He was actually a bit conflicted; he wanted to produce some impressive elite-level technology, but he worried that even if he lucked out in the lottery draw, the current industrial level of his territory wouldn’t be capable of assimilating it.
Let’s not even talk about elite-level tech— even the advanced-level technologies they drew before, the bomb guns and the controllable reactors, could currently only be produced in small scales using finished Black Boxes, and could not be mass-produced.
While a mother Black Box could indeed spit out a production line, a production line wasn’t a Black Box; you couldn’t simply input basic raw elements and expect a finished product to come out. Both of these items required alloy ceramic steel as an industrial material, a higher-grade alloy that they currently couldn’t produce.
But even if they couldn’t establish a production line, just having a Black Box to create some impressive stuff—that would still be incredibly valuable.
“Anyway, it’s not certain I’ll get one, so why worry? Just go ahead and draw!”
Gu Hang started his first 1000-tier lottery draw.
His luck was average, not particularly good but not too bad either, and he drew an advanced-level technology.
[Wind Falcon Rapid Attack Vessel: Advanced Level]
[This is a type of multipurpose combat flying vehicle that uses partial anti-gravity technology combined with high-energy engines to achieve extraordinarily high performance. Depending on different equipped modules and weapons, it can serve as a high-speed fighter jet, a ground bomber, a support gunboat, or a small troop carrier.]
Seeing this, Gu Hang’s grin almost split his face.
The Wind Falcon Rapid Attack Vessel could be considered one of the main flying vehicles of the Star Realm Army.
Within the Imperial Military, there is no independent air force unit. Similar roles are either on some space carriers, participating in swarm space battles—which is maritime navigation—or assigned to the Star Realm Army as support and a fire supplement to ground troops, which constitutes land navigation.
Gu Hang’s army had always been lacking in aerial power. Even though they had inherited over twenty various aircraft from the Old Alliance Army, these were either propeller-driven fixed-wing aircraft or helicopters. The operational capability of these crafts…
it’s not fair to say it was lacking, but there were too few of them, and they never played an important role in any of Gu Hang’s previous battles.
However, the Wind Falcon Rapid Attack Vessel was different. With this Black Box, it meant that Gu Hang could produce a large number of flying vehicles.
Moreover, its performance far surpassed the aircraft currently available to the Alliance Army.
Take, for example, the domestically produced helicopters— a homemade rocket launcher might easily shoot one down. In the past, not deploying helicopters in combat was because they were of little help and too easily shot down. A downed aircraft meant one less vehicle available for Gu Hang’s rapid operations.
It wasn’t worth it.
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But that wouldn’t be a concern anymore.
Homemade rocket launchers hitting the Wind Falcon? That’d be impossible.
Firstly, because it wouldn’t be able to hit it, as it might fly even faster than jet aircraft, with high-energy engines and anti-gravity technology enabling it to reach astonishing speeds; it could hover in place, directly strafe left, right, or up and down, which surpassed traditional fixed-wing aircraft in terms of maneuverability.
Using a mechanical aim or a non-fire-controlled anti-aircraft gun to hit it would be incredibly difficult; only a barrage of bullets would have any chance.
Secondly, even if it did get hit, it wouldn’t necessarily suffer much damage. The Wind Falcon is called a ‘Rapid Attack Vessel,’ not just a plane. Its armor isn’t thin at all, and while maybe not quite tank-level, it probably isn’t much less sturdy than a Strider Combat Vehicle. A Wind Falcon enhanced with anti-gravity technology could carry thick armor and still fly.
Against your rocket propelled grenades, anti-aircraft cannons, and even anti-air missiles, the thick armor might not bring it down.
Similarly, its excellent carrying capacity means the Wind Falcon can be equipped with many weapons.
Air-to-air missiles, air-to-ground missiles, laser cannons, railguns—when equipped with these, it’s like a combat vehicle in the sky, with even more ferocious firepower. Pilots would be additionally equipped with a servo skull to assist in fire control.
When needed, after shedding some of the heavier munitions, it could transport an Interstellar Warrior Strike Team, or even an entire infantry platoon, for airborne operations. After deploying the paratroopers, it could continue to fly and circle above the paratroopers to provide support.
This is a flying weapon with top-level performance.
Of course, there’s still one problem: currently, it can only be made with a Black Box, and they can’t set up a production line.
If they could set up a production line, they would lack ceramic steel for the outer armor; they would lack the anti-gravity engines and high-energy engines as the Grindstone Engine would be insufficient; the military factories in Weixing City can now produce some missiles on a small scale thanks to Wu Jiarong tackling some of the technical challenges herself, but the output isn’t high; they can’t produce laser cannons or railguns; the servo skulls used as a fire control system currently can only be manually crafted by Wu Jiarong, with a production rate that leaves much to be desired…
Lacking these components means the military factory can’t manufacture them, they can only rely on the finished Black Box to slowly churn them out, estimating to create one vessel per week.
The problem Gu Hang was worried about, producing high-level technology, nevertheless happened.
Yet, it could still bring benefits.
One vessel a week, that was still worth it. Just a few Wind Falcon Rapid Attack Vessels could almost have a decisive impact on a localized war.
…
After drawing out the [Wind Falcon Rapid Attack Vessel], Gu Hang noticed that the probability of drawing advanced-level technology became 20%, basic-level was at 50%, and elite-level remained at 30%.