Great Power Fighting Falcon

The weather was not good, with some light rain falling in the low altitude. The visibility was acceptable. The situation would be much better once we climbed above the clouds. A layer of clouds about one thousand meters thick formed a barrier between 3,000 and 5,000 meters above sea level, dividing the sky into two layers.

This situation is so common that even civil aviation pilots don't take it seriously, let alone air force pilots.

Li Zhan flew along the air route, left the five-sided airspace of the tourist airport, climbed to an altitude of 12,000 meters, and flew southward at a subsonic cruising speed of 1,000 kilometers per hour.

Emergency remote support is today's test flight subject, and the purpose is to evaluate the J-16's capabilities in this area. Generally speaking, there are not many times when the second echelon is needed in air combat, especially in the case of low-intensity armed confrontation. If it is used, it means that the situation is very urgent.

In an air situation many years ago, when the second echelon was still on its way to the mission airspace, the first-line fighter plane failed its mission, resulting in serious losses.

In terms of such emergency remote support missions, the core of the second echelon is to be fast and rush to the mission airspace in the shortest possible time. Obviously no one is as fast as Li Zhan.

At 8:15 a.m., Guangzhi officially issued the order. Li Zhan immediately opened the afterburner throttle and pushed it all the way to the Nanhai Airspace No. 13. He wished he was flying a variable-sweep wing fighter so that he could move the wings back. Flying at high speed. He is a firm supporter of the theory that speed wins, and his understanding of speed is even deeper. As long as the speed is fast enough, there is no problem in this world that cannot be solved.

It not only tests the J-16's long-range supersonic flight capabilities, but also poses a great challenge to the fighter's high-intensity combat performance.

Nanhai Airspace No. 13 is a full 1,800 kilometers away from the Zhongnan Field Station. The J-16's technical parameters show that the aircraft's maximum combat radius is 2,000 kilometers. In fact, Li Zhan's crew did not have much time to stay in the air in the mission airspace.

J-16 No. 1616 flies at an altitude of 12,000 meters. Below it is a dense civil aviation route. Especially when passing through the Pearl River Delta region of Guangdong Province, it once had to climb to 13,000 meters. This avoids many civil aviation flights passing through the area.

After flying away from the land, you can clearly see that the weather at low altitude has improved significantly. When you look down, you can see the blue sea surface, and the white tracks left by the navigation of large ships are very eye-catching. Both Li Zhan and Chen Fei were familiar with this airspace and sea. It used to be that when he was serving in the Second Division, he often visited here on combat readiness duty. It was in this airspace that Li Zhan conducted his third temporary confrontation drill with the Hainan Airlines simulated blue army. . Although there are no markers, the familiar longitude and latitude still make Li Zhan feel like he is revisiting his old place.

Perhaps it was his subconscious mind that was at work. Li Zhan seemed to find that compared to the colorful land, the pure sea and sky interested him more.

"My patrol fighter planes in South China Sea Airspace No. 13 have sent out an emergency request for help and ordered your aircraft to carry out support operations. You must arrive at the target airspace within an hour!"

The background of the simulated mission was that our two normal combat-ready patrol fighters encountered an emergency and were trapped in a tight siege during the process of driving away the Blue Army task force. Guangzhi immediately ordered the coastal front-line stations to emergency take off long-range fighters and rush to the target airspace for support. Such simulation training tasks are very common and very simple. The staff of the Military Training Department can draw up a similar training plan in just a few minutes after picking up a pen.

However, the situation faced by Li Zhan's crew is different, because the aircrew will adjust the mission background at any time through extensive guidance and make questions at any time based on the specific performance of the No. 1616 J-16 fighter. The person who presents the question on behalf of the aviation department is Zhang Chongming's team at the Central and South Tower. They will formulate new mission requirements based on relevant technical requirements to test the J-16 fighter's ability to complete the mission.

In other words, Li Zhan's crew will face new problems that arise randomly.

This kind of test flight is very practical, so it is named the "War" plan. Soldiers can train how they want to fight, and develop what kind of weapons they want to fight. This is a new trend in the development of national defense weapons and equipment.

The plan was quite rigorous. When Li Zhan ran at supersonic speed to a position more than a hundred kilometers away from the target airspace, he received a call from a patrol fighter plane. The one that really has a patrol aircraft is a modified Jiyun-8 maritime long-range patrol aircraft, a Gaoxin No. 33 aircraft that is more than ten years old.

Gaoxin No. 33 has no defensive capabilities, so it needs emergency support.

"Experiment Yaoliu, this is Gaoxin 33, radio positioning, please hurry up, we are surrounded, over!" The call of the radio operator of Gaoxin 33 was relatively calm, but the content of the call made Li Zhan very anxious.

Li Zhan turned on the afterburner again and replied: "Gaoxin Sansan, hold on for five more minutes, five minutes, it's over!"

Immediately, he said to Chen Fei, "Check the weapon system."

"Understood, check the weapon system." Chen Fei repeated the instruction and quickly checked the weapon system.

This is standard procedure, and it does not mean that they are ready to fight. Besides, they only mounted four air-to-air training bombs, and the cannons had no shells, so they couldn't fight even if they wanted to.

Chen Fei reminded, "The afterburner is turned on two hundred and twenty-one seconds earlier. Pay attention to the engine status."

The J-16 is a professional fighter-bomber. The weapons operator and second pilot in the rear cabin are responsible for weapons operation and are also responsible for alerting the pilots in the front cabin of dangers.

This way we flew at supersonic speed, but the J-16 does not have supersonic cruise, so in order to achieve the entire supersonic flight, we must turn on the afterburner. However, the afterburner cannot be turned on continuously. We must strictly follow the requirements to control the use time. Like skills there is a cooldown. Failure to use it in accordance with regulations will accelerate the life of the engine.

Li Zhan said, "There is no problem with the Taihang modification. I have done many tests in Beiku and it is more durable than the Russian-made AL-31F."

"Understood." Chen Fei had already prepared himself mentally. Flying with Li Zhan was definitely like dancing on the edge of a knife, and what's more, he was flying a fighter plane that had not yet been finalized.

The most important thing is that no matter how personal the relationship between them is, it can't change Chen Fei's understanding of Li Zhan - this is a man who was once called the Mad Dog of the South China Sea. It's a joke to want him to behave himself.

It is precisely because of this that Li Zhan is the best candidate for the actual test flight of the J-16 at this time.

The No. 1616 J-16, which had already consumed less than half of its fuel, moved more easily, and its airspeed increased under the same thrust. More than fifty kilometers away from the target airspace, Li Zhan pressed the lever and dived at supersonic speed, and his airspeed continued to increase. Li Zhan's calculations were very accurate. When he dived to a sea height of 3,000 meters, he could just meet the Gaoxin No. 33, which was circling irregularly at low altitude.

Chen Fei discovered that Li Zhan's flying skills had reached a level where it was difficult for him to see the limits - even though he was only performing simple controls while flying all the way, many details could reflect a large amount of information in the eyes of a senior pilot.

"We will arrive at the battlefield in ten seconds. Please help me pay attention to the situation in the rear hemisphere!" Li Zhan gave the order.

Chen Fei replied decisively: "Understood!"

"Gaoxin Sansan, I'll be there in ten seconds!"

The No. 1616 J-16 fighter-bomber in light gray low-visibility paint dives toward the sea through the clouds like a hungry wolf...