Chapter 830 Launching Missiles

"Can our 150mm anti-aircraft guns shoot them down?"

Commander Arnold sighed. "I'm afraid not, Mr. President." The flight altitude of these "flying bombs" does not exceed 5,000 meters, and even ordinary medium-caliber anti-aircraft guns can reach them, but the problem is that it is harder than climbing to the sky to shoot down an aircraft flying at a high speed of 750 kilometers per hour in the middle of the night.

Just as President Wilkie was about to say something, Commander Arnold's unbelievable exclamation came from the other end of the phone. "What?! Are you sure?! Are there any more?!"

President Wilkie asked hurriedly. "What happened?!"

Commander Arnold said a little frustrated. "Mr. President, our radar has found 10 more aircraft, which should also be those "flying bombs."

It was really bad news. President Wilkie had a bad premonition in his heart. He felt that the Germans would not only launch these 20 "flying bombs". Although he didn't know how much these missiles cost, Germany was not short of money now. Even if the cost of these missiles is equal to gold, they can make them.

Sure enough, this ominous premonition was soon fulfilled. The radar discovered five waves of unidentified flying objects one after another, that is, a total of fifty "flying bombs", all heading straight for Washington.

More than an hour later, the first wave of "flying bombs" flew over Washington. The mechanical timer inside the missile activated the oil circuit cut-off device, cutting off the oil supply. The missile instantly lost power and could only fly forward by inertia. At the same time, the spoiler that was opened slowed down the missile significantly, and one missile after another dived down.

"Boom!" "Boom!" "Boom!"

The explosions of ten missiles one after another even reached the secret military base in the suburbs of Washington. Commander Arnold's face was very ugly. "This charge is at least one ton." He couldn't help but think that the development of German technology was too scary. In just over a decade, they left other countries far behind. How did they do it? !

While sighing, the next wave of missiles attacked again. That night, Washington city was hit by a total of 36 missiles, another 6 crashed due to malfunctions, and 8 landed in the suburbs outside Washington.

At the same time, a large convoy drove into a military base outside Smolensk. In addition to self-propelled anti-aircraft guns, wheeled infantry fighting vehicles, and Leopard tanks, the convoy was mostly giant trucks with camouflage nets covering the cabin.

The troops originally stationed here have been transferred away, and the entire base is empty.

A major general of the Guards X Corps walked down from a command vehicle, looked at the empty base, and ordered. "Prepare to launch missiles and calibrate the shooting parameters. Target, Moscow!"

The soldiers quickly pulled off the camouflage nets on the trucks, revealing large missiles. These trucks are special missile transport and launch vehicles, similar to the Scud missile launchers of later generations. As the soldiers in the launch vehicle control room pressed various buttons, four sets of hydraulic struts were deployed from both sides of the launch vehicle chassis to the side. Then, at the lower end of the pillar, the pillar began to extend outward, all the way to the ground, firmly fixing the huge missile launcher.

Several soldiers held a level and checked all parts of the missile launcher. "Report, the center of gravity balance is fine." This was originally a military base, and the ground was quite flat, so there was no need for too much adjustment.

"Erect the missile!"

"Woo~" With a slight hydraulic sound, supported by the hydraulic pillars connected to the chassis on both sides of the missile, the missile on the chassis of the launcher, which was 17 meters long and nearly two meters in diameter, began to slowly stand up towards the sky.

One by one, fuel filling trucks drove over. Due to current technical reasons, liquid fuel rockets cannot be stored for a long time and can only be filled before launch. If they are filled in advance, once the launch mission is cancelled, the fuel will be extracted, which will also cause damage to the missile body.

Everyone present wore airtight protective clothing and gas masks. The most primitive rocket fuel is liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen. Although it is not toxic, it is well known that hydrogen is the most active of all elements, and it is extremely difficult to control the combustion of liquid hydrogen. Therefore, even in later generations, liquid hydrogen will not be used as fuel for the first and second stage rockets to avoid explosion accidents during low-altitude launches. It is mostly used as a high-energy final stage rocket propellant during high-altitude navigation.

The most commonly used liquid combustion agent is hydrazine, which is a class of nitrogen-containing compounds and a toxic, corrosive, oily liquid. It is very dangerous during the filling operation. Any operation that violates the rules may bring the most terrible consequences.

While refueling, the other team was busy determining the azimuth coordinates of their own side and the target. As the saying goes, a small mistake can lead to a big mistake. In the era without GPS navigation, even if there is a slight deviation in the launch coordinates, the landing point of these missiles may have an error of tens or even hundreds of kilometers. They determine their own coordinates based on maps, radio locators and other instruments and equipment, and enter these coordinates into a simple digital calculator, which will provide various data required for shooting.

After working for a long time, the fuel for 50 missiles was filled and the target coordinates were input into the guidance system.

"Gyro started."

"Gyro started normally."

"Launch countdown."

"Five minutes to prepare!"

There were no people around the missile launcher, and all personnel retreated to safe locations around.

"One minute to prepare!"

"Ignite!"

The major general gave the order to ignite, and the fuel in the fuel chamber flowed into the rocket engine under the action of the fuel pump. In an instant, a puff of white gas came out of the tail nozzle, and the next second, a hot flame sprayed out of the tail nozzle. The entire military base was instantly shrouded in thick smoke, and the people in the bunker were also drowned in the thick smoke. They could not see anything, but heard a series of huge roars, and the whole ground trembled.

The roar was getting farther and farther away. After a while, it could not be heard at all.

After waiting for most of the day, the major general took off his gas mask and took a deep breath after the thick fog was blown away by the wind. Just as he was about to get up, a scream came from not far away. "Hide!!"

The major general subconsciously lay down and shouted loudly. "What's the situation?!"

A soldier not far away replied loudly. "General, a missile has not been launched!"

"!!" The major general carefully stuck his head out and saw that there was a missile still standing on the launch vehicle in the distance.

"Damn it!" The major general cursed softly. If this missile exploded on the spot, many missile launchers around it would be affected.