Chapter 928 “Enduring Freedom”


    One day later.


    On the morning of September 13th, Beijing time, the US held its first official press conference in response to the attack two days ago, and for the first time directly disclosed the internal investigation report of the intelligence department.


    Compared to the previous life, it is about 12 hours earlier.


    The results of the investigation naturally pointed directly at Al Qaeda and Aiwuhan, who provided shelter to its leader.


    President Bush also gave a very tough and meaningful speech earlier, saying that "our military is extremely powerful and ready to go" and "law enforcement agencies will do their best to bring the murderers to justice" and so on.


    ?At the time of this press conference, Chang Haonan was in the Aerospace Power Group’s own office, flipping through a meeting document recorded in both Chinese and French—


    Lin Zuoming brought it back from France.


    The two are currently discussing the specific research and development plan of the "Falcon Z" business jet project.


    ??The latter was waiting for Chang Haonan to read the memo of the meeting. He was really bored, so he turned on the TV in the corner of the office.


    There happened to be voices reporting on the press conference.


    The content mentioned in the news is almost the same as what Fu Youquan revealed the day before.


    So, Chang Haonan actually didn’t pay much attention to this.


    But for Lin Zuoming, who had just returned to China and was even worried about it for more than ten hours on the plane, the feeling was quite fresh.


    “I said to Mr. Chang, from the beginning until now, it’s only a matter of time…”


    ?He raised his hand and looked at his watch, and then continued:


    “In just about 40 hours, they were able to produce such a detailed investigation report?”


    “40 hours is not short.”


    Chang Haonan happened to have a headache due to the dense characters in the meeting minutes, so he raised his head and prepared to change to a lighter topic and take a rest:


    “Think about it, if something like this suddenly happened, the whole country would be extremely panicked, and even the U.S. stock market and the U.S. dollar exchange rate would plummet.”


    “Whether it is to appease public sentiment or boost investment confidence, we must make a statement as quickly as possible.”


    “It is the evening of the 13th local time now. If it is delayed until the exchange opens tomorrow morning, the loss will be even greater.”


    ?In Chang Haonan’s impression, after such an unprecedented disaster, thanks to its relatively quick and decisive handling, the Xiang Party’s support rate even increased a lot.


    It shows that at least at the domestic level, the coping strategy of small bushes is still OK.


    “But can such a big case really be investigated in less than two days?”


    ?Lin Zuoming obviously still doesn’t believe it:


    “Before I returned to China, I heard a lot of people in France saying that they suspected that Americans directed and acted this time. I didn’t really believe it at first, but this..."


    “It doesn’t feel like it’s completely impossible…”


    ??For this attack, he was a complete outsider, so he had no special access to information.


    ?The advantage is that you can make random guesses without any psychological burden, just like the people who eat melons.


    But Chang Haonan can''t.


    “On the one hand, when things have developed to this extent, it is no longer important whether the evidence is true or false.”


    He shook his head and replied:


    “The key is to find someone or a force that everyone can agree with to take the blame to quell public anger.”


    “Furthermore, as far as my personal judgment is concerned, these things should and are true.”


    Hearing Chang Haonan''s categorical judgment, Lin Zuoming''s thoughts obviously began to waver.


    But not much.


    “Then why didn’t they advance...”


    The latter did not finish the question, but the meaning is actually very obvious -


    What did you do earlier?


    "How should I put it...the sources of intelligence information are too complex. We receive a large amount of contradictory or even self-contradictory content at any time. It is indeed a bit too complicated to make accurate judgments in advance."


    ?Chang Haonan picked up the memo again and said while turning the pages:


    “However, now that things have happened, it will definitely be much easier to look back and find relevant evidence from the perspective of hindsight.”


    "Take the topic I am researching as an example. This is equivalent to a data dimensionality reduction process, and it directly reduces high-dimensional data into two dimensions. It cannot be directly analyzed by computers, but can only be analyzed with the naked eye and the human brain. You can all find patterns…”


    Lin Zuoming had an unbearable expression on his face, thinking to himself that it would be better not to give this example if you gave it, but it would not be easy to offend Chang Haonan. As a result, he got stuck for a while and didn''t know from what angle to continue the topic. Go down.


    Fortunately, Chang Haonan has returned his attention to the document in front of him:


    “Mr. Lin.”


    ?After about ten minutes, Chang Haonan, who finally read the last page, raised his head again:


    “I don’t have any opinion on most of the content of the meeting, it’s just...”


    Chang Haonan said as he turned the document back to the front and pointed to the content on a certain page:


    “In addition to sharing the engine development work with Snecma, I hope that we can also be responsible for the research and development of the engine nacelle.” Lin Zuoming took it and looked at it repeatedly, then nodded:


    “I will raise this request with the other three partners at the next R&D meeting.”


    "but…"


    ?He touched his chin and hesitated for a moment, but quickly spoke again:


    "Mr. Chang, the engine integrated nacelle should be part of the aircraft design... This time we are cooperating with the French, but there is no participation from the aviation industry... Or are you planning to do it yourself..."


    Because the divisions were originally based on business, Chang Haonan is the only one in the entire aerospace power group who has experience in overall aircraft design.


    “It’s not really in person…”


    Chang Haonan waved his hand:


    “I have two good seedlings in my laboratory, and I’m going to find an opportunity to give them some exercise.”


    Hearing this sentence, Lin Zuoming''s eyes widened:


    "this…"


    ?What he originally wanted to say was, was it too bold to let students directly work on such a high-stakes project?


    ?However, a word was stuck in my throat and I couldn’t ask it out—


    Logically speaking, it is indeed a bit inappropriate to ask this question in front of Chang Haonan, who participated in the 83rd Project during his undergraduate studies.


    ??But from a rational perspective, Lin Zuoming feels that it is unlikely that a second Chang Haonan will appear.


    “Don’t worry, Mr. Lin.”


    Chang Haonan can naturally see what the other party is worried about:


    “Although I will not personally preside over the design, but after all, they are students with my name on them, and they will definitely be strictly controlled..."


    In fact, Wang Jie and Qin Haiyang, the new doctoral students he recruited this year, are both majoring in mechanics.


    ?However, in 2001, the field of aerodynamic optimization focused on key areas such as the wings and fuselage, and there was no time to pay attention to such trivial details as the engine pod.


    So the focus of pod design is to reduce weight and resistance as much as possible while ensuring that the strength reaches the standard, and it is best to achieve some noise reduction and noise reduction functions.


    ?These are exactly related to the research directions of Wang and Tan.


    "well…"


    Seeing that Chang Haonan had made it clear that he would tell the truth, Lin Zuoming''s worries were relieved a lot, and he sighed quietly:


    “Your school’s attitude towards students is really enviable…”


    “I heard that Academician Du recommended you, Mr. Chang, to the August 3rd Project in the same way.”


    …”


    Looking at Lin Zuoming, who was a bit emo, Chang Haonan could only respond with a joke:


    “Mr. Lin, my enrollment quota for next year has not been decided yet. If you are interested, I actually don’t mind recruiting an older doctoral student..."


    ?Lin Zuoming hadn''t turned around at first, and it took him about half a second to realize that the "older doctoral student" the other party was referring to was him:


    “You still want to take advantage of me...”


    “From now on, we can each discuss our own issues. I will continue to call you Mr. Lin, and you will call me Teacher…”


    "Go! Go! Go…"


    For a time, the office was filled with happy air...


    …


    The plot of the next half month is almost exactly what Chang Haonan expected.


    In other words, because the United States in this timeline is even more impatient to prove its military strength again, all aspects of action are even faster than in the previous life.


    Three days after formally identifying the attackers and issuing an ultimatum, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld officially announced on September 27 that because Eihan refused to hand over the suspect who planned the attack, the U.S. military would launch a " Infinite Justice" to combat the forces of terrorism and their patrons.


    On September 20, in order to avoid religiously sensitive terms, the code name of the operation was changed to "Operation Veritas", but almost at the same time when the news was disclosed, it was finally confirmed as Operation "Enduring Freedom."


    On the same day, the United States reached a secret agreement with China and the Collective Security Treaty Organization to use five specific airports in Central and East Asia to transport personnel and logistics materials that do not involve combat equipment for Operation Enduring Freedom.


    In exchange, the former will make concessions in a number of areas including nuclear arms control, development of maritime rights and interests, and high-end technological cooperation.


    Four days later, on September 24, the Security Council approved the authorization for Operation Enduring Freedom.


    At the same time, the first batch of logistics supplies began to be transferred from the United States and European countries to the five previously arranged airports...


    Finally, after a week of intense preparation.


    October 2, 2001.


    5 days earlier than in the previous life.


    With the first F15E dropping two GBU16 laser-guided bombs on a military camp near Kabul, Operation "Enduring Freedom" finally officially kicked off.


    (End of this chapter)