The Rise of Australia

Chapter 729 Test-2 Missile (33 updates)

As time entered April 1929, several kingdoms to be established in the United States were already making urgent preparations.

The British imposed military control on New York, which barely suppressed the ongoing demonstrations in New York.

Of course, the state of military control cannot last for too long, which also means that the establishment of several kingdoms must be carried out in a short time.

Compared with the anxiety of the British, Australasia is not so anxious. The progress has to be rushed, but if you can catch up on the progress while watching various problems erupt on the British side, that can be considered a good pastime.

Arthur was very busy during this period, constantly imparting the knowledge he had learned to the two little guys.

How much you can learn depends on the efforts of the two little guys. After all, some things can only be understood by yourself, and it is useless no matter how much you talk about them.

On a very ordinary Sunday, the missile research and development project team had some exciting news for Arthur.

Several years have passed since the earliest test flight of the Tester rocket, and the missile research and development project team has already developed the latest Tester-2 missile based on the most basic Tester-1 rocket.

There are two versions of this missile, one is ground-launched and the other is carried and dropped by bombers.

Let’s start with the first conventional ground-launched version, which is a more advanced missile after a comprehensive modification of the Test-1 rocket.

In terms of missile power, there is an extremely advanced air jet engine as the basis of missile power.

The ground-launched version of the missile is 8.7 meters long, weighs 7.9 tons, and can carry nearly a ton of gunpowder.

In view of the power system of the missile, the ground-launched version of the missile can reach a maximum flight altitude of 17.5 kilometers and a maximum flight distance of 240 kilometers, and can remotely strike targets in all ranges of sea, land and air.

Of course, due to the less developed technology, such missiles do not have much aiming ability, and the final explosion location and destination will probably deviate from a few hundred meters to a few kilometers.

Yes, the deviation is so outrageous.

If the weather is good and there are no accidents during the missile launch, the deviation may be within one kilometer.

But if any accident occurs, the missile's deviation will basically exceed one kilometer.

This also means that this version of the missile is more likely to attack large targets such as ground troops, cities and important areas. Although it is within the strike range for small aircraft and warships, the hit rate is worrying.

But there is nothing that can be done about it. It is indeed a limitation of technology that prevents current missiles from having a very high accuracy hit rate.

However, when more accurate fire control systems, gyroscope equipment, and various electronic technologies are developed in the future, the effective hit rate of missiles will definitely increase.

What Arthur is looking forward to most right now is actually the development of nuclear weapons. If existing missiles can be equipped with nuclear warheads, the error of a few kilometers will actually be within the acceptable range.

After all, the effective strike range of nuclear weapons is at least tens of kilometers. This error is completely within the strike range, and it is nothing more than whether the damage is serious or not.

Compared with the ground-launched version, the version that can be carried by bombers is smaller and its power is actually much reduced.

The version that can be carried on bombers is called Tester-2A. The length of the missile is reduced to 3.7 meters, and the weight is reduced to about 2.2 tons.

Because of this, the amount of gunpowder loaded in the entire missile was reduced to 220 kilograms.

Compared with the larger ground version, this small missile can effectively attack aircraft in the air.

Because the flight speed reaches 450 kilometers per hour, the flying speed of this missile is far faster than that of an airplane, and it also creates opportunities for more accurate hits on airplanes.

If the hit rate of the ground version of the missile depends on weather and other factors, then the hit rate of the missile mounted on a bomber basically depends on the operation of the aircraft pilot.

If you aim accurately, you can still hit planes and airships in the sky. But if the aim is not accurate, no one knows where the missile will land or whether it will explode in the crowd.

Arthur was still very interested in these two different missile versions.

In order to personally feel the power and hit rate of the two missiles, Arthur decided to conduct a test launch and test of the two missiles in the mountains of Australasia.

The simulated strike targets of the two missiles are different, but the number of missiles participating in the test is the same.

After communicating with the missile research project team, 100 of each type of missile will be produced for testing.

The targets of missiles launched from the ground are simulated ground troops and enemy industrial areas, while the targets of missiles launched by bombers are aircraft in the air and enemy warships.

Because the production of the missile took some time, the final missile test was scheduled for June in the desert of Western Australia.

Anyway, there are no satellites now. You only need to choose an inaccessible area, and you will basically not be discovered by foreign spies.

Of course, missile transportation must still be carried out quietly. After all, no one knows how many spies there are in Australasia's population of more than 30 million. The slightest exposure may lead to accidents.

Fortunately, a lot of missiles were produced during the original testing, so it only took more than a month to make up for the deficiencies.

After more than a month of emergency construction and preparation, on June 11, 1929, the testing of two missiles officially began in the Western Australian Desert.

The first thing to start is the ground missile. This strike simulated an enemy large industrial area 210 kilometers away, and an enemy division 140 kilometers away.

There were 50 missiles in each of the two strikes, and they were quickly launched by the catapult. The power system of the missiles was also quickly started, heading towards the predetermined target.

Although he had known for a long time that the missile's hit rate might not be high, the actual test results still disappointed Arthur.

50 missiles each were used to bomb the industrial area and the enemy's army. In total, less than 20 missiles actually hit the target.

You must know that the simulated large-scale industrial area and the area where enemy troops are stationed are still very large, which also means that the missile error may be more serious than expected.

A total of 100 missiles hit only 17, 21 missiles hit within three kilometers of the target, and the others were all three kilometers away from the target.

There were even more than a dozen missiles that fell directly into the desert more than ten kilometers away from the target. If the soldiers had not followed the trajectory of the missile for a long time, the missile might have been buried in the desert.

Although the destructive power of missiles is still very good, the hit rate of 17% means that if you want to effectively destroy the enemy's industrial areas and ground forces, you must use a large number of missiles.

To put it bluntly, quality does not depend on quantity. Each round of missile bombing launches hundreds of missiles, and dozens of missiles will always hit the target.

The disadvantage of this is the pressure on funds. The missile has an air jet engine, plus gunpowder and various other parts. The manufacturing cost of each missile is close to 12,000 Australian dollars.

In order for at least hundreds of missiles to hit the enemy's target, at least 600 missiles must be launched, which is a cost of 7.2 million Australian dollars.

But think about it, if it can really destroy the enemy's industrial base, or kill a large number of enemy ground troops, then millions of Australian dollars in funds will not be a problem.

It can only be said that war indeed consumes too much money. Whether it is a war now or a war 100 years from now, it will be a huge financial burden for the country.

Although the current war does not yet have a large number of high-tech weapons, the current war also requires a lot of funds.

The military expenditures of the major powers in World War I were tens of billions of dollars. Even if Britain and France had vast colonies, they could only last a few years.

At present, tanks and aircraft have become one of the mainstream weapons of various countries. The next large-scale war will cost more money. For countries without colonies and backup markets, war is a last resort choice.

Although the hit rate of the missile is a bit disappointing, after all, it is a super weapon with an effective strike range of nearly 240 kilometers. Even in World War II, it was definitely the most advanced.

Just imagine, other countries' artillery range is only a few kilometers, and Australasia's effective range is already about 100 times theirs.

This huge gap in range has destined the armies of both sides to have completely different casualties and performance in the war.

After calming down his thoughts, Arthur turned his attention to the missiles carried by the next bomber.

This smaller missile costs much less than the large missiles on the ground. The average cost of each small missile is less than 7,000 Australian dollars. This is a missile that can be mass-produced with confidence.

The number of targets simulated by small missiles such as enemy aircraft and warships is also 50.

Because the target is smaller, the missile's hit rate is actually lower, only about 11%.

This is because the simulated target will not move, and the pilots are prepared.

If placed on a real battlefield, the 11% hit rate would be reduced by at least half. This also means that it is very difficult to destroy enemy warships and aircraft with missiles.

Think about it another way, if you can use such small missiles to destroy enemy warships, even if it costs a little more missiles, it will be worthwhile.

The cost of a major warship is millions of Australian dollars, which translates into close to 1,000 missiles.

This does not include the cost of training naval soldiers and the daily maintenance of warships.

If 1,000 small missiles are exchanged for one of the enemy's main warships, it is undoubtedly worth it from a strategic perspective.

After all, missiles are much simpler to manufacture than warships, and they can be put into use at any time once they are manufactured.

The construction of a main warship takes at least one year to two years. The cost of time invested by both sides is completely unequal, and in war, time is the most important thing.

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