Chapter 163: Mobile Platform
“Are you saying the analysis results were normal?”
At Ahsung Defense CEO Yoon Seok-hwan’s question, the technical analyst nodded again.
“No issues were found in any of the records or logs. The same goes for the sensors, targets, and standard environment.”
“Is that… the Ministry of Defense’s official stance?”
Standing beside him, Executive Director Kwon Do-hyun tried to raise his voice, but Lieutenant General Kim Dae-hoon cut him off first.
“The results have been confirmed as normal, so any further objections should be submitted in writing according to procedure.”
At those words, Yoon Seok-hwan had no choice but to remain silent.
He had a gut feeling that something was off, but since the Ministry of Defense refused to acknowledge it, digging deeper would only be a loss for them.
“……Understood.”
He simply replied briefly and returned to his seat.
[This is the final course of the second-stage evaluation.]
Lieutenant General Kim Dae-hoon, holding a microphone, began to explain to the attendees.
[A nighttime combat simulation test. In an environment with a minimum luminance of 0.1 lux, this trial involves identifying and engaging thermal signal-based electronic targets. A total of six targets will appear randomly, with a time limit of five seconds each.]
As soon as he finished speaking, the evaluation area was plunged into darkness.
When the lights went out, red IR guide lights flickered faintly between the corridors and structures.
Targets with thermal signals were hidden throughout the building—in the debris piles, at the underground bunker entrance, and elsewhere.
One of the evaluators muttered,
“Can they really hit the targets when they can’t see anything?”
In a battlefield where no one could identify targets without a scope and the human eye was useless, Captain Jeong Gwang-sik entered the course first, holding the A2C.
He activated the helmet’s night mode and detected the targets through the HUD.
The A2C was equipped with an HUD that combined thermal signal-based IR sensors and a distance measurement module.
‘30 degrees to the left!’
Captain Jeong quickly reacted to the first target detected through the HUD.
Bang!
[Hit, deviation 0.14mm]
He was a bit late on the second one.
The target had suddenly appeared from behind a metal structure.
Bang!
[Hit, deviation 0.31mm]
However, he quickly adjusted his stance and easily hit the third and fourth targets.
Bang! Bang!
[Hit, deviation 0.17mm, 0.22mm]
The evaluators nodded.
“The HUD reaction is fast, and Captain Jeong’s movements are stable.”
But there was a problem with the fifth target.
A thermal interference device had been installed on the target, causing it to appear as two separate targets on the HUD.
Captain Jeong hesitated.
It wasn’t easy to determine which of the two signals was real.
“……Is it this one?”
Bang!
[Miss, misidentification]
His face hardened.
The sixth and final target appeared.
Time was already tight, and his aim wasn’t accurate.
Bang!
[Hit, deviation 3.15mm]
Five out of six shots hit the target, but the result wasn’t perfect.
Now, all eyes naturally turned to Captain Jo In-hyeok, who was holding the AGE-01.
Lieutenant General Kim Dae-hoon stared intently at him.
Will the bullets really move toward the targets even in nighttime combat?
If he hadn’t seen it with his own eyes, he would’ve thought he was crazy.
But having just witnessed it, his curiosity was piqued.
-Is the HUD on?
When Han Yu-ju asked over the radio, Captain Jo replied briefly,
“Yes, it’s on.”
The AGE-01 wasn’t equipped with a dedicated thermal signal detection sensor.
The Luna-based HUD operated differently.
It used an ultra-low light detection sensor and a thermal distortion filter-based composite image mapping system.
Instead of traditional thermal imaging, it employed a movement-based prediction system that utilized Dojin Tech’s camera technology.
Just before the first target appeared,
the HUD monitored the surrounding background patterns in real time
and sent a signal to Captain Jo with zero margin of error the moment the target emerged.
Bang!
[Hit, deviation 0.03mm]
The second target was at the top of a building, where strong winds caused the structure to shake.
Normally, this would reduce accuracy, but
the computation module installed in the AGE-01 modified the data in real time to match the surrounding environment.
Bang!
[Hit, deviation 0.01mm]
The third and fourth targets were hit in succession.
And then the fifth.
This was the target Captain Jeong had failed to hit.
The AGE-01 didn’t rely on thermal signals.
Instead, it analyzed movement and patterns, and the bullet automatically flew toward the real target.
All Captain Jo In-hyeok did was pull the trigger at the right moment.
Bang!
[Hit, deviation 0.00mm]
Another perfect hit, dead center.
The evaluators couldn’t help but gasp in awe.
“It perfectly distinguished the target.”
“What the hell is that gun?”
“Its performance is just too good.”
So far, only Lieutenant General Kim Dae-hoon and the technical analyst knew that the bullets curved toward the targets.
The sixth and final target.
The most challenging segment.
Even though his line of sight was obstructed three times by obstacles while moving, and the target was dodging left and right, Captain Jo still hit it.
Bang!
[Hit, deviation 0.02mm]
After firing the last shot, Captain Jo slowly lowered the muzzle.
Then, he quietly muttered to himself,
‘This gun…… it’s unbelievably good.’
Lieutenant General Kim Dae-hoon, who had been watching, had a similar reaction.
“To achieve this level of precision in nighttime combat……”
He felt that observing the rest of the evaluation would be even more enjoyable.
After confirming that Captain Jo In-hyeok had finished firing, Lieutenant General Kim Dae-hoon picked up the microphone again.
[Second-stage evaluation complete!]
As soon as Lieutenant General Kim Dae-hoon declared it, the lights in the darkened evaluation area came back on.
Murmurs rippled through the room.
“Wow, I never expected such an overwhelming difference in nighttime combat.”
“Captain Jeong Gwang-sik did well, but…… Captain Jo In-hyeok’s results are just too good.”
“I definitely couldn’t have hit the fifth and sixth targets.”
“Me neither, I think. But if we used the AGE-01 that Captain Jo used, wouldn’t we be able to hit them too?”
“Maybe……”
While the evaluators whispered quietly among themselves,
CEO Yoon Seok-hwan still had a stern expression, biting his lip.
Since the technical analyst had officially declared the results normal,
there was no grounds to raise further objections.
“Damn it…… How did they do that?”
Yoon Seok-hwan, grinding his teeth, vented his frustration at Executive Director Kwon Do-hyun.
“What’s going on with Captain Jo In-hyeok? Is he just taking the money and refusing to work?”
“Well…… Captain Jo In-hyeok just contacted us, saying he’ll return the money.”
“So he’s letting go of the deal we made?”
“……”
Yoon Seok-hwan tried to say something more, but
he was interrupted by Lieutenant General Kim Dae-hoon’s voice.
[Next, I’ll explain the third-stage evaluation.]
The murmurs in the room quickly subsided.
Lieutenant General Kim Dae-hoon continued slowly,
[The third-stage evaluation will assess system stability under harsh environmental conditions.]
Lieutenant General Kim Dae-hoon went on,
[There are three evaluation items: stability during rapid temperature changes, high-vibration environments, and electromagnetic interference.]
The room fell silent.
“High vibration and electromagnetic interference? They’re testing the gun’s durability and stability.”
“No matter how good a gun’s performance is, it won’t be easy to withstand those conditions.”
After moving from the second-stage to the third-stage test area, the explanation for the first course began.
[The first course will take place inside a chamber where the temperature fluctuates between -30 degrees and +80 degrees every 10 minutes.]
[Three shots will be fired, and like in the previous stage, higher scores will be awarded for hitting the targets more precisely.]
“-30 degrees to +80 degrees, with 20 cycles every 10 minutes?”
Director Cha Dong-hyuk nodded at my question.
“After a total of 200 minutes of thermal shock testing, it seems they’ll proceed with firing immediately, without any separate stabilization time.”
That meant there would be no time for the equipment to stabilize.
As the rapid temperature chamber, surrounded by reinforced glass, began operating,
frost formed and then instantly melted inside, with the temperature rising sharply and then dropping repeatedly.
“It’s all about whether the electro-optical system can withstand it.”
“Even slight changes in the barrel’s alignment due to rapid temperature fluctuations will affect the results.”
If the barrel’s alignment was even slightly off,
the bullet wouldn’t fly straight.
The 200 minutes, long or short, passed in an instant.
Captain Jeong Gwang-sik, holding the A2C, stepped into the firing position.
Since it was built to military durability standards, it had sufficient basic temperature adaptability, but
they’d have to see if the same applied to the other electronic components.
First shot.
Bang!
[Hit, deviation 0.15mm]
Second and third shots.
Bang! Bang!
[Hit, deviation 0.13mm, 0.12mm]
True to Ahsung’s reputation for reliability,
the first test was passed without any issues, and
our AGE-01 produced similar results.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
[Hit, deviation 0.08mm, 0.06mm, 0.05mm]
“Wow, the A2C performed well, but the AGE-01 hit almost dead center with all three shots.”
“Is Captain Jo In-hyeok just in good condition, or is the gun’s performance that good?”
“At this point, I’d say it’s the gun’s performance.”
The other evaluators nodded in agreement with one evaluator’s remark.
Soon, the explanation for the second course began.
[The second course of this stage is a high-vibration environment firing test.]
[It will be conducted while aboard a mobile platform, with vibration intensity set to simulate real-world rough terrain conditions.]
Lieutenant General Kim Dae-hoon’s explanation shifted the atmosphere back to tension.
“A mobile platform…… If the platform itself is shaking, wouldn’t it be hard for the shooter to stabilize the gun?”
“That’s the point. They’re testing how well the rifle can withstand vibrations and fire stably.”
After hearing the test explanation, CEO Yoon Seok-hwan smiled confidently.
They had been outperformed by the AGE-01 in all previous tests, but this time, he was sure they would win.
In preparation for situations like this, they had applied a vibration compensation algorithm to the A2C’s optical sight and ballistic calculation module.
It was a customized version of the latest commercial algorithm imported from overseas.
The feature assisted firing by accounting for sight wobble in both high and low-frequency composite vibrations.
“The AGE-01 definitely doesn’t have a vibration compensation device, right?”
Executive Director Kwon Do-hyun nodded at Yoon Seok-hwan’s question.
“It’s not certain, but based on the structure of the gun Captain Jo In-hyeok is holding, it appears there’s no firing assistance device for vibration compensation.”
Without such a device, the shooter would have to rely solely on their own skill.
In that case, their victory was certain this time.
The vibration compensation algorithm applied to the A2C was designed to allow the shooter to hit targets even in 80Hz composite vibration conditions.