Chapter 1098 Global Hawk
"UFO?"
This news immediately made the entire command and control hall tense again.
In particular, the commander-in-chief of the manned space project immediately changed his expression.
The location mentioned in the report is really no joke.
The spacecraft recovery is the same as the rocket launch. In order to avoid danger, a range needs to be determined in advance as an air control area.
And because the landing trajectory is much steeper than the launch trajectory, this range will be much smaller than what was drawn during yesterday''s launch.
Basically, it is a few hundred kilometers west of the landing area in central Mongolia Province.
After all, further west is foreign airspace, which is really not suitable to be included in the scope of aviation control.
Of course, under normal circumstances, it should be enough.
But considering that the 400km world shift occurred during the landing of the Alliance TM10 spacecraft just five months ago, if everyone says they are not worried, it must be false -
As the first manned space mission, it is best to eliminate any risk factors.
"What about the nature of the target?"
Shen Junrong, who had the second highest position at the scene, quickly asked.
Thanks to the remaining large sums of money left by the Air Force in the field of aviation in recent years, China has installed several batches of S300PMU1/2 air defense missiles in advance and transformed several anti-aircraft artillery regiments in key directions into surface-to-air missile brigades.
This unit under the Jincheng Military Region had just replaced its guns with cannons at the beginning of the year. Unexpectedly, it would come in handy.
"According to the report of the Earth Navigation Force, it is speculated that it is a high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft belonging to the US military. It is slightly smaller than U2 or equivalent. However, the radar characteristics do not match any included models, and the target does not emit any electromagnetic signals. They are closely tracking the movement. …”
Upon hearing this judgment, the commander-in-chief breathed a sigh of relief.
Americans are indeed in trouble.
But known trouble is better than unknown threats.
While everyone was thinking about countermeasures, another correspondent hurried over:
"Report, Jincheng Military Region Air Traffic Control Department sent to ask, can the aviation force take off now to monitor or intercept the target?"
In normal times, China''s airspace use is fully managed by the Air Force.
Basically, only others give way to military aircraft, there is no such thing as military aircraft giving way to others.
But the priority of Shenzhou 5 is too high, and the target is not far from the control area.
Taking off from several nearby airports, you basically have to pass through the control zone to reach the border.
Therefore, even the aviation force has to have some concerns...
Time passed by minute by minute.
At this time, there are only about three hours left before the spacecraft is recovered.
And the more times like this, the more calm you have to be.
"If it is really a reconnaissance plane, then the other party''s purpose is probably to monitor our process of recovering the spacecraft..."
After a brief silence, Shen Junrong took the lead in guessing.
However, this statement is obviously not very tenable.
So someone quickly expressed different opinions:
"But the trajectory of the spacecraft''s return is all public, and there is nothing worthy of special reconnaissance..."
"Besides, if they are really interested in this matter, then we should have discovered similar behavior during the previous missions, right?"
Clear and well-founded.
But this person couldn''t bring up any more valuable points.
As a result, the speculations gradually began to become outrageous:
"Perhaps... our air defense equipment in the western direction was relatively backward and we didn''t find the target?"
Regarding the space mission itself, Chang Haonan really had no chance to intervene.
But when it comes to this, he is no longer sleepy:
"impossible…"
Chang Haonan shook his head decisively:
"The Earth Guidance Force reported that the target is slightly smaller than U2, which means it is a big guy without stealth capabilities. If it has appeared around us before, then it is an old-fashioned equipment. At best, it cannot be accurately positioned, or it may be interfered with and unable to track stably. It’s impossible not to find even a trace…”
Regarding aircraft within the atmosphere, his judgment is still somewhat convincing.
Therefore, everyone''s attention gathered.
The comrade commander-in-chief even motioned for him to continue.
Chang Haonan originally just said it casually, but at this time he was already riding a tiger and had no choice but to continue his analysis:
"Looking at the other party''s trajectory...including the current time period, it doesn''t look like it is conducting pure optical reconnaissance. And the Air Force said that the target did not emit any electromagnetic signals, which means that the synthetic aperture radar has not been activated..."
Suddenly he had a flash of inspiration:
"Looking at it this way... the Americans may have seen the program we just broadcast, so they want to monitor our communication signals?"
Shen Junrong looked like "You''re not kidding me": "One of the two receiving stations you set up is in Beijing and the other is in Haojing. Even if the Americans have more advanced technology, it is impossible for them to be targeted in Central Asia. Satellite signal two thousand kilometers away?"
He has also seen the effective coverage of the Qingluan constellation.
In the process of maintaining communications, the westernmost point will not cross the central Tianshan Mountains.
"In fact, it really can''t be..."
Chang Haonan replied:
"But the decision-making cycle of our entire plan is very short. As for the Americans, they may only have a few hours of analysis time, so the other party may think that the Shule Measurement and Control Station is playing a role, so this behavior now is very reasonable... "
The commander-in-chief was obviously hesitant at this time.
The main reason is that the opponent''s route is completely outside the country, and the aviation force cannot really intercept it even if it takes off.
"So...the other party''s reconnaissance will not yield anything?"
"If the target is the communication situation of the Qingluan constellation, then I can guarantee it."
Chang Haonan gave a firm answer.
After hearing this, the commander-in-chief lowered his head and walked around a few times:
"Let the ground guidance troops continue to monitor, and the aviation troops... are on standby for the time being!"
…
at the same time.
The west coast of the Persian Gulf.
Al Dhafra Air Base.
Colonel Ted Lynch flipped through the flight log with one hand and held the control stick tightly with the other hand, carefully controlling the plane''s course to gradually shift eastward.
It seems that his job is no different from other pilots.
However, he was not wearing any flying gear.
Not even sitting in a cramped and cramped cockpit.
Instead, he faced a keyboard, six screens, and a table large enough to hold a coffee cup.
Apparently, this is a drone ground control station.
As a veteran pilot who retired from the RC135, Lynch did not transfer to a purely administrative position or teach in a flight school after his retirement like most of his peers because of his rich reconnaissance flight experience.
Instead, he became a drone ground operator through selection.
Although I no longer have the thrill of being in the sky, I can still remain in the ranks of pilots in another form.
The model he is responsible for is an RQ4A "Global Hawk" that was put into service just two years ago.
It is also one of the first nine aircraft in the block 10 batch.
Strictly speaking, it can only be regarded as a prototype, and each one is even different.
It was only because I was anxious to make a difference that I was forced to serve—
Compared with the RC135, which is huge but has a range of only about 9,000km, the Global Hawk has an exaggerated range of 26,000km and a maximum airtime of more than 40 hours.
Moreover, thanks to the complete satellite communication network, it can also fly to locations thousands of kilometers away from the control station.
In addition to being limited by the take-off weight and resulting in a less comprehensive load, it can almost take over most of the tasks of traditional reconnaissance aircraft.
It''s just that at the beginning, these aircraft didn''t even have perfect automatic flight systems.
Fortunately, Lynch, a veteran pilot, is not one of those newbies who only know how to drive automatic equipment. Instead, he prefers the feeling of being able to control it with his own hands.
Even after the system upgrade, he still retained the habit of doing it as manually as possible.
Just like now.
According to the original plan, they only needed to circle 50-60 kilometers away from the border to receive the target''s satellite signal.
However, the equipment operator next to him said that except for a few known signals with obvious distinguishable characteristics, the aircraft did not make any valuable discoveries.
Therefore, he had no choice but to continue to shift his course eastward.
There is a working S-band signal source on the ground, which should be a 64N6 series radar, but as long as their aircraft does not cross the line, there is no threat.
Of course, the control accuracy of drones is slightly poor, so this behavior must take some risks.
And his actions seemed to be paying off.
Just as the Global Hawk entered its 14th reconnaissance cycle, an S-band signal that had never been seen before suddenly appeared on the screen of the equipment operator next to it.
Comply with the frequency of general heaven and earth communications.
"Caught!"
The operator braced himself and quickly operated the keyboard in front of him:
"Maintain course...at least five minutes!"
(End of chapter)