At 23:45 in the middle of the night, in the dark waters of the South China Sea, aircraft carrier No. 16 sailed southward, surrounded by several escort ships, forming a standard single-carrier combat formation.
All departments completed combat preparations.
At 23:50, the formation commander ordered the aircraft carrier combat formation to advance at full speed.
At 0:00 on the 5th, all combat units received orders from the exercise headquarters and entered combat deployment and final combat preparations.
Two hundred nautical miles away, three mixed fleets formed a battle formation and headed south at full speed into the exercise waters. Underwater, an underwater combat formation composed of several submarines is deploying and maneuvering to a predetermined sea area...
At the Southern Coastal Sea Airport Station, ground crews are stepping up preparations, and air crews have gathered in the combat conference room...
23:55, Forgetting Reef, Musa Naval Training Station, airport runway take-off location.
JH-7A No. 89324 is ready to take off.
The pilot and second cameraman in the front cabin, Navy Captain Li Hai, and the first cameraman in the back cabin, CCTV reporter Zhuang Xiaoying. Zhuang Xiaoying adopted Li Hai's suggestion and used multiple sanitary napkins as diapers. However, she controlled her water intake before taking off. But after Li Hai found out, he forced her to take in enough water and gave her a bag of airline tickets. breakfast.
Li Hai checked the status of the fighter plane.
The aircraft is full of fuel, has three auxiliary fuel tanks, two air-to-air missiles on the wing tips, and a small reconnaissance pod. Only six of the eleven pylons are used, but the load is already very large. Under normal circumstances, the JH-7A only needs one auxiliary fuel tank on the heavy-duty pylon under the belly, which is enough to reach a range of 3,500 kilometers.
This time, because it was necessary to shoot enough pre-war preparations and the flight distance was nearly 4,000 kilometers, three auxiliary fuel tanks were mounted. In terms of weapons and ammunition, only two PL-9C combat missiles were mounted on the wingtip pylons.
The small reconnaissance pod is mounted on the left side of the front belly of the aircraft, located on the inside below the left air inlet. Its main purpose is to take omnidirectional photography, and the main range is below.
Li Hai focused on checking the fuel condition, especially the oil circuit condition of the auxiliary fuel tank.
At 0:00:00 on the 5th, the exercise headquarters issued orders to each support team, and the tower issued a takeoff order to Li Hai.
"Snowflake timed takeoff!"
The camera team of Li Hai and Zhuang Xiaoying were assigned the combat unit number "Snowflake". Li Hai couldn't figure out what it meant even if he racked his brain. Snow beer or cream?
Under normal circumstances, the naming codes of troops will have some regional characteristics, and the origin of "Snowflake" has no logic at all.
The nozzles of the two turbofan-9 engines expanded to their maximum diameter, bursting out with powerful thrust, pushing the 25-ton fighter aircraft into taxiing. The orange-red tail flame was very eye-catching.
Li Hai's movements were very conservative and he took off step by step. Firstly, he wanted to control fuel consumption, and secondly, he couldn't go fast even if he wanted to with a large load.
Zhuang Xiaoying felt that the push on her back was not as strong as yesterday afternoon. She held up the camera in her hand to take pictures from various angles. She also deliberately took several close-ups of Li Hai from back to front, but unfortunately she could not see his face.
The "Snowflake" Flying Leopard fighter jet rose from the ground, slowly turned to the right as it climbed, and adjusted its course from 180 to 360, pointing directly to the north.
At this time, the sea and air in the South China Sea were unusually quiet. The sea and airspace for the exercise had been declared closed to navigation and turned into a military control zone. No ships or aircraft were allowed to intrude. Otherwise, you will be responsible for all the consequences.
The Flying Leopard fighter jet was like a lone warrior. When the battle atmosphere became increasingly intense, it entered the exercise airspace alone and flew straight towards the first protagonist, the No. 16 aircraft carrier combat formation.
Thirty minutes later, Li Hai saw the No. 16 aircraft carrier combat formation that was sailing at full speed. He contacted the aircraft carrier flight control center and began photographing the formation while ensuring safety.
Zhuang Xiaoying quickly got into the mood. In the dark night, in order to achieve the best shooting effect, Li Hai closed the distance as much as possible and flew as low as possible. Perhaps because of the dark night, Zhuang Xiaoying didn't feel that such a distance was so dangerous.
Ten minutes later, aircraft carrier No. 16 began to release carrier-based fighter jets. Firstly, it was to cooperate with the shooting, and secondly, it was to test the troop's dispatch ability before the official start of the war.
Li Hai was excited. Seeing aircraft carrier No. 16 was like seeing home. New pilots coming out of Feisha Base must complete ship landing qualification certification. This work is performed on the No. 16 aircraft carrier.
There are two types of ship landing qualifications, day and night. Obtaining night ship landing qualifications means a big step towards becoming an all-weather carrier-based fighter pilot. If you only complete the daytime landing qualification certification, you can only fly during the day.
So far, as far as Li Hai knows, there are not many all-weather carrier-based fighter pilots. Only half of the members of the Fire Brigade commanded by Shi Leilei were qualified.
Li Hai maintained contact with the aircraft carrier flight control center and flew in a circle with the aircraft carrier as the center. The altitude was well controlled so that Zhuang Xiaoying could photograph the J-15 ski jump takeoff at night and at an appropriate distance and altitude. Screenshot of blocking the landing.
"Zizi, pay attention, Snowflake. The fighter plane will take off in one minute. Be careful not to intrude on the take-off route. Over." Aircraft Carrier Flight Control Center
"Snowflake received, over."
Li Hai turned south behind the No. 16 aircraft carrier, slowed down and flew levelly on the left side, and started a one-minute countdown.
When Li Hai was level with the aircraft carrier, the first J-15 ski-jumped and took off. Zhuang Xiaoying pressed the shutter continuously to take pictures. Before this, there had never been any footage of a carrier-based fighter jet taking off from an aerial perspective on the port side of an aircraft carrier.
Zhuang Xiaoying's eyes followed the J-15, and suddenly she saw Li Hai holding a camera with one hand and filming.
She was shocked and said subconsciously, "You can also take pictures?"
Li Hai said with a smile, "I took the first-hand images of the Sulawesi tsunami. When I was in school, my hobby was photography."
"No wonder!" The reason for Zhuang Xiaoying was that the head of the maritime administration said that he would arrange for an excellent shooter pilot to take her flying. It turned out to be an excellent photographer.
Li Hai operated the joystick with one hand and called the aircraft carrier flight control center, "Mothership, Snowflake applies for rotation and re-enters the shooting route, completed."
"Snowflakes can turn around and enter the shooting route, complete."
After the aircraft carrier flight control center confirmed the route of the "Snowflake" Flying Leopard fighter jet after turning around, it began to release the second J-15. Because Li Hai is within the approach range of the aircraft carrier, as long as there is a turning movement, it will definitely invade the take-off route of the carrier-based fighter jets. In the dark night, to ensure that no mid-air collision accident occurs, every step must be very cautious.
Li Hai's flying skills made the work of the commanders at the aircraft carrier flight control center very easy, and every instruction was accurately executed.
Aircraft carrier No. 16 took off three J-15 carrier-based fighter jets in succession, mainly for filming. This is something that has only been done in recent years. Firstly, it is a need for publicity, and secondly, it is because the wallet is bulging and there are conditions to do better publicity work.
Each of these pictures shot from aerial angles is a blockbuster, which completely subverts the previous feeling of serious placement shooting.
A full hour was spent on the No. 16 aircraft carrier combat formation. Then, Li Hai turned west and flew west to the second mixed combat fleet participating in the exercise as planned.
When Li Hai adjusted his course to 270, two green camouflage-painted Su-30MK2s were in his nine-o'clock direction, about 30 nautical miles away, with a flying altitude of only 200 meters, flying towards his only path... …
