Chapter 497 - 488: Assisting Attack_1

"From this moment, we, the free world, have entered the darkest of times!"

John’s first words made everyone grasp the severity of the situation, and no one dared to speak first.

He certainly had good reason to be angry; the hotline conference call that had just ended a few hours ago was maddening.

Although they were ostensibly at fault, they clung desperately to the "civilian" and "stray" excuses and would not budge, while the others simply had no evidence of action, rendering all their verbal sparring pointless.

It was rare for the other four powers to issue a united condemnation, but all it resulted in was a "sorry" and an immediate promise to "send a rescue team for humanitarian relief efforts." All they did was symbolically handing out some money and a verbal apology.

Russia and France, having just joined the Huayin Treaty and reached a lunar cooperation agreement, voiced a few complaints and then fell silent; the UK tried to stir things up but was unable to, and John wanted to cause trouble but simply couldn’t muster the ability, leaving him no choice but to hastily issue a declaration to his lesser allies that "all is well and peaceful, we are not prepared for war," and that was the end of it.

However, the first appearance of Xuehu had already destined many people to sleepless nights: the significance of the technological strength it represented was truly astonishing, having completely surpassed the achievements of America and the Union thus far, and it further indicated the strategic thought of its owners was gradually shifting towards offense.

How do you determine whether a country’s air force points towards a defensive or offensive strategy?

The answer lies in the proportion of auxiliary aircraft types; if most are purely fighters, it suggests their main task is national air defense, with little reach beyond their borders.

An offensive force must possess strong long-range reconnaissance and support capabilities. The more tankers, AWACS, reconnaissance, and transport planes it has, the stronger its offensive demands. The "Xuehu," though its specific role is unclear, has shown enough to prove it was undoubtedly designed for long-distance penetration, representing extraordinary significance.

This shift in strategic posture, more than the aircraft itself, was what truly frightened John. Coupled with the recent succession of setbacks in the space race, external pressures had reached an unprecedented level.

...

Texas.

In contrast to the solemn atmosphere of the political and executive circles, Musk saw a bright future for the aerospace industry, especially for manned spaceflight.

Although the world was recovering from its initial panic and realizing that in the event of a nuclear war space stations might not be safe, investors’ enthusiasm had not been significantly dampened.

After all, just ten days earlier, the Skylight Two mission had expanded the territory of commercial manned spaceflight to the Moon, and with the March mission already over 75% complete, it was certain that Mars would soon be included as well.

Even though other commercial aerospace players were still far from this achievement, their potential for growth was similarly strong; there was no reason to believe it couldn’t be done.

Jeff Bezos, who had been dabbling in suborbital tourism, took the opportunity to propose the use of the New Glenn Rocket for the "Shepard Two" type manned spacecraft, with a weight of 45 tons, which could even fly to the Moon.

Although it was a hastily crafted PPT, Blue Origin, after all, was the private space contractor second only to SpaceX; with renewed confidence from the outside world, Jeff had already had confidence in overcoming the shadow of Artemis Two and re-establishing his company’s reputation.

SpaceX was doing just as well, if not better; Musk immediately proposed turning the previously hinted at Moon travel plans into reality and scheduled to use the Starship to establish a lunar space station.

He knew all too well what the wealthy feared, and in addition to these, he proposed the idea of building permanent ecological bases on the Moon and Mars, comfortable enough to live out one’s life in luxury, which was fiercely pursued in the current climate.

In the past two and a half months, SpaceX had essentially confirmed the feasibility of the Falcon 9 rocket’s lunar tourism and had initialized a preliminary design; now, Musk intended to turn this project into a reality within the year.

With the addition of one Falcon 9 and a propulsion module, costs rose by 60%, yet the price to customers quadrupled. Nevertheless, the wealthy lined up to book their tickets, many of whom had bought near-Earth orbit packages, now opting to upgrade to the lunar package.

The entire aerospace industry, whether official or private, although not openly stating it, were tacitly promoting long-term manned space travel—and the farther, the better; and the wealthy were willing to invest a portion of their fortunes in support.

Compared to the bleak and uncertain underground bunkers, space at least allowed them to see the sun.

Musk silently thanked those on the other side of the Pacific in his heart; this incident had truly been a godsend for the aerospace industry.

...

Capital.

Dou Ping and several other senior officials monopolized the first half of the meeting, conducting a profound and sincere self-critique, focusing mainly on the prototype inspection and assembly processes and the lack of an emergency response plan, and secondarily on the problems of the delayed response of other military districts.

Last night, the five countries in the western Pacific involved were actually quite chaotic. Although they had performed real combat exercises in the past, they had always been prepared; this time it was an actual emergency, which also exposed the true state of their military readiness.

The American Pacific Fleet demonstrated good crisis awareness and quick reaction, with ships and planes executing emergency procedures, but many accidents occurred. At least one reconnaissance plane and two fighter jets were lost, and the harbor was blocked by a sideways supply ship that prevented an aircraft carrier from departing. A thorough overhaul was no doubt in order.

For the Island Country... it wasn’t even their controlled sites that launched the "Patriot" missiles in response; their Air Self-Defense Force was solely concerned with fleeing alongside its ally, while the rest of their military might was essentially a mess.

On the Peninsula, the response was mainly intense reactions to one another, but the impact was not substantial.

Russia was slacking too; it took half a day to get a bomber squadron airborne, while the rest of the military might was purely in a state of decay, likely still sobering up from drinking.

Our side was the clearest about what had happened, reacted somewhat promptly but still exposed many issues; however, this unexpected situation actually served as valuable training experience, exposing problems that had not been taken into account before. Nevertheless, it seemed fair to give ourselves a passing grade.

The focus of the midsection was on Xuehu; the military and higher-ups naturally loved its performance but had a minor suggestion:

Could it be made less conspicuous?

Radar stealth had already been achieved, but could it be quieter both optically and acoustically?

The person answering this question was Androff; he was the most professional aerospace designer present.

"Let’s start with the sound... there’s really not much that can be done about it."

Androff explained:

"At high altitudes, the noise from Xuehu’s body and engine can be completely disregarded. The primary source of noise comes from the shock waves produced during supersonic flight. Some aerodynamic designs could slightly lessen it, but the effect is limited. And now that Xuehu’s design has been finalized, changes are out of the question.

However, there might be something we can do about the optics; I have a new idea in mind."