I can upgrade the shelter-Chapter 722 - 620: Land Escort Fleet

The preparation of the land carrier proceeded quickly, and the military personnel who were dispatched soon mastered the driving methods of this massive land carrier.

However, mastering the driving method does not equate to forming combat effectiveness.

They can now merely start up this gigantic land carrier, but there is still a long way to go before they can drive it into battle and unleash its full performance and combat power.

Yet, the plan to support the European battlefield forced them to have no more time to adapt to and master this land carrier.

Especially when Chen Xin once again conducted upgrades after they had initially learned to operate the land carrier, installing the originally planned anti-gravity device.

Immediately, this made the crew who had already initially mastered the driving methods of the land carrier feel very uncomfortable, after all, it was quite frustrating to spend time mastering a technology through overtime, only for it to be upgraded the next day, requiring them to start from scratch again, anyone would feel uncomfortable under these circumstances.

But these soldiers did not complain at all, instead, they became more serious and dedicated to reacquiring the upgraded operational technology of the land carrier.

This was partly due to their sense of mission and honor as soldiers, and partly thanks to the captain of this land carrier.

As the captain, he had already grasped Chen Xin’s plan and anticipated the installation of the anti-gravity device, so he had prepared in advance.

This allowed the crew to promptly adjust their state and swiftly re-engage in their work.

However, as a former navy officer, though he was quite satisfied with the land carrier in several aspects, there were still aspects he was dissatisfied with.

For this, he specifically found Chen Xin to express his dissatisfaction.

"Academician Chen, while this land carrier is indeed a good ship with strong power, isn’t having just one ship too sparse? Where is the accompanying fleet?" This was the captain’s biggest complaint about the land carrier and also what he found most perplexing.

As a navy officer, in the captain’s impression, even the smaller navy ships are never a lone ship when a major vessel deploys.

Especially with carriers as the fleet’s core, every departure is accompanied by the whole fleet guarding the carrier.

Though some boast of carriers’ strong resistance and survival ability, citing instances when carriers survived nuclear explosions, the fact is that those who truly understand carriers know they are inherently vulnerable.

Their strength relies on carrier-based aircraft and their escort fleet.

A single carrier can be sunk by just one submarine, even a torpedo boat coming close can send a massive carrier to the seabed.

Thus, all nations equip carriers with substantial escort fleets.

But the land carrier evidently doesn’t have it, not only is there no escort fleet, but there is also not even any escort.

Of course, this essentially stems from the fact that the land carrier isn’t a true carrier, attempting to form an escort fleet doesn’t have any precedent nor any reference experience.

After all, operating a carrier on land and at sea are completely different concepts.

Nevertheless, when the captain raised this issue with Chen Xin, naturally, he was mindful of it.

It’s just that this matter clearly isn’t achievable overnight, even with the system’s assistance Chen Xin knows creating a matched escort fleet for the land carrier is no easy task.

Therefore, when facing the captain’s demand, Chen Xin could only agree to consider it for now without giving him a promise.

"Regarding the escort fleet, I can’t solve this for you at the moment. Even if I could complete the escort vessel design, given the current national situation, it’s unlikely we could assemble such a fleet on short notice," Chen Xin explained to the captain, as this indeed was the truth, even with the system, he couldn’t conjure a fleet from nothing.

However, Chen Xin tried to reassure the captain: "You don’t need to worry too much about this. Your ship has 3D printing technology; once you enter Europe, you can request resources from European countries, under the pretense of producing equipment for them, and occupy a mining region.

Then using the 3D printing technology, you could manufacture more mobile bases and tanks to build a land defense system. Though it may not be as grand as your former navy fleets, it would still be useful."

Chen Xin’s words weren’t merely for comfort, as the 3D printing technology indeed could achieve this.

No fleet? That’s not an issue, as long as you keep moving and mining, refine the ores into raw materials, then print with the 3D printing technology. As long as there’s enough minerals, there’s no limit to how many fleets the 3D printing tech can produce.

Thus, after hearing Chen Xin’s reasoning, the captain could only depart helplessly since the current situation was truly like this, the country indeed couldn’t produce an entire fleet for him.

However, after the captain departed, Chen Xin did not give up pondering this matter.

Just as the captain had said, carriers indeed need fleets for optimal function.

Moreover, even if it can’t be built temporarily, reflecting on the design of a land escort ship consumes hardly any resources.

Compared to sea carriers, land carriers don’t differ substantially in essence. The key difference lies in Chen Xin’s more emphasis on its strike force in the land carrier design, allowing for more missile launches while the flight deck can’t be as large as sea carriers.

This leads to little difference in considering and designing escort ships between land and sea.

Modern warfare has shifted away from massive firearms and battleships. Back then, Federation built ships eagerly using plastic, claimed the world’s most advanced destroyer by utilizing carbon fiber material.

Yet this shipbuilding cost became so high that even the Federation, a top world economy, couldn’t bear it, and land does require a certain level of defense capability. At least it shouldn’t be torn like paper when hit by a civilian ship.

After all, the challenges and attacks faced on land surpass those at sea.

At sea, you can’t have a group of divers swim over to plant explosives under the ship and blow up a battleship, yet on land, it’s incredibly easy to have a group of special forces bury landmines or explosives along the mobile base or land carrier’s path.

Thus, defense is necessary, also there should be a certain obstacle clearing ability to open the way for the land carrier, while still serving as a firepower platform.

In short, the escort ship for a land carrier needs at least enough defense and firepower to resist infantry attacks, also capable of accompanying the land carrier for joint operations...

To achieve these aims, the design of such a land escort ship requires a lot of considerations, leading Chen Xin to have to seek assistance from others.