Chapter 887 – Enemy Intercontinental Missile

The scene from the observation window caused everyone to fall into silence, although their hearts were not unprepared for this, but the Blue Light Missile that had been given high hopes had turned into a large fireball, it was still unavoidably disappointing.

The person who lost the most was De Havilland, he was the staunchest supporter of the Blue Light Missile, and fought for the opportunity to develop it, a body of work went down the drain, it was hard for people to feel this kind of emotion.

“Pamela, I’m sorry.” It took a long time before de Havilland apologized to his partner in the midst of a raging firestorm.

“It’s okay, failure is the mother of success, keep developing until you succeed.” Pamela Mountbatten put the sense of loss behind her and said to her partner, “Whether it’s us or the government, we all know in our hearts that there is no such thing as smooth sailing in research, and it will definitely require a large amount of capital investment before we can see any results.”

To say that the loss, Pamela Mountbatten heart is certainly there, this project his husband is extremely important.

Can let that man open his mouth to say important things are not many, in her memory, almost nothing can let her husband too much attention, no matter how fierce her business map expansion, got how much money, did not change a surprised expression.

Only this matter was mentioned three times, this time the blue light missile test failure, let Pamela Mountbatten some guilt, her husband only accounted for such a thing, but she did not do well.

Married for many years, Pamela Mountbatten has always been supported by her husband, guiding the direction has never been wrong. She in turn could not help at all, her husband will be disappointed.

Although the heart thinks so, Pamela Mountbatten knows that this is not the time to be frustrated, at this time the research team and come to the military personnel need is to encourage, immediately clapping his hands and said, “Failure is the mother of success, the failure of this time is nothing, and we are not no gain, at least in the engine without problems.”

Alan Wilson, if he were here, would have marveled at the fact that his wife was well versed in the words part failure, part success.

At the moment, though, it was just what Pamela Mountbatten, a staunch supporter of the Blue Light Missile, needed to sweep the atmosphere of frustration away.

“We must keep testing until we succeed.” Pamela Mountbatten expressed her determination to firmly support the Blue Light Missile program, “No matter how much it costs, it will be worth it.”

Pamela Mountbatten, the main financier, said this, sweeping away the frustration of the failed test launch, and outside the observatory, the fuel with fire was still burning, but it didn’t hurt everyone’s determination to push the project forward.

Still in Aden Bibi chatter Alan Wilson, know the blue light project test-fire failure, immediately returned a telegram to comfort his wife, “what weapons development will not be smooth sailing, the so-called development is not so, you think I am writing the world’s unsolved mysteries, make up on the line? Hear my dear wife, immediately after the expression of the determination to continue the development, I am very pleased with this social instrument, I really do not know whether the last life is to save the world, to find such a good life partner.”

Alan Wilson, of course, also hoped that the blue light project would be successful on the first try, but it was not worth making a fuss if it failed. Who made Britain’s accumulation in this area really not very good. Not as good as the US or the USSR, and even the German post-war talent grab didn’t yield much.

In order to prevent the flow of German rocketry talent to the US, he even hinted that the USSR US had taken action.

The initial intention is also because Germany’s rocket talent, the UK even if they get their hands on it can not keep it, rather than end up cheaper than the U.S., it is better to give it directly to the Soviet Union, if he were to change to the present time he certainly would not do so, but at that time, he also had no choice.

The Blue Light Missile is an important cornerstone of the UK’s strategic strike system, so of course there is a need to push it forward.

Loss is not unheard of, at least for now, and Alan Wilson is keeping the OPEC organization, which has been on his mind, to himself. Only when Britain is on the right track in every way and will not be blackmailed will there be a need for OPEC to be established.

“Heartbreaking, even the best ideas can’t be supported without national power.” Alan Wilson, who sent the telegram, could not help but sigh, all he could do now was to stabilize the situation and then wait for his competitors to make mistakes.

But the good news was that the hardest times were over, and Britain now had the financial resources to do at least what it wanted to do. It is so much better than the circumstances of 1945, when the family was in a desperate situation.

The best proof of this is that in the meetings of the past few days, the colonial commissioners have been passing the buck to each other on the question of the share of the financial preparations, which is a good thing; if there was really no money, they would have long ago laid flat and pretended to be dead, so that he, the Under-Secretary-General, could go to check the accounts.

Really have no money, and have the money is not willing to pay the difference is still quite big, the outward appearance is also very different.

Eventually Alan Wilson implied that if that were the case, he would really report to Whitehall to send someone to check the accounts. The topic was then skipped right over, allowing the £200 million of financial support to fall into place.

“It’s not really easy to get them to cough up the money without your support.” John was full of feelings and rushed at Alan Wilson, “I thought they really didn’t have the money.”

“Do you see that the Gold Coast looks like it doesn’t have any money, it’s a place that produces gold. In addition to Xiangjiang, it is estimated that among the African colonies, the Gold Coast is the place with strong financial strength.” Alan Wilson skimmed his lips, “It’s possible that the Gold Coast alone can take out 200 million pounds.”

“Apart from the Fragrant River?” John frowned, “As I recall, that seems like a place that couldn’t be any smaller.”

“Bigger than Aden.” Alan Wilson asked rhetorically with a raised eyebrow, “Guess who was the country that was China’s number one trading partner for a long time? Not anymore of course, the Soviet Union and China have surpassed us in trade. And you’re guessing what currency China’s trade agreements with Japan are settled in? There’s no mistake, China’s biggest trading partner before was Britain, and the currency of settlement was the British pound.”

Even now, Britain is still the largest trading nation with China among the free world, and each year is bigger than the year before.

Unfortunately, Alan Wilson could not put his hand on Xiangjiang, he would like to send over a commissioner to get a share of the pie in the framework of the Overseas Assets Management Board, but Xiangjiang happens to be a place where there is a governor present. And being valued by London, there was nothing he could do about it.

“The United States may have something against us.” John said sincerely, “Since I came to Aden to take up my post, I’ve noticed that the atmosphere here is also completely different in Sudan, and after having more contact with the Americans, I’m able to sense that somehow the US isn’t much of an ally to the UK.”

“The US is a big supporter of Israel, we support the Arab states.” Alan Wilson shrugged, “And with countries like Iraq, Kuwait, Oman, Bahrain, Qatar, Jordan, wouldn’t the US want to replace us? We can’t always deter by stationing troops, we have to get paid to buy them off as well, or sooner or later something will go wrong.”

“So your job is about as tough as mine, and our colleagues in Africa don’t feel our difficulties.”

The Persian Gulf and the Straits of Malacca are now the most important places where Britain still has control. The Americans may have little interest in Africa, but there has always been an interest in both places. And Britain is well aware of this interest in its heart, or it would not have established the Middle East Combined Operations Command in Aden and the Far East Combined Operations Command in Singapore.

“As long as the Suez Canal is not a problem, no one can drive us away, I do not believe that the Americans can still go to war against us, the Soviet Union must be very happy to see our two countries turn against each other, there is France on the African side of the top, for the time being, we do not have to worry about something going wrong, and at present, the main operation of the Far East and the Middle East, but also the Cabinet and the Whitehall’s intention.”

In the end, after the two men complained to each other, they reached a consensus on one issue, the Suez Canal absolutely cannot go wrong. As long as nothing goes wrong in Egypt, Britain still has something to play for in this game.

“I almost always sleep in the direction of the Suez Cloud Canal.” John shook his head and laughed bitterly, “I just don’t know how long the Aswan Dam will buy us.”

“It depends on how secure Farouk I’s position is, and no matter what happens, we need to show our support for the monarch known as Ali Pasha on Earth.” Alan Wilson said this with a slight lurch, “Troops should be sent to support it if necessary.”

The failed test firing of the Blue Light missile was just an episode for Allen Wilson and did not delay his meeting in Aden.

But just a few days later, the news published in Pravda created a furor in the free world. The Soviet Union had successfully test-fired the R-16 ballistic missile, an intercontinental missile with a range of more than 10,000 kilometers, on Polish territory, and eventually succeeded in concentrating on a target range in Kazakhstan.

The P-16, a two-stage ICBM, was the world’s first ICBM to be fitted with a high-boiling-point storable-propellant engine, and the first Soviet ICBM to employ an autonomous control system. The designer system enabled the strategic missile to achieve user-acceptable firing accuracy without radio correction.

The missile’s huge tracking station was no longer needed, enemy radio interference could no longer disable sensitive instruments, and the autonomous system reliably controlled the missile’s flight on target.

The successful test firing was timed to coincide with the day after Britain’s test firing of the Blue Light missile in Australia.

“Soviet rocket technology is that much more powerful?” Alan Wilson muttered to himself when no one else was around; this was a real ICBM, appearing more than a year before its original history.

Did his original implication that the Soviet Union had intercepted German rocketry talent have anything to do with the early appearance of ICBMs?

There was no doubt that the appearance of this ICBM must have made people in the free world feel bad. War is no longer confined to frontline confrontations, and threats do not discriminate between the front and the rear; if it comes to blows, no one is safe.