Chapter 98
Chapter 98
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 98
Chapter Title: Fossa and Cheongeom
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Whatever the reason, it was undoubtedly good news.
A refurbishment project for a hundred units would require Korea Aerospace Industries to operate its workforce and facilities at full capacity.
It would depend on the specifics, but if it included engine overhauls, it would not only wipe out our past deficits in one fell swoop but also generate record-breaking revenue.
“By the way, I wonder if taking this on will cause any problems for our own fighter jet production.”
CEO Yoon expressed his concern on that point.
Indeed, the fighter jet we're developing is about to enter the fuselage construction phase for the prototype.
But there was no need to worry.
Even if the prototype successfully received certification, full-scale production would still be years away.
Besides, the F-16s scheduled for refurbishment wouldn't all be processed at once, so there would be no issues with space or manpower.
Anyway, what could this 'other problem' be?
Could they be planning to accelerate the mass production of the F-22?
“Hmm…”
That was a strong possibility.
Historically, full-scale production and deployment should have begun in 2005, but the timeline of this history was now a jumbled mess.
It wouldn't be strange if something else had gotten caught in the gears of history in the meantime.
“I’ll give them a call soon.”
Putting those thoughts aside, I headed back to the VIP waiting area.
They must have arrived while I was away; the new president, the Minister of National Defense, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the Army Chief of Staff were all already there.
“Thank you for coming all this way.”
“Oh! Chairman Jin.”
The president beamed upon seeing me and extended his hand.
After staring for a long while at the attack helicopter preparing for its test flight, he suddenly turned to me and asked.
“Has its official designation been decided yet?”
“Not yet…”
That was something that required discussion with the military, so I had put it off.
Besides, my naming sense was so terrible that I had more or less given up on it.
But then, as if something had just occurred to him, the president's eyes lit up as he continued.
“In that case, what about ‘Fossa’?”
“Fossa?”
The Fossa is a type of mongoose.
Uniquely, its appearance resembles a puma, and in Madagascar, where large carnivores are scarce, it is effectively at the top of the food chain.
“Hmm…”
It sounded plausible, so I mulled it over.
The robust exterior of the attack helicopter did seem to resemble it.
And its reputation for ferocity also fit the image of an attack helicopter.
When I nodded readily, he gave a satisfied smile.
Whirrrrr!
Just as I was lost in thought, the coaxial rotors of the test aircraft—no, the Fossa—finally began to spin.
Perhaps thanks to the blade redesign that had minimized its noise level, the aircraft ascended into the air much more smoothly and quietly than before.
“Just imagining a squadron of those flying in formation makes my heart pound.”
“For us, yes. But for the enemy, it will be a nightmare. In fact, I doubt they’ll even have time to spot it.”
“…”
“The range of the anti-tank missiles mounted on it is a full 20 kilometers.”
“Twenty kilometers? For just an anti-tank missile?”
The president reacted with surprise.
He seemed to have some knowledge on the subject.
And sure enough, the words that followed from his lips were mostly at an expert level.
“I was under the impression that the range of air-launched anti-tank missiles is typically around 8 kilometers. This is quite unexpected. Ah! It looks like they’re about to begin the performance test for the anti-tank missile.”
Fwoosh!
As soon as he finished speaking, the Fossa banked and fired a missile.
Swish.
The gazes of the VIPs simultaneously turned to a screen set up on one side of the event area.
A few moments later, a missile dropped from above onto an old model tank moving across the screen.
Boom!
Upon impact, the tank's turret shot into the air.
The wreckage of the tank, which collapsed while scattering shrapnel in all directions, was a gruesome sight.
But the damage didn't stop there; the blast swept through the surroundings, engulfing a nearby truck as well.
“For a missile of its size, the explosive power seems quite large, don’t you think?”
The president, watching the screen, subtly voiced his question.
Well, it did possess at least 50 percent more penetration and explosive power than a Hellfire missile.
As I explained about the special penetrator inside and the improved explosive recently developed by our research institute, he gave a satisfied smile and asked another question.
“What’s the exact distance to that target?”
“Seventeen kilometers. That’s more than double the maximum range of a Hellfire.”
“Hmm… I was going to ask this earlier, but I’m not sure if an anti-tank missile really needs such a long range.”
“It’s for safer operations. No matter how powerful an attack helicopter is, it can’t be completely free from the threat of anti-aircraft missiles. So, the goal is to detect the enemy from as far away as possible and eliminate the target with maximum precision.”
“True, from the helicopter’s perspective, MANPADS aren't the only threat. Considering the detection range of the North’s short-range anti-aircraft missile systems, that might be better.”
As expected, the president's knowledge of military affairs was on a different level from his predecessor.
He grasped the core issues without me needing to add any extra explanation.
That must be why, before my regression, he had constantly advocated for possessing nuclear-powered submarines.
Well, as the head of a defense company, that part was actually quite welcome.
“For your information, we plan to conduct another upgrade soon.”
“You mean there’s still room for improvement?”
The president tilted his head and asked.
He seemed worried that its deployment might be delayed.
Sensing a misunderstanding, I quickly continued my explanation.
“It’s not an upgrade that would affect its deployment schedule. We plan to increase its evasion capabilities against anti-aircraft missiles with the DIRCM, or Directional Infrared Counter Measures, currently being developed by our research institute. Additionally, we will coat the exterior with the metamaterial perfected during our own fighter jet development to provide minimal stealth capabilities.”
“…”
He stared at me with a dazed expression.
Just as I was wondering what he was thinking, he let out a dry laugh and spoke.
“The former president told me that getting close to Chairman Jin would lead to quite a few surprises. I suppose this is what he meant.”
I responded with an awkward smile and turned my gaze back to the Fossa in mid-flight.
Just as another anti-tank missile was fired for the second firepower test, the president casually spoke to me again.
“Does that missile also lack a name?”
“…”
Come to think of it, that missile didn't have an official designation either.
For the sake of convenience during development, we had only given it a name composed of symbols and numbers.
As I was pondering a suitable name, the name 'Cheongeom' suddenly came to mind.
It was the name of the anti-tank missile our country once developed to replace the Hellfire.
“I was originally thinking of naming it Cheongeom, but that’s too old-fashioned…”
“Oh! That sounds great.”
Before I could even finish my sentence, his face lit up.
“…”
No, what I meant was that the name is too old-fashioned, so we should come up with something better.
What am I supposed to do if you're so satisfied with it?
“Why the long face? I think it’s a perfectly fine name.”
“Yes… well…”
I agreed with a blank expression.
Who was there to blame?
It was my fault for bringing up the name in the first place.
“By the way, I heard it also has air-to-air combat capabilities. Is that true?”
“That’s correct. It comes standard with an HMD and an improved version of the Archer short-range air-to-air missile, giving it the best air-to-air combat capability among existing attack helicopters.”
That was thanks to inheriting some of the design philosophy of the Ka-50.
The Black Shark's air-to-air capability allowed it to shoot down an enemy at any angle using sight-based guidance immediately upon firing.
Realistically, how often would a one-on-one dogfight between attack helicopters happen? But if it did, there was no reason to discard an advantage that could even crush an Apache.
‘Besides, South Korea has a lot of mountainous terrain, so our combat doctrine can differ from the US military's. We can't completely rule out the possibility of air combat between attack helicopters.’
The only blind spot was that North Korea had no attack helicopters capable of matching it. But in truth, this was developed with the potential collapse of the Northern regime in mind—an event that could happen at any time.
It must be noted that it was also developed to account for a potential conflict with China during the process of reclaiming our territory that would follow.
“When is full-scale production scheduled to begin?”
As I was deep in thought, the president’s question came again.
I snapped back to reality and saw him smiling with anticipation.
“It will start around June of this year.”
“That’s welcome news. I heard the total procurement quantity is 120 units. Is that enough?”
“I believe that’s a sufficient number for dealing with the North, but…”
I didn't trail off intentionally.
It was just a bit awkward to bring up neighboring countries at this time.
But in that moment, the president's eyes gleamed, and he let out a hearty laugh.
“You mean the more, the merrier. Well, let’s look into that matter gradually.”
He left me with those meaningful words and continued to watch the performance test.
His eyes shone each time, completely engrossed.
For a moment, an unfounded belief swelled within me that there would be a significant military buildup over the next few years.
******
“Chairman, CEO Ryan sent over a report a little while ago.”
When I returned after the event, Secretary Kim updated me on the status of Jaewoo Investments, which we had established in the US.
The document was nearly a hundred pages long.
The most eye-catching part was about Qualcomm; the news was that we had reached a final acquisition agreement two days ago.
“Qualcomm…”
The acquisition of Qualcomm was significant in many ways.
First, it was an acquisition made entirely with my personal funds, not the fund's money. Also, it would give us influence in the future communications market and had high applicability in the military sector.
The important thing was to guide Qualcomm's future steps to align as closely as possible with history, and just thinking about that gave me a headache.
“Is there any news on ARM yet?”
“They said negotiations with ARM are still ongoing.”
“Tell them to hurry as much as possible. There’s nothing to be gained by dragging that one out.”
The rest of the document detailed the returns on our investments in Apple, Amazon, and others.
The return on investment to date was a staggering 120 percent.
Even after deducting operating and other costs, the profits distributed to each investor were so massive that they might demand to cash out.
“Contact the Saudi sovereign wealth fund and the UAE Investment Authority. Ask them whether they want to be satisfied with short-term gains or defer cashing out.”
Just in case, I had Secretary Kim confirm the two investors' opinions.
Human greed being what it is, people are bound to waver when they see immediate profits.
But the result was different from what I had expected.
-We will follow Chairman Jin's decision completely.
[You won't regret it?]
-Well, with Chairman Jin's skill, I doubt there will be anything to regret. Oh, and Crown Prince Hassad said he wants to use this opportunity to increase his investment. So I'm currently coordinating with our investment authority on that.
Both investment groups left the decision on cashing out entirely to my judgment.
No, they didn't just leave it to me; they even decided to increase their investments.
Thanks to them, the fund's total investment size increased by a full 100 percent, and I also poured all of the nearly 2 trillion won in royalties I had received from Samjung into the fund.
[Jaewoo Investments has created a second future fund. The fund is worth 30 billion dollars, and a portion is reportedly scheduled to be invested in discovering specialized tech companies within the country.]
Afterward, the news was once again dominated by stories about Jaewoo Investments.
Perhaps spurred by the investment in tech-focused small and medium-sized enterprises, the government also pledged follow-up support, followed by an announcement that they would establish a dedicated management department in the future.
“Chairman, you have a call from Director Michael of the US Department of Defense.”
Just as I was swamped with backlogged work, I heard from Michael.
I had been meaning to thank him for his proactive cooperation anyway.
Pleased, I picked up the receiver to hear an excited voice on the other end.
-Mister Jin, I've just arrived at Seongnam Air Base. If you have time, could we meet now?
[...]