The Rise Of Australasia

Currently, there are two types of shipboard missiles: medium-sized short-range missiles and large-sized long-range missiles.

From their names, one can discern the specific roles of these two types of missiles. The main targets of medium-sized missiles are ground and ocean targets within a close range, with their primary function and purpose being to effectively destroy the enemy's warships.

Meanwhile, the targets of large-sized long-range missiles are ground targets at much greater distances, primarily functioning to strike at the enemy's key facilities and urban areas from afar.

It is evident from these uses that, ideally, large-sized long-range missiles are suited to carrying nuclear warheads.

This implies that if shipboard missiles were mass-produced, Australasia could completely achieve a nuclear strike on the Native Land of the Island Nation from over 500 kilometers away.

It isn't an exaggeration to say that if Australasia concealed its movements, such a long-distance strike would leave the Island Nation utterly unable to determine the source of the attack.

Amidst expectant gazes, the testing of the shipboard missiles officially began.

Testing of shipboard missiles also occurred in two ways, corresponding to the medium and large-sized missiles.

About twenty medium-sized missiles were fired, mainly attacking movabile land targets to simulate enemy warships progressing through the ocean.

In contrast, about ten large-sized missiles were fired, mainly attacking designated open areas on the ground to simulate the enemy's cities and key facilities.

Due to the size and cost of the missiles, the total cost of these thirty shipboard missiles participating in the tests far exceeded that of the previous tests, which included over 200 missiles.

Of course, their destructive capabilities were strikingly different. The destructive power of one shipboard missile was equivalent to about ten antiair missiles, and the two had such different roles that they weren't comparable.

Antiair missiles couldn't do the job of shipboard missiles, and shipboard missiles could not do the job of antiair missiles either.

If shipboard missiles were used to attack airplanes in the sky, that would truly be like using a canon to kill a mosquito.

Soon, the test of the shipboard missiles had already begun.

The first to be tested were the medium-sized missiles, twenty in total; ultimately, thirteen hit within a ten-meter radius of the test vehicle.

Of course, the speed of the test vehicle also mimicked the speed of warships, which was completely different from the speeds used in other missile tests.

After all, the fastest warships far exceeded the speed of airplanes; warships are huge and particularly face considerable resistance while moving across the ocean.

Achieving a 65% hit rate was quite impressive for the medium-sized missiles. If it were a real naval battle, the hit rate would naturally decrease, but it would still be enough to sink an enemy's main warship with two or three medium-sized missiles—definitely a profitable transaction.

After all, the cost of any main warship ranged from millions to tens of millions of Aussie dollars, while the cost of a missile was at most 100,000 Aussie dollars—a difference of dozens to hundreds of times.

For Australasia, it wasn't just about swapping two or three missiles for an enemy's main warship. Even if it took ten missiles to destroy an enemy's main warship, it would still be the enemy who incurred the greater loss.

The test results for the large-sized missiles were also quite favorable. Because they targeted stationary ground targets, the hit rate was actually higher than that of the medium-sized missiles, which targeted moving objects.

Seven out of the ten large-sized missiles hit their targets, and the remaining three missiles were also not far from the target area.

If they were equipped with conventional warheads, these three missiles that missed their targets would basically not have been effective.

But if the payload was a nuclear warhead, an error of only two or three hundred meters really didn't matter much in terms of hitting the target.

After all, once the nuclear explosion occurred, the area within several kilometers would absolutely turn into hell, so did it really matter if it was hit directly by the missile?

Of course, the specific differences could perhaps only be truly felt by those who would experience the explosion of missiles and nuclear warheads in the future.

The Islanders were the most likely to understand, and perhaps later their experiences of being struck by nuclear bombs could be documented, provided they were not in the direct center of the explosion and had survived the cruel torment of nuclear radiation.

After watching the entire test, the missile accuracy data was no longer as captivating.

Because compared to the accuracy data, it was the improvements in other areas of cruisemissiles that were the reason they had become the new generation of main missiles.

According to previous data, the last generation's Dove-style missile had a maximum flight distance of 320 kilometers, a maximum altitude of 19.7 kilometers, and a top speed of 480 kilometers per hour.

These numbers were quite exaggerated though the flight distance was short, it was still the longest striking distance for a weapon.

In terms of maximum altitude and speed, it even surpassed Australasia's airplanes, which is why the Dove-style missiles could easily destroy enemy airplanes.

After all, only if a missile flies faster than an airplane can it effectively hit the enemy's airplane. If it were slower, the enemy's airplane could easily react in time.

The new generation of cruise missiles displayed even more exaggerated data.

The land-based version of the cruise missile had a maximum flight distance of 380 kilometers, a maximum altitude of 21.6 kilometers, and a top speed of 525 kilometers per hour.

The ship-borne version of the cruise missile had a maximum flight distance close to Hermann's prediction of 560 kilometers, actually reaching around 575 kilometers.

It could also reach a maximum altitude of 22.5 kilometers, which had already surpassed the current altitude limit achievable by airplanes.

In terms of speed, although a more advanced jet engine was used, the increase in speed wasn't significant due to the overall larger size and weight, barely reaching about 515 kilometers per hour.

However, considering that the ship-borne version didn't need to combat airplanes, and its primary targets were enemy warships and ground facilities, such a speed was completely sufficient.

The current speed of warships is less than one-tenth that of the ship-borne missiles, and ground facilities and targets are completely immobile; this speed is definitely capable of handling all targets.

And in the smallest antiair missiles, because of their smaller size and weight, the missile speed had nearly reached 600 kilometers per hour, which was the true weapon capable of dealing with airplanes from around the world.

Even Australasia's most advanced airplane had a top speed of just over 600 kilometers per hour.

And according to current intelligence, airplanes from worldwide countries were still maintaining speeds of about 300 to 400 kilometers per hour, with the fastest only around 450 kilometers per hour, still a significant distance behind Australasia's most advanced airplanes.

Of course, the biggest gap was actually in the power systems of the airplanes, specifically Australasia's very important jet engines.

Whether it was missiles, rockets, or airplanes, jet engines are currently being used extensively. This latest type of engine not only provides extremely powerful propulsion but is also more stable than the previous types of engines.

Before other countries develop jet engines, Australasia is unbeatable in the aircraft field and can proudly claim that it is significantly ahead of other countries.