Chapter 430: 2 Months
China is equally troubled.
In the past, they drew a line for the Americans, and America never dared to cross that line.
But now the situation is different.
Regarding support for North Vietnam, China has always been consistent.
Even if relations with the Soviet Union broke down, China did not stop it; Soviet materials were transported to North Vietnam along China’s railway.
So what China is troubled about now is whether they should personally get involved.
Soviet people are afraid of America, deep down they dare not get involved, but China is not afraid.
Similarly, if China gets involved, it will also have to pay a huge price.
First of all, the hard-won trade opportunities with the free world, using Hong Kong and Finland as fulcrums between East and West, China’s consumer electronics have been continuously exported.
China’s officials have also accumulated sufficient international trade experience over the past five years.
So when facing the Soviet Union, their flagship product only accepts US Dollars, not Rubles.
They discovered that the US Dollar is really useful.
In the free world, various facilities that can be bought are cheaper than those led by the Soviet Union in the Eastern Bloc, and the quality delivered is better.
Various large mechanical equipment, factories, complete production lines, and so on.
Once fighting breaks out, all of these will be reduced to ashes.
Secondly, the relationship with America will also freeze rapidly.
Finally, even if you personally get involved, North Vietnam may not listen to you or be loyal to you.
It’s just like helping North Korea; he will think you are helping me because of the Soviet Union, and he will still be loyal to the Soviet Union first, with you coming second.
The burden of history is too heavy; China’s past tributary system across all of Asia, plus modern history, has led to this situation.
China is very hesitant.
But the situation is evolving very badly, soon reaching the point where they have no choice but to get involved.
So the things Lin Ran gave arrived at Area 51 almost at the fastest speed without stopping.
“I’m actually quite curious; have we never investigated that office building?”
During the waiting interval, Dean Qian asked curiously.
The man sitting opposite him said indifferently: “No.
We do not want to damage the cooperative relationship with White Horse.
Everyone has secrets; not prying into each other’s secrets is the prerequisite for maintaining a good cooperative relationship.
However, we have arranged some employees to live nearby, having them keep an eye on whether there is personnel traffic in that office building.
Regrettably, we discovered nothing.
Perhaps the Xu Family is a channel, but we did not conduct further investigation.”
Facing White Horse, China has always upheld the attitude of absolutely not prying into the other’s secrets, at most making idle moves to collect as much information about the other as possible.
They will not use special, targeted means to probe Lin Ran’s secrets.
Because Lin Ran’s position in the White House is too important, his identity too sensitive; they find it hard to judge how many pairs of eyes in America are watching Lin Ran—the more you do, the more likely problems arise.
For example, like Larry King, in Washington he would never actively seek out people to inquire about news related to Lin Ran; only if colleagues mentioned it would he perk up his ears to listen and then record it.
At most to this extent.
So in Washington, because of Zhang Lülin (Hanqing’s son), they even feel that Lin Ran’s relationship with the ROC is closer.
“Makes sense, White Horse really has it tough.
I wonder if it’s the design concept and proposal for GPS.”
“Probably not; given White Horse’s cautious nature, he wouldn’t provide that to us.
After all, America’s GPS only shone brightly on the Vietnam War frontline, and if we immediately developed a similar satellite system right after, the suspicion would be too great.
Even if he really provided us with GPS technical data, for the sake of White Horse’s security, we would have to hold it back.”
When the suitcase arrived at the office in Area 51 through layers of covert channels, Dean Qian looked first.
The core of this report is America’s laser-guided bomb technology, as well as sketches of its working principle, and it also includes some technical data on GPS-guided missiles.
It is roughly about five years ahead of what is currently in American laboratories.
Dean Qian’s gaze was unusually calm.
He picked up the report and drew a simple geometric model on the blackboard.
“This should be the latest weapon being researched in the American military laboratory.
It is called a laser-guided bomb.
You may not understand its technical principle, but I can give you a simple analogy.”
In 1968, the prototype of the first-generation laser-guided missile was sent to the Vietnam War frontline for combat testing.
America’s 8th Tactical Fighter Wing used modified F-4 Phantom II fighter jets at Ubon Air Force Base in Thailand for bombing.
In this test, Texas Instruments engineers used handheld laser pointers on the airplane to illuminate the target; although the operation was extremely difficult, the bomb’s hit rate still reached an astonishing 50%, far higher than traditional bombs.
However, these were not reported in the news; this is top secret military technology.
China does not know its specific model or source.
Dean Qian picked up a teacup from the table and took a flashlight out of his pocket.
“In the past, when we fought wars, it was like this,” he placed the teacup at one corner of the table, then shone the flashlight beam toward the other corner of the room, “we knew the enemy was there, but our weapons, like this beam of light, could only roughly illuminate that area, with most of the energy wasted.”
He paused for a moment and adjusted the flashlight beam to its narrowest.
“But this new weapon now, it is like this,” he locked the flashlight beam tightly on the teacup, “this beam of light is like the laser we emit.
It will keep locking onto the teacup, and our weapon is like it has grown eyes; it will keep following this beam of light until it hits the target.
In the past, we needed hundreds or thousands of bombs to destroy a bridge.
But now, they only need a few, or even one bomb, to complete the task.
It is similar to GPS; America’s judgment on the future form of warfare is precise.
Whether GPS can directly transmit position, or laser-guided missiles, they all make the form of war more accurate.”
Intelligence from the Vietnam War frontline is synchronized to Moscow, and of course also to Yanjing.
Plus Western media heavily promoting GPS, Yanjing of course knows of GPS’s existence.
After Dean Qian finished speaking, he said thoughtfully:
“This thing is very good, but it is not suitable for the dilemma we are currently facing.
Not suitable for our North Vietnam comrades.”
The man sitting opposite immediately understood Dean Qian’s words:
“Exactly, it is more suitable for the attacking side to use, while our North Vietnam comrades are on the defensive.
What they need more is weapons that can threaten American airplanes.”
For North Vietnam, this thing is useful, but limited in use.
Using this to bomb South Vietnam’s infrastructure and material transport routes is completely useless.
Their materials come by sea.
If their infrastructure is destroyed, with America’s current engineering capabilities, it can be repaired very quickly, and the price you pay would be astonishing.
So it is not practical for North Vietnam.
What can have an immediate effect for North Vietnam is missiles that can effectively strike American airplanes; only this can truly have an immediate effect.
Destroy America’s air superiority.
This is a manifestation of Lin Ran lacking war experience.
He only knows this thing shone brightly in the Vietnam War, but doesn’t realize that America shining brightly doesn’t mean it works for North Vietnam too.
Dean Qian walked to another blackboard and picked up the chalk again:
“However, that doesn’t mean this information is useless; it provides us with very precious inspiration.
“Our current surface-to-air missiles’ guidance system is like a nearsighted person; in complex environments, it easily ‘can’t see’ the target clearly.
But this information gives our missiles a new pair of eyes.”
He pointed to the optical guidance principle diagram on the blackboard.
“We don’t have to completely replicate theirs.
We can utilize our own advantages, install this pair of eyes on our surface-to-air missiles, allowing them to autonomously identify and lock onto targets, no longer relying on radar that is easily jammed.
Our real enemy is the American bombers.
They bomb from high altitude, and it is hard to hit them with anti-aircraft guns.
What we need is a weapon that can threaten them.
In the past, we have been researching surface-to-air missiles, but our guidance accuracy is insufficient.
We cannot precisely lock onto targets in complex electromagnetic environments.”
The Vietnam War has lasted a long time; China has always known that what North Vietnam needs is air superiority, protection of their airspace.
China has not been stingy in providing anti-aircraft guns to North Vietnam.
But this is not enough, far from enough.
So Area 51 has always had projects for surface-to-air missiles and has been advancing them.
Dean Qian found inspiration from an illustration in the materials.
It was a sketch depicting the optical path of a laser-guided bomb.
This sketch detailed how the laser beam is captured by the optical sensor, how it is processed by semiconductor circuitry, and how it is ultimately converted into rudder commands.
The principle of laser guidance is to use a semiconductor sensor to capture the pulsed laser signal reflected from the target, calculate the relative positional deviation between the bomb and the target through logic circuitry, and then make corrections using aerodynamic control surfaces.
“The Americans applied semiconductor technology to optical sensors, enabling the sensors to precisely capture laser signals and perform high-speed calculations.
This is exactly what we lack.
In the past, we have always focused on how to increase radar power and anti-interference capability, ignoring another direction: optical guidance.
Similarly, our technical strength in the semiconductor field—at least in this technology—is not inferior to the Americans.
We can completely apply this optical guidance technology to surface-to-air missiles; what would that be like?” Dean Qian said excitedly.
In his mind, he had already outlined a brand-new missile model.
This model would no longer rely on easily jammed radar, but on optics that are harder to jam.
Although optical guidance has its limitations, in the short-range and medium-range air defense fields, it will be a perfect complement to radar guidance.
In the view of Area 51, America is like alien technology; who knows what alien technology they obtained.
After GPS came out, such mistaken judgments became even more serious.
In fact, at this time, after obtaining optical instruments from East Germany, China’s technical strength and reserves in the semiconductor field already have no essential difference from America’s.
“Time, I need you to give me a specific time.” The middle-aged man asked.
Dean Qian held up two fingers: “Two months.
But not to complete the entire system, but to complete a prototype usable in actual combat.
This system will include our latest optical guidance and semiconductor technology.
It will not be like our past surface-to-air missiles that need bulky radar guidance; it will autonomously lock onto the target.”
The other party said decisively: “Good, I must see that in two months, our surface-to-air missiles give America a taste of its own medicine.
Ruthlessly deflate their arrogance!”
