Chengdu, 611 test flight site.
Liu Chuanwu had just completed a test flight of the J-20B. Even for him, an experienced test pilot, the experience this aircraft brought him was extremely novel.
Take off vertically like a helicopter!
Moreover, its maneuverability in the air has reached an unimaginable height.
Not to mention the Cobra maneuver, it can even switch from high-speed flight to pulling up and then to hovering in just a few seconds.
It can be said that this is an invincible fighter plane.
Although modern warfare has entered the realm of beyond visual range, with this aircraft in hand, bullying second-generation and third-generation aircraft is really just like playing.
Even against heavy fourth-generation aircraft like the J-22, its chances of winning have not decreased much.
If it taxis and takes off with full fuel and bombs, its range can reach 2,200 kilometers.
Although it is far less than the terrifying 3,400-kilometer range of the J-22, it is enough to fight a local war.
——
Wait a minute, why do I regard the J-22 as an imaginary enemy?
Liu Chuanwu was stunned for a moment subconsciously.
Later, he realized that in his heart, the Air Force had gradually lost its rivals in this world.
He shook his head gently and said to himself silently:
"We are still in the initial stage of development and will remain so for a long time. The main contradiction is still the contradiction between the intensifying international confrontation and our lack of firepower."
The plane taxied into the hangar, Liu Chuanwu stepped off the plane, and Yang Wei, the chief designer of the plane, was already waiting aside.
"How was it? How was the flight?"
Yang Wei asked impatiently.
In fact, most of the data will be transmitted to the laboratory through the sensors. The reason why he came here specifically was to get the latest first-hand experience report from the pilot.
"Very good! The control is even more flexible than that of the J-22, and there are almost no problems for us drivers."
"I guess if there's a flaw in this aircraft, it's a flaw in the aircraft itself."
"For example, the flight range is still too short. After I took off vertically, there was less than two-thirds of the fuel left in the tank, and I had to reserve fuel for landing."
"Understood, we will solve this problem!"
Yang Wei nodded and continued:
"The current aircraft still uses the old F119 engine. You also experienced it when you flew the J-22, and the performance has not improved much."
"In the future, we will give it an up-cycle engine, and then the problem of excessive fuel consumption will be solved to a certain extent."
"Let me take a test flight then!"
Liu Chuanwu said.
"Hehe, that's not necessarily the case. You are a treasure now, and we still expect you to train other pilots for us. I won't let you take on a mission that is too dangerous."
Liu Chuanwu opened his mouth. He wanted to refute, but after thinking about it, he realized that this was actually the most realistic decision.
So, he could only nod and replied:
"Understood, make sure to complete the organizational tasks!"
Two days later, an explosive piece of news woke up the entire world.
The message was only a few words long.
"my country's new fighter jet successfully made its first flight."
When it comes to the content, this report is also written extremely conservatively.
"It is understood that this type of fighter aircraft is a fourth-generation fighter aircraft with vertical and short take-off and landing capabilities, and can take off on any flat and hard ground."
"This fighter aircraft is an important supplement to the combat effectiveness of our country's air force, strengthens our army's anti-strike capabilities, and plays a significant role in stalemate battlefields."
But adhering to the principle that fewer words mean bigger things, no one will misjudge its importance.
Vertical/STOL fighter aircraft.
Fourth Generation.
Either one of these two keywords can make huge waves internationally, but now, they are combined together.
what does that mean?
Very simple.
It means that, at least in the field of military aviation, China has completely surpassed other traditional European and American powers and has reached the forefront of the world!
Therefore, as soon as the news was released, all the forces paying attention to China's movements exploded.
For them, these two years have definitely been an uneasy one.
From the time when the earliest news of the F119 engine was released, everyone thought it was the biggest news in a short period of time, so the media used a lot of space to report it, and even defined it as "the pinnacle of Chinese technology."
Even the subsequent modifications of the Xiaolong III and J-10 were within their expectations.
Although they had to admit China's progress, they still proudly boasted that their judgment was accurate. It seemed that as they thought, F119 was the pinnacle, and other achievements were just derivatives of F119.
But they didn't expect that just a few months later, when the J-22 made its first flight, the long-dormant research institute slapped them hard in the face with an unparalleled high-profile gesture.
By this time, everyone had begun to have some doubts.
With such a technological breakthrough in such a short period of time, is this really all they have in hand?
Sure enough, their guess was fulfilled.
Electronic jamming pods, over-the-horizon air-to-air missiles, and the J-20 that have not been publicly disclosed on a large scale
Until now, the J-20B appeared.
They realized at this moment that F119 was definitely not the pinnacle, but just the beginning.
After making this judgment, the media seemed to suffer from aphasia for a while. They suddenly didn't know what attitude to use to report this matter.
Continue to advocate the so-called "threat theory"?
What a joke!
Just like your neighbor, if you want to win over everyone to isolate him and bully him, then you have to take advantage of his incompetence to spread the word about how dangerous and terrible he is, and then unite to kill him in the cradle.
The premise for this is that he is unable to resist you or the alliance.
This was indeed the case before.
But now, they have a guy in their hands!
Are you still stupid enough to promote the "threat theory"?
Don't be stupid. If you don't think it's possible, someone will come up to you and give you a break, then grab your hair and ask you to pick up your ears.
He is armed with a sharp weapon and has a murderous intention. Do you really dare to mess with him?
Therefore, it is better to remain silent for the time being. At least, if you don't speak, you will not make mistakes.
As a result, a strange situation emerged in the public opinion market:
There were a lot of reports at home, but there was silence abroad.
This makes many netizens feel strange. Isn’t it agreed that foreign media are the most impartial spokespersons? Why are they even starting to report selectively?
For a time, there were endless discussions on this matter on various forums.
"I'm afraid it's serious this time. The one who sent the news is the military newspaper. Their style is so cautious. It's impossible to add fuel to such an important matter."
"Don't add fuel to the fire, I estimate that they may even have a hidden agenda. If you look at the news, it only mentions that it is a STOVL fighter, but the specific performance is not mentioned at all."
"I think this thing cannot be inferred using common sense. It is possible that its comprehensive performance far exceeds our understanding of the STOVL fighter."
"Haha, are you making pancakes upstairs? There are no photos or videos. You're climaxing just by relying on a few words, right?"
"It's really that awesome. Pull the plane out and have a look. I've never seen a vertical take-off and landing aircraft in my life. Could it be an improved version of the Harrier?"
"Upstairs, they say others are making pancakes, but you are the one making pancakes, right? A fourth-generation machine, do you know what a fourth-generation machine is? Are you too embarrassed to talk about something like the Harrier?"
"Oh, yes, your beautiful father said before that the STOVL fighters were useless. Didn't they stop developing them? Now that we have them, what do you say?"
"So what if it's done? It's useless. It's useless even if you talk about breaking the sky."
In such a chaotic public opinion, the appearance of a program is like a rock thrown into the water, blocking all the waves.
One night in March, a military program on a certain TV station launched an exclusive interview, and the interviewee was none other than Chen Yunyong, who had returned to China before.
This legendary J-20B has not yet appeared. What Chen Yunyong introduced was only the bipolar counter-rotating lift fan technology involved.
But this point completely confirmed the existence of the fourth-generation STOVL machine.
Because the technology itself is its symbol.
Now that the engine problem has been completely solved, and problems such as vector nozzles, stealth design, avionics systems, etc. have been learned from the J-22, what else can stop them from building a STOVL fourth-generation aircraft? ?
As soon as the program was broadcast, the direction of domestic public opinion suddenly reversed.
The military fans cheered for joy, and the banana people felt as if they were mourning for their heirs.
Of course, it’s not just the banana people in China who are dying to have an heir.
On the other side of the sea, the turret.
Paine stood silently in the office. This was not the first time that he, as the actual leader of the May Conference, had faced the controller of the Corner Tower, but it was definitely the most difficult moment in his career, and even in his life.
For no other reason than that, things went wrong.
Moreover, there is no room for redemption.
Sitting opposite him was a senior official from the Department of Defense named Bob. At this time, he was banging the table, pointing at Paine and cursing angrily.
"Are you all stupid? How could you be so stupid?"
"J-20B! Fourth-generation aircraft! STOVL! Do you know what these words mean?"
"I've said it before, if you can't do it, then report it directly to Congress and hand over the authority to us. We always have other ways to interrupt their projects!"
"But now? Until last week, your feedback in the report was 'everything is fine'!"
"Tell me, where is normal? Are you saying that their project is running normally?"
"Yes, you are right. All your actions have not had even the slightest impact on them. This is really normal!"
Paine grinned bitterly, took a deep breath and replied:
"I admit that we made a serious mistake in underestimating their scientific capabilities."
"But in fact, this is indeed unpredictable. Please think about it. Even if you were personally commanding it, you would never have imagined that they could build such an aircraft in just half a year."
"It's not half a year, it's ten years!"
Bob slammed the table again and said in an iron-clad tone:
"Do you have amnesia? I have said countless times at the meeting that they have been preparing for this project for at least ten years."
"And, I also emphasized that their breakthrough could happen at any time, maybe today, maybe tomorrow."
"Now, I'm right."
"And what about you? You didn't react at all!"
"This is simply a joke. I heard that you are even planning to assassinate scientific researchers to slow down their progress. Can you use your brain? Is this possible?"
"We almost succeeded."
Paine argued.
He was a little unconvinced. He did almost succeed. Even from his perspective, the plan was perfect.
However, there seemed to be an invisible force interfering with the progress of the matter.
He even felt that he was fighting against some kind of omniscient and omnipotent shadow.
If this were not the case, how could the other party be so vigilant and even catch his own person so quickly after the incident happened?
Bob opposite took a deep breath, suppressed the urge to take out a gun from the drawer and shoot Paine to death, and then continued:
"This is not a near-success. What you call a near-miss is actually at least one distance from here to the sun!"
"Do you think the matter will be solved after a few core scientists are eliminated?"
"Let me tell you, their accumulation of talents is not much weaker than ours, especially the geniuses who can change the overall situation. They are definitely not just one, not just a few, but a group!"
"Even if you solve one of them, others can quickly take over. Can you handle it?!"
Paine was speechless. At this moment, he deeply felt the gap in the way he looked at the problem from different standpoints.
The May Meeting itself is an intelligence department, and what it does is always buried underwater. Therefore, the way to solve problems is also more inclined to point-to-point, small-scale, and leverage the smallest force to achieve the greatest results.
As for Corner Tower, they disdain to use this kind of conspiracy.
More often than not, they will use absolute power.
This also leads to their concepts being completely different from their own.
I couldn't even argue, because they wouldn't listen at all.
Paine sighed and lowered his tone.
"Things are already like this, and all we can do now is find ways to make up for it."
"I'm not asking you for help, I'm asking for cooperation."
"In the past, we had too little cooperation, and many times, we were even in a competitive relationship, which is unhealthy."
"Hmph, I really wish you had understood this sooner."
Bob looked at Paine with contempt and continued:
"But now, it's too late."
"The J-20B has made its first flight, and our F-35 is still in the laboratory."
"What's even more stupid is that in order to cooperate with your so-called public opinion offensive, they even actively slowed down the progress of the F-35 project."
"They have taken a step ahead, and this step is of great significance."
"This is definitely not alarmist, the situation is very serious. Although the race has just begun, we are already lagging behind."
"Mr. Paine, I hope you understand this: this is the first time in nearly two hundred years that we have fallen behind."
"And you are the culprit for falling behind this time."
"You will be nailed to history's pillar of shame."
"Now, don't talk about cooperation anymore. I have reported to Congress and applied to remove you from all positions."
"Go home and retire."
"I hope you can live to be old."
"Now, get out of my office!"
Paine looked at Bob in shock. He knew exactly what the other person meant.
Go home and retire.
For a key person like him who has mastered a lot of information, where can he be accommodated?
There was despair in his heart.
At this moment, he had already foreseen his own ending
(End of chapter)
