Chapter 381 Concept and Discussion
Le Gong introduced to everyone: "This is Peng Te from the External Security Division, who is in charge of weapons and equipment."
Levis and Pent apparently knew each other.
He smiled and asked, "Pente, are you satisfied with the cobalt bomb?"
"I'm very satisfied, but the power is too great. Even the experiments can only be carried out in closed underground facilities. It is basically impossible to apply it in actual combat." Pengte was both happy and helpless.
Levis shook his head: "I hope I will never have to use this kind of thing."
Peng Te saw that the atmosphere was a bit heavy, so he quickly changed the subject: "Let me tell you the purpose of my visit this time. First, on behalf of the chairman, I would like to congratulate you on your achievements. Second..."
"It is for gamma ray power generation."
Du Hai asked in confusion: "Didn't our Nuclear Power Research Institute submit a research and development project for ultra-small power cores? This should be the best application of this technology at present, right?"
"No!" Pent waved his index finger. "After evaluation, we believe that gamma rays have the potential to be further weaponized. The purpose of coming here today is to discuss with all the professionals whether it can be realized."
After that, he distributed the weapons plan envisioned by the weapons and equipment department to everyone.
Levis, Du Hai and others quickly browsed through it carefully.
The clock ticks slowly.
"Gamma-ray satellite turret?" Du Hai put down the tablet, rubbed his temple and thought.
However, because Levis had been engaged in nuclear weapons research and development, he quickly came up with some ideas: "Gamma rays decay very slowly in the sub-vacuum environment of outer space. If they can be deployed in low-Earth orbit, they can indeed strike targets in the atmosphere."
But Du Hai disagreed: "Doctor, the atmosphere weakens gamma rays too much. Our artificial gamma rays cannot reach the level of gamma-ray bursts."
"Dr. Du, you have overlooked another possibility." Levis said with a smile.
Du Hai's eyes rolled around, thinking quickly about what he had overlooked.
"It's lightning," Pente reminded.
Lightning!? Du Hai's eyes widened: "You want to use gamma rays to artificially create lightning in the atmosphere? Is this feasible?"
Levis squinted his eyes and said, "It should be possible. First of all, the resonance frequencies of gamma rays between different layers of the atmosphere are different. The troposphere and ozone layer are the strongest, the stratosphere is average, and the thermosphere has basically no weakening effect due to the thin air."
He then called up a holographic projection, which showed the conditions of the Earth's atmosphere.
"Above 55,000 meters, we can directly use gamma rays to attack targets. Below 55,000 meters, we can use gamma rays to stimulate dense lightning to attack targets over a large area."
Peng Te nodded: "This is the plan proposed by our Weapons and Equipment Department. In addition, can the stratosphere use gamma rays of a specific frequency to enhance its resonance excitation effect?"
Du Hai was stunned for a moment, then quickly calculated in his mind: "There should be no problem. The stability of the stratosphere is higher than that of the troposphere. It is relatively easy to find its resonant frequency."
Others also raised some questions.
For example, airplanes and missiles can be equipped with Faraday cages to protect them from lightning storms.
Their response to this is to reduce the direct attack range of gamma rays and use gamma ray frequencies that do not resonate with the stratosphere and ozone layer to directly strike aircraft in this range.
As for protection against gamma rays.
It's not that it can't be done, but the aircraft does not allow it. You know, gamma rays can not only kill the pilot, but also cause serious damage to the electronic components inside the aircraft.
It is impossible to cover the entire aircraft or missile with heavy lead plates, right? The consequence of doing so is that the dead weight of the aircraft will become extremely large.
This is also the reason why the External Security Division attempted to develop gamma ray weapons.
Because gamma-ray cannons can intercept hypersonic missiles, as long as the hypersonic missiles enter the high altitude area, the gamma rays can accurately eliminate these missiles without hindrance.
As for aircraft in the troposphere, using gamma rays to stimulate lightning storms is actually a helpless choice.
After all, gamma rays are too terrifying. If a frequency that can penetrate the troposphere is used, it may harm innocent people and directly wipe out all living things on the ground.
Although the External Security Division will certainly research various corresponding frequencies and will inevitably use gamma rays to eliminate ground targets when necessary, it can only be used as a trump card.
Moreover, according to supercomputer simulation calculations, they found that as long as the gamma rays are dense enough and under high resonance conditions, dense lightning storms can be formed in local areas, even reaching a level close to plasma.
In a lightning storm of this level, even with a Faraday cage installed, there is no way for an aircraft to completely avoid electric shock.
However, Du Hai calculated the data and couldn't help but smile bitterly:
"To produce an ultra-dense lightning storm, at least 3 tons of cobalt-60 is needed as a radiation source. This weight plus supporting facilities would be at least 500 tons. Now our launch vehicles cannot carry 500 tons at a time, right?"
Levis shook his head: "Dr. Du, in fact, the tropospheric lightning storm device can be set up on the ground. There is no need to go on a satellite. The satellite can focus on high-altitude strikes and interceptions."
"That's true." Du Hai knew that he had a preconceived idea.
Pente's eyes lit up: "If the entire device is 500 tons, then part of the battleship can also be used."
"Uh... the 500 tons is just a rough estimate. There are still many details that need to be paid attention to, and I can't guarantee that the final product will not exceed the standard." Du Hai quickly added.
But Peng Te didn't care too much: "Ground-fixed artillery doesn't need to worry too much about weight. In addition, 100,000-ton warships have a higher tolerance for equipment weight."
Levis thought for a while and said, "Considering that the gamma ray energy of cobalt-60 is released continuously, I think it is necessary to integrate a gamma ray power generation system into it. It can generate electricity when it is not in use and can be used as a weapon in war."
"That makes sense." Pente quickly wrote it down.
"But there is still a problem: how to solve the service life of cobalt 60?" Du Hai reminded.
Everyone fell into deep thought about this.
The half-life of cobalt-60 is only 5.27 years, which is indeed a big problem .
The so-called half-life does not mean that cobalt 60 will continue to decay during this period, but that it will suddenly decay at a certain moment within the half-life, which is full of randomness.
Once cobalt-60 completes its decay, it becomes stable nickel-60 and no longer emits gamma and beta rays.
This means that the power generation capacity of a cobalt-60 nuclear battery will decrease little by little over time.
Du Hai himself proposed two solutions: "There are only two ways. One is to overload to ensure that it can still meet the weapon standard within four years, and the other is to use a hybrid core."
"Mixed core? How to operate it?" Pent asked quickly.
Du Hai explained: "Use excess fuel, then design the radioactive source into a number of fuel rods, and wait until the middle of the 2.6 years to start replacing new fuel rods. As long as the half-life and cobalt 60 production date are calculated and the replacement frequency is set, the power generation and radiation power can be stabilized within a certain range."
Peng Te was somewhat helpless: "This solution is only suitable for use inside the earth. It seems that the gamma-ray satellite in outer space can only use overload."
After several days of discussion, the External Security Division finally made up its mind to develop gamma-ray turrets and gamma-ray satellites.
Cobalt 60 has a relatively short half-life, so there are not many problems in using it on ground artillery and warships.
As for the radiation source of gamma-ray satellites, we can only look for radioactive isotopes that can replace cobalt-60 among radioactive isotopes.
Fortunately, there are relatively many radioactive isotopes that can release gamma rays. There are thousands of isotopes discovered by humans so far, so there is always a suitable one.
