

Reacher seemed to understand this question, and O'Donnell could not wait to answer, "The effective range is 4800 meters, the altitude is 3800 meters, the maximum speed is 2.2 Mach, and the rocket engine can work continuously for 5 seconds."

Seeing that Finlay still had a confused expression on his face, Jack, who was also half-blind, began to explain science to him.

Unlike cruise missiles, which have huge fuel tanks and use turbojet or turbofan engines that can work for a long time.

The total length including the launch device does not exceed 2 meters and weighs about 30 pounds. The individual air defense missile can be shoulder-launched by one person and uses a small rocket engine propelled by solid fuel.

The main engine of this small missile starts working 1-2 seconds after leaving the launch tube, and it will use up the fuel it carries within a few seconds at most. After that, it can only rely on inertia and aerodynamics to change its trajectory for tracking with the help of the rudder.

Once you miss the target, you miss it. Not to mention turning around to attack, it is extremely difficult to make large-angle maneuvers after the fuel is exhausted.

So it is not that missiles that can turn around and attack do not exist, but they must at least be at the level of aircraft-borne air-to-air missiles. That weight is definitely not something that a single soldier can carry. This is the law of physics and cannot be changed by some magical software program.

"But didn't that guy say he and Lavoie saw it with their own eyes?" Finlay was skeptical about Jack's statement.

"It's indeed difficult to perform a U-turn and attack in actual combat, but that doesn't mean it can't be done in a demonstration." Reacher has figured out what is going on.

"Cancel the warhead, increase the fuel capacity, calculate the engine running time in advance, complete the turning action before the fuel is burned out, load the target drone with explosives that can be detonated wirelessly, and detonate it manually at the last minute."

Finlay blinked. "You mean, fake it?"

Jack patted his shoulder and sighed, "Apparently, in addition to our Congressman Lavoie who knows how to adapt, the directors of New Age Technology are also good at this."

Perhaps the technology developed by this company is indeed unique in some aspects, but using this thing on portable air defense missiles is obviously a pure scam.

Jack estimated that this so-called special missile may not completely eliminate the warhead, but the warhead is definitely made as small as possible, and the effective range may be less than one-third of the "Stinger" air defense missile that the Americans have been playing with for decades.

But this is enough to get defense orders and obtain a large amount of financial support through the appropriations bill. "New Era Technology" will have enough money to continue to bribe other members of Congress and pave the way for their subsequent projects.

The ultimate goal of the decision-makers of the "New Era Technology" should be to further improve the "little wings" through the nearly $10 billion grant and install them on air-to-air missiles or ship-to-ship missiles to obtain greater investment in national defense funds.

The grant that Lavoie secured for New Era Technologies was not just the purchase price for a batch of new missiles, it also included subsequent research and development costs.

You should know that the price of a new "Stinger" portable air defense missile sold by Raytheon to the Pentagon has risen to more than 40 US dollars, while in the last century, the price of the same missile was only 2.5 US dollars.

Jack didn't know the price of a single missile sold by New Age Technologies to the Pentagon, but based on the private arms transaction prices they had found so far, it would definitely not exceed $10, which was extremely cheap in comparison.

As long as the batch of trial missiles produced by "New Era Technology" can really achieve that fancy U-turn attack function, the actual combat results are not important. The only question is whether you turned after firing. That white track can't lie, right?

So what's there to complain about? The power is not enough and the range is too short. The prototype must have defects. We just need to keep working hard to improve it.

As for the military that received a batch of scrap, they could easily settle the account by using money to shut everyone up and throwing the scrapped products into a warehouse to wait for them to rust and become scrapped.

A temporary floating dock for the US military costs three hundred or four hundred million dollars, and it was destroyed by the waves before it was even used. Even the president doesn't dare to say a word, so how much trouble can a batch of prototype missiles cause?