Chapter 319: Want to Hit an Aircraft Carrier? Dream On!

General Linke scoffed.

"It wouldn't be that graphite bomb trick again, would it? Or are they trying to hit an aircraft carrier? What do they have to hit it with?"

"Indeed," Jackson echoed.

"At such a distance, wanting to hit an aircraft carrier with weapons from the shore—dream on!"

General Linke walked to the porthole and looked out at the calm sea.

"Continue to monitor their movements, but I don't think there is anything worth worrying about. The people of Long Country have reached the end of their rope."

……

At the coastal base, launch preparations were already complete.

Li Mingyuan stood on the command platform, looking around—everyone was holding their breath in anticipation, and the air was filled with tension and expectation.

"Ten-minute countdown begins!" the commander announced loudly.

Li Mingyuan took a deep breath and walked to the central console.

At this moment, he thought of the anti-ship missile launch footage he had seen in his past life, and he thought of the legend of the Dongfeng Express...

"Chief Engineer Li, the missile control system has completed its self-check, everything is normal," a technician reported.

"Radar tracking system activated, target locked."

"Communication link is clear, telemetry data is being received normally."

Various reports came in one after another, and Li Mingyuan confirmed them one by one.

"Five minutes!"

Minister Zhang walked over, rubbing his hands nervously, "Chief Engineer Li, what is the success rate for this test launch?"

Li Mingyuan glanced at him and smiled: "Seventy percent, perhaps."

"That high?" Minister Zhang asked in surprise.

"It's not high," Li Mingyuan shook his head.

"If we followed the conventional research and development process, it would be good to have a thirty percent success rate on the first test launch. But we don't have time to take it slow; we have to take some risks."

"Three minutes!"

Li Mingyuan walked forward, stood before the console, and personally took over command.

"Final check of all systems! Propulsion system?"

"Normal!"

"Guidance System?"

"Normal!"

"Warhead Fuse?"

"Normal!"

"One minute!"

The command room was so quiet that only the humming of equipment and nervous breathing could be heard.

"Thirty seconds... twenty seconds... ten seconds... five, four, three, two, one... launch!"

Li Mingyuan pressed the launch button.

In an instant, fire erupted from the launch vehicle, and three "Thunderstrike-1" Missiles soared into the sky amidst a deafening roar, trailing long white smoke like three flying dragons piercing the firmament.

A burst of cheers erupted in the command room, but it quickly fell silent again—the missile launch was only the first step; what followed was the real test.

"Missile No. 1 has entered the predetermined trajectory, altitude 8,000 meters, speed normal!"

"Missile No. 2 following, parameters normal!"

"Missile No. 3... parameters normal!"

Li Mingyuan stared intently at the large screen, which displayed the flight paths of the three missiles. So far, everything was going smoothly.

"Distance to target 270 kilometers... 250 kilometers... 230 kilometers..."

As the distance shortened, the atmosphere in the command room became increasingly tense. The missiles had been in flight for two minutes, and they were about to enter the most critical guidance phase.

"About to enter the terminal guidance phase, missiles beginning descent!"

This was the most critical step—the missiles needed to dive from high altitude to an altitude close to sea level to perform sea-skimming flight and avoid enemy Radar detection.

"Missile No. 1 beginning descent... altitude 6,000 meters... 4,000 meters... 2,000 meters..."

Everyone held their breath, staring at the data screens.

"1,000 meters... 500 meters... 100 meters... 50 meters... Missiles have entered sea-skimming mode, altitude stabilized at 15 meters!"

"My god!" a technician exclaimed, "It really succeeded! Navigation system activated, it's flying autonomously!"

Li Mingyuan's expression remained unchanged, but he felt a sense of relief inside.

Sea-skimming flight was the most dangerous part of the entire flight process; the slightest carelessness would cause the missiles to crash into the sea.

"Missile No. 2 has also entered sea-skimming mode, altitude 17 meters!"

"Missile No. 3... altitude 18 meters, all successful!"

Cheers erupted in the command room once again, and some people jumped up in excitement.

"Distance to target 150 kilometers... 100 kilometers... missiles have autonomously locked onto the target!"

The technical staff looked at the Radar screen in disbelief, "Autonomous lock, it's really automatically tracking the target! This is simply... simply incredible!"

"Distance to target 80 kilometers... 60 kilometers... missiles beginning to change trajectory!"

"Change trajectory?" Minister Zhang asked in surprise, "Why change trajectory?"

Li Mingyuan explained: "To break through enemy defenses. If they fly in a straight line, they are easily intercepted by the Anti-aircraft System. Changing trajectory increases the difficulty of interception."

"Truly genius!" Minister Zhang exclaimed.

……

On the observation ship, a team of technicians was closely monitoring the target ship and the surrounding sea through high-magnification telescopes.

"Still don't see the Missile, it shouldn't have arrived yet," one observer said, eyes never leaving the telescope.

"According to calculations, there is about one minute left," another person said, looking at their watch.

Just at this moment, the Radar Operator suddenly shouted: "Strange! The Radar cannot capture the trajectory! It clearly should have already entered the detection range!"

"What?" the person in charge asked in surprise, "How is it possible that it cannot be captured?"

"I don't know! They seem to... seem to have disappeared!" the Radar Operator adjusted the equipment in a panic.

Just as they were at their wits' end, the telescope observer suddenly exclaimed: "Look! What is that?!"

Everyone looked in the direction they were pointing—on the sea level, three small black dots were skimming across the sea surface at an astonishing speed, flying almost against the waves!

"It's the Missile! My God, they are flying too low! So low that the Radar can't even detect them!"

"The speed is too fast, there's no time for early warning!"

Seeing the Missile getting closer and closer to the target ship, the observers discovered in horror that the Missile began to perform incredible maneuvers—suddenly changing direction, ascending, then changing direction again!

"This... how is this possible?! How can a Missile fly like this?!"

"The trajectory-changing capability is even more abnormal than imagined! They are evading imaginary anti-aircraft fire!"

Before the words had even faded, the first Missile was already whistling toward the first target ship—at the last moment, it suddenly pulled up, dove down from a nearly vertical angle, and accurately hit the center of the target ship's deck!

With a loud boom, the target ship was instantly torn in two, igniting a monstrous fire!

Almost simultaneously, the second and third Missiles also hit the remaining two target ships respectively, and the three ships turned into raging fireballs in an instant!

The personnel on the observation ship were all stunned, some were so excited their limbs went weak, and some could not believe their own eyes.

"Three... three hits! Accurate hits!" The communicator's hand was shaking so much they could barely hold the microphone.

They hurriedly sent a telegram: 【Urgent report: Test launch a complete success! All three Missiles hit the targets! Repeat: All hit!】

……