Back in 1978, I was admitted to Northwestern Polytechnical University.

Chapter 395 Baba Research Center in Ruins

The lead aircraft is still flown by the hunter, and the fledgling eagle Maha continues to serve as his weapons operator. Now, his mood is slowly recovering.

Outside, it was pitch black. Flying at night greatly increases the danger. Even the formation itself could collide due to operational errors.

However, they don't need to worry at all, because the advanced airborne equipment has a special formation collision avoidance system, and recently it can even fly within a distance of 3 meters in front, behind, left, and right and a height difference of 1 meter. It can be said that even going to an air show is no problem.

Such a dense formation means that even if a warship happens to pass by on the sea, radar can perfectly simulate the outline of a passenger plane in their arrow-shaped formation. Since most of their routes are on civil aviation routes, there is no problem.

The formation roared, and various data were transmitted to the entire formation through data links. This modern operation gave Maha the illusion many times that even the most advanced squid air force probably didn't have this capability.
With a constant roar, the fighter jet continued to advance, forward, and forward again, amidst his drifting thoughts.

No one spoke; radio silence was maintained throughout. Only the information transmitted via the data link was displayed on the screen.

Twenty kilometers away from the aerial refueling tanker!

A bright spot appeared faintly in the airspace ahead. As we got closer, we could see the outline of the aircraft and the aerial refueling probes extending from both sides of its wings.

To support their eight fighter jets, four aerial refueling tankers were deployed!
In this way, they don't need to wait; they can each find an aerial refueling tanker and dock with it!

The aerial refueling cone ahead was swaying, and Maha was a little worried. However, he breathed a sigh of relief only after his own fighter jet successfully docked with it. Beautiful! His instructor's flying skills were impeccable!

During this time, Maha has been practicing flying continuously, but... the success rate of aerial refueling during the day can reach 80%, but at night, it is less than 30%.

Therefore, he had no choice but to give up the idea of ​​piloting the plane and continue to work as a weapons operator in the back seat.

However, there's no need to be discouraged. Just thinking about how he personally dropped the retaliatory bomb and resolved the Indian threat of mushroom bombs fills him with pride.

Before we knew it, the main fuel tank, the auxiliary fuel tank... were all full! The twin-engine Q-6 was back to its former vitality, detached from the tanker aircraft, and resumed its previous formation, flying towards the west coast of India.

The four aerial refueling tankers also began to cooperate, with two of them becoming receivers, receiving fuel from the other two. This allowed them to continue waiting in the refueling area until the formation returned to base for further refueling.

The two planes that had discharged fuel turned back and returned; they were among the fastest to complete their mission.

The attack formation continued flying, getting closer and closer to the target. The lead pilot, a hunter, broke the radio silence for the first time, issuing orders in fluent English.

"Attention! Check that all navigation lights are turned off! Then activate the electronic jamming system!"

Many small things can lead to failure.

For example, if the navigation lights are still on, it will undoubtedly expose our presence completely. At that time, even a single anti-aircraft gun could pose a serious threat to the formation!

Everyone perked up. The long and tedious flight had made it easy to slack off, but now, they were finally about to pull off the biggest heist ever!

Actually, the navigation lights had already been turned off. This was just a re-check, not only for our own navigation but also to help the rest of the formation check. Then, the electronic jamming equipment was turned on...

These small airborne jamming pods are unlikely to perform full-band electronic jamming; they are only effective against a few specific frequency bands, such as the frequency bands of Indian ground-based air defense radars and Indian radio communications.

Being able to suppress these frequency bands is already quite good. As for the jammers from the East, their advanced feature is that they can monitor various frequency bands. Once a new band is detected, the equipment can be adjusted to suppress this unexpected band.

One hundred kilometers to the target!
A SAM-6 air defense missile site in the suburbs of Mumbai.

On the screen, bright lines spun in circles. The radar operator yawned and rubbed his eyes. This long, dark night was truly unbearable!

How much longer until it's time for the shift to change?

He glanced at the clock, then helplessly dozed off again.

Wait, something's wrong!

He looked at the radar screen, which was full of static. What was going on?

"The radar is broken!"

His companion glanced at it helplessly and said, "Is it due to electromagnetic interference? Try switching to a backup frequency band?"

"Ok."

He stood up, went outside, and switched to the backup frequency band, which required replacing circuit components. Just as he was casually replacing the circuit, a rumbling sound came from the distant sky.

"It's thundering, it's going to rain. Let's go back first and come back when the rain stops."

These second-line air defense units have a very low level of vigilance; after all, apart from a few Indo-Pakistani wars, their area has been relatively peaceful. Now… if you told them they were about to be bombed, they would definitely think it's a joke.

The air defense troops defending Mumbai and nearby nuclear bases missed their chance to strike.

It was already one o'clock in the morning, and even night owls should be sound asleep.

However, many windows in the Baba Research Center are still lit up.

Inside the meeting room, countless people were complaining.

Damn it! They can say a few words so easily, but getting our products out here is a real hassle!

Raja Ramana rubbed his sleepy eyes and looked at the people in the conference room: "So, do you have a solution?"

"No, our computers are terrible. With our current computers, it would take at least six months to miniaturize the mushroom bomb! And Dr. Sarabai is promising to build it within three months! Unless..."

"Unless what?"

"Unless they use Loongson chips!"

"No, of course not! We absolutely cannot use Loongson computers; it could lead to a leak of technology!" a voice rang out from outside.

Everyone turned around and saw that, well, the main character has arrived!
After Homi Bhabha passed away, Sarabaj succeeded him, and his contribution was building a nuclear reactor, thereby gaining the ability to produce weapons-grade plutonium.

Currently, Dr. Raja Ramana is in charge of the mushroom bomb project at the Baba Research Center. He oversaw the detonation of the first mushroom bomb, but... at that time, the primary focus was on its detonation capability, and nothing else was considered.

It can be said that the first-generation nuclear bombs developed by various countries were all quite large. The "Little Boy" bomb dropped on Hiroshima weighed four tons, and the "Fat Man" bomb dropped on Nagasaki weighed four and a half tons. India's first nuclear device also weighed more than three tons.

Such weight can only be carried by bombers. Unless the enemy has no air defense capability, flying bombers directly over there would be suicidal!
The best carrier for a mushroom bomb is a ballistic missile! However, the warhead of a ballistic missile is very small. A missile like the Scud has a payload of only one ton. Even if there are medium-range missiles in the future, their payloads will not be particularly large.

Therefore, for India, the most important thing is to reduce the weight of the warhead, which means working on miniaturizing the mushroom bomb!

Now, they have a big headache.

Researching nuclear weapons requires supercomputers, but they can't produce them themselves, and the US won't sell them. The East does sell ordinary civilian Loongson computers, which have advanced performance, but India can't buy them for various reasons!

Now, without advanced computers, how can we manufacture them?
Dr. Rajagopala-Chidambalam, as the chief R&D engineer, has been having a major headache lately. In his opinion, the best solution is to purchase Loongson chips from the East. However, Sarabaj still opposes this.

Sarabai's face was serious: "The first mushroom bomb of the East was calculated by a hand-cranked calculator! We have Intel computers, and we can calculate it just as well. We don't need to buy products from the East! Gentlemen, what the East can do, we can do too, and we will do it even better!" Dr. Chidambaram looked up at the sky, wanting to say, "It's easy for you to shout slogans, but why don't you do it!"

"I've been running around to the government lately, hoping they can approve our miniaturized plutonium bomb development plan. At the same time, we will also be working on a hydrogen bomb development project. Now, we need to get all of these things done. You are among the best mushroom bomb experts in India. Whether India can stand tall depends on you!"

Everyone knew that was the case, but...

Dr. Raja Ramana took a deep breath: "Alright, in that case, let's..."

Just then, a rumbling sound came from afar. He looked outside and saw thunder. Was it going to rain? But why couldn't he see any lightning in the dark night sky?

and many more!

For some reason, his eyelids started twitching involuntarily. This was abnormal; this was very abnormal!
Could it be...

In the sky.

"Attention, bombs are being dropped!"

The hunter broke the radio silence again, issuing a second command via the frequency band reserved by the electronic jammer!

Bang, bang!
The sound of the rack unlocking rang out, and bombs fell one by one, wobbling as they flew toward their targets!
The missile's wings made contact with the air, producing a whistling sound; to those on the ground, it was the arrival of death!
Baba Research Center.

Everyone was stunned when they heard the howling sound.

what happened?

A bomb is coming?
How is this possible? What are the Indian Air Force doing? Where are their air defense forces? How could they let the enemy get so close to their doorstep?
At this point, the advantages and disadvantages of coastal cities and inland cities become apparent.

If it were inland, bombing would require penetrating deep into enemy airspace, greatly increasing the risk. At the very least, without dedicated early warning aircraft and electronic jamming aircraft, it would be quite frightening.

However, if it is just a coastal city, then a single sneak attack can cause heavy losses to the enemy, just like now!
After the bombs wobbled and fell, the radar operators at the nearby SAM-6 missile sites suddenly realized they had misjudged the situation. It wasn't a problem with their radar; there was electromagnetic interference! An enemy attack!
But their replacement work is not yet finished, and they can only watch helplessly as the bombs fall!

Baba Research Center.

"Quickly, get into the underground fortifications!"

Countless people panicked, rushing up the stairs, and a few even ran to press the elevator buttons... These brilliant researchers had long since lost their minds; after all, they had never experienced a life-or-death situation before.

Now, they only have one person on their minds: Dr. Baba.

While India was rapidly developing its nuclear weapons program, Dr. Baba's plane suddenly crashed! This remains a mystery to this day, but most people believe it was the Americans who did it.

Now, they're not even pretending anymore; they're going to take action right away!
Sarabaj ran the fastest and was the first to get on the elevator when it arrived. Then, a whole bunch of people rushed in.

The elevator was already full, making a loud, overloaded noise, and people behind wanted to keep coming in. No one who was already inside wanted to get out, until Sarabai inside shouted, "No, don't take the elevator! It's dangerous!"

Only then did they realize what was happening and hurriedly ran outside, but the stairwell was already packed with people!
Boom!
Amidst the chaos, a terrifying crash resounded overhead!
They looked up at the ceiling.

The MK83 bomb is nominally a 1000-pound bomb, or 454 kilograms, but in reality, due to differences in the added fuse, stabilizing fins, etc., the weight varies. The current model is about 1030 pounds, or 468 kilograms, which is roughly half a ton, similar to the weight of the previous Eastern bomb.

The half-ton bomb smashed through the precast concrete slab on the roof, and cement rained down, causing many people to scream in pain.

The main staircase here is a spiral staircase, descending floor by floor. Now, this bomb has fallen and hit the center of this spiral staircase!
The person hit by the cement was screaming in agony, while those who weren't hit stared wide-eyed as the bomb fell from the middle of the stairwell next to them!

Run downhill? You'll just get blown up!

Running back? That's like taking a dirt plane!

Just as they were struggling with their indecision, the bomb had already dropped.

boom!
The bomb exploded, and scorching flames rose rapidly upwards. The surging shockwave instantly blew the entire staircase away!
At this, everyone on the stairs screamed in terror.

Some fly upwards, some fall downwards!

Raja Ramana ran straight for the stairs, so he was the fastest and had almost reached the second floor when the bomb exploded. In an instant, he was reduced to ashes without even a cry for help.

Dr. Chidambaram, who was behind him, was at the top of the stairs on the third floor when he heard the bomb explode. He immediately ran up to the third floor and closed the fire door.

The next moment, with the sound of an explosion, the shockwave blew the fire door away, and he watched the flames surge towards him, his eyes filled with despair!

Before Sarabai could even reach the stairwell, when the bomb exploded, he immediately ran inside. In the face of crisis, he unleashed his full potential, and in a flash, he rushed into the bathroom!

The bathroom has the smallest floor area, so it should theoretically have the strongest protective capabilities. Moreover, the bathroom has water, so it can be quickly extinguished if a fire breaks out.

Don't be fooled by the fact that ordinary Indians are unhygienic and often urinate and defecate anywhere. The Indian elite are almost all Westernized, and their buildings have toilets, which are flush toilets with water tanks!

Hearing the screams outside, Sarabai was filled with anxiety. This damned bombing, I wonder how many of India's nuclear weapons experts have died.

Their project will suffer a major blow; even the blueprints for previous nuclear devices stored here will be burned. They will…

No, no, absolutely impossible. Wildfires cannot burn them out; they will spring back to life with the spring breeze. As long as one of the Indian nuclear experts remains, they can continue to develop advanced nuclear technology! And if only one person can survive, it will definitely be myself!
Boom!
Just then, a terrible crashing sound came from the ceiling above his head. The next moment, the concrete bulged and shattered, and a bomb appeared in his field of vision.

Boom, boom, boom!
The explosions are still going on!
We must not be lenient with the Baba Atomic Center! The bombing of this main building used a full four MK83 low-drag bombs!

The bombs landed and exploded at their designated locations. After all four bombs detonated, nothing was left of the main building!

The attackers prepared two twin-engine Q-6 bombers. One was to bomb the main building, while the second bomber, carrying four bombs, was to be dropped on other living areas, such as dormitories. In short, this bombing was intended to completely cripple India's ability to develop nuclear weapons!
The remaining six twin-engine Q-6 bombers were targeting other nuclear facilities. Among them, Apsara and Sirus were research reactors, requiring only four bombs. The Drua reactor, which was under construction, was intended to produce weapons-grade plutonium, so it needed to be allocated more bombs...

This would require four twin-engine Q-6 bombers to carry the bombs, while the remaining two bombers would be allocated to other targets, such as heavy water storage sites or storage sites for already produced plutonium-239...

At that moment, as the Baba Center burst into flames, the entire Trumbee was instantly thrown into an uproar. In the control rooms of the other reactors, the operators stared at the scene of the bombing with fear on their faces.

There was a time when they were very proud, after all, they, the Indians, could now be on par with the other five countries! As staff members, they were proud of their work.

Especially recently, they officially announced their nuclear deterrence to the public, which is a symbol of a great power!
Now, who would have thought... There's a saying that goes, "Don't show off, or you'll get struck by lightning!"
"Run!"

"Where's the reactor?"

"What did you say? I can't hear you!"

"Damn it." The engineer shoved the emergency shutdown handle and then ran!

　PS: Arrow-shaped formation.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)