Chapter 1322 - Military Exercise (1/2)

On July 1st, a cargo s.h.i.+p marked with the Saudi Royal Family emblem set off from Jeddah Port, and headed away from the Gulf of Aden. The patrolling UA soldiers did not stop the s.h.i.+p for long before they allowed it into public water.

On the morning of the same day, Celestial Trade and Moro Navy launched a joint military exercise in the Western Pacific.

The military exercise was not limited to anti-s.h.i.+p, anti-submarine, anti-air exercises, but also also included landing combat and urban combt, code-named “Defense Determination,” which lasted for three days. Although this military exercise turned into Celestial Trade showing off its high-tech equipment, it still achieved the effect Jiang Chen wanted – to show his position to the angered NATO.

If NATO launched retaliatory military operations against Moro, Celestial Trade was ready to intervene.

They must now weigh their decision if they decide to open another battlefield outside of South America.

It was the third day of the military exercise.

Five Guardian-cla.s.s frigates installed with the modified type-50J electromagnetic pulse cannons were lined up at sea, and there were more than ten s.h.i.+ps including anti-submarine destroyers, guided missile cruisers, supply s.h.i.+ps, and submarines that patrolled around. Other than the fact that it lacked an aircraft carrier, the fleet was not inferior to any aircraft carrier battle group in the world.

Jiang Chen and Ivan stood in the flags.h.i.+p bridge. Jiang Chen’s eyes squinted at the satellite images on the holographic screen.

Under the “Sky Eye” military satellite, there were no secrets that could stay hidden under its watch in the Pacific Ocean. The positions of the enemy and friendly units were all marked with the distance, direction, and speed parameters listed.

Santos and Moro naval officers also stood inside the bridge as they were amazed by the holographic screen floating directly in front of them. Everything here was a novelty to them, especially the satellite image that marked the positions of the units. It was not difficult to tell what this meant for naval warfare in the information age.

“Unfortunately there is no aircraft carrier.”

“If the Celestial Trade Navy is equipped with an aircraft carrier, with such an immense information advantage, it would be impossible to find an opponent that can compete with this fleet in the world.”

Among the audience, someone sighed regretfully.

In today’s naval thinking, the aircraft carrier was the core and soul of a fleet. A fleet without an aircraft carrier and carrier-based aircraft was incomplete.

Jiang Chen actually considered developing Celestial Trade’s own aircraft carrier before, but after some deliberation, he gave up on the idea.

First of all, Jiang Chen never intended to waste too much production capacity from Future Military on the sea, so it never planned to build a wars.h.i.+p in the first place. Most of the wars.h.i.+ps were manufactured in Russian s.h.i.+pyards and then brought to Xin for secondary modification by Future Military.

The Russians were certainly willing to sell the aircraft carrier to Celestial Trade, but their willingness was only limited to conventionally powered aircraft carriers. For example, it was not even remotely possible for Russia to sell nuclear-powered aircraft carriers as well as its core technology. Regardless of their relations.h.i.+p, this idea was off the table, similar to how Celestial Trade would never sell the type-50 electromagnetic pulse cannon.

The technical difficulty of converting a conventionally powered aircraft carrier into a nuclear powered aircraft carrier was not on the same level as changing the main-gun of a frigate. Of course, it was not impossible but more so it was not necessary.

After all, the ultra-long cruising radius of Aurora-20 made the need for aircraft carriers less meaningful.

“The horizontal distance is 127 nautical miles, the target is locked.”

“Fire!”

The launch pod of the guided missile cruiser opened, and with the roar of homing noises, the orange swords shot into the sky.

In the area 127 nautical miles away, six sc.r.a.pped cargo s.h.i.+ps were used as target s.h.i.+ps. They were arranged in a triangular formation on the sea, as they sailed in the direction of Guam at a speed of 20 knots.

A total of six missiles all hit directly on target.

The flames of the explosion erupted one after another as the cargo s.h.i.+ps sank to the bottom of the sea.

When the high-alt.i.tude drone transmitted the screen of the target s.h.i.+ps destroyed to the bridge, the black smoke of the explosion could be seen in the horizon. Captain Lei Zheng put down the binoculars in his hand, then performed a military salute to Jiang Chen and Ivan.

“Sir, the targets are destroyed! All missiles. .h.i.t on target!”

There was applause from the audience. Among them, not only representatives of Moro, but also representatives from Hua, Germany, and even Nippon, all of them showed the same hint of surprise.