The military-industrial scientific research system of the academic master

The Air Force Space Command rarely undertakes specific combat tasks, so its efficiency in desk work is quite high.

Just three days later, a complete test plan including test background, targets, operational procedures, follow-up processing and emergency plans was sent to the Air Force Headquarters in Washington.

In fact, generally speaking, in the management system of the U.S. military, military service secretaries who are civilian officials often have a higher say.

But Secretary of the Air Force Pete Teeter himself was suddenly pulled over to support him, and he was almost unprepared before taking up the post.

Therefore, until more than a year later, the complex entanglement of interests behind this position was still not completely resolved.

It's basically the Secretary of Defense's meat horn.

However, after entering 2006, even the defense minister himself was already in danger of losing his position, let alone his semi-puppet.

Therefore, after receiving the report, Teeter immediately approached General Mitchell Mosley, who had just taken over as Chief of Staff of the Air Force, to consult this professional for his advice.

"General Mosley, Lance Lord sent us a specific plan to use Standard 3 missiles..."

He had just begun to speak when he was interrupted by Mosley on the opposite side:

"I've already read the plan."

The latter said and pointed to the top folder of the pile of documents next to him:

"Joined with the Maritime Self-Defense Force, the interception target was changed from the originally planned ATACMS to a satellite with an orbital altitude of nearly 600km, as a response to China's test of a new ballistic missile..."

On paper, Standard 3 is a "US-Japan joint research and development". Of course, the latter is actually just a wave of money extortion.

But at least for the sake of appearance, the test still has to give the Maritime Self-Defense Force some shots.

Therefore, Lord arranged for the USS King Kong destroyer to escort the Shiloh in his plan.

Of course, in addition to the face factor, starting in 2006, Japan and South Korea's Aegis ships will gradually begin to install the latest 3D anti-missile systems.

This time it can be considered as an early experience of the server.

"So, your opinion is..."

Teeter asked tentatively.

Compared to his predecessor John Jungper, who had a somewhat good-guy personality, Mosley may have a more typical traditional military character because of his background as a fighter pilot.

It is rare to look favorably upon the Air Force Secretary who has lost his position.

"Lorde has been working for the Space Command for almost 30 years, and he can be completely assured in terms of business."

Mosley half leaned on the office chair, took a puff of his cigar, and then continued:

"There is nothing wrong with the test plan itself, but he believes that it is a bit unrealistic to use such a test as a response to China's test of a new ballistic missile..."

Hearing this, Tite quickly put away the little discomfort in his heart:

"You think...this isn't enough?"

The test report will eventually be reported to the Department of Defense through the Secretary of the Air Force, and then finally to the President. Even if he is only considering his own position, he must handle this matter well.

"Of course not enough!"

Admiral Mosley sat upright suddenly, a pair of sharp blue eyes staring at Teeter across from him with a ferocious look:

"An army can never win a war by relying on defense!"

He pressed the cigar hard on the ashtray, not caring at all that most of the King of Denmark was crippled by this action:

"I have been dealing with the Chinese for almost 20 years... They rarely take the initiative to disclose the development progress of any weapon, but this time they announced the test launch of an anti-ship ballistic missile almost immediately, which is obviously a violation of One of our provocations... anti-aircraft carrier weapons, said it is not aimed at any country... Who would believe it? "

"Perhaps those guys in the Navy will get enough sense of security because of the successful interception of Standard 3, but we cannot simply be satisfied with this..."

"We must use more deterrent weapons to warn them. If they dare to have any unreasonable thoughts, they will be immediately devastated by us!"

Ten years ago, Mosley, then a brigadier general, helped develop a series of deterrence activities targeting China.

Although the Air Force did not dispatch directly back then, being threatened by the opponent in turn was still quite unbearable for him with a violent personality.

"But, General."

Although Tite's attitude is quite flexible, he still remains quite calm on key issues:

"Based on the current conditions, no matter the Ministry of Defense, Capitol Hill or the White House, they will not allow a direct conflict to break out between us and China. Instead, they prefer to let our allies be the vanguard and consume the other side's energy as much as possible... …”

"snort……"

It was clear that Mosley was quite dissatisfied with this attitude.

But it is impossible to disobey instructions from superiors.

So he had to sigh and said:

"I plan to communicate with NASA and Boeing to ask them to improve efficiency and try their best to ensure that the first flight of the X51A verification project is completed before 2008..."

"Based on the average speed of Mach 6, if a bomber launches a hypersonic missile over Japan, it will only take about 5-7 minutes to hit most areas in eastern and central China, which is much faster than their medium-range ballistic missiles. The preparation time is shorter, which is enough to destroy the missiles that threaten us on the ground before they are launched.”

Peter Teeter lowered his head slightly, his eyes flickering for a long time:

"This is indeed a suitable and powerful enough counterattack."

"But a test launch before 2008 would be equivalent to advancing the schedule of the entire plan by about a year. I'm worried that Boeing will ask for more funds because of this..."

Mosley frowned slightly:

"But the funds allocated to the X51A project in fiscal year 2006 have increased by more than 10 times compared with last year?"

When it comes to money, Teeter, as Secretary of the Air Force, is obviously more familiar with the situation:

"That's what I say, but I'm afraid Boeing will not miss any opportunity to increase money..."

The Air Force Chief of Staff waved his hand slightly irritably:

"Let me think about it... there's always a way."

…

"How can this be possible?"

At Boeing's headquarters in Chicago, X51A project director Shapur Collinger looked at the guidance document issued by the company's board of directors and was almost dumbfounded:

"Requesting to conduct test launches one year in advance, but no additional funds have been provided?"

Collinger has been working within Boeing for nearly 40 years. During this period, he has rejected many offers from universities and other companies, even if the other party offered several times the current salary.

In addition to being a Springfield native and not wanting to stray too far from his hometown, this is largely because he recognizes the engineering culture his company upholds.

But in the past five or six years, he gradually began to feel that there were some problems within the company's management.

It is no longer the Boeing that I am familiar with.

Deputy Director Charlie Brinker, who took the documents over, shrugged:

"The board of directors said that the funding allocated to the X51A project this year has been nearly six times that of last year, and the Air Force has also given sufficient support to the KC767 tanker project, so..."

This outrageous logic made Collinger laugh angrily:

"What does KC767 have to do with us? Why should we wipe their butts?"

Although he said that, he also knew that there might not be much room for maneuver in this matter.

After all, Party A’s boss has given much more funding than in the past, so it’s normal to make some additional requests.

Moreover, the timetable they originally submitted had some margin.

Therefore, after calming down for a while, Collinger returned to the topic:

"At the beginning of this year, Pratt \u0026 Whitney has completed the ground start-up test of the SJX61-1 engine, proving that the performance can fully meet the needs of the X51A aircraft, and our verification technology on the X43A is also being transferred, and the above requirements are not completely impossible to complete. "

"The biggest problem at the moment is that the SJX61-1 first needs to be accelerated to at least 5.4 times the speed of sound to ensure the success rate of self-starting. However, because the Ministry of Defense requires the X51A to add a cabin to accommodate the simulated warhead, the original plan The method of using the ATACM missile boost stage is no longer sufficient to accelerate the aircraft to this speed. "

Upon hearing this, Brink's eyes lit up:

"If this is the case, MIT has recently developed a new technology that may be able to help us..."