On the big screen, radar-guided and infrared-guided missiles were shown approaching the unidentified alien craft, only for their seekers to fail. The missiles either plunged straight into the sea or exploded without inflicting any effective damage on the enemy.
On the reconstructed tactical map, the entire sea area was under extremely severe electromagnetic suppression and interference. Communications channels were blocked, and radar had failed. Several aircraft representing Flying Sharks approached the enemy, and at the moment of contact, the 140 aircraft were damaged, struck by sudden attacks without any warning.
Watching the missiles fail to destroy their targets and seeing attacks come without warning, the Air Force officers all frowned. The Air Force relied on missiles as well, and such unpredictable attacks posed an enormous threat to fighter jets!
The Army officers were no better off. If missiles failed, were they supposed to use anti-aircraft guns?
What followed—the dogfight between two J-15Ss and the alien craft—also seemed to prove that even anti-aircraft guns could not effectively hit the alien craft.
Could they figure out the principle behind the interference?
It was normal to be caught off guard upon first encountering an alien civilization. It was like a master newly entering the martial world: they often stunned everyone at first, only to make a hasty exit once others figured out their moves.
Humanity's spear and shield were constantly developing. No one present was worried about being temporarily countered. As long as they understood the principles involved, they would find a way to fight back. As for how to understand the technology used by the aliens, that would require the scientific and technical personnel.
"On that point, I would like Comrade Song Xizhu to explain." The naval commander looked at the influential figures present and said, "When she made contact with the aliens, she was aboard an 815A reconnaissance vessel testing a certain type of radar. She took part in the entire battle and had close contact with the alien craft."
Everyone present turned to look at the officer the lieutenant general had mentioned. Song Xizhu was not nervous. Holding the documents she had organized, she walked onto the stage, saluted the people on the platform and the influential figures seated below, then inserted a USB drive into the laptop.
While the laptop read the data on the USB drive, the elderly academician leaned close to Academician Zhou and whispered, "So that's where that little girl has been lately. She actually went aboard a warship?"
Academician Zhou replied quietly, "Don't ask questions you shouldn't. It's a classified project!"
As they spoke, the USB drive finished loading. One high-definition image after another was projected onto the screen, along with attached recordings of the pilots' combat communications.
"Greetings, comrades, leaders, and commanders!
"I will now provide an explanation. During this contact with the aliens, the first thing to fail was our radar system. Through subsequent analysis and reconstruction of the radar data, we discovered that the alien civilization's craft itself acted as a source of interference. The intensity of the interference was inversely proportional to the distance from them."
As she spoke, the big screen demonstrated the process of a radar-guided missile attacking the enemy. At first, the missile's seeker could still acquire the target. However, as the distance closed, the interference grew stronger and stronger. The seeker could no longer capture an accurate return signal, ultimately switching to inertial guidance and plunging straight into the sea.
"Both our PL12 and the US Military's AIM-120C failed. The Carl Vinson Carrier Strike Group suffered from the same problem, causing both its missiles and close-in weapon systems to fail."
Radar failure was not good news. In military technology, radar was the most important means of detection, without question. Whether electro-optical detectors or the EODAS system, neither could match radar capable of detecting targets hundreds of kilometers away, depending on the frequency band.
This would drastically reduce the early-warning range. They would encounter the enemy sooner, have less time to react, and face greater danger.
"As for infrared seekers, based on the voice recordings of pilots Comrade Zhang Peng and Comrade Liu Jun, as well as battlefield footage collected at the scene, the aliens possess the ability to shift spectra. Like using decoy flares, they can lure incoming infrared missiles away. Electro-optical target acquisition can also be deceived."
After saying this, Song Xizhu played Zhang Peng and Liu Jun's recordings, then displayed footage of infrared missiles being lured away by "optical decoys" on the big screen, giving everyone present a clear understanding.
Quiet discussion broke out again. The technical departments and the military units in particular found the situation thorny. Many leaders felt that these two moves had directly blunted humanity's spear—only blunted it, of course.
At that moment, someone seated on the platform voiced his question. "Comrade Song Xizhu, can heat sources also be shifted?"
"Yes. At present, our technology uses infrared suppression to reduce infrared signals. However, infrared signals are also a kind of light wave, and electromagnetic waves are likewise light waves."
"The aliens use methods we do not yet understand to shift light waves and create realistic optical decoys. Based on our assessment, the electromagnetic clutter around their craft is a side effect of this."
Song Xizhu played footage of a drone firing coded chopped laser pulses, which ultimately entered Sky Pit like a kaleidoscope.
"Spectral shifting and electromagnetic interference also appeared around Sky Pit. The chopped laser was shifted. Perhaps the Sky Pit we see is not its true appearance. Based on the data gathered so far, their optical technology surpasses ours."
Vision was humanity's primary means of finding enemies. Some of the alien civilization's technology countered human physiological characteristics.
"Is there any way to solve this?" the commander asked again.
"Commander, this is not my field, so I cannot give an authoritative answer. However, I can offer some suggestions regarding radar."
Song Xizhu specialized in radar and could only provide analysis within her professional field. Though she knew a little about other disciplines, displaying that knowledge before the experts below would be like showing off before masters.
"At present, the radar used on our warships and aircraft is all 'optical-region' radar. In areas with severe electromagnetic interference, it has been suppressed. Perhaps we can use longer-wavelength meter-wave radar. Once it enters the 'resonance region,' target detection has nothing to do with RCS and depends only on the target's size."
"Everything above is speculation. Whether changing radar wavelengths will work in areas with severe electromagnetic clutter can only be determined through practical testing."
After quickly finishing the knowledge related to her field, Song Xizhu saluted once more, stepped down from the stage, and returned to her seat.
Another leading expert in a different field took the stage. After hearing the report and learning about the battle, he proposed his solution.
"If the aliens' technology is limited to what we have seen so far, the solution is not difficult. Replace the seekers with combined guidance systems, or use infrared seekers alone, while increasing the missile warhead yield."
"After launch, the missile can be guided through data-link relay. When electromagnetic clutter severely interferes with the radar seeker, the system switches to infrared guidance mode. Judging from the footage of the pilots shooting down alien craft, the infrared decoys they deploy cannot be very far away. As long as the explosion is powerful enough, it can still catch them in the blast."
It was like a sniper grenade launcher. The USA improved shooting accuracy, while Great East expanded the kill radius. Either way, the result was the same.
This section would not be included in the main text: light waves are the visible-light portion of the electromagnetic spectrum, with frequencies ranging from 3.9×10 to 7.5×10 hertz, corresponding to wavelengths of roughly 400 to 760 nanometers. Infrared lies beyond the red end of visible light, with wavelengths of approximately 0.76 to 1000 micrometers. Both are light waves.
Radar is divided into three regions: the Rayleigh region, the resonance region, and the optical region.
Ka = π/λ. When Ka is between 0.5 and 20, it enters the resonance region. When the target's size is roughly the same as the wavelength, regardless of whether it has a stealth design, it becomes an antenna as a conductor and affects electromagnetic waves.
Before you continue