The train ticket was bought.
However, Director Li wasn’t able to make the trip to Jinling.
The moment Director Li stepped out of the State Administration for National Defense building, he received a phone call from the higher-ups. They asked him to attend an important meeting at Chang’an Avenue.
The meeting subject was obviously related to the successful Skyglow launch.
Inside a conference room at Chang’an Avenue.
By the time Director Li arrived at the scene, many people were already there.
Director Li greeted the heads of various departments before sitting down at his desk. He looked around the room and felt surprised.
What surprised him wasn’t that there were leaders, but rather the number of leaders and high-ranking officials present. The people from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs were here, but those from the Ministry of Science and Technology, Air Force Equipment Department… even the chief of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs were here.
This lineup was quite impressive.
Director Li didn’t waste time observing other people. He reached out and picked up the one-inch thick file in front of him.
When he saw the title of the file, he finally realized what was going on.
[Air and Space Strategic Bomber Project]
I see…
No wonder this conference happened so suddenly.
The conference soon began.
There weren’t many opening remarks, and the conference soon got to the main point.
The first to speak was obviously Minister Qin from the Air Force Equipment Department.
This old man stood up and said in a steady and powerful tone, “The Skyglow launch was successful, and clearly, ion thruster propulsion technology has matured. I think that with the increase in outer-space activities, the current war model that we are familiar with will change drastically. Fortunately, we are ahead in this field. I think we should maintain our advantage and use ion thruster propulsion technology for national defense. We should develop military aerospace aircraft that can cruise above 100 kilometers!
“Regarding this proposal, I have already consulted experts at the Air Force Equipment Research Institute and summarized the content into the form of a report. This report is in section 3, page 24 of the documents in your hands.
“I hope you all can seriously consider this proposal.”
Minister Qin’s words were approved by some people.
But not by everyone.
After he sat down, a representative from another department stood up and spoke carefully.
“I think this matter ought to be considered more carefully. Right now, our stance in the international community is not optimal. If we choose to apply aerospace technology for military uses and develop outer-space weapons, this will alarm other countries.”
Minister Qin’s expression didn’t change as he stood up and spoke again.
“Strategic deterrence is a part of national defense, not to mention that we are not the only ones researching aerospace weapons. The Americans have their X-37B and X-43 projects, and they even completed the first test flight years ago. The Russians have their codenamed ‘H5’ project, which also clearly states their intention of building an aerospace strategic bomber with requirements of Mach 10 speed and the ability to launch strategic strikes at ground targets at altitudes above 100 km.
“Even though we shouldn’t try to give rise to military conflicts, we should still treat these weapons seriously!”
The discussion went on for about half an hour.
A slight cough interrupted the discussion.
The president, who was sitting at the end of the conference table, nodded and said, “I agree with Minister Qin.
“We have to develop aerospace planes.
“Of course, we have to comply with international treaties.
“We should limit our development of outer-space weapons and focus on conventional weapons. We do not want to be the first to develop and deploy unconventional weapons. We should never take the initiative to send unconventional weapons to space unless other countries do it first.”
In fact, the difference between unconventional and conventional weapons was sometimes just a matter of changing the warhead, but claiming it as conventional weapons would help to reduce the pressure from the international community.
The president paused for a second before he continued, “Also, we have previously underestimated the importance of space exploration and placed a low priority on aerospace projects. I think we should make some adjustments to our strategy. Other than military-focused aerospace projects, we should prioritize aerospace-related projects, including the moon landing project.”
Almost all of the participants agreed with the president’s statement.
Even those who had doubts about the development of the strategic bomber, or those who questioned the significance of the space program, had no doubts about the importance of the moon landing project.
So far the controllable fusion negotiations had nearly come to an end. In exchange for controllable fusion, China had received many important technologies from other countries. There wasn’t any point to use aerospace engineering as a tactic to scare the United States and Europe.
Especially because of Skyglow’s recent success, anyone with half a brain could see that the space age was coming soon.
Now that the energy problem was solved, next up was the problem of resources.
Whoever controlled the moon had control of the future.
Many things were discussed in the meeting.
This included the establishment of new high-tech aerospace industrial areas along the river from Jinling to Xijiang, low-interest rates, supporting policies for private companies in the field of aerospace, etc.
Time quickly passed by, and the conference was near its end.
This time, the leader of the China National Space Administration was speaking.
The China National Space Administration was a second-level department and usually wouldn’t have speaking rights. However, this time was a bit special…
“One more thing… it’s about Professor Lu.” The China National Space Administration leader coughed awkwardly and said, “A few hours ago, we’ve received information from the Jinling launch site command center. They said that… Professor Lu is on Skyglow.”
Everyone: “…”
An old man in military uniform took off his glasses and muttered, “I think it’s time to find him a partner.”
Another kind-hearted looking old man sitting nearby shook his head and smiled.
“The times have changed, it’s not the same anymore. I’m afraid that the young man wouldn’t be interested. Whenever I ask my son about his partner, he gets angry at me…”
“W-why are you talking about this?!”
“What else can we do?”
The president sighed.
“Forget about it, let him do whatever he wants.
“It’s not a bad thing anyway.”
