In the war of the first generation, it was not a strange thing to attack space targets, and long before the republic, the United States, Russia, and other military powers successively established the Heavenly Soldiers and Heavenly Forces, "space warfare" was enthusiastically welcomed by military strategists, and many people even believed that space would be the new commanding heights of war, and whoever controlled space would have the initiative in war. Although theoretically speaking, this understanding is not wrong, but to implement it in practical action, the difficulty is unimaginable.

After the establishment of the Celestial Soldiers, the Republic began to explore space operations.

After initial theoretical and tactical research, the pioneers of the Republic's Heavenly Soldiers realized a very serious problem, that is, under the existing technical conditions, the cost of space operations was too high and beyond the country's ability to bear. In this way, the republic turned to a defensive space military force, conducting theoretical research only in the offensive field. Like the Republic, the United States and other major military powers have put defensive space military forces on a standby basis after theoretical and tactical research, and will wait until technological progress has advanced to study offensive space military forces.

There is a conceptual question involved here, which is "defense" and "offense"

In the field of space military affairs, the concept of "defense" includes the deployment of military forces in space, the protection of one's own space forces, and the attack on the enemy's space targets; "Offensive" refers to strikes against various targets in the enemy's atmosphere, including on the ground, at sea, in the air, and under the sea.

This definition is markedly different from other military spheres.

From this definition, it can be seen that the main topic of space warfare is not how to attack the enemy, but how to deliver striking force. Space operations of a "defensive" nature have relatively low requirements for power projection and are relatively easy to achieve; Space operations of an "offensive" nature require relatively high force projection and are relatively difficult to achieve.

The key to "power projection" is cost.

In fact, the projection of military force is very similar to the transportation of goods in the civilian sphere. Regardless of the means and the type of goods transported, the essence is the same, that is, to deliver a specific cargo to its destination in a certain way.

If power is projected into space by conventional means, the cost will be as high as any pound, and the country will not be able to afford it.

Taking the carrier rocket as an example, even if the lower-cost hydrogen-oxygen liquid fire motive is used, the production cost of liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen is greatly reduced with the reduction of electricity costs, the use cost of the hydrogen-oxygen rocket motive is lower than that of the medium oxygen rocket motive, and the cost of moving to low-earth orbit to combat a military reconnaissance satellite with a mass of about one ton is more than 100 million yuan, and the manufacturing cost of the reconnaissance satellite is worth more than 800 million yuan. The average service life of a reconnaissance satellite is about 3 to 1 year, which is equivalent to B yuan per year. In order to form a complete reconnaissance satellite network, it is necessary to deploy at least radar phase-forming satellites, optical phase-forming satellites, and four supplementary satellites each, for a total of five satellites, and the average annual cost of use is high. The complete military satellite network also includes a satellite constellation of navigation and positioning, a communications satellite network, a strategic alert satellite system, and so on. The Republic, for example, had a total of operational military satellites in orbit at the beginning of the calendar year. On average, the annual budget spent on military satellites is as high as 100 million yuan. During the same period, the United States spent nearly $400 million on defense on military satellites. Counting the basic investment in research and development, design, and military satellites, the Republic spends more than 100 million yuan on military satellites every year, and the United States spends about $100 million on military satellites every year.

Such a huge amount of money is just a public opening

If the space delivery force is carried out according to the standard of airlift power, the cost will be even more difficult to estimate.

In this case, the launch vehicle will certainly not be able to shoulder the heavy responsibility, and only the aerospace aircraft that can be used repeatedly can become a qualified space delivery force. Many people may think that the space shuttle can be used repeatedly, and the delivery cost must be much lower than that of the launch vehicle, but in fact it is not. The United States is the only country that has experience in the use of aircraft in the air, and after the old year, it abandoned all space shuttles in favor of giant launch vehicles. In the US "return to the moon" planner, it is not the space shuttle that is used to deliver cargo to the moon, but the "God of War" carrier rocket, which has an over-the-old carrying capacity in low-earth orbit. According to the plan formulated by NASA, the "Ares of War" can be used to directly deliver the lunar module to the moon. In the future operation of landing on Mars, the "God of War" will set up a transit station in low-earth orbit and then go out to Mars. It can be seen from this that in the eyes of the calculatingly savvy Americans, the space re-aircraft is not an ideal delivery vehicle.

Around the time of the year, the Republic also conducted a conceptual study of the space shuttle, and the final conclusions reached were not much different.

Because the cost of daily maintenance and maintenance is extremely high, although the American space shuttle can only recover booster rockets by recycling booster rockets and external fuel tanks, and the external fuel tanks can be burned in the atmosphere to reduce the cost of a single launch, but the total cost of use is still higher than that of launch vehicles.

Of course, the future of the Space Shuttle shows its potential beyond the launch vehicle.

The United States has not completely abandoned the Space Shuttle, and the Republic is making efforts to do so.

There are three main ways to improve the cost-effectiveness ratio of the space shuttle: first, develop new materials to improve the maintainability and repeated use times of the space shuttle, and reduce the cost of a single use; The second is to increase the altitude and intensity of emission, and reduce the time of introduction in the atmosphere. Thus reducing fuel consumption; The second is to develop new fuels. Reduce the cost-to-price ratio to thrust-to-weight to improve economy.

Relatively speaking, the key to reducing costs is still the last point.

It is not difficult to improve the performance of the space shuttle, and all major countries in the world are doing relevant research, such as the United States, France, Germany and other Western countries, which have been studying in this field for decades and have put forward a variety of exhibition plans; With the advent of a large number of new materials, it is not difficult to improve the reliability and maintainability of the space shuttle. Increase the height and intensity of the shot. It is not very difficult, and the most effective solution is to have a large transport aircraft as a carrier, and the high-altitude launch of the space shuttle above the thug's milk; With the advent of various electric large transport aircraft, the scheme of relying on electric transport aircraft as a platform for the space shuttle has long been proposed, and the cost is within an acceptable range. There is only one last point, which is very difficult to develop; Although space propellants with catalytic metallic hydrogen as the main component have been successful in the laboratory, they are still far from mass production, and the cost is still prohibitively high; If the problem of propellant cannot be solved. The cost of transporting space will never reach the level of air freight.

If the cost of transportation cannot be reduced, the price of deploying military forces in space will not be affordable.

In the year of Tian, Tianbing submitted to the General Staff and the Ministry of National Defense the "Report on the Long-term Development of the Year of Force." It is clearly mentioned that it is necessary to speed up the research and development of new space propellants, expand the production of catalytic metallic hydrogen, and strive to reduce the cost of space power delivery to less than the old times that of air transportation after the field year. Even with this calculation, the cost of transporting a kilogram of cargo to low earth orbit is still as high as 10,000 yuan. For the projection of military power, which can easily cost tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of tons, this cost is still beyond the country's ability to bear.

Of course, this cost is already within acceptable limits for military operations against key targets.

More importantly, as far as the national strategic defense system is concerned, the unit delivery cost of the ugly mouth element is the lowest threshold.

In accordance with the "National Strategic Defense System" in the "Long-term Planning Report". In the fourth stage of force building, the outer space defense system will be the key force of the entire national strategic defense system, and it will also be the basic force for dealing with nuclear powers, including the United States. Only by establishing a defense system for outer space and with a real strategic defense capability can the republic have the upper hand in a direct confrontation with the United States.

It's just that the content of the program is too huge.

The "Outer Space Defence System" consists of subsystems, namely the "Early Warning System". "Target detection, screening and tracking locking system, real-time information exchange system, hitter. kinetic weapon interception system" and "energy weapon interception system". The total number of military satellites included in this defense system covering the world is in order, namely, the blade and the strong, and the old and the "ugly" and the "ugly satellites" of which are the standby satellites after the 10th, and the total delivery mass is stewed. If calculated according to the single delivery cost of Choukouyuan, it will cost 100 million yuan to shoot only the satellites, plus the cost of manufacturing the satellites, and the total cost will exceed Zuozhou B yuan. Because the average working time of the whole system is only one year, the average annual investment is 100 million yuan. If you count the opening and pen expenses, it is not small.

Obviously, the "outer space defense system" is still a military concubine in space of a defensive nature.

As can be seen from the plans of the heavenly soldiers, the "energy weapon interception system" accounts for the lion's share. It is precisely because the "energy weapon interception system" has a higher cost-effectiveness ratio that makes this happen. For example, in the case of the same mass, although the manufacturing cost of a defense satellite using a high-energy laser interceptor is about twice that of a defense satellite using kinetic energy to intercept warheads, the in-orbit service life of the former is three times that of the latter, and the interception capability is twice that of the latter.

Compared to offensive space military forces, the projection quality of defensive space military forces can only be regarded as a drizzle.

The United States conducted theoretical research on offensive space military forces before the old years, such as deploying military satellites carrying kinetic warheads in space to destroy high-value strategic targets on the ground with kinetic warheads. During the theoretical research stage, the US military even put forward the idea that a kinetic warhead delivered by a satellite could deal with all targets. The problem is that after the theoretical study was over, the US military began to claim that "the technical reserves are insufficient." For this reason, the research plan was terminated.

The real reason is not that the technical reserves are insufficient, but that the cost is too high.

As soon as new means of striking appeared, new means of defense appeared. Even if the destructive capability of kinetic warheads is sufficient to meet the needs of military strikes, in a war, there are hundreds, thousands, or even tens of thousands of high-value targets that need to be hit. In the case of all strikes with offensive space military forces, the mass of ammunition delivered at one time is 100 tons, or even more than 1,000 tons. In terms of the cost of delivery for the power hitters for o years, tens of billions of dollars are required. According to the calculation of a single cost, the cost of projecting offensive space military power is dozens of times that of air power, which is not at all calculated. Even if the cost of projection is reduced to about twice that of the air force around the time of the year according to the rules and regulations of the Heavenly Soldiers of the Republic, the strike cost of the offensive space military force is still ridiculously high. Mass use is still far away.

The cost problem not only restricts the space warlord narrow, but also the most chopping section on the Zhanyu book bar, the side of the gang, the mouth of the Yang, the old than the mustard

At a time when the technology for developing offensive space military forces is not yet mature, the Republic, the United States, and other major powers have concentrated their efforts on developing defensive space military forces, and they have given priority to the development of strategic defense forces. The Japanese War has proven that when the strategic defensive force reaches a certain level, the strategic offensive force will become an ornament. Both the republics, which are actively promoting comprehensive nuclear disarmament, and the United States, which is secretly making trouble, are aware of the impact of defensive space military forces on strategic nuclear forces, and they also realize that strategic nuclear forces will be eliminated sooner or later.

Because space-based strategic defense systems are inherently capable of dealing with space targets, except for a few energy weapon defense systems that intercept in the booster stage of ballistic missiles, that is, in the active stage, most space-based defense systems intercept in the middle of ballistic missiles, that is, in the inertial stage, so the space-based strategic defense system has shouldered the task of striking enemy satellites since the day it came out.

In the "negotiations on the demilitarization of space", the most debated criterion is the "militarization".

In fact, no one can restrict the use of space-based defence systems by certain powers against enemy space targets, nor can any technical means limit them. As long as the major powers persist in developing their strategic defense systems, there will be no difficulty in using strategic defense systems to deal with military satellites, and the only thing that can be limited by "demilitarization of space" is offensive space military forces, not defensive space military forces.

At the end of the day, the temptation to strike at the enemy's military satellites is too great.

Already during the Fourth Indo-Pakistani War, the republic attacked India's military satellites. Although India did not have many military satellites at that time, and the impact of the strike operation was not very large, during the Japanese War, the Republic's operation against the Japanese military satellite received great success and had a huge impact on the war. Since then, the strike on military satellites has become a real "commanding heights of war".

In the aftermath of the war in Japan, led by the Republic, the United States, and Russia, the world's major space powers and military powers signed a non-legally binding agreement, known as the International Disclosure of Outer Space. The treaty clearly stipulates that no country shall take the initiative to attack space targets of third parties and neutral countries. The reason why the agreement is not legally binding is because there is no clear "third party. meaning. For example, in the war in India, the United States provided India with the intelligence collected by military satellites, is it considered a third party in the war?

Of course, in a broader sense, the "militarization of space" has once again raised the bar for modern warfare.

The technology and cost of war have been sharply raised, and only the powerful and technologically advanced powers have the ability to occupy the commanding heights of war, not to mention the third-rate countries, such as Britain, France, Germany, and other second-rate powers, do not have enough national strength to support their huge space military forces, and they cannot occupy the commanding heights of war, thus losing the strength to launch military competition and global confrontation with first-class powers.

This result had a decisive impact on the evolution of the global situation.

For second-rate countries that aspire to become first-class powers, there are only three ways out. The first is to improve the country's economic strength and technological strength as soon as possible to keep up with the pace of a first-class power; Countries that can follow this path must have vast land, abundant resources and sufficient labor, the most representative of which is Russia, followed by Brazil and India.

The second is to form a political and military alliance with a certain first-class power, relying on the protection of a first-class power, and the typical representatives of embarking on this road are Britain and Pakistan. Third, several second-rate powers have formed a political and military alliance, so that the overall strength of the alliance has reached the level of a first-class power, and the most representative is the European Union, which is dominated by France, Germany and Italy.

This shows how much impact the Japanese war had on the world pattern.

Everyone knows that the next large-scale regional war will not only change the world pattern again, but will also make "regionalization" the main direction of the future world.

As a soldier, Pei Chengyi is not thinking about the future, but about how to win this war.

Although India's space military strength is not strong, it is impossible for India to develop from a third-rate country that has just been defeated in the Internet to a first-class power in just a few years. Although the assistance given to India by Western countries with the United States as the United States has helped India complete the modernization of its military forces to a great extent, it is impossible for neither the United States nor other Western countries to sincerely help India in terms of space military forces that involve the commanding heights of war. In terms of the country's overall strength, India also does not have the ability to display its space military strength. From the perspective of national security. Nor is it possible for India to prioritize the deployment of its military power in space when there is no guarantee of land, sea, and air.

There are not many targets that need to be attacked, and it is undoubtedly the best opportunity for actual combat training for the heavenly soldiers of the Republic.

To a large extent, it can even be regarded as an initial test of the "fourth stage of the national strategic defense system construction project."

For this war, the Heavenly Soldiers concentrated on launching a number of military satellites in June and formed a set of small energy weapon interception satellites aimed at India.

It would be worth the money to let these "backbone" forces used to form the national strategic defense system deal with the enemy's military satellites before they deal with ballistic missiles.

For Pei Chengyi, what he has to do is still wait.