"Deploying long-range missiles? We don't have enough funds. Short-range missiles are too risky. So tell me, how should we defend against Japan now? If they dare to provoke us once, they'll dare to do it again."
"Surely we can't deploy massive forces every time, right? What if next time they get serious? Our fleet support definitely won't be fast enough to react," a Russian Navy Admiral said agitatedly in the meeting room.
This time, Russia had to mobilize four fleets plus air force support just to suppress the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force's show of force. If this were a real battlefield, the Northern Fleet's aircraft carrier, the Ulyanovsk, probably wouldn't even have launched yet, and their Russian Pacific Fleet would likely be annihilated by the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force. This weakness is absolutely fatal. Although it's currently peacetime, we absolutely cannot lack a sense of vigilance.
General Grilov, the Minister of Defense, rubbed his throbbing temples, long since accustomed to the "noisy arguments" of every meeting.
"Yuna, has Mavi arrived?" General Grilov asked his secretary standing by. Their appointment was for 2 PM. It was now 1:50, so it was almost time.
"Minister Grilov, I just spoke with him on the phone; it seems he's arriving soon. Should I go out and meet him?" Yuna had only informed Minister Grilov that Mavi could solve the missile deployment issue. Therefore, the other high-ranking officials present were unaware.
"Mm, go ahead," General Grilov said, his face sinking as he rubbed his temples.
If every difficult problem at the Ministry of Defense had to rely on Mavi for ideas and plans, then hiring so many "good-for-nothings" was simply a waste of national resources. It would be better to just invite Mavi to be the Deputy Minister of Defense...
Eight minutes later, Mavi, dressed in a black suit, appeared at the meeting room door, led by the female secretary, Yuna.
"Minister Grilov, Mr. Mavi has arrived," Yuna announced in a pleasant voice for everyone to hear.
"Mavi, thank you for taking the time to come and attend this meeting. I heard from Yuna earlier that you have a solution for this issue of deploying missiles against Japan?" Grilov welcomed Mavi's arrival while loudly asking him.
His question instantly caused the high-ranking officials from the Ministry of Defense and the military bigwigs in the meeting room to turn their heads. They looked at him with curiosity and surprise.
From their eyes, it was clear they were very interested in Mavi's so-called solution. After all, everyone had been discussing it all morning without coming up with anything concrete. The ideas were either hugely expensive or too aggressive, or simply incredibly bizarre approaches targeting Japan, like sending mine-laying ships to lay mines outside Japan's waters...
As soon as Mavi stood at the door, he saw the table full of bigwigs all turning their heads to look at him again. It was practically identical to the last Ministry of Defense meeting.
"Ahem! Minister Grilov, the solution is actually quite simple... we can develop new medium-range missiles and then deploy them in the Far East," Mavi said directly in front of everyone, not beating around the bush.
"New medium-range missiles? Did I hear that right? Are you suggesting we proactively withdraw from the INF Treaty? How can we do that?" Before Minister Grilov could speak, some high-ranking officials from the Ministry of Defense around Mavi asked him with great surprise.
There was good reason for their excitement, because if they could develop medium-range missiles, they would have had scientists working on it ages ago. They wouldn't be stuck with this problem now.
Furthermore, unilaterally tearing up the INF Treaty would bring more harm than good for Russia. Their medium-range missiles couldn't reach the US mainland. But if the US were to fall out with Russia and deploy medium-range missiles in neighboring countries to constrain Russia, the consequences would be unimaginable...
Seeing the agitated high-ranking officials from the Ministry of Defense, Mavi smiled, shook his head, and said, "Actually, we don't need to unilaterally withdraw from the INF Treaty. The treaty we signed with the United States covered the destruction of missiles with a range of 1000 to 5500 kilometers. We can completely skirt the edge by developing short-range missiles with a range of 900 kilometers and medium-range missiles with a range of 5800 kilometers."
Mavi suggested this to the Russian Ministry of Defense officials based on his memories from his previous life. The person who came up with this idea originally was definitely a clever one. This way, the problem of deploying missiles against the Japanese archipelago is directly and easily solved.
They could completely use a few other land-based silos or vehicle-mounted intercontinental ballistic missiles to incidentally monitor and target the Japanese region first. Once the medium-range missiles are successfully developed, they can then be directly deployed to the Far East base. It saves trouble and money, and most importantly, it cleverly bypasses the INF Treaty signed with the Americans. It's simply killing multiple birds with one stone...
"Mavi, you really are a talent!" Minister Grilov exclaimed happily, standing right up! If it weren't such a serious, formal occasion, he'd probably want to go over and heartily slap Mavi on the back to show his excitement.
"This... this method... how did we not think of this?" The high-ranking officials from the Ministry of Defense couldn't help but look at each other. They were all stunned and enlightened by Mavi's words, like someone waking them from a dream!
They could only blame themselves for being too rigid in their thinking initially. They were fixated on the limitations of the INF Treaty and thus didn't consider that direction. In fact, with just a little flexibility, the problem wasn't a problem at all.
Seeing the room full of happy-faced Ministry of Defense officials and military bigwigs, Mavi didn't become overly proud or smug. This idea of his was also borrowed from previous generations; he hadn't come up with it himself.
Medium-range missiles can not only serve as strategic weapons to attack enemy military bases, transportation hubs, power stations, and other important infrastructure during wartime, but their deterrent capability is also astounding. Once a significant number are deployed, their precision strike capability would make even six US carrier strike groups hesitate to provoke them easily.
This is similar to China's thousands of Dongfeng series missiles, which aren't afraid of any surface combat unit.
However, considering that the vast majority of countries in the world have joined non-proliferation treaties against missile spread, if the Russian Ministry of Defense wants to develop new medium-range missiles, they can only fund it themselves; they won't be able to do business by selling them...
After celebrating for quite some time, General Grilov, the Minister of Defense, and the high-ranking officials from the Ministry of Defense gradually realized a problem.
That was, after Russia signed the INF Treaty, they destroyed all their medium-range ballistic missiles and related production equipment. If they want to re-develop these, the cost involved won't be a small amount at all! It would mean investing funds for a complete set of research and development equipment and production equipment... this is yet another headache-inducing problem.
(End of Chapter)