Chapter 317: 300 Kilometers? That's Impossible!

"Everyone," Li Mingyuan said calmly, breaking the oppressive atmosphere.

"The enemy's counterattack is within expectations. Our Graphite Weapon dealt them a heavy blow; naturally, they will look for countermeasures."

"But, Chief Engineer Li," a general asked urgently, "what should we do? Are we just going to watch the fruits of our previous Victory go down the drain?"

Li Mingyuan stood up, walked to the map hanging on the wall, and pointed at the coastline: "What is the root cause of the enemy's ability to continuously harass our rear?"

"The aircraft carrier fleet," a general immediately replied. "Their carrier strike groups come and go as they please on the sea; we have no way to deal with them."

"Correct," Li Mingyuan nodded. "The enemy's main force relies on the aircraft carrier fleet, and the coast of Taiyang has become their springboard. If we continue to defend passively, all our previous efforts will be wasted sooner or later."

"Then what should we do?" everyone asked in unison. "We have no navy; we simply cannot contend with the enemy's aircraft carriers!"

A flash of determination crossed Li Mingyuan's eyes: "Therefore, we need a new type of weapon, a weapon capable of striking sea targets directly from land."

"Land attacking the sea?" Everyone looked at each other. "Is this... possible?"

Li Mingyuan was confident: "Not only possible, but it must be done. I propose to immediately launch a new research and development project, codenamed 'Thunderstrike-1'—a new type of Missile system specifically targeting enemy ships."

"Missile?" an old general asked in confusion. "Do you mean a Rocket Shell? But our existing Rocket Shells have a maximum range of 20 kilometers; how could they possibly hit a fleet hundreds of kilometers away?"

Li Mingyuan smiled slightly: "This is not an ordinary Rocket Shell, but a brand-new weapon—an anti-ship missile with a range of up to 300 kilometers, capable of autonomously searching for targets and hitting them precisely."

There was an uproar in the conference room.

"300 kilometers?"

"Autonomously searching for targets?"

"This is impossible!"

The reaction of the crowd was within Li Mingyuan's expectations.

In this era, missile technology is still in its primary stage; most rocket weapons are unguided, and both range and accuracy are extremely limited.

"Everyone," Li Mingyuan said with a firm tone, "do not rush to conclusions. With the Third Generation Integrated Circuit and the Shuguang No. 1 Computer, many things that seemed impossible in the past have now become feasible."

He took out a stack of technical sketches and spread them on the table:

"This is the 'Thunderstrike-1' missile system plan I have preliminarily designed.

It will adopt active Radar Guidance, and the Integrated Circuit allows the missile's 'brain' to be small enough to be fitted into the missile body;

the improvement in computing speed enables the missile to process complex navigation and target information in real-time, autonomously locking onto high-speed moving ships."

The generals leaned forward, looking at these advanced design drawings in shock.

"More importantly," Li Mingyuan continued to explain,

"'Thunderstrike-1' will possess low-altitude sea-skimming and trajectory-changing penetration capabilities.

Before approaching the target, the missile will lower its flight altitude, flying close to the sea surface, using the cover of sea waves to evade the enemy ship's Radar.

When approaching the target, it can also intelligently change its trajectory to break through the enemy ship's anti-aircraft fire circle."

A general asked skeptically: "Such a complex flight path, how is it controlled?"

"By integrating a gyroscope and an Inertial Navigation System," Li Mingyuan explained,

"These are all thanks to miniaturized Integrated Circuit Technology. The Shuguang No. 1 Computer has already completed tens of thousands of flight path simulations, and we have already mastered the optimal parameters."

As Li Mingyuan explained in detail, the atmosphere in the conference room gradually shifted from worry to shock, and then to excitement.

"That is not all," Li Mingyuan added,

"'Thunderstrike-1' has two other key characteristics: first, multi-missile salvo and Swarm coordination.

Through computer real-time simulation of the combat environment, we have designed Swarm coordination logic, where multiple missiles attack the target from different angles simultaneously, making it impossible for the enemy ship to defend against."

"Second is the modular warhead design, which can be equipped with a High-Explosive Bomb warhead, armor-piercing warhead, or Graphite Warhead according to different missions, possessing both lethality and electronic warfare capabilities.

Especially the Graphite Warhead, which can instantly paralyze the enemy ship's electronic equipment, just like we dealt with their tanks and aircraft before."

The conference room was silent; everyone was stunned by this advanced weapon described by Li Mingyuan.

Minister Zhang, the director of the Military Industry Commission, was the first to come to his senses:

"Chief Engineer Li, this plan sounds very promising, but what about the time? How long will it take to develop?"

Li Mingyuan answered firmly: "Three weeks, at most no more than a month."

"A month?" everyone exclaimed again. "Such a complex system, how could it be completed in a month?"

Li Mingyuan explained:

"We are not starting from scratch. The Third Generation Integrated Circuit is already mature, and the 'Shuguang No. 1' Computer has already verified the key algorithms.

I already have detailed designs for the key Guidance System, Engine, and missile body structure.

What is needed now is just to concentrate manpower and material resources to carry out the final integration and testing."

Minister Zhang pondered for a moment and made a decision: "Good, fully support the 'Thunderstrike-1' project. Chief Engineer Li, just say what resources you need, and the country will prioritize meeting them."

After the meeting, Li Mingyuan immediately set about forming the "Thunderstrike-1" R&D team, drawing top experts from all over the country.

In the following days, a secret R&D base was brightly lit, and the scientific researchers worked day and night. Li Mingyuan worked even harder, personally guiding the design and testing of every link.

"Chief Engineer Li, you should rest," late one night, the assistant Lao Liu advised with concern, "you have been working for 36 hours straight."

Li Mingyuan rubbed his bloodshot eyes and smiled bitterly: "Where is there time to rest? For every day the enemy bombs us more, a group of frontline soldiers sacrifices themselves. Time is life!"

He picked up a cup of strong tea and continued to review the design drawings of the missile Guidance System, marking his revision comments on them from time to time.

This time, he did not wait for the system's extra "rewards," but instead relied on his own knowledge from the future, integrating Long Country's existing technical capabilities, to push this advanced project forward step by step.

In the laboratory, each group had a clear division of labor and worked in close cooperation:

The guidance group was responsible for the Radar and control system; they perfectly combined the miniaturized microcomputer with the Radar sensor, enabling the missile to autonomously identify and lock onto sea targets.

The propulsion group was improving the Rocket Engine, increasing fuel efficiency and thrust stability to ensure the missile could fly a distance of 300 kilometers.

The warhead group designed a modular warhead interface, which could quickly replace different types of warheads according to mission needs.

The most impressive was the simulation test center, where a "Shuguang No. 1" Computer continuously ran complex flight path and combat simulation programs, and scientists continuously optimized the various parameters of the missile through data analysis.

"Look, this is the latest simulation result," Li Mingyuan pointed to the computer screen and explained to the team,