Le Gong introduced to everyone: "This is Major General Pent of the Ministry of Defense, in charge of the Weapons and Equipment Division. ”

Levi and Pent apparently knew each other.

He smiled and asked, "Pent, are you still happy with the cobalt bomb?" ”

"I am very satisfied, but the power is too great, and even the experiment can only be in a closed underground facility, and it is basically impossible to apply it to actual combat." Pent was both happy and helpless.

Levi shook his head: "I hope I never use this kind of thing." ”

Seeing that the atmosphere was a little heavy, Peng Te hurriedly changed the topic: "Let me tell you about the intention of this time, first, on behalf of Mr. Chairman, I would like to congratulate you on your achievements; Second ......"

"It's for gamma ray generation."

Du Hai asked confusedly: "Didn't our Nuclear Power Research Institute submit a research and development project for an ultra-small power core?" This should be the best application of this technology at the moment, right? ”

"No!" Pentt waved his index finger: "After our evaluation, we believe that gamma rays have the potential to be further weaponized, and the purpose of coming here today is to discuss with the professionals whether it can be realized." ”

After saying that, he sent the weapons plan envisaged by the Weapons and Equipment Division to the crowd.

Levi, Du Hai and the others hurriedly browsed carefully.

The ticking clock is slowly ticking.

"Gamma-ray satellite batteries?" Du Hai put down the tablet, rubbed his temples and thought.

However, Levi's has been engaged in the research and development of nuclear weapons, so he quickly came up with some ideas: "Gamma rays in the subvacuum environment of outer space, the rate of exhaustion is very slow, if they can be arranged in low-earth orbit, they can indeed hit targets in the atmosphere." ”

But Du Hai had a different opinion: "Doctor, the weakening of gamma rays in the atmosphere is too strong, and our artificial gamma rays cannot reach the level of gamma-ray bursts at all. ”

"Dr. Du, you're ignoring another possibility." Levi said with a smile.

Du Hai's eyes rolled, thinking quickly about what he had overlooked.

"It's lightning," Pent reminded. ”

Lightning!? Du Hai's eyes widened: "You want to use gamma rays to artificially create lightning in the atmosphere?" Is this possible? ”

Levi squinted: "It should be possible, first of all, the resonance frequency of gamma rays between the various layers of the atmosphere is different, among which the troposphere and ozone layer are the strongest, the stratosphere is average, and the thermosphere is basically not weakened due to the thin air." ”

He then called up a holographic projection that projected the Earth's atmosphere.

"Above 55,000 meters, you can directly use gamma rays to attack the target, and below 55,000 meters, you can use gamma rays to excite dense lightning to attack the target in a large area."

Pent nodded: "This is the plan of our weapons and equipment department, and can the stratosphere use gamma rays of a specific frequency to enhance its resonance excitation effect?" ”

Du Hai was stunned for a moment, and quickly calculated in his mind for a while: "There should be no problem, the stability of the stratosphere is higher than that of the troposphere, and it is relatively easy to find out its resonance frequency." ”

Others also raised questions.

For example, airplanes and missiles can be equipped with Faraday cages to defend against lightning storms.

Their response to this is to pull down the direct attack range of gamma rays, using gamma ray frequencies that do not resonate with the stratosphere and ozone layer, to directly hit the aircraft in this range.

As for defense gamma rays.

It's not that it can't be done, but the aircraft does not allow it, and you must know that gamma rays can not only kill the pilot, but also cause serious damage to the electronic components inside the aircraft.

You can't wrap an entire plane or a missile in a heavy lead plate, right? The consequence of this is that the dead weight of the aircraft will become extremely large.

That's why the Department of Defense would try to develop gamma-ray weapons.

Because the gamma ray cannon can intercept hypersonic missiles, as long as the hypersonic missile enters the high-altitude area, the gamma ray can remove these missiles unimpeded and accurately.

As for the vehicles in the troposphere, using gamma rays to excite lightning storms is actually a helpless choice.

After all, gamma rays are so terrifying that if you use a frequency that can penetrate the troposphere, it may harm innocent people and wipe out all the creatures on the ground.

Although the Ministry of Defense will definitely study various corresponding frequencies, and in the event of a last resort, it will inevitably use gamma rays to clear ground targets, but it can only be used as a trump card.

What's more, after calculating according to supercomputing simulations, they found that as long as the gamma rays are dense enough, in the case of high resonance, dense lightning storms can be formed in local areas, and even reach the level of close to plasma.

In a lightning storm of this level, even if a Faraday cage is installed, there is no way for the aircraft to avoid electric shocks 100%.

However, Du Hai calculated the data, and involuntarily showed a wry smile on his face:

"To produce a super-dense lightning storm, at least 3 tons of cobalt-60 are needed as a radioactive source, and this weight plus supporting facilities is at least 500 tons, and now our launch vehicles can't carry 500 tons at once, right?"

Levi shook his head: "Dr. Du, in fact, the tropospheric lightning storm device can be set up on the ground, there is no need to go on satellites, satellites can focus on high-altitude strikes and interceptions." ”

"That's just as well." Du Hai knew that he had a preconceived idea.

Pente's eyes lit up: "If the entire installation is 500 tons, that part of the battleship can also be used." ”

"Uh...... This 500 tons is just my rough estimate, there are still many details to pay attention to, and I dare not guarantee that the final finished product will not exceed the standard. Du Hai hurriedly added.

But Pent didn't care too much: "The ground fixed battery doesn't need to care too much about the weight, and the 100,000-ton warships have a higher tolerance for the weight of the equipment." ”

Levi thought for a while: "Considering that the gamma-ray energy of cobalt-60 is continuously released, I think it is necessary to integrate the gamma-ray power generation system into it, which can generate electricity when it is not in use in peacetime and as a weapon in wartime." ”

"It makes sense." Pent hastened to record it.

"But there is another question, how to solve the service life of cobalt-60?" Du Hai reminded.

For this, everyone also fell into deep thought.

The half-life of cobalt-60 is only 5.27 years, which is indeed a big problem.

The so-called half-life does not mean that cobalt-60 has been decaying continuously during this period, but that it will decay suddenly at a certain point in the half-life period, which is full of randomness.

Once cobalt-60 completes its decay, it becomes stable nickel-60 and no longer emits gamma and beta rays.

This means that the power generated by a cobalt-60 core battery will decrease little by little over time.

Du Hai himself proposed two solutions: "There are only two ways, one is to overcharge the material to ensure that it can still meet the weapon standard within 4 years, and the other is to mix the core." ”

"Hybrid core? How does it work? Pent hurriedly asked.

Du Hai explained: "Using an overcharge, then designing the radioactive source into a number of fuel rods, waiting until the middle of 2.6 years, starting to replace the new fuel rods, as long as the half-life, cobalt 60 production date, and the replacement frequency are set, the power generation and radiation power can be stabilized within a certain range." ”

Pent was a little helpless: "This scheme is only suitable for the internal use of the earth, and it seems that gamma-ray satellites in outer space can only use excessive charges." ”

After several days of discussions, the Ministry of Defense finally made up its mind to prepare for the development of gamma-ray batteries and gamma-ray satellites.

Cobalt-60 has a relatively short half-life, and there are still not too many problems when used in ground batteries and warships.

As for the radioactive sources of gamma-ray satellites, it is only possible to find radioisotopes that can replace cobalt-60 from radioactive isotopes.

Fortunately, there are still many radioactive isotopes that can release gamma rays, and there are thousands of isotopes found by human beings, and there are always suitable ones.

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(End of chapter)