Technology invades the modern world

Chapter 427 The Divine Man McNamara

Lin Ran walked straight to the center of the conference room, waved his arms, and said:

"Winning is the only way for us to get out of our current predicament."

We need a general offensive against North Vietnam. This is not a conventional tactical offensive; we need a decisive battle targeting their military infrastructure, command centers, and supply lines.

For Soviet Russia, it was either abandon North Vietnam or come to the front lines of the Vietnam War and fight us head-on!

We need to use this campaign to enable our troops to quickly capture key strongholds, severely damage the North Vietnamese army, and force them back to the negotiating table.

Then let the media portray this victory as a turning point in the war, a triumph of justice. We need to shift public attention from the scandals in Washington to the heroic deeds on the front lines.

While conducting military operations, Hodelman and the White House aimed for complete information control over the news media; this was a war of words.

Lin Ran pointed his finger at White House Chief of Staff Harry Hodelman.

This man, who had been a core advisor to Nixon since the 50s, followed Nixon out of office after the Watergate scandal and was even sentenced to 18 months in prison for helping Nixon cover up the Watergate scandal.

"The White House needs to strictly limit the scope of war correspondents' reporting, allowing them to only report selected positive news."

At the same time, we only cooperate with pro-government media to ensure that news of our victory is disseminated to the greatest extent possible.

Soldiers who displayed bravery in this battle were selected, hailed as national heroes, and widely reported on in major television stations and newspapers.

These heroes will appear at press conferences to recount their heroic deeds, thereby inspiring patriotism among the public.

Taking advantage of this victory, the focus was shifted to portray the Hoover affair as a despicable conspiracy orchestrated by Soviet Russia to prevent an American victory.

Hodelman nodded in agreement.

Lin Ran then turned to Nixon and said, "Mr. President, we need to hold a press conference to announce that we will continue to investigate the Hoover affair and will not let a single bad person or a single good person go unpunished."

They used a lot of misleading information to kill public interest in the Hoover affair.

On one hand, there was a constant stream of good news about the war and a continuous emergence of combat heroes. We fabricated all sorts of stories about V, making him a superhero of this era.

On one hand, there's a dead man linked to the Soviet Union. The White House can simply deny it outright, claiming all the evidence is one-sided and that they are continuing their investigation.

Sooner or later, the public will get tired of Hoover's news, and good news from the Vietnam War will replace Hoover.

This is a total war, from the front lines to public opinion.

Lin Ran delivered a passionate speech, while other senior White House officials nodded frequently.

Nixon was perplexed: Am I president or is he president?

How come he's now a professor assigning jobs?

After thinking for a moment, he said, "The professor is right, we will follow his advice."

However, I need to add two more points.

First, we need to launch an investigation into V and deploy more personnel to investigate V's true identity.

The media can freely fabricate stories and depict V's life, but equally, our FBI and other investigative agencies must simultaneously investigate V.

On the surface, V's information is false, but we must find out who V really is.

Nixon pointed to the film reels in the corner:
"If this movie really is from V, then it gives us the best entry point to grasp V's true identity."

A film, from shooting to editing, from staff to actors, involves far more than just a few people; there are at least hundreds or thousands of people, and they all have in-depth contact with V.

If this film originated from Soviet Russia or some other organization, we must also find it.

We must not allow them to manipulate the course of public opinion or create agendas.

We need to take the initiative back into the hands of the White House.

Second, McNamara, you have to go to the front lines. You can't stay in Washington and command. What I need is victory, not damn numbers.

I don't need to take statistics classes, and I don't need you to tell me that we won based on the data, that we only lost one soldier, while our opponents lost ten.

Do you think I don't know that 10 is bigger than 1?

I don't need you to tell me anymore. If I ever become interested in statistics or numbers, I know I'll have a professor teach me! Not you using the lives of our soldiers as examples to teach me.

Finally, I need an undeniable victory!

We will turn the situation around!

Nixon and Lin Ran's statements are almost identical.

After hearing this, Lin Ran wondered, "Will the Soviet Union personally intervene this time? Will they send troops to the front lines of the Vietnam War to have a head-on confrontation with America?"

If so, wouldn't China, which is doing business in both wars at the same time, make a fortune?
Kissinger thought to himself, “Everyone here is white, but we have to teach them how to do this. Jews have to do this much in the White House to be considered influential.”

If Washington had more Jewish professors like Professor [name omitted], their restoration would have been more stable.

After the White House formulated its strategy, its massive war machine was set in motion.

Lin Ran returned to Huntsville, his base, where every appointment required his approval; he was hailed by the media as the "King of NASA."

NASA employees felt that such a title only underestimated Lin Ran's power within NASA.

McNamara also came to Huntsville.

He wanted to witness here the key to turning the tide of the war.

GPS.

Lin Ran was involved in the entire process, from Transit to GPS.

GPS is also the foundation of the artificial God on the moon.

It will undertake the mission of building a 60-time-space global network.

This is also NASA's most important task at present.

In NASA's conference room, besides McNamara, sat an Army general in a crisp military uniform, Robert Sterling.

His jaw was clenched; he had just returned from the front lines of the Vietnam War and was about to go back to the front lines to fight again.

Just when I thought the peace agreement was about to be finalized, a mysterious force suddenly appeared and overturned the table.

If a peace agreement cannot be signed, an even more brutal war is about to begin.

McNamara spoke first: "Professor, I'd like to know when the GPS system can start to be used?"
We now have 15 GPS satellites in orbit, which is very close to the previously projected 34 that will be fully operational, although we are still far from our goal of 10,000 satellites monitoring the entire globe.

After Lin Ran proposed the Star Wars program, NASA's budget has been burning through even more money than during the Apollo program.

Although reusable rockets have been successfully developed, GPS nuclear-powered satellites are super-heavy rockets.

Lin Ran glanced at McNamara and thought to himself, "You really have connections. The Vietnam War was a complete mess, yet you were still able to go to the front lines to command and continue to stay in the position of Secretary of Defense."

In the original timeline, McNamara was supposed to retire honorably, leaving his position as Secretary of Defense to become the president of the World Bank.

But in this timeline, McNamara chose to stay because of Lin Ran's advice. As for why the White House changed from the Democratic Party to the Republican Party, McNamara was still able to stay because he was a Republican himself and had a close relationship with Nixon.

The real question should be why the Democratic Party's White House would appoint a Democratic Party professional manager as Secretary of Defense.

On the long table in the center of the room lay a huge military map of the Vietnam War, marked with complex battle lines and supply points in red and blue thumbtacks.

Robert Sterling pointed with a baton to a green area on the map, a dense, impenetrable jungle.

“That’s the problem we’ve been having,” Sterling said. “At night or during the rainy season, a platoon of soldiers could get lost inside for hours.”

They were unable to confirm their location with fire support units or find an evacuation point.

This is not just a matter of efficiency; it's a matter of life and death.

We need GPS to be put to use as soon as possible.

Lin Ran said calmly, "Minister Mike, General Sterling, since we successfully launched our first experimental satellite in 1967, we have 15 satellites in orbit, covering most of Earth's orbit."

They are all equipped with high-performance rubidium atomic clocks, which can emit extremely accurate time signals.

Using a passive receiver, ground personnel can calculate their three-dimensional position and precise time based on the time difference, with an accuracy down to the meter level, after receiving signals from at least four satellites.

Lin Ran placed a silver metal box on the table. It was slightly larger than a briefcase and covered with complex wiring and antenna interfaces.

"This is a prototype receiver that we designed specifically for the Army. It weighs about 5 kilograms and is entirely powered by transistors."

It identifies each satellite by demodulating the pseudo-random code transmitted by the satellites and uses Doppler frequency shift to correct for motion errors.

This is a product delivered by NASA to the American Army.

A mobile terminal that transmits and receives GPS signals.

McNamara didn't touch the box; he crossed his arms and pondered for a moment.

“5 kilograms,” he repeated, with an unusual sensitivity to numbers: “That exceeds the weight limit for a soldier like me.”

Professor, you just said that most orbits have at least four satellites. This means that on the battlefield, we can't guarantee it will always be functional, right?
We are still some distance from being able to use it in all scenarios.

Lin Ran explained, "Yes, but this problem is expected to be resolved next year."

We will solve this problem by adjusting satellite orbits and launching more satellites.

By the middle of next year, we will have completed the launch of all 34 GPS satellites.

I also need to explain that what we provide is not just a piece of equipment in the hands of soldiers.

This is a system.

Lin Ran turned to the map and circled several key areas with his pen.

"Imagine that when a reconnaissance platoon needs to call for air support, they no longer need to estimate their location using a map; they can simply transmit the coordinates on their receiver directly to the air force behind them."

Bombers can use these coordinates directly at night or over clouds to perform blind drops, with an accuracy far exceeding our optical targeting systems.

This can effectively destroy enemy supply lines and secret outposts without risking pilots circling at low altitudes.

We can also use it at artillery positions.

An artillery company can quickly and accurately determine its own position and the position of its targets in any unknown terrain.

This will greatly reduce deployment time and improve the effectiveness of artillery fire.

Furthermore, in search and rescue missions, if the crashed pilots were carrying our receivers, we could pinpoint their location in the shortest possible time, which would save countless lives.

After Lin Ran finished speaking, McNamara's eyes lit up.

“Let me design a mathematical model,” McNamara said, picking up a pen and drawing a simple coordinate graph in his notebook. “Suppose a platoon of soldiers is in the jungle, and their location is an area of ​​uncertainty. We can represent this with a Gaussian distribution, where the mean is their estimated location and the variance is the probability that they will get lost.”

Every instance of fire support carries a risk factor, which depends on the uncertainty of their location.

The closer our soldiers are to the target, the higher the risk factor, and the more likely our artillery fire is to accidentally hit friendly forces.

He turned the notebook toward Lin Ran and General Sterling.

Sterling was internally cursing: "Hasn't your model ruined us in the past four years?"

If frontline ground troops don't curse you, McNamara, they're practically superhuman.

"Now, what can the professor's system do? It can reduce the variance of this Gaussian distribution from hundreds of meters to ten meters."

It can turn that area of ​​uncertainty into a precise point. "McNamara's voice became excited as he pointed to the formula in his notebook. "This is not just a tactical advantage; it's a mathematical victory."

It will cause our friendly fire rate, ammunition consumption rate, and mission failure rate to decrease exponentially.

He looked at General Sterling, his gaze firm and powerful: "Sterling, the concerns we had about the lives of our soldiers stemmed from the uncertainty of the data."

The professor's system provides us with precise data. With precise data, we can make precise decisions, thereby minimizing casualties.

He looked at Lin Ran again, his eyes filled with admiration, thinking to himself, "Professor, your system is not just navigation; it's a risk control model."

It will turn all the uncertainties of the Vietnam War into constants that we can control.

He stood up, walked to the map, and pointed to a spot on it with the tip of his pen.

"I don't need to know where a platoon of soldiers is, I just need to know their exact coordinates."

I don't need to know where the enemy is hiding; I only need to know their possible coordinates.

Then, I can eliminate them with minimal risk.

Sterling closed his eyes, thinking that if it weren't for McNamara's wealthy background, he really wanted to shoot him, just like Dobrynin did to Hoover.

However, after suppressing your emotions, regaining your composure, and letting reason take over your mind.

Sterling realized the advantages of this device on the battlefield.

Beyond McNamara's model, this is not just a piece of equipment, but a tactical revolution.

If this system matures, it will completely change their disadvantage in the Vietnam War.

He no longer focused on the 5 kilograms of weight, but saw the enormous military advantage it could bring.

“I understand,” Sterling said, a new light shining in his eyes. “Professor, you’re not just talking about navigation, you’re talking about intelligence, fire control, and battlefield survival.”

This is a system capable of changing the rules of war.

McNamara looked at his staff behind him, his tone leaving no room for doubt: "Draft a report immediately, making this project the highest priority."

I want the Pentagon and Congress to know that we are not investing in space, but in victory.

It will win the war for us!

(End of this chapter)