Jiang Chen heard about the problem with Greenpeace from Zhang Yaping, but he was not bothered.
Obviously, the other party also knew that the bodyguards of Celestial Trade weren’t there for show, so they weren’t stupid enough to do dumb things such as illegally trespassing the offshore platform. They just held protests and stirred sh*t up through international public opinion… While in actuality, not many people took them seriously.
Since they didn’t interfere with the day-to-day operations of Future Group, Jiang Chen didn’t pay any attention to these trivial matters. In contrast, there were more important things waiting for him to deal with, such as the increasingly tense situation on MLL Island.
The KS-32 vehicle-mounted anti-drone system led by the UA Department of Defense, developed in cooperation with Lockheed Martin, left the lab and officially entered into production. As the main equipment of the “Fly Trap,” the KS-32 anti-drone system could suppress information communication on drones with a radius of 500 meters and force drones, including the Beta-series drone from Future Group, to land.
The Country F Army became Lockheed Martin’s first customer of the “Fly Trap.” They invested 11 million US Dollar to purchase 1,000 KS-32 anti-drone systems for frontline troops.
There were still 8,000 units of follow-up procurement planned. Country F made up its mind to equip the systems on every Hummer, armored vehicle and tank to nullify the effectiveness of the Celestial Trade drones.
At the same time, Country F also purchased five Patriot 3 surface-to-air missile systems, including 357 PAC-3 missiles and five test missiles, as well as corresponding radar equipment and upgrade kit racks, to deal with the air superiority of Aurora-20.
Although Hua protested against the UA deploying the Patriot 3 missile system in country F, it had no effect on the arms sales agreement
In addition, Country F also analyzed the case where the headquarters on MLL was struck by EMP missiles and completely lost communication. They brought in the world’s most advanced EMP regional protection devices from European laboratories.
Obviously, Aquino IV, whose in power, was determined to regain control of MLL Island.
Santos, the president of Moro, was obviously more anxious than Jiang Chen. After July, when the Country F government stepped up its border patrols, he kept talking to Jiang Chen and asked Celestial Trade for reinforcements.
“We should strike preemptively! If we wait for them to reorganize the army, we’ll have to sacrifice even more!”
“Striking first is the correct tactic, but we can’t do this strategically.” Sitting in the office, Jiang Chen put his legs up and shook his head to deny Santos’s proposal.
According to “The UA and Country F Joint Defense Treaty,” if Moro provoked the start of the war, it would undoubtedly bring UA from the opposite side of the Pacific onto the chariot of Country F. That would be exactly what Country F want. Aquino IV apparently had more brains than his predecessor, and he didn’t conceal his plans of using force in his strategic deployment. His purpose was to provoke Moro to start the attack first.
Only when this war was “a war of aggression” would the common defense treaty not take effect. In other words, Moro must wait patiently for Country F to open fire first to avoid the more dire consequences.
“But—”
“I need you to stay calm, Mr. Santos. Do you understand what I mean?” Jiang Chen interrupted and said without hesitation.
Santos forced down his stomach-full of problems and said with an unreconciled tone, “Yes.”
“Not bad.” Jiang Chen nodded, sitting upright from his chair. “What’s the size of the army?”
“A total of 50,000 soldiers,” replied Santos.
The population of MLL Island was a total of 18 million people. With its lagging industrial and economic level, it wasn’t easy to form an army that could support 50,000 people and two mechanized brigades. Santos didn’t drink and didn’t act corruptly all day long. At least he still made some progress in improving his army.
“Call up the reserve and expand the army by 20,000. I’ll deal with the equipment problem for you.”
Celestial Trade focused on building elite soldiers. Future Military’s weapons wouldn’t meet Moro’s needs. Fortunately, Jiang Chen had a good relationship with Russia. It wouldn’t be difficult to obtain cheap arms from Natasha.
After finishing his call with Santos, Jiang Chen went to see Natasha. He ordered 40,000 AK-12 assault rifles, 10,000 boxes of ammunition, as well as infantry support equipment such as mortars and RPG-7 rocket launchers. These would be used to support the Moro new infantry division.
A total of 150 million US Dollar in arms was more than a fair price.
The contract was signed on the spot. It seemed Russia already expected Jiang Chen would purchase more equipment.
With the contract, Natasha asked Jiang Chen about the drones.
“Will the Beta series drones be affected by the KS-32 anti-drone system?”
Jiang Chen knew what Natasha was concerned about and nonchalantly dismissed the idea.
“The civil drones will be affected, but I sold you the Beta-3B, which belong to the category of paramilitary drones and have a built-in anti-interfering device. Unless they’re within 100 meters of a KS-32, they won’t be affected.”
“I feel much more reassured now.” Natasha smiled back.
Russia’s imaginary enemy was NATO. If the US’s Fly Trap plan proved to be effective, it would undoubtedly hit the Kremlin’s interest in the Beta series of drones. As the leader of Russia’s purchase of Beta drones, Natasha naturally didn’t want to see her work as a joke in the country.
After signing the contract, Natasha said she would go to the embassy.
Seeing as it was still early, Jiang Chen, who didn’t have much to do, grabbed a bottle of champagne from the fridge, leaned against the sofa, opened his watch, called out the holographic panel, and began to browse through Weibo.
Since Liu Yao helped him register an account last time, he hardly used it. For a while, he handed over the account to the company’s marketing team, but when Future Technology later became Future Group, he asked the marketing team to stop focusing on this area.
He thought about it. The last time he posted something was a year ago.
After logging onto his account, Jiang Chen noticed that his followers had broken 90 million. As for the long list of private messages, it was even more shocking.
“What, am I that popular?”
Jiang Chen stroked his chin as he began to seriously debate this issue.
From his perception, it was just the trip to Xiangjiang where his itinerary was leaked which led to a flood of reporters. There were two private visits to Wanghai to see Liu Yao, and those two outings didn’t attract the attention of the world.
Shaking his head and forgetting the question, Jiang Chen looked at the trending list and unexpectedly discovered that the words “submarine farm” actually appeared on the list.
It seemed that Greenpeace was still doing some good things with all the controversy they created. Even though Future Group hadn’t intentionally marketed submarine farms, they became a trending topic on the Internet.
The Weibo official account also invited a professor from a university to explain the “submarine farm” concept.
However, when Jiang Chen was ready to take a look at what the expert had in mind, a phone call came in.
