Reincarnated: Vive La France
Chapter 245: RADAR modèle 37 "Galène" - II

Chapter 245: RADAR modèle 37 "Galène" - II

Moreau hadn’t slept.

He stood in front of the long oak table in the briefing room below the Élysée.

A thin stack of copies sat before each chair.

His hand hovered over them for a second before setting the final copy down.

He checked his watch.

10:27.

Three minutes later, the door opened.

Paul Langevin entered first, tall, white-haired, walking with the same rigid posture he’d had since the Sorbonne.

Pierre Auger followed, younger, holding a notepad already covered in formulas.

Maurice Ponte came in adjusting his round spectacles, nodding without a word.

Then Jean Perrin, sharp-eyed, briefcase in hand, and finally Henri Chrétien, last as always.

Moreau waited until all were seated.

No aides.

No stenographer.

He closed the door himself.

"We are not here to theorize," Moreau said. "We are here to construct. I’ve called you because what I am about to present must be built. Quietly. Immediately."

He slid the blueprints forward.

"This is ’Galène.’ A prototype for ground-based aircraft detection. Operational range: 50 kilometers. Detection type reflected pulse, not continuous wave. Antenna horizontal Yagi array. Four elements. Rotating at 6 rpm."

No one moved.

He flipped open the central copy.

Page one, schematic of a transmitter and receiver joined in monostatic configuration.

Next page, signal timing, modulation, pulse-forming network.

Another, cooling diagrams, generator spec, site layout.

"Paul?" he asked.

Langevin finally spoke. "You drafted this yourself?"

"Yes. Last night. Based on what I can from British developments. Chain Home. Also from older Marconi reports, Polish papers. This is what I was able to do. But there are gaps."

Ponte leaned forward. "You did all this? Pulse width, PRF, power estimates?"

"Rough estimates. Pulse width, ten microseconds. Repetition frequency, 500 Hz. Peak power around 120 kilowatts."

Langevin raised an eyebrow. "And the receiver design?"

"Superheterodyne. Intermediate frequency at 30 MHz. A-scope CRT display. Linear time base."

Chrétien skimmed the pages. "Azimuth control?"

"360-degree coverage. Horizontal rotation via belt-driven motor. Accuracy, I estimate plus-minus two degrees. Elevation fixed at fifteen degrees."

Auger finally looked up from the specs. "What’s the expected noise figure?"

"I couldn’t do it," Moreau admitted. "I don’t know if we worked with matched mixers or diode detection in earlier discussions."

"You’ll want sub-10 dB," Ponte said. "Cooled diode or mixer tube. I’ll run simulations."

Langevin nodded slowly. "Galène. Galena crystal. I see what you did. Discretion."

Moreau continued. "This must be done under Direction Générale de l’Armement. No parliamentary debate. Classified budget. Finance will route through Minister Reynaud."

Perrin turned a page. "And power supply? This antenna array will not run on batteries."

"Diesel generator," Moreau said. "Forty kilowatts. Water-cooled. I’ve mapped it in the site plan."

Chrétien pointed. "What’s this ’control cabin’? Ten by six meters, concrete?"

"Yes. Windowless. Operator room, signal room, wiring junction. Adjacent generator shed, six by six."

Perrin frowned. "So this is a fixed installation."

"For now. Mobile version comes later."

Auger nodded. "What’s the site clearance?"

"One hundred meters by one hundred. Open field. First test at Dieppe or Le Havre. Coastal. Limited civilian exposure."

They flipped to the detection estimates.

"Fifty kilometers for bombers," Chrétien read aloud. "Twenty-five to thirty for fighters. That depends on altitude and RCS."

"Target altitude band?"

"Thousand to eight thousand meters," Moreau said. "No elevation discrimination. Just azimuth and range."

"Pulse ambiguity?"

"Unknown. I need help on range gating."

Auger wrote on his pad. "Staggered PRF might help. Reduce false echoes."

Ponte leaned back. "What about your pulse shaping? Triode modulator?"

"Water-cooled triode oscillator. Thyratron trigger. Capacitive discharge."

Langevin scratched a note. "You’re going to burn through tubes. You’ll need redundancy and a cooling loop."

Moreau nodded. "Closed-loop water cooling. Air-cooled receiver compartment. I planned for an auxiliary fan and radiator assembly."

Perrin tapped the page. "CRT type?"

"Seven-inch. Linear time base. One microsecond equals one hundred fifty meters. Operators manually plot range returns."

"And data logging?"

"None yet. But we could install dual-track wax recorders. Voice-annotated logging."

Chrétien shook his head. "So we plot blips by eye?"

"For now."

"Limitations?"

"No elevation angle, no friend-or-foe ID, target saturation at more than five blips. Rotation delay affects real-time accuracy. But this is version one."

Moreau looked up. "This buys us time. Detection. Warning. Before guns open."

Langevin nodded. "And once this is operational?"

"Integrate into the Maginot Line command grid. Landline telegraph or telephone relay to artillery command posts."

Perrin raised a point. "You’ll need trained operators."

"I’ve written staffing, commanding officer, three signal ops rotating shifts, two engineers, two electrical staff."

Chrétien looked across the room. "You’ve thought this through. But where is the full physics model?"

"I couldn’t build it alone," Moreau said. "That’s why you’re here. I can’t do every equation."

Silence followed.

Then Langevin said, "You are not an engineer, sir. But this is not amateur work. Not to mention this will be your third work."

Ponte agreed. "If this prototype works, we will have a signal return within ten weeks."

Moreau nodded. "Timeline is on the back."

He flipped to the schedule.

April: Blueprint finalized, advisory group formed.

May–June: Hardware assembly.

July: First test at Dieppe or Le Havre.

August: Calibration, detection trials.

September: Operator training.

October: Build second site.

November: Activate initial two-station network.

January 1938: Begin preproduction series.

Perrin closed his folder. "Who else knows?"

"No one. Not the Chamber. Not even the general staff. Only you."

Auger leaned forward. "You’ll need an institutional name."

"CORA," Moreau said. "Comité de Réflexion sur les Ondes Anti-aériennes. Subdivision of Direction Générale de l’Armement."

Ponte stood. "And technical partners?"

"CSF. Possibly Philips. But we limit contracts to within military channels. No civilian subcontractors."

Moreau moved toward the chalkboard.

He began writing.

REMAINING QUESTIONS.

Bandwidth

Noise figure

Beamwidth and lobe rejection

Saturation effects

Ambiguity resolution

Thermal drift

Range tracking algorithm

He turned. "Assign yourselves based on expertise. We meet again in seven days with proposals."

Langevin. "I’ll handle beamwidth and modulation depth."

Auger. "Receiver dynamics, AGC loop, and signal shaping."

Ponte. "Cooling design, transmitter gain stability."

Chrétien. "Antenna pattern and mount calibration."

Perrin. "Security clearance, industrial compliance."

Moreau handed out sealed envelopes.

"These contain credentials and access badges for the testing facility under construction near Dieppe. Use names only in secure locations. All development stays within this room."

He stepped away.

"We are being watched. Foreign agents. Industrial spies. Some of our own allies would sabotage this. But if this works, France will no longer be blind."

Late that evening.

Moreau sat alone again.

The wine glass remained untouched.

He reviewed their notes diagrams redrawn, corrections added in new ink.

He saw how Chrétien had modified the antenna elevation.

How Auger’s AGC loop now included a logarithmic amplifier.

How Langevin’s pulse shaping had improved signal integrity.

They had taken the skeleton and added muscle.

He thought of convoys.

Radars on trucks.

Gun-laying integration.

Added a note.

Contact Renault Defense for chassis.

He folded the final blueprint, placed it in the red folder marked "DGA-Eyes Only."