Chapter 846 Zahran Space Base

Andre and his entourage boarded a special plane and headed straight to the eastern Saudi city of Dhahran.

In the last war between Saudi Arabia and Iraq, Iraq won a decisive victory, overthrew the Saudi royal regime, and realized democracy and freedom in Saudi Arabia. Now, although there is still a pseudo-regime supported by the United States in the west of Saudi Arabia, it is already struggling to survive, because almost all of Saudi Arabia's oil resources are concentrated in the east. Without oil wealth, the Saudi royal family, despite its past accumulation, has been on the decline.

The emerging democratic regime has gained a firm foothold with the support of strong military force. At the same time, as a former Allied power, the Soviet Union has always stationed troops in eastern Saudi Arabia. These troops are mainly stationed to protect the safety of the oil fields.

It can be said that through the last oil war, Saudi Arabia has been controlled by the Soviet Union. As for small countries such as the UAE and Bahrain, they now have to look at the face of the Soviet Union. After all, the facts are clearly before them. The United States will soon be finished, but the Soviet Union is thriving.

In addition to exploiting oil in Saudi Arabia, the Soviet space industry also took a fancy to Saudi Arabia's geographical location and built a new space base near Dhahran.

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Yes, it is a space base! Launching a rocket in Saudi Arabia is much more advantageous than launching a rocket in Baikonur!

All rockets are launched from west to east, just to take advantage of the earth's rotation! Since the earth is rotating, rocket launches can use the linear velocity of the rotation. For example, at the equator, the speed is 465 meters per second, and to launch a satellite, the speed required is 7,900 meters per second. It can be calculated that this speed is equivalent to one seventeenth, which is also quite considerable.

However, in high latitudes, the linear speed of the Earth's rotation is much smaller. Near 30 degrees north latitude, it is only half the speed of the equator, and at the poles, the speed is zero.

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(It is also for this reason that after my country has three major launch bases, it still built a fourth launch base in HN, just to make more use of the speed of the earth's rotation.)

The Soviet Union is a country at a high latitude. Its space center, Baikonur, is also located at about 50 degrees north latitude. It is inherently at a disadvantage in launching spacecraft. It can be said that compared with the United States, to launch the same spacecraft, the Soviet Union needs to carry at least one-tenth more fuel!

Therefore, after heading south to the Indian Ocean, the Soviet space industry began to reselect a launch site that would save more fuel and have a higher carrying capacity.

Originally, the areas near the ports of Abbas and Chabahar in Iran were good choices. These places were under the control of the Soviet army and were very safe.

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However, there is also a disadvantage here. After launch, the rocket will enter the airspace over Pakistan and India!

Now, Pakistan is still the object that the United States is trying hard to win over. Although China and Pakistan have a good relationship, there is no intersection with the Soviet Union. For the security of the edge of the region, Andre will pull China Chengfei to carry out the Super 7 project to find a breakthrough with Pakistan.

After the rocket takes off, boosters and other devices will continue to fall off. If it flies eastward and ends up entering the sky over Pakistan to throw these things away, it will obviously cause a lot of inconvenience. So, after careful consideration, they finally chose Saudi Arabia in the west. In this way, they can take off from Saudi Arabia, cross the Persian Gulf, and fly over Iran. All along the way, they are under the control of the Soviet Union or its allies, so if something falls from the sky, it won't be a big deal at all!

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Therefore, a space base was built in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. Of course, the scale of this base is still very small at present. For example, it can only launch some simple aircraft, such as ballistic missiles!

Each flight of a rocket requires months of preparation and repeated testing to ensure that it is foolproof. However, compared with rockets, ballistic missiles with almost the same structure have sufficient reliability. It can be said that a ballistic missile in a combat readiness state can be launched at any time after half an hour of preparation, while more advanced solid-fuel missiles can take off almost immediately after the launch data is entered.

When the special plane carrying Andre and others arrived at the Dhahran Space Base, an R-7 intercontinental ballistic missile was already standing on the launch pad.

This 34-meter-high intercontinental ballistic missile has a launch weight of 280 tons. Its huge size makes it unsuitable as an intercontinental ballistic missile. Designed by Soviet rocket expert Korolev, this ballistic missile, code-named SS-6 "Baton" by NATO, is the world's first intercontinental ballistic missile, but it is actually of no use.

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This R-7 missile uses non-storable cryogenic propellant and must be refueled before launch. Due to its huge size, it can only be launched from the ground using a launch pad, resulting in extremely low reaction speed and survivability of the missile.

Therefore, this initial intercontinental missile was only deployed symbolically, and the main role of the R-7 became a propaganda weapon and a space launch vehicle. For example, a large family of rockets was derived from the R-7, including the Sputnik, Vostok, Soyuz and Lightning. The carrier rocket modified from the R7 sent the first artificial satellite into space.

The design of the R7's booster is a distinct Soviet feature, with four cones close to the missile body. At the same time, this missile is also the prototype of the nuclear bomb in Red Alert.

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With the continuous advancement of Soviet ballistic missile technology, this missile has gradually been withdrawn from service. However, how to deal with this missile is a difficult problem. In theory, using it to launch spacecraft is the most effective way to utilize waste. However, the reliability of this missile is not high. If it is shot away or explodes in the air, it would be tragic. After all, the spacecraft to be launched is more expensive.

Now, this ballistic missile has a new use: to test the target of laser weapons in outer space! At the same time, it is just right to test the capabilities of the Soviet Union's ballistic missile defense system!

Anyway, the appearance of this ballistic missile is similar to that of the Soviet launch vehicle. Even if it is discovered by Western satellite reconnaissance, nothing can be said!

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Standing in the desert near Dhahran, looking at the ballistic missile on the high launch pad, Andrei was still immersed in the unique Soviet aesthetics of violence.

"Andrei, the experiment is about to begin. Do you want to go to the launch center or stay here?" Ustinov asked Andrei.

Although the launch scene here is spectacular, if you want to see the entire interception process and the effectiveness of the space laser weapon, you still need to go to the lobby of the launch center. So Andre could only agree while getting on the base vehicle next to him: "Let's go to the launch center."