134: Chapter 134 Testing the Electromagnetic Railgun

While the investigative teams from both countries were still busy with the unexpected incident during the exercise, Chu Ge and his team continued their equipment tests according to plan.

According to Li Gang's plan, today was the live-fire test of the main weapon of the aerospace carrier "kunpeng"—the Electromagnetic Railgun.

The weather was good today. Li Gang and his colleagues were preparing the test equipment early in the morning. Four different calibers of the Electromagnetic Railgun needed to be tested, especially the 500mm one, which could be considered a giant cannon and required the largest military transport truck just to barely haul it.

Chu Ge looked at the rear tires of the truck; they were numerous, densely packed, and quite large. This truck was definitely used for hauling special equipment.

The military transport truck was from Yanjing. After arriving at the Weapon Experiment Base, it hadn't been unloaded, as they planned to disassemble it only when it was time to test; otherwise, the loading and unloading process alone would take half a day.

At this moment, the truck was surrounded by a ring of fully armed soldiers, as if it were carrying a truckload of gold.

"Commander Leng, Deputy Commander Ran should still be busy with yesterday's matter, so he probably won't come today, right? Should we ask? After all, the Commander mentioned this yesterday."

Seeing Commander Leng rushing over, Chu Ge walked up to greet him and asked.

"Don't worry. There is a special investigative team now, and the Commander doesn't really like participating in those things anyway. He definitely won't miss the opportunity to test this new equipment."

As Chu Ge was speaking, a convoy of military vehicles drove in. Once they stopped, he could see the figure of Deputy Commander Ran in the distance. Chu Ge gave a thumbs-up to Commander Leng.

"Haha, Academician Chu, I'm not late, am I?"

After greeting him, Deputy Commander Ran looked at the equipment on the truck. However, those railguns were wrapped in camouflage nets like a dumpling; you couldn't even make out their outlines, let alone their appearance.

"Not late, Commander, we were just about to set off."

"Haha, good. Then what are we waiting for? Let's go!"

Without looking back, he returned to his car. Chu Ge and Commander Leng exchanged a smile and boarded their own vehicles. Just like that, a long convoy headed toward the test site.

After the convoy arrived, Li Gang and his team began unloading the equipment and setting up the firing position. This process took quite a while, and Deputy Commander Ran and Chu Ge started chatting while they waited.

"Commander, how are things with yesterday's incident?"

"The two crashed F-16s resulted in one death and one injury. The two countries have now established a joint investigation team. It is preliminarily suspected that someone tampered with the G Istanbul Air Force base, and the country is preparing to send an overseas investigation team to G country."

Deputy Commander Ran shared some of the key details of the investigation with Chu Ge.

"If it was the work of spies, and the military base has been infiltrated, then G Istanbul must have been riddled with holes like a sieve!"

"Well, they've been in a civil war for years—either fighting or on the way to fighting—so this is normal."

Chu Ge nodded.

"However, the investigation process may be extremely difficult. We now have a general direction for our judgment, but we need a bit of evidence to corroborate it."

"Understood. Please let me know as soon as possible if you need my help."

"Haha, no need. Academician Chu, just focus on building our fleet as quickly as possible. As for those other matters, we've also prepared a big gift. After all, it is impolite not to reciprocate."

"Academician Chu, let's stop talking about these frustrating matters and talk about that instead."

Deputy Commander Ran pointed to the Electromagnetic Railgun that had been unloaded. Seeing that the truck was starting to drive away, Chu Ge and the others walked toward the railgun's firing position with Deputy Commander Ran.

"I believe Deputy Commander Ran is already familiar with the principles of the Electromagnetic Railgun, as China's research in this area is quite mature. The railgun on the aerospace carrier focuses on firing speed and initial projectile velocity."

"There is also its firepower. The reference target is our own Interstellar Fleet. As for the warships on this planet, a 500mm caliber warhead is absolutely capable of a one-shot kill."

"If the opponent is something like the 'kunpeng', the armor strength is ridiculously high, and this railgun would struggle. On Earth, it doesn't require a special armor-piercing design; its speed is its reliance for piercing armor. But at the level of the Interstellar Fleet, while it's fine for bullying smaller warships, against heavy armor, you'd have to rely on other weapons to break the defenses first."

Chu Ge gave Deputy Commander Ran a brief introduction to the Electromagnetic Railgun.

Deputy Commander Ran listened with great interest. By this time, the four sets of railguns of different calibers were fully exposed to everyone's view. Deputy Commander Ran looked at the triple-barreled 500mm railgun and wished he could go up and touch it immediately.

"It's truly massive. It feels like returning to the era of battleships. To be honest, Academician Chu, I quite like the warships of that era. I don't mean that I like war, you know what I mean."

"Yes, I understand—the era of big ships and giant guns."

"Haha, Deputy Commander Ran, are you trying to say that if you added the accuracy of modern fire control radar, it would be even more interesting?"

"Haha, Chu Ge knows me best."

"Deputy Commander Ran, there will be a big surprise during the test in a moment. Li Gang, you're dawdling—are you ready yet?"

Chu Ge looked at the sky. A long time had passed, and he still hadn't seen Li Gang and his team start the test. Wondering if there was a problem, he shouted out.

"Ready, ready! We just finished up here. The range also needs to be prepared—ground and aerial video monitoring, targets, test equipment installation..."

"Alright, alright, my mistake, Group Leader Li. Shall we start? It'll be dark soon."

"Yes, Academician Chu!"

Li Gang picked up the headset handed to him by a colleague, put it on, and began preparing for the test.

"We are now beginning the test of the 205mm Electromagnetic Railgun. First round, launch team, prepare. All detection units, report your readiness status one by one."

"Test group, ready!"

"Calibration team, ready!"

"Video monitoring group, ready!"

"Radar group, ready!"

"Good! Launch team, ready, fire!"

A piercing, sharp sound erupted. Without the roar of a traditional cannon, it transitioned directly into the sharp whistle of the projectile tearing through the sky, right before impact. It was a sound effect created by rapid friction with the air.

Dozens of seconds later, two mushroom clouds erupted on the monitor next to Chu Ge. The surveillance footage then shook, and as Chu Ge and the others watched the screen, they could almost feel the intensity of the shock wave.

Li Gang began quickly recording the data reported by each detection group.

"Deputy Commander Ran, what do you think?"

"Uh, the sound is very unique, but I don't feel much else. It's not like I haven't seen the power of a 205mm shell before."

"Well, I forgot to mention, the target is 200km away. Li Gang, what was the projectile's flight time?"

Chu Ge smiled and turned to ask Li Gang, who was busy recording the data.

"Report, Academician Chu: 19.608 seconds."

"The projectile's muzzle velocity was 11,100 meters per second, approaching the second cosmic velocity, which aligns with the design data."