The rise of a great power: starting with military industry

Chapter 640: The First Flight of the J-10 Fighter

Chengfei flight test station.

Today is the first flight day of the J-10 fighter jet.

The maiden flight ceremony was very grand, with many important leaders and guests attending.

To this end, Chengfei also did a lot of preparatory work and built a temporary viewing stand on site.

As early as ten days ago, the special security department took over the security work here.

The weather is good today, with clear skies, which is very suitable for the first flight of the J-10 fighter jet. It seems that God has opened his eyes.

The maiden flight of the J-10 fighter jet will surely go down in the history of aviation, so it must be successful and cannot fail.

In order to ensure that everything goes well, the J-10 fighter jet research and development team made very careful arrangements.

The test pilots were "test flight hero" Huang Bingxin, who was the test pilot for the J-10 fighter jet's 01 prototype; Tang Liangang, who was the test pilot for the 02 prototype; and Zhang Hai, who was the test pilot for the 03 prototype.

At 8: in the morning, leaders and guests arrived one after another, and the scene became very lively.

Everyone is very happy. The first flight of the J-10 fighter jet is a milestone event for the Chinese Air Force. It will lead the Chinese Air Force a big step forward, including the naval aviation, because the J-10 fighter jet's customers are not only the Air Force, but also the Navy.

Since the introduction of the US F14, F15 and F16 fighter jets, as China has continuously adapted to these advanced fighter jets and tapped into the combat effectiveness of the third-generation fighter jets, no less than a hundred air confrontation exercises have been held in recent years. Everyone knows that the first- and second-generation aircraft are not enough to fight against the third-generation fighter jets.

China now has more than a hundred F14, F15, and F16 fighter jets, and its strength is not weak. However, China's airspace is so large that more than a hundred third-generation fighter jets are not enough to maintain the security of China's airspace.

A consensus has been reached that the J-6 will be gradually retired from active service, and those that can be exported will be sold, and those that cannot be exported will be sealed. The first few models of the J-7 will be sold if they can be exported, and those that cannot be exported will be sealed.

The improved J-7 and J-8 are the bottom layer of the Chinese Air Force, with larger numbers. Then there are the third-generation fighters, which are the top combat power of the Chinese Air Force.

This transitional situation will last for 10 to 20 years. After 20 years, the Chinese Air Force will be dominated by third-generation fighter jets.

Simply purchasing F14, F15, and F16 fighter jets is far from enough to meet China's needs, because China needs nearly a thousand third-generation fighter jets. Now, just relying on purchases, China will need to spend 300 to 500 billion US dollars.

China now focuses on economic development, and everything must give way to economic development.

The annual budget allocated by the state to the military is only about 20 billion.

The military budget approved by this year's National People's Congress is only 270 billion yuan!

This is not the military expenditure of the Air Force, but the military expenditure of the entire army.

It is estimated that the amount allocated to the Air Force is less than 50 billion RMB, and the Air Force simply does not have that much money to purchase American fighter jets.

In fact, because the price of American fighter jets has risen so sharply, China has not purchased fighter jets from the United States for several years.

Independent research and development has become the consensus reached above.

Just like tanks and armored vehicles, if China relied on buying them, it would be impossible for it to build a mechanized force. However, it was because Panshan Group was able to develop advanced tanks and armored vehicles and sell them to the army at a price close to cost that the army was able to build a semi-mechanized force in less than ten years.

Liu Tao accompanied his leader and was still in good health. He came today specially to attend the first flight ceremony of the J-10.

Near 9 o'clock, the J-10 fighter jet finally appeared. Three prototypes were dragged out of the hangar, and then a group of ground crew members surrounded it to conduct comprehensive inspections and pre-flight work.

Ever since the three J-10 fighter prototypes rolled off the assembly line, it does not mean that these three prototypes have remained in the hangar.

During this period, the three prototypes were taken out for taxiing many times. Before the plane was put into service, a series of evaluations would be conducted, and only if the evaluations showed that it was suitable for the maiden flight could it be carried out.

All the leaders and guests were very excited. The J-10 fighter jet was so beautiful, and it had a sci-fi feel and was also very domineering.

The J-10 fighter is a real fighter jet, which cannot be compared with the 'J-7A' and 'Eagle' advanced trainer aircraft.

After careful preparation, the first flight is finally about to begin.

The leader delivered an important speech, affirming the great progress made in the development of the J-10 fighter jet and wishing a successful maiden flight.

Other leaders also delivered speeches, their words full of joy.

The J-10 fighter jet is really too important!
China's skies need advanced fighter jets to maintain the security of its airspace.

Without airspace security, there can be no real security.

And now, the J-10 fighter jet is about to make its maiden flight. With its maiden flight, the J-10 fighter jet will not be far from being put into service.

Afterwards, Song Wencong and others personally signed the launch order. With everyone's instructions, the test pilots strode towards the three J-10 fighter prototypes.

After conducting a detailed inspection around the J-10 fighter jet and signing the handover with the ground crew, the three test pilots put on beautiful new helmets and entered the cockpit of the J-10 fighter jet.

This is a single-seat J-10 fighter, and the exact model should be the J-10A fighter!
Later, the J-10A fighter was improved and converted into a two-seater, which is the J-10B.

Unlike the improved models of J-7, J-8 and other fighter jets which use English serial numbers, the naming of future improved models of the J-10 fighter jet has been confirmed, which is to simply add letters at the end.

This was not the first time the three test pilots had sat in the plane. They had done taxiing tests many times before.

The J-10 fighter jet has very good maneuverability and they are all very confident.

The three test pilots looked at each other, nodded slightly in tacit understanding, and their eyes were extremely determined.

In the history of aviation development, almost all aircraft performance records and major technological breakthroughs were first achieved by test pilots. Any country that wants to build a strong aviation industry cannot do without an excellent team of test pilots.

Since the establishment of the first test flight unit of the Chinese Air Force in 1952, the birth of every new aircraft model of China has condensed the hard work of a generation of test pilots. They have used their blood, youth and even their lives to promote the continuous leapfrog development of China's aviation weapons and equipment.

A country without a strong air force is like a house with four walls but no roof.

Previously, some Western military experts predicted that "modernization of China's Air Force is impossible to achieve."

In order to achieve this goal, China Aviation Industry worked together with Air Force test pilots to catch up, and now China finally has an advanced third-generation fighter.

This significance exceeds that of the previous 'Eagle' advanced trainer!

They stood out from one test flight mission after another and were selected as the first batch of J-10 test pilots. It is an honor for them to serve as the test pilots for the first flight of the J-10 fighter.

Of course, flying a brand new fighter jet is very dangerous and they are risking their lives.

They have families, relatives, friends, wives and children, but for the sake of China's aviation industry and the Chinese Air Force, they sacrifice their small families for the sake of everyone.

They all reached a consensus yesterday that if something unfortunately went wrong, as long as the plane did not explode directly in the air, even if it crashed on the runway, they would fly the J-10 fighter prototype back.

Even death!
　Looking forward to the women's tennis final, come on Zheng Qinwen!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)