The Grandmother in the Siheyuan

Chapter 581 The Unsinkable Aircraft Carrier

"No wonder there's been so much noise about AI these past six months," the chief engineer of the missile boat said with a smile. "I feel that intelligent technology will be a great aid to combat, but it seems I still don't have the foresight of Academician Liu."

“AI is like a brain. In routine operations, AI’s reaction speed is much faster than that of humans.” Liu Hua said with a smile, “I remember there is a saying among soldiers: ‘Fire first.’ Whether we can hit them or not is one thing, but it’s good to scare them.”

Liu Hua gestured: "If we can equip it with AI in the future, this time when we go out, it won't just be missile boats. There will be radar search, electromagnetic suppression, and central command. At that time, we won't need any human to command. AI will handle everything, and casualties will be greatly reduced."

"If we follow your method, we won't need soldiers on the battlefield anymore." The leader said in astonishment, "There are drones in the sky, unmanned boats on the water, and robots on land, so why do we need to recruit soldiers?"

"We definitely need to recruit soldiers. Not only should we recruit soldiers, but we should recruit elite soldiers. In the future, soldiers should at least have a college degree, and preferably be science majors."

"That's true. People get sick sometimes, and machines break down too." The leader nodded and said, "When war breaks out, we'll see whose industrial capacity is stronger."

"It's definitely us," Liu Hua said confidently. "No developing country in the world can develop the industrial capacity we have. As for developed countries, they are all deindustrializing. In ten years, our country's industrial capacity will account for at least 30% to 40% of the world's total. At that time, who can compete with us?"

"I believe what you, Academician Liu, say," the leader said happily. "After all, you are a pillar of our country's industry."

"You flatter me." Liu Hua waved his hand. "Actually, I've been thinking about something lately. We already have 3D printers, and we can print metal parts too. When can we print them all at once, with an entire factory as one printer? Then, as long as we fill in the raw materials, we can print an entire airplane or a whole ship."

The surroundings were so quiet that even the sound of breathing seemed to have disappeared. Liu Hua's words were like a fairy tale, leaving everyone stunned.

The leader, being the leader, was the first to recover: "Academician Liu, what you're saying is a bit too much. Even if a hen lays chicks, it takes days to incubate them. You're exaggerating by saying that a roasted chicken was born directly from inside the hen's belly."

“That’s the charm of technology,” Liu Hua said with a smile. “Have you seen The Fifth Element? It’s a science fiction movie from America. When the female lead in your movie was eating roast chicken, she just sprinkled some elements into the microwave, pressed a button, and in less than a minute, a plate of roast chicken came out.”

"You said it yourself, that's a science fiction movie, not real."

"But that's the principle. So these are all made up of elements. As long as they have constituent elements, living carbon-based organisms can't synthesize them, but dead ones can. It's just that we haven't mastered the synthesis method yet."

The leader waved his hand: "You scientists' work is too complicated for me to understand, but since you say it makes sense, then it must make sense. I look forward to the day you succeed. On that day, maybe building warships will be much simpler for us."

“I’m also working towards that goal.” Liu Hua smiled. “It’s like how people in the Ming Dynasty viewed our current industrial production – it was all a pipe dream, and extremely difficult.”

"I don't understand, and I don't care. I'm just a roughneck by nature," the leader said cheerfully. "I was born to fight on the front lines. As for scientific research, you national heroes are enough. All I can do is live up to your research expectations." Unmanned missile boats are simply too appealing. Although they are equipped with a series of advanced technologies and cost around 100 million, their attack speed is too fast, they are highly maneuverable, and they are very safe because they are unmanned. Therefore, the evaluation team did not hesitate to apply to the higher authorities to increase the scale and build a hundred boats to test the waters.

Liu Hua did not leave the South China Sea Fleet immediately, but instead visited the fleet at the invitation of his superiors.

"Academician Liu, the strength of our South China Sea Fleet is really too weak. We are always struggling to cope with the threat from the south, which comes from the United States. Do you think there is anything we can do to strengthen it?"

Liu Hua stood on the bridge of the flagship of the South China Sea Fleet with his leader, looking at the vast sea: "I'm familiar with this process. Every year at the end of the year, the army, navy, air force, and armed police will bring out their oldest equipment to wish the people of the whole country a Happy New Year. It's called wishing them a Happy New Year, but it's really just a way of complaining about being poor. However, it's no use complaining about being poor to me. I don't get to decide how the equipment is distributed. Even the equipment produced by our Dijun Company is allocated by higher-ups."

"We'll fight for the allocation ourselves. Your job is to build ships that are better than the Type 052E."

Liu Hua said with a smile, "I did have such plans, but the leaders rejected them. I suggested building a few 17,000-ton destroyers, but the leaders said it was too outrageous and not necessary for the time being."

The leaders of the South China Sea Fleet said angrily, "These people are really meddling! How can we not need them? Our South China Sea Fleet urgently needs several 17,000-ton destroyers."

“The leaders above have their own overall considerations, and the decisions are all made for the current strategic purposes. I cannot comment.” Liu Hua shook his head: “Jiangnan Shipyard is building a ship, a hinged dredger.”

"What good is a dredger? It can't fight."

Liu Hua smiled and said, "This dredger can break up the seabed and then absorb the dredged material through pipes. It can then be sprayed onto the sea surface under high pressure. For example, some places in the South China Sea that originally only had a few islands and reefs can be expanded into a large island."

The leaders of the South China Sea Fleet immediately recognized what this meant; they knew all too well what it meant: there were countless undeveloped islands and reefs in the South China Sea.

Even if only one-tenth of these islands can be developed into large islands, it would greatly help us control the South China Sea.

Once the island is completed, an airport will be built on it. With the airport, the vast surrounding sea area will become a series of unsinkable aircraft carriers.

"Has this ship been completed yet? When can it come to the South China Sea to help with land reclamation and island building?"

Liu Hua waved his hand: "Although I was the one who suggested this ship, I haven't been paying attention to it for a while, and it's not a simple matter to make it happen; it requires the right timing."

(End of this chapter)