NIP #716 - Chapter 716: Within a month, Ali was beaten up! The Uranus project is extremely expensive!
#716 - Chapter 716: Within a month, Ali was beaten up! The Uranus project is extremely expensive!
Facing the double-team attack from Jingdong and PDD…
Alibaba going public?
It's hard to say if they can even survive!
Liu Qiangdong finally understood why Chen Hao only wanted 15 billion—the premium wasn't high, and it wasn't outrageous.
Just because…
He was eager to dispose of his Alibaba shares.
Furthermore, it meant that Chen Hao had planned to establish PDD from the very beginning, completely abandoning Alibaba!
"Chairman Chen, you wouldn't have known from the start what Ma Yun and I were looking for, would you?" Liu Qiangdong felt it was a bit far-fetched.
Foresight?
Wouldn't that make him a god?
But the feeling he got was indeed like that.
"One was very anxious, and the other was hesitant, and they both happened to be at the Hongyi Club. What a coincidence?" Chen Hao said with a smile.
He couldn't be absolutely certain, but he could roughly guess.
"Amazing!" Liu Qiangdong gave a thumbs up.
Too terrifying!
At this moment, he made up his mind never to learn from that fellow Ma Yun.
Ma Yun fancied himself good at calculations, first not wanting Chen Hao to hold too many shares, looking for opportunities to introduce other people for financing, and now even wanting to repurchase that portion of shares from Chen Hao.
And the result?
Compared to Chen Hao, that little calculation of his was simply not on the same level.
Alibaba's future…
What future was there?
Completely blocked!
Liu Qiangdong didn't want Jingdong to become the next Alibaba.
In this lifetime.
He would follow Chairman Chen!
"However…"
Liu Qiangdong's mind stirred: "Even with the plan you've given us, and our operational experience, it will still take a long time for PDD to develop to the point of competing with Alibaba… By then, Alibaba will already be listed."
How long did it take for Jingdong and Alibaba to develop?
Years!
"You were different back then from now," Chen Hao said with a smile.
"Different?"
That's right!
How could now be the same as before?
The key is that currently, there are only two companies in China that can produce smartphones.
One is Genesis.
The other is Huawei.
Huawei and Genesis are strategic partners.
Once smartphones strongly promote PDD, coupled with cost-insensitive discounts and burning money, with the current speed of internet dissemination…
Even a month is too much!
What does the internet rely on today?
It relies on company quality.
It relies on capital.
It relies on internet resources.
Chen Hao has all of these!
"I'm leaving."
Chen Hao waved his hand: "The software will be given to you tomorrow, I still have something to do."
After receiving calls from Liu Qiangdong and Ma Yun, he took the time to come over and handle it.
Scientific research is the priority!
Since he had eavesdropped on the conversation and roughly guessed that North America's aerospace sector had successfully developed some kind of new equipment, he couldn't just sit idly by, could he?
It was certain.
North America's new equipment was definitely not a conventional fighter jet.
Perhaps, the original intention of developing this equipment was to deal with armed satellites.
Then…
If he didn't have similar equipment, what would happen to China's satellites?
They might suffer a devastating blow!
…
North America.
Area 51 Research Center.
Albert walked into a huge space, and what caught his eye was a peculiar aircraft.
It looked like a fighter jet.
But it was much larger than any known fighter jet.
The devices on both wings of the aircraft were similar to Chinese electronic warfare pods, but there were many detailed differences.
"Mr. President!"
The person in charge quickly greeted him: "Project Uranus is complete—this is the prototype!"
Project Uranus.
Full name: Outer Space System Combat Platform.
Ever since the first satellite was attacked, even if they didn't know who did it at the time, North America had already started this project—if our satellite is taken down, whether it's done by aliens or not, we need to have the ability to fight back, right?
Uranus was prepared for this!
"How is the performance?" Albert asked busyly.
"The maximum speed in outer space, the theoretical value exceeds Mach 15!"
"What about the weapons?"
"Mr. President, here!"
The person in charge walked to the aircraft and pointed to the equipment below the wings: "The project faced many difficulties, one of which was resupply. Known conventional ammunition is not feasible, after all, the ammunition load is limited."
The aircraft's power came from a miniature nuclear reactor, which could fly in space for a long time.
The problem came!
What they wanted to build was a combat platform that could operate in outer space for a long time. They couldn't possibly carry a few missiles, fire them, and then return to the ground for resupply, could they?
There must be a type of ammunition with a high carrying capacity that doesn't require frequent resupply.
"Laser weapon!"
The person in charge pointed to the device and introduced: "In fact, laser weapons are affected by a series of factors in ground combat."
Such as buildings.
Such as terrain.
If it's aerial combat, there's also cloud cover.
But!
These don't exist in space!
Space has no cover, and laser weapons have a place to use.
Crucially.
The aircraft's small nuclear reactor can not only provide long-term flight power, but also provide energy for laser weapons. In theory… it can continuously emit laser beams, with a carrying capacity far exceeding machine guns and missiles.
"Outputting 3000 degrees Celsius, most known materials can be burned!"
The person in charge excitedly introduced.
Nearly endless ammunition!
Ultra-high temperature burning!
And, the speed of the laser is very fast, making it almost impossible to dodge.
On the ground, lasers are subject to various limitations, but in outer space, they have almost no flaws!
"This… can it be used now?" Albert asked.
"This…"
The person in charge frowned: "Theoretically, it can, but practically, it can't."
The current prototype hasn't even been test-flown.
"Test flight as soon as possible! Mass production!"
"Mr. President, it… is too expensive to mass-produce on a large scale."
"How expensive?"
"Under non-large-scale batch production, the cost per unit is 12 billion!"
"How much?!"
Albert was almost scared to death.
This is only 2002!
The recently commissioned Nimitz-class aircraft carrier costs less than 5 billion.
This thing…
One unit costs more than two aircraft carriers!
In fact, if the project were to proceed slowly, the cost would not be so high: similar to the Apollo program, eager to achieve the goal at any cost, achieving it in a short period of less than a year, the funding would naturally burn fiercely.
"Mr. President!"
The new Secretary of State, Lawrence, leaned over and lowered his voice: "Now we are a comprehensive cooperative partner with Tsarist Russia, so…"
Albert's eyes lit up.
This thing was developed to deal with China.
North America can't confront China alone, shouldn't Tsarist Russia do its part?
Give a few aircraft to Tsarist Russia, provided they share the cost.
"If the funds are in place, how long will it take to manufacture them?" Albert looked at the person in charge.
"How many units?"
"Four… no! Ten units!"
"At most, we can currently produce two units simultaneously. If we go all out… one and a half months!"
Two units in one and a half months.
This is already the fastest speed at present!
"Good!"
Albert's eyes were cold: "Don't announce it to the public, the new weapons must be hidden, but… aren't we going to test fly it?"
"I remember that China blamed aliens for destroying our satellite."
Then.
North America can also blame aliens for the test flight.
For example…
After China's satellite is blown up!
He won't be as tough as his predecessor. On the surface, North America and China are still comprehensive cooperative partners, but secretly, without China's knowledge, he will use China's satellites as guinea pigs to conduct test flights and strike experiments.
After it's done, blame it on the aliens, anyway, China did the same.
As long as there is no evidence, China can only admit it!
What he doesn't know is…
Chen Hao already knows about the completion of Project Uranus.
Crucially.
China also has a similar project, and it has already been put into research and development. According to the time calculation, it's about time.