Chapter 544 Soviet Particle Weapons

In order to spy on each other, the United States and the Soviet Union during the Cold War both launched a large number of reconnaissance satellites. After all, although using reconnaissance aircraft for reconnaissance was more purposeful and the signals were clearer, they faced a series of political problems. The U-2 and Blackbird failed one after another, so the United States stopped spying on Soviet reconnaissance aircraft and switched to using more advanced reconnaissance satellites.

Among them, Big Bird is the fourth-generation photographic reconnaissance satellite of the United States, code-named KH-9. Since its first launch in June 1971, more than a dozen of this type of satellite have been launched.

This is a large satellite with an orbital mass of more than 11 tons, a length of 7 meters and a diameter of 3 meters. This satellite is very advanced and can conduct "censuses", that is, scanning a large area to find targets of military significance; and "detailed surveys", that is, using high-resolution cameras to photograph specific targets found in the "census". The highest ground resolution of the photos taken by the satellite camera is 0.3 meters. It is the most advanced reconnaissance satellite in the United States at this stage.

But now, this satellite has disappeared! This reconnaissance satellite, which was launched only last year, still has an orbital life of at least 300 days!

The entire National Investigation Bureau took swift action, and each department compiled the information and reported it to the director. When the results came out, all those who knew about it were in a state of panic.

White House.

President Ronald Wilson Reagan, Vice President George Bush, Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger, National Security Advisor Poindexter, Secretary of State George Shultz, Secretary of Energy James Edwards and White House Chief of Staff James Addison Baker were gathered together to discuss the formulation of basic national policy.

"We must further cut corporate income tax and reduce corporate production costs. Only by restoring our manufacturing industry can our economy grow healthily." Reagan said. He was very confident in his economic means. Now this is a mess, and he is the rag collector.

"However, the situation in the Middle East is very complicated now. Our energy production areas are gradually being eroded by the Soviets. If we cannot control our oil production areas, the continued rise in oil prices will still bring pressure to our economy," said James.

"But we should not think of using force to solve the problem." Reagan continued, "Our current focus is to develop our country's economy. If we continue to use force, it will seriously affect our economic investment. Military spending is a bottomless pit. No matter how much we invest, we will not see results. We cannot fall into the quagmire of the Vietnam War again. I am sure that this is definitely a conspiracy of the Soviets. They want to drag us into the war to make us unable to develop the economy. If we cannot revive the economy, then our military will not be able to maintain its current size."

Reagan was very serious. He had set the tone. The country's main task was to develop the economy! Without economic strength, even those Western European countries could not be deterred!

"Bang." At this moment, the door of the conference room was pushed open, and CIA Director William Casey, who had left the venue half an hour ago, walked in quickly. Behind him was the Director of the National Reconnaissance Office, Helwin.

"Everyone, something has happened." William said, "Something has happened in our space domain that we cannot tolerate. Helven, please introduce it to everyone."

Helven was not qualified to attend this core meeting. William brought him here just to let him introduce himself in more detail.

"Everyone, please look at our satellite photos." Helven took out photos from his briefcase and gave one to each person.

Reagan picked it up and shook his head. As an actor, he could understand everything on the stage, but he couldn't understand this satellite photo. What the hell was this?

"Just an hour ago, our reconnaissance satellite, Big Bird 11, suddenly lost contact when it was flying over the Soviet Central Asian region. These are the last photos our satellite took before it lost contact. Fortunately, they were transmitted back to the ground control station via radio, allowing us to guess what happened." Helvin said, "Look, this photo was taken 50 kilometers south of Semipalatinsk. We suspect the spherical things below are nuclear explosion-type nuclear power plants, which can provide a more powerful source of energy. Then, this group of buildings is arranged in a long strip, and we suspect they are particle weapon accelerators. At the end of the building, a device is being erected. This should be the ultimate weapon of the Soviets, a super cannon that launches particle weapons. It was the particle beam launched by this particle weapon that caused our reconnaissance satellite to lose control and finally crash." Helvin knew that these people did not understand technology, so he explained it in detail.

Particle weapons!

In modern times, the development of weapons has entered the world of atoms and molecules. Nuclear weapons are the application of atomic theory. The proton in the center of atomic matter is positively charged, the electron is negatively charged, and the neutron is neutral. These three substances are particles. Of course, other positively and negatively charged ions are also particles.

Ordinary particles cannot be used as weapons. They can only be used as weapons when they are accelerated to the speed of light. Particle beam weapons use accelerators to accelerate particles such as protons and neutrons to a speed of tens of thousands to 200,000 km/s, and form a very fine particle beam through electrodes or magnetic bunching to be emitted. Such a particle beam becomes like a cannonball. This particle beam destroys satellites and incoming intercontinental ballistic missiles with huge kinetic energy. Even if the nuclear warhead cannot be directly destroyed, the strong electromagnetic field pulse heat generated by the particle beam will burn the electronic equipment of the missile, or use the gamma rays and X-rays generated around the target to make the target's electronic equipment ineffective or damaged. Moreover, after hitting the target, a secondary magnetic field will occur to destroy the target.

Although laser weapons seem to be extremely powerful in science fiction novels, in fact, in terms of effectiveness, particle weapons are more realistic than laser weapons because they do not require huge reflective surfaces, are more durable, and can easily survive nuclear explosions.

This type of weapon is divided into two types: land-based and space-based. It can also be deployed in space to directly destroy ballistic missiles in outer space.

The Soviet Union began research on particle beams in 1967, when it established a research institute in Central Asia. However, decades later, little progress has been made in the research of this weapon. The United States has also gradually relaxed its vigilance in the region. The flyby of Big Bird 11 was purely an accident, but it resulted in an amazing discovery!