Chapter 956: Just a Scam
"Dongda is no longer that backward country that only copies and imitates. They use their endless cheap labor and those damn inferior industrial products to pose a huge threat to the entire free world.
The enemy is in the Senate, my friends, when those rotten old men who led the world's lighthouse were still immersed in our invincible aircraft carrier fleet, they did not realize that the country in the east had grown into something more terrifying than that red giant bear back then. existence"
"Ahem!" Reacher coughed lightly, interrupting someone's narcissistic impromptu speech, "What do you mean, Lavoie didn't use any fair and aboveboard method to clear those red tapes?"
"Of course, I helped stuff the proposal into a thousand-page bill, and at the same time Lavoie was shaking hands with other congressmen to get votes, and no one even noticed this inconspicuous thing during the whole process. appropriations bill."
I don't know if the white powder I knocked on before had an effect. Boyd, who had completely opened up his chatterbox, didn't need much guidance and explained the process proudly.
"So what you're saying is that Lavoie did all this out of public interest, to protect the entire free world? Without any personal gain for himself?"
Reacher thought of the task Jack had given him and continued to guide the guy.
Boyd laughed out loud, "Don't be naive, okay? In the most basic way of operation in Washington DC, do you think those lobbying groups are working in vain?
What's more, the 'little wings' are really useful. Lavoie and I have seen it with our own eyes. As long as you press the transmitter, you don't have to worry about the rest.
What does that eastern country call this? A win-win, right? We have promoted a military technology that is beneficial to our own side. This is the most important thing. Compared with what we get, it is just a small and insignificant reward. "
"Then have you heard of these two numbers? 650 and 100,000 each." Reacher's question made Boyd look confused.
"So you have never thought about the possibility of this advanced portable anti-aircraft missile being lost? Just press the launcher outside any civil aviation airport, and you can cause an air crash." O'Donnell asked.
"How is that possible? The 'little wings' are used to save the lives of our soldiers. It can effectively destroy drones, armed helicopters and all low-altitude aircraft.
'New Era Technology' is our own. The technology is in our hands and cannot fall into the hands of others. They have divided the manufacturing process into two parts. What is manufactured in Denver is only the special missiles and launchers, while the production of chips is It's in New York. "
Boyd was confused by the question and still defended plausibly, "Hey, listen, Lavoie and I did take shortcuts and used some dirty tricks.
But this is all to get the bill passed and to protect the free world. "
"Then let's wait and see." Seeing that this guy couldn't squeeze out any more information, Reacher glanced at the dark one-way glass, stood up, opened the door, and was about to leave the interrogation room with O'Donnell.
"Please, I've told you everything you want to know. Will the drug charges be dropped?" Boyd asked quickly.
Reacher originally didn't want to talk to this guy anymore, but after thinking about it, he was worried that this idiot wouldn't be able to figure it out later, so he dropped a hint, "Who knows, I'm not a policeman."
——
"650 portable air defense missiles, each worth 100,000 US dollars, I can only think of this possibility." Reacher said with a frown.
The monitoring room was filled with smoke. Two freshly lit cigars and two half-burned cigars instantly turned the room, which could only rely on a small exhaust fan for ventilation, into a wonderland.
"I have informed Clay and Aubrey in Colorado that they will go to the manufacturing plant in Denver as the Defense Contract Administration early tomorrow morning to inspect 650 missiles. This number cannot be concealed."
Jack's overly calm expression puzzled the others, especially Finlay, who was observing the whole process. He was almost nervous to death, "Aren't you worried at all about those missiles falling into the hands of terrorists?"
Jack did not directly answer his doubts, but looked at Reacher and O'Donnell, two former soldiers, "Have you ever come into contact with the latest model of the Stinger anti-aircraft missile?
Tell Inspector Finlay what the effective range of the portable anti-aircraft missile is and how long the main rocket motor lasts. "
Hearing this question, Reacher seemed to have some understanding. O'Donnell couldn't wait to answer, "The effective range is 4800 meters, the shooting height is 3800 meters, the maximum speed is Mach 2.2, and the rocket engine lasts 5 seconds."
Seeing that Finlay still had a confused expression on his face, Jack, who was also semi-militarily illiterate himself, began to educate him on science.
Unlike cruise missiles, which have huge fuel tanks and use turbojet or turbofan engines that can work for a long time.
The total length including the launcher is no more than 2 meters and the weight is about 30 pounds. It is an individual air defense missile that can be launched on the shoulder by one person. It uses a small rocket engine driven by solid fuel.
The main engine of this small missile starts to work 1-2 seconds after it leaves the launch tube. It will exhaust the fuel it carries for a few seconds at most. After that, it can only rely on inertia and the help of the rudder to change aerodynamics. Track your own trajectory.
Once the target is missed, it is missed. Let alone turning around and attacking, it is extremely difficult to maneuver at a large angle after the fuel is exhausted.
So it is not that missiles that can turn around and attack do not exist, but at least they must be at the level of airborne air-to-air missiles. That weight is absolutely impossible for a single soldier to carry. This is the law of physics, not something that can be changed by some magical software program.
"But didn't that guy say that he and Lavoie saw it with their own eyes?" Finlay was skeptical of Jack's statement.
"It is indeed difficult to turn around and attack in actual combat, but this does not mean that it cannot be done in a demonstration." Reacher has figured out what is going on.
"Cancel the warhead, increase the fuel capacity, calculate the engine running time in advance, complete the turning action before the fuel is burned out, load the target drone with explosives that can be detonated wirelessly, and detonate it manually at the last moment."
Fenley blinked, "You mean, cheating?"
Jack patted his shoulder and sighed, "Obviously, in addition to our Congressman Lavoie who knows how to adapt, the directors of New Era Technology are also good at this."
Perhaps the technology developed by this company is indeed unique in some aspects, but this thing is obviously a pure fraud when used on portable air defense missiles.
Jack estimated that this so-called special missile may not completely cancel the warhead, but the warhead is definitely as small as possible, and the effective range may be less than one-third of the "Stinger" air defense missile that the Americans have been playing for decades.
But this is enough to get defense orders and obtain a large amount of financial support through the appropriation bill. "New Era Technology" has enough money to continue to bribe other members of Congress and pave the way for their subsequent projects.
Through the nearly $1 billion grant, the "little wings" will be further improved and installed on air-to-air missiles or ship-to-ship missiles. Obtaining greater defense funding should be the ultimate goal of the decision-makers of "New Era Technology".
The grant that Lavoie obtained for "New Era Technology" is not only the purchase price of a batch of new missiles, but also includes the subsequent research and development costs.
You should know that the price of a new "Stinger" portable air defense missile sold by Raytheon to the Pentagon has risen to more than $400,000, while in the last century, the price of the same missile was only $25,000.
Jack is not sure about the price of a single missile sold by "New Era Technology" to the Pentagon, but based on the private arms transaction prices they have found so far, it will definitely not exceed $100,000, which is extremely cheap in comparison.
As long as the batch of trial missiles produced by "New Era Technology" can really achieve the fancy U-turn attack function, the actual results are not important. Just ask whether you turn after firing. That white track can't lie, right?
So what else is there to complain about? The power is insufficient and the range is too short. The prototype must be defective. Just keep working on it and continue to improve it.
As for the military that received a batch of waste products, they can easily settle the account by using money to shut everyone up and throwing them in the warehouse to wait for them to rust and become scrapped.
A temporary floating dock of the US military can cost 300 to 400 million US dollars, and it was destroyed by the waves before it was used at all. Even the president dared not say a word. How much trouble can a batch of prototype missiles cause?