143: Chapter 140 Test

October 20, 1981, Western Iran desert.

The first live-fire tracking test of the Persia-4 Missile was conducted at a secret testing ground.

The testing ground was in the desert 120 kilometers south of Kermanshah, with no residential areas within 50 kilometers. This location had been selected by Fatima two months ago; she had filed a declaration with the local government under the guise of "geological exploration" and had actually built a complete testing facility there.

Reza did not come to the site, but his representative did: Hassan.

Hassan sat in the control room, watching the data stream on the screen. The seeker had been installed on a modified target missile, which was now in the air at an altitude of 3,000 meters, traveling at 800 kilometers per hour, with a flight path following a preset S-curve.

The Persia-4 Missile was ready on the ground, the seeker was activated, and the lock-on signal had been established.

Fatima sat next to Hassan, her finger hovering over the launch button, not pressing it, just waiting.

"Seeker signal strength?" she asked.

"92 percent," the technician replied.

"Tracking accuracy?"

"Within the normal range, with an error of 0.3 degrees."

Fatima took a deep breath and pressed the button.

There was no sound when the missile lifted off; this was a sealed testing environment, and the sound was isolated.

The screen showed the missile's flight path and the target missile's position, with the two lines chasing each other in the air.

The target missile began to perform evasive maneuvers: turning left, turning right, climbing, and descending.

The missile followed it as it turned.

Tracking accuracy was displayed in real-time, with the error updating second by second.

At its maximum, it reached 0.8 degrees, and at its minimum, it was 0.1 degrees.

The target missile's speed suddenly increased, accelerating from 800 kilometers per hour to 1,000 kilometers per hour.

The missile's tracking speed increased accordingly.

This process lasted for three minutes.

Then, the target missile performed a rapid descent, dropping from 3,000 meters to 1,500 meters.

The missile followed the descent.

The distance was closing: from 5 kilometers to 3 kilometers, to 1 kilometer.

Fatima's hand moved to another button; this was the intercept command.

But she didn't press it.

She was waiting for the target missile's next move.

At an altitude of 1,500 meters, the target missile made a sharp turn, with an angle approaching 90 degrees.

The missile's tracking showed a delay, a lag of 0.3 seconds.

In these 0.3 seconds, the target missile had already changed direction, and the missile needed to recalculate the tracking angle.

The two lines on the screen showed a clear separation at this moment.

When Fatima saw this data, her expression changed.

"Pause the test," she said.

The missile's propulsion system shut down immediately, and the target missile also stopped its evasive maneuvers.

The two objects hovered in the air for a few seconds, then both began to descend, finally crashing into the desert.

There was silence in the control room.

Hassan looked at Fatima: "How is it!?"

"Tracking accuracy is within the normal range, but during high-speed turns, the seeker's reaction delay exceeded expectations," Fatima said. "Do you know what this delay means in actual combat!?"

"It means the Scud Missile might escape at this moment," Hassan said.

"Not just escape," Fatima said. "It means our interception window is compressed. The Scud Missile's maneuverability is already stronger than our missile's; if our seeker's reaction is also slower, that's suicide."

She stood up, walked to the screen, and looked at the two trajectory lines that had stopped.

"Where is the problem?" Hassan asked.

"The chip," Fatima said. "We are using a temporary chip right now, and the processing speed isn't fast enough. After the real chip arrives, this delay should be reduced to within 0.1 seconds."

"Should be!?"

"I can't guarantee it," Fatima turned around. "Because I haven't used that chip; I only made theoretical calculations based on the specifications."

Hassan was silent for a while, then said: "Reza needs to know this result."

"I know," Fatima said. "But I want to do another test first, using different target missile parameters, to see if this delay is a universal phenomenon or if it only appears under specific conditions."

"Is there still time?"

"Yes," Fatima said. "The chips won't arrive for another two months; we have time."

Hassan picked up the radio and sent an encrypted message to Reza.

The message was very brief: First test complete, tracking accuracy normal, but a delay occurred during high-speed turns, requiring further verification.

Reza's reply was also very brief: Continue testing, give me a full report within two weeks.

Ahvaz, Reza's office.

After reading Hassan's message, Reza did not show any anxiety.

He wrote a line in his notebook:

"The problem with the Persia-4 Missile is not a problem; it is normal engineering progress. A weapon without problems has either not been truly tested, or it is already obsolete."

Then he picked up another document, a port surveillance report sent by Karimi.

After a week of surveillance, there had been no direct contact between Karim and the barbershop owner.

But there was a new discovery: Karim's brother had come from Baghdad for a trip, stayed in Basra for three days, and met with Karim twice during that time.

The first time was at home, the second time was at a cafe.

Both meetings were very short, lasting no more than 20 minutes.

"Has the brother's identity been confirmed?" Reza asked.

"Confirmed. His name is Farouk Karim, 48 years old. He does import-export business in Baghdad, mainly trading with Iraq merchants," Karimi said. "But there is a detail: his office in Baghdad is only 300 meters away from the Iraqi General Staff Intelligence Department building."

"Very close," Reza said. "But that doesn't prove anything."

"There is another detail," Karimi said. "Farouk has a regular cafe in Baghdad where he spends two hours every week, meeting different people. Our informant says that cafe is an informal contact point for the Iraq intelligence system."

Reza organized this information in his mind.

Laurel Station → Liaison → Karim → Farouk → Baghdad Intelligence System

This line became clearer.

"Did Farouk have contact with anyone else while in Basra this time?"

"Yes," Karimi said. "During the three days he stayed in Basra, he met five people. Three were merchants, and two were of unknown identity."

"Check those two with unknown identities," Reza said. "But don't go too deep; just confirming whether they are from the Iraq intelligence system is enough."

"Understood."

Karimi went out.

Reza wrote another line in his notebook:

"The Laurel Station network is larger than I imagined. An informant at a port is connected to the intelligence system in Baghdad. This shows that Saddam Hussein's focus on Basra is far deeper than what the ceasefire agreement shows on the surface."

He paused, then continued writing:

"But this also means that the line I currently control is a very good countermeasure tool. I can use it to transmit false information, I can use it to confuse Saddam Hussein, I can use it to do many things."

He closed the notebook and glanced at the time.

3:00 PM.

Nineteen months left.

But now, every day is becoming more valuable.