Empire Conquest

Chapter 668 - 11: Spurring the Fast Horse

Imperial Capital, Prime Minister Mansion’s separate courtyard.

The pavilion, temporarily converted into a tea room, was bustling with activity.

Led by Qin Fenglie, several Cabinet Ministers and Senior Generals had been there for almost an hour. Yet, other than instructing them to wait patiently, Luo Youbin hadn’t revealed any news. As for what the Grand Secretary was doing at that moment, Luo Youbin didn’t say, and no one else dared to ask.

The "Panzhihua" had been attacked, the "Oil Transporter" tanker had been hit by missiles fired by an Iraqi fighter, and the Air Force fighters had shot down an Iraqi attack aircraft.

Was there anything more important than this?

A few Cabinet Ministers were still okay, after all, as civilian officials, they often encountered similar situations.

But it was different for those generals.

"At this point, what’s the Grand Secretary still waiting for?" Niu Zhengshen said, standing up as he spoke. "We should go and find the Grand Secretary now and discuss with him..."

"Niu Zhengshen, sit down!"

Startled by the reprimand, Niu Zhengshen was initially surprised, but then obediently sat down.

In this tea room, partitioned off with screens, there was only one person who could make the Army Chief of Staff behave—Minister of Defense, Qin Fenglie.

In fact, Niu Zhengshen was originally a subordinate of Qin Fenglie.

"The Grand Secretary’s mind is not something you or I can guess," Qin Fenglie firstly glared at Niu Zhengshen, and then his gaze swept over the other dozen generals. "With all of you so eager, who can assure that we can definitely win this war? When the battle begins, which of you dares to pledge your life that you can issue definitive military orders? If you don’t have that confidence and courage, just sit here quietly and wait for the news!"

These words were not only meant for Liu Zhengshen but also for the other generals.

The key was, the conflict with Iraq was not just a regular war, but a risk of precipitating the Third Global War against the other two superpowers!

As early as six years before, after deploying troops to help stabilize the government in Sri Lanka’s military coup, the Imperial Military had, with the aid of newly developed supercomputers, simulated the upcoming Global War and had conducted strategic-level simulations several times every year thereafter.

To this day, the results of these simulations were the highest military secret.

Actually, there were no secrets to keep.

After more than ten such simulations, the results were broadly the same.

With the current situation and relying on the second round of military transformation based on electronic technology post-war, the Empire’s chances of winning the Third Global War weren’t high, and in a large part, it would still have to negotiate peace with the enemy in the later stages of the war.

There was even a possibility of defeat!

The key issue was that the changes brought by electronic technology were still based on a mechanical platform and did not fundamentally change the specific tactics.

To sum it up, it was still a matter of seizing air supremacy, and the means to achieve this had not fundamentally changed.

The current main equipment, like the third-generation fighters from the three major groups which were directly the product of the electronic tech revolution, were crucial. Electronic equipment, especially the fire control radar, had not significantly improved technologically to the level of changing the form of warfare.

Therefore, the Imperial Military was the first to propose and initiate the Third Military Transformation post-war.

This round of transformation was set to completely change the face of warfare.

To a great extent, the Third Military Transformation could also be seen as an extension or a comprehensive enhancement of the Second Military Transformation!

Six years ago, when they deployed troops to Sri Lanka, the first fruit of the Third Military Transformation had shown significant military value.

Indeed, it was the world’s first stealth attack aircraft, "Attack-11," deployed in real combat for the first time.

According to data obtained later, several radars controlled by the rebels hadn’t detected the stealthy attack aircraft that was already close at hand before and after bombing.

This battle had fully proven that fighters with stealth capabilities could penetrate existing air defense systems.

Based on this conclusion, the Imperial Air Force not only accelerated the development of stealth bombers but also specifically required that fourth-generation fighters must have stealth capabilities.

As for the Imperial Navy, they were even more proactive.

According to plans led by the Navy to develop the "Advanced Joint General Attack Aircraft," intended to replace all current attack aircraft of both the naval and air forces, commonly referred to as "Attack X", had gone through several adjustments after which the overall design was almost started over, abandoning the previously emphasized supersonic cruising capability for subsonic stealth attack aircraft, and its stealth capabilities were comprehensively superior to the "Attack-11" that had made headlines six years prior.

Simply put, they traded speed for stealth capabilities.

However, the main attraction was still led by the Air Force: the "Future Advanced Fighter" project.

According to the latest arrangements, the project would be renamed next year to "Future Joint Advanced Fighter," including the Navy’s ship-borne fighter. But the Navy’s intent was likely to develop a heavier fighter based on the Air Force’s "War X" according to Navy requirements.

Regardless, both the Air Force and Navy greatly valued stealth capabilities.

The Air Force made concessions in the "Attack X" project, agreeing to adapt the Navy’s design plan in exchange for the Navy’s concession on the "War X" project.

It was actually a move of necessity, mainly because the cost of developing new combat aircraft was becoming increasingly high. Continuing as in the past with each force going its own way, neither the Navy nor the Air Force could sustain it.

According to the "War X" and "Attack X" project plans, just the investment for development and design had reached up to 300 billion Gold Yuan.