Chapter 103
Chapter 103
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 103
Chapter Title: An Unexpected Order
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The Chongryon refers to the association of pro-North Korean residents in Japan.
At one point, the world viewed them as North Korea's vanguard, and frankly, their public stance was enough to warrant such an assessment.
“It's nothing new that Chongryon funds have served as the Kim family's slush fund. Why is this suddenly a big deal?”
“The problem is the scale and origin of the funds. The amount transferred is said to be a staggering one trillion won, and the Chongryon has never sent that much money to the North before.”
“One trillion won?”
A sudden, ominous premonition flashed through my mind.
I glanced at Senior Managing Director Im, just in case, and he gave a slow nod.
“Yes, according to the Mossad director's message, funds from various businesses run by Japanese far-right groups were laundered countless times overseas before being transferred.”
“Why on earth would they give money to the North?”
“That's what I don't understand either.”
Senior Managing Director Im scratched his head again.
Whatever the reason, this was another historical turning point.
I was intensely curious to see where this ship, now set on a new course, was headed.
‘It seems my very existence has become too great a variable in history.’
**********
[A pleasure to meet you. I am Minister of Defense, Meir Hogan.]
The Israeli Minister of Defense's first impression was completely different from what I had expected.
He was barely 170 centimeters tall, with kind, friendly eyes.
In short, he looked just like the kind of middle-aged man you could find anywhere in the Middle East.
The only peculiar thing was his constant smile, and I couldn't think of a better example for the saying, "You can't judge a book by its cover."
Honestly, how could such a gentle face belong to the supreme commander of the Israeli military, a force for whom war is a way of life?
[I heard the news. The Yankees have apparently laid claim to this year's entire production run.]
But contrary to my expectations, his tone was quite aggressive.
For them to use such blunt language against the United States, their closest ally, was completely unexpected.
It seemed I wasn't the only one surprised; most of the people on our side had bewildered expressions, and upon seeing them, Meir let out a belated cough.
[Ahem, my apologies. I've had quite a few grievances with the U.S. lately… Anyway, given the situation, when will you be able to take new orders?]
[We should have some capacity in about six months. As you can see, we're in the middle of expanding our production lines.]
Minister Meir, whose eyes had been filled with dissatisfaction, finally softened his expression slightly.
He then stared at the Polar Bears on the production line with an almost loving gaze, smacking his lips as if in regret.
[As I understand it, Israel requires operational testing before any adoption is possible. In that case, is there really a need to be so concerned about the timing?]
Puzzled by his impatience, I asked gently.
After all, Israel wasn't a country like Saudi Arabia, where weapons could be procured solely by a royal decree.
After the budget passes through parliament, their own tests and operational verification period would take at least a year.
In fact, even one year would be close to a miracle; considering that the procurement process for most countries can take several years, his haste was completely baffling.
[I say this because the operational testing period is not expected to be very long.]
Just then, Meir said something unexpected.
Feeling there was a hidden meaning in his words, I looked at him, and he spoke again, his gaze returning to the Polar Bears being assembled.
[Frankly, the environmental conditions in Afghanistan and our country aren't that different, so what's the need for further testing? Besides, if a demanding country like the United States can decide on an order of over 100,000 units so quickly, its reliability is as good as guaranteed.]
[…….]
[We were especially interested in the Polar Bear's performance during the rescue operation in Afghanistan. As a result, it's now the parliament that's demanding its adoption.]
[Even so…….]
[Yes, even so, we can't skip the procedures entirely, so we'll go through a six-month operational testing period, if only as a formality. But the adoption is already a done deal, which means we'll need the units in a year.]
If that was the case, I had every reason to dance for joy.
Strictly speaking, there's a big difference between considering adoption and confirming it.
The only sticking point was that Israel is a technological powerhouse known for studying imported weapons and creating something even better, but on second thought, that seemed like a needless worry.
‘That’s only possible when the technological levels are somewhat similar.’
For now, no country could possibly replicate the composite material technology at the heart of the Polar Bear.
If they were to try anything, it would be the suspension or the engine's electronic control system.
But that was something any country could develop, not just Israel, so it wasn't really a problem.
[What is the total number of units you are considering for adoption?]
I pushed aside my thoughts and asked casually.
I needed to know the requested quantity to predict an accurate delivery date.
Still mesmerized by the production line, he snapped back to attention, looked at me, and held up five fingers.
[If it's around five hundred units, we can certainly deliver by the July you mentioned.]
I said with a smile, intending to guide him to the office.
But his body didn't budge.
I looked at him, wondering what was wrong, and saw him let out a dry laugh.
[Who said five hundred?]
[…….]
[The quantity we require is five thousand units.]
[Five thousand?]
I stared at Meir with a blank expression.
Frankly, it would be stranger not to be surprised when such a small country was ordering a whopping five thousand units.
As if expecting this reaction, he grinned and said.
[I understand that look. For our military, with only 160,000 active-duty soldiers, it's certainly not a small number.]
[…….]
[But we are currently planning the largest military restructuring since the founding of our nation. As part of that, we intend to maximize the army's mobility.]
[…….]
For my part, it was a source of pride.
His words meant they were making the Polar Bear the centerpiece of the Israeli military's restructuring.
Something I created becoming the core of a nation's military power?
For a weapons manufacturer, there could be no greater source of pride.
[Oh, there's one more thing I should tell you. Our military recently proposed to the parliament that we build our short-range air defense system with HVP.]
Then Meir dropped another unexpected topic.
After they initially expressed interest in buying it, they had gone quiet, making me think the deal was off. What was this now?
As I watched him silently, he smiled and continued.
[As you know, we considered adopting the HVP a long time ago. I believe it was around the time of the Yeonpyeong Island incident. Do you remember?]
[Of course. I remember sending you a catalog because of it.]
[I apologize for that. We were the ones who expressed interest, yet we failed to follow up. It was our fault. It may sound like an excuse, but at the time, Rafael was in the exploratory development phase for a short-range air defense system, and that became an issue.]
[…….]
[Since our country is in a constant state of turmoil, the parliament favored domestic development due to concerns about stable support and parts procurement. But it seems the parliament has now faced reality and is advocating for a change of direction.]
[…….]
[When you think about it, South Korea, under the threat of North Korea's thousands of long-range artillery pieces, is in a worse situation than we are. Yet you are perfectly deterring the North, and that's what changed our parliament's mind. Moreover, the system we were developing is not nearly as cost-effective as the HVP. In that situation, there's only one choice, isn't there?]
I didn't know about the rest, but I understood his last point.
If it was the short-range air defense system led by Rafael, it must have been the Iron Dome.
No matter how much they lowered the production cost, it was still a missile worth tens of millions of won. Using that to defend against cheap Qassam rockets that cost less than a million won per round was horribly inefficient.
[Anyway, because of that, our own short-range air defense system, which had been under research, has been scrapped.]
Rockets were the least of their worries.
What truly plagued them, eight or nine times out of ten, were mortar shells.
Therefore, defending against those with missiles worth tens of millions of won showed absolutely abysmal cost-effectiveness.
In that case, building a less expensive HVP system would be the best choice.
By the way, if things turned out this way, would the Iron Dome now disappear from history?
I didn't care about much else, but I had always coveted that name.
[By any chance, what's the nickname for the HVP system made by Jaewoo?]
Just then, Meir asked an out-of-the-blue question.
Come to think of it, our HVP didn't have any name other than its official designation, KC-RAM.
Just as I was about to show an awkward expression, he spoke again abruptly.
[If it doesn't have a nickname yet, it might be a good idea to give it the name of the one we were developing. What do you think? Are you interested?]
[…….]
********
[This morning, President Bush declared an end to the war from aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln, docked in San Diego.]
May 1st, 2003.
Bush had finally declared an end to the Iraq War.
Although they had failed to capture Saddam Hussein, his core force, the Republican Guard, had been annihilated.
In the end, his regime collapsed, and Iraq was now busy with moves to form a new government.
[Our government will… combat troops and an engineering unit to help stabilize Iraq tomorrow.]
After a long and arduous debate, our National Assembly finally decided to dispatch combat troops.
The decisive factor in the assembly's decision was the belief that since the war was over, there would be no significant casualties.
However, knowing that the real challenge of this war would be the tedious standoff with insurgent forces, I couldn't rest easy.
[Good evening, everyone. This morning, the government announced its defense reform plan. The main point is to reduce the number of active-duty soldiers from 680,000 to 500,000 by 2020, while minimizing the side effects of the force reduction through military modernization…….]
A few days later, the government initiated a massive military restructuring.
Historically, it was true that the current president had advocated for and implemented defense reforms, but I wasn't sure if the timing was right.
I stared blankly at the TV, recalling the drinking session at the Blue House.
‘He suddenly asked what our military needed most right now. This must have been the reason.’
[In accordance with the government's reform plan, the Air Force will proceed with the previously postponed early warning aircraft acquisition project. The method of acquisition is leaning toward domestic development rather than foreign procurement, and if confirmed, the development period is expected to be a total of four years.]
The next news was that, as the first step of the military restructuring, they would domestically develop an early warning aircraft.
The total development period was four years.
With an annual budget of 600 billion won.
From the looks of it, they would probably proceed with reviewing the acquisition of a ground tactical control aircraft after that, but even so, the discussion was happening at least a decade earlier than it should have.
Well, considering our military's circumstances, that was normal.
“The official purchase order from Israel for three HVP batteries has arrived.”
While I was lost in thought, Secretary Kim informed me that a formal purchase order for the HVP—no, the Iron Dome—had arrived from Israel.
It was a funny thing.
That the HVP we developed had come to be called the Iron Dome.
At times like this, there was a certain satisfying amusement that came with changing history.
‘Anyway, an order worth 1.5 billion dollars… Jaewoo Thales is going to be incredibly busy for a while.’
“Oh, and the five Polar Bears we sent a month ago are undergoing operational testing smoothly. They express their gratitude for perfectly meeting all their requirements.”
Just thinking about that part still gave me a headache.
I couldn't believe how many requirements they had.
Fortunately, most of them were minor external mounting options, but I still couldn't understand why they wanted a motorcycle rack installed on the vehicle.
“That's a relief. We're short on time, so let's get going.”
I immediately signed the documents and grabbed my suit.
Perhaps because of my excited expression, Secretary Kim followed me with a flushed face, unlike her usual self.
“The fuselage assembly for the prototype is finally beginning.”