The strongest pilot ever

Chapter 77

77 Ballooning

Chen Fei's words made the atmosphere in the control tower tense up.

If that's really an extraterrestrial scout balloon, then... there's some trouble.

The commander picked up the microphone and asked, "Guailiang, are you sure it's a reconnaissance balloon?"

"Sure!" Fade Chen replied: "Control Tower, I request a closer observation!"

"You can observe, pay attention to controlling the distance, and pay attention to safety."

"understand!"

Fade Chen carefully drove the plane over, took a few careful look, and reported on the encrypted channel: "Tower, the target is a powered unmanned balloon, which may be powered by solar energy. There is no mark on the target, and the identity cannot be confirmed. , but my intuition tells me that this is an alien high-altitude reconnaissance balloon."

"." There was a sudden silence in the encrypted channel.

Fade Chen knew that the control tower was confirming more accurate information.

He steered the plane carefully.

Since there is no reference object in the sky, especially in the cloudless situation, it is impossible to judge the relative relationship of the target, let alone the distance, so Fade Chen can only choose to follow the target by identifying it with the naked eye.

After a while, about seven or eight seconds, there was still no response from the control tower, so Fade Chen could only say: "Tower, the balloon is about to exceed the ceiling of the fighter jet, please shoot him down, over!"

The balloon flew higher and higher, Fade Chen estimated that it would not take long for the altitude to exceed 20000 meters.

But his J-17000C has only a ceiling of [-] meters.

As a fighter jet, the J-10C has its own performance deficiencies, and its practical ceiling is only 17000 meters at most.

But high-altitude balloons can fly more than 20000 meters.

The J-10C thought that it would have to take a lot of risks to reach such a height, first dive to speed up and then pull up.

Moreover, after exceeding 17000 meters, the air is very thin and the oxygen content is not enough, aviation gasoline will burn incompletely, and it is very likely that the engine will stop or enter a stall spiral state.

Both of these states are very dangerous, because the J-10 is a single-engine fighter without dual-engine redundant power, and once it stops, it will crash.

At this time, the voice of the commander finally sounded in the tower: "Turn two or two, you are allowed to shoot down, but are you sure? Your height is very dangerous now, the high-altitude balloon has exceeded the ceiling of the fighter jet, please report your method !"

"Tower, I'm sure! I'll dive first to gain speed, and then use the inertia to rush up!" Fade Chen replied, with concise sentences but full of confidence.

"Bring two or two, use missiles to shoot down the high-altitude balloon!"

"Understood!" Fade Chen replied.

It would be the best if you can use aerial cannons. Aircannons are cheap. How many cannons can you buy for one missile?
But at this time, the height of the high-altitude ball is too high, which has exceeded 17000 meters. At this height, the atmosphere is very thin. If the aircraft gun is used, the recoil will have a huge impact on the fighter. In addition, the smoke generated by the aircraft gun is likely to be inhaled. engine, causing the engine to stall.

Moreover, the range of aerial guns is generally about 2000 meters, and the effective range of 10 meters in the air will be further shortened. Such a distance is just a few seconds at the speed of the J-[-], and the target object must be completed within a few seconds. The shooting is a bit overwhelming.Because the shooting of the plane's cannon is not as simple as a sniper shooting a distant target, the plane itself is moving at high speed, and the balloon is also moving above the plane, so Chen Fei has to shoot at an elevation angle, and the hit rate is basically zero.

In addition, the signals of reconnaissance equipment such as balloons are transmitted back in real time. If the cannon cannot be shot down, it will allow it to enter the defensive airspace to detect intelligence, which is not worth the loss.

Although missiles are expensive, they are not worth mentioning compared to fighter planes and pilots, so it is very wise to use missiles to shoot down balloons.

The Thunderbolt 10 advanced short-range combat air-to-air missile equipped with the J-10C is the first air-to-air missile of our army to reach the world's top level at the same time!
It has an excellent high-mobility design and uses advanced infrared thermal imaging guidance technology, which can effectively distinguish between real enemy aircraft targets and infrared decoys. It can cooperate with the Chinese-developed helmet sights worn by pilots to "see where to shoot".

In order to effectively fight against modern high-mobility targets, the Thunderbolt 10 missile adopts advanced aerodynamic design, equipped with thrust vectoring technology, and has extremely high overload.It is at the same level as the most advanced AIM-9X "Sidewinder" missile in the United States, and it is difficult for active fighter jets from various countries to escape its pursuit.

The Thunderbolt 10 adopts a normal aerodynamic layout, with the long strip wings that provide lift at the front and the control rudder at the rear. This design has a high lift-to-drag ratio.

In the past, the canard layout of Thunderbolt 5 and Thunderbolt 8 missiles, although the lift of the rudder surface was large, the induced resistance generated by the rudder surface was also large, resulting in a lower lift and drag than the normal aerodynamic layout of the whole missile.

In addition, the normal aerodynamic layout of Thunderbolt 10 can use a large angle of attack. By effectively utilizing the lift generated by the projectile body, the total lift force of the entire projectile is further improved.Coupled with the thrust vectoring technology, not only the maneuverability at low altitude and the initial stage is very good, but also the maneuverability at high altitude and deceleration stage is also guaranteed.

The excellent design of the J-10C will inevitably have a great positive effect on air defense interception operations.Its latest active phased array radar has a generational improvement in performance, surpassing the level of fighter radars in service in my country and most countries in the world.Equipped with a fixed-installed advanced infrared detector, it effectively becomes an auxiliary detection method for radar.This is of great benefit to the detection of various complex targets including super high altitude balloons.The fire control system can control the latest Thunderbolt 15 and Thunderbolt 10, two main air-to-air missiles, and its hard lethality far exceeds the combination of various fighter jets and missiles in the past.The electronic warfare system is more advanced and has a strong soft-kill capability.

Although the super-high-altitude balloon is an "old friend" that our army has fought for decades, and its technical content is not too high, it is still a difficult opponent - its height exceeds the normal flying height of fighter jets, making it difficult for fighter jets to Intercept at the same height.

In the past, when our J-6 fighter jets used machine guns to attack, they had to carry out dangerous jump attacks. The success rate was low, and the jumping fighters could easily enter a dangerous spiral state.

With the help of J-10C and Thunderbolt 10 air-to-air missiles, dealing with these targets has become much easier.

After getting permission from the control tower, Fade Chen dived with the pressure lever and pushed the throttle lever to quickly increase the speed of the fighter.

He watched the airspeed indicator and altimeter intently, and when the data reached the estimated position in his mind, he immediately leveled up, and then pulled the lever to let the fighter jet rush towards the location of the scout balloon.

After arriving at the predetermined location, Fade Chen powered on the missile, and then locked on to the target. Soon, he pressed the launch button, and the air-to-air missile carried by the left wing of the J-10C was launched, soaring towards the distant target, instantly destroying the white balloon.

boom--

The high-altitude reconnaissance balloon exploded instantly.

Chen Fei immediately leveled the plane, and then lowered the altitude by pressing the lever.

When the plane reached about 10000 meters and the state was stable, Fade Chen reported: "Tower, the target is destroyed, the mission is completed, please return!"

"Take two or two, and you are allowed to return!"

"understand!"

(End of this chapter)