Chapter 1184 Dongfeng, Launch!

Spring passes and summer comes.

After solving the biggest technical difficulty of sweat cooling, the development of the entire verification bomb has entered the fast lane.

Compared with similar research in other countries, China’s hypersonic weapons project presents a rather peculiar state——

The configuration and cooling issues that others were scratching their heads about were solved almost immediately.

What really troubles Chang Haonan and the others is the matter of "reaching hypersonic speed" itself.

Facts have proved that even if high-altitude launch and liquid power have been chosen, for China at this stage, it is still much more difficult than expected to propel the double-cone warhead to the expected speed in the atmosphere.

Chang Haonan himself is not a rocket power expert, and many key issues are limited by industrial capabilities.

For example, most of the supporting facilities and industries built for the development of new-generation rockets have not yet been implemented. No matter how powerful he is, he can only solve some technical problems at most, and it is impossible to move a factory or an assembly line out of thin air.

Therefore, from the beginning of the project, the test of the warhead part was singled out and planned to be completed within half a year.

As for the test method, I chose a more evil approach:

Take a bullet and shoot it with a high trajectory.

The process of reentry into the atmosphere is used to simulate the aerodynamic heating effect.

Although the degree of restoration is definitely not as good as the verification bomb in its complete state, in the absence of a high total temperature wind tunnel, it is worse than putting the warhead on the ground and waiting...

…

One morning in early May 2005.

In a dense forest somewhere on the outskirts of Lianhai City.

An almost invisible light mist filled the surroundings of more than a dozen cars, reflecting a slightly gorgeous halo under the rising sun.

However, beneath the fog, almost the most core secrets of a country are hidden...

The commanders and fighters of the 810th Brigade of the 51st Base of the Second Artillery Corps were wearing heavy protective clothing and quickly and carefully refueling a green missile.

Compared with the same model of product at the combat readiness launch position not far away, the appearance of this one has been obviously modified.

Specifically, the warhead part under the fairing is extremely small, and even feels weird and incongruous against the huge 24-meter-high projectile.

Dongfeng 3A.

The first medium-range ballistic missile developed by China.

From the perspective of the 21st century, even if this model has been improved, it has already lagged behind the times.

Not to mention paper performance such as range accuracy, the huge logistics fleet and the hours of pre-launch preparation time are enough for an imaginary enemy in a high-level confrontation to destroy the position several times.

In fact, the reason why this unit can be retained as it is today is not only due to the insufficient number of newer Dongfeng 21s, but also due to external factors——

For more than 20 years, Huaxia has been providing technical and support support for more than 30 products of the same model exported to Saudi Arabia.

Therefore, the country must retain a unit capable of operating Dongfeng 3.

As a result, Chang Haonan was so cheap.

For him, as long as it can hit a sufficient trajectory height, it doesn't matter whether the missile itself is advanced or not.

These old Dongfeng equipment of the 810th Brigade are embarrassing equipment that the commander would shake his head upon seeing. Taking one out of them for test firing will not have any negative impact on the actual combat readiness level.

In addition, from the perspective of other countries, the only reason for China to test-fire a Dongfeng 3 seems to be to conduct random inspections to prevent these old guys from becoming ineffective over time and having a relatively low sensitivity.

Therefore, the test application got the green light all the way, and Chang Haonan got the opportunity to enter the missile base for the first time in his life...

At this time, he was in the command post several hundred meters away from the launch vehicle, and together with several technicians accompanying him, he was conducting the last mission inspection before launch.

Brigadier Wei Shijun took off his gas mask and pushed the door in. He stood at attention with a snap, and then saluted Chang Haonan and others.

To be honest, he himself was a little unsure about this mission.

Reducing the range by increasing the launch height is a common test-fire method for long-range and intercontinental missiles.

After all, China has no overseas territory, and its own territory span is relatively limited. To conduct a full-range test of thousands of kilometers, the only way is to launch into the Pacific Ocean, which is too loud.

However, the maximum range of Dongfeng 3A is less than 4,000 kilometers. It can hit Lop Nur directly from Base 51, so there is no need to hit the highest trajectory.

Even the launch parameters for this mission were specially determined before.

Moreover, Dongfeng 3 is a single-stage missile. In the past, the load itself was the fairing. This time, in order to cooperate with the test, an additional small modification was carried out, giving the missile the ability to independently release the double-cone warhead.

In short, this missile, which is almost as old as him, reveals details that are incomprehensible...

But in any case, compared to most of his peers who never had the opportunity to actually press the launch button throughout their careers, he was quite lucky. Putting aside the random thoughts in his mind, Wei Jianjun took a deep breath:

"Reporting to Academician Chang, the missile has completed all preparations before launch. It is planned to adopt a high ballistic mode, with a trajectory peak of 1450km. The maximum speed when re-entering the atmosphere is expected to be Mach 6.5. The expected landing point is the Bohai Sea area. The specific coordinates..."

"..."

These contents were actually written on the mission brief in Chang Haonan's hand, but in order to be foolproof, the commander still needed to check with him.

"Prepare for launch!"

Chang Haonan ordered in a deep voice.

"Yes!"

Wei Shijun saluted again, then turned around and began to issue an order to evacuate the front-line positions.

Through the telescope, Chang Haonan could clearly see that the support frame used for erection was slowly lowered, and the missile also entered the final stage before launch.

"Listen to my command, countdown..."

The originally bustling position has completely returned to silence, and only the radio waves carrying Wei Jianjun's command echoed among the mountains in the northeast.

"3...2...1..."

"Launch!"

As the missile battalion commander in the launch vehicle pressed the launch button, the nitric acid and unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine inside the missile body tumbled into the combustion chamber along the turbo pump. The covalent bonds broke and reorganized within one thousandth of a second after contacting each other, bursting out amazing huge energy, sending the high-temperature reaction products into the engine nozzle...

"Boom--"

The next moment, as if the dormant life suddenly woke up, the dazzling red flames lit up from the rear of the launch vehicle, and in the white and light brown smoke that almost covered the entire position and the deafening roar, the missile began to slowly climb.

The oldest missile body carried the most advanced payload and sent the deterrent force that was enough to change the rules of the game into space.

Even Chang Haonan, who had seen the rocket launch with his own eyes before, was inevitably shocked by this spectacular scene.

"The prelude to the hypersonic era has begun..."

Xing Muchun made a somewhat literary exclamation.

The reactions of some others were much simpler and more brutal:

"Oh my god, it's really spectacular..."

"..."

Soon, the flames disappeared and the dust dissipated.

The launch site returned to calm, and the missile disappeared from everyone's sight.

Only the signals sent back by the radar and missile-borne sensors were displayed on the computer screens nearby.

100km...200km...300km...

Although Wei Shijun's mission had been completed, perhaps due to the atmosphere on the scene, he had no time to celebrate with his subordinates, but stared at the constantly jumping curves and numbers in front of him with Chang Haonan and others without daring to speak.

Soon, the missile reached the highest point of the trajectory at 1750km.

"Report, the head and body are separated!"

The signal on the radar screen first split into two, and then soon only the relatively small one was left in the center of the screen.

There was a sparse applause in the command post, but most people still held their breath and waited for the most critical moment to come...

The full range of the medium-range missile is not long.

Just a few minutes later, the warhead returned to the re-entry altitude of about 150km.

The speed displayed on the screen remained at 2160m/s.

The air in the command post almost froze.

No one knew what was happening on the warhead surface. They could only see a falling curve being generated in the coordinate system.

Until almost half a minute later, when every second seemed like an eternity...

A brief report cut through the air that seemed to be real:

"Report, the seeker is turned on!"