Changkong Fighter

Chapter 248 Amphibious Landing
With the gas turbines spinning at high speed and aided by barges, the Type 076 amphibious assault ship slowly departed from port.

Standing on the deck, Liu Jun watched the port recede into the distance, then turned his gaze to the location of the biological laboratory. What exactly did his superiors intend to do with Rupa?

However, none of this concerned him. His next task was to carry out his superiors' orders and successfully take over Saipan and Guam, two important hubs in the Pacific Ocean.

As the Ryukyu Islands receded into the distance behind him, Liu Jun turned his gaze to the vast ocean ahead. The fleet was sailing at cruising speed toward Guam, which would arrive in 3-4 days. After that, the American soldiers would pack their bags and relieve the University of Tokyo.

At that moment, most of the US military bases in the Asia-Pacific region were withdrawn, and military bases in Japan, South Korea and the Philippines would also withdraw one after another. The US began to shrink its front lines, retreating most of its troops to its homeland. The vacated military bases were basically taken over by the locals. However, before leaving, the US pulled off a big heist and collected a lot of "protection money".

In response, the University of Tokyo simply observed without saying anything. After all, the Americans had indeed protected them for a period of time over the years, and it was normal for them to want to recoup some costs before leaving.

The bow of the Type 076 cut through the sea, and the waves could not shake this steel behemoth. Liu Jun felt that the displacement of the warship under him could not be higher than that of the Liaoning.
A platoon of maintenance and ground crew members maintain and inspect Liu Jun's fighter jets every day to ensure they are ready to take off at any time.

Liu Jun flipped through the mission briefing, then a "Huh?" expression appeared on his face.

The US is already fabricating F22 engine thrust figures and nuclear submarine data, but why are they also fabricating battle reports?

To this day, there are still alien biological weapons on Saipan and Guam that have not been completely eradicated, and they are even fighting back and forth with the soldiers. Only the area around the base is a safe zone.

No wonder the US so cleanly and efficiently transferred the defense of the two islands to Tokyo University. It turns out they couldn't handle the alien biological weapons on the islands themselves, so they handed them over to Tokyo University. It's no surprise that the two Type 071 destroyers and one Type 076 destroyer in the fleet are involved.

This really requires a beach landing, but it's the kind of battle where you don't need to defend against the Americans, but rather withstand alien firepower.

However, the higher-ups also value these two islands. These two islands are like two horns to each other. With Dongfeng Express on them, the entire Western Pacific will be under Dongda's sphere of influence.

Despite saying that, Liu Jun still took out the Dark Sword's technical manual and started reading it.

This was the first time Liu Jun had ever participated in a manned-unmanned coordinated operation. He needed to understand the performance and limits of the Dark Sword drones in order to make the right judgments on the battlefield and send them to perform the tasks they were capable of.

You wouldn't believe it until you see it. Looking at the Dark Sword's performance parameters, in terms of maneuverability alone, it has surpassed manned aircraft. Moreover, the EODAS system covering the entire fuselage and the added laser search radar allow it to have 360° situational awareness without blind spots.

It can perceive, adapt, make decisions on its own, and even anticipate the opponent's predictions.

This reminded Liu Jun of two "Go-playing robots," where if one robot makes the first move, the other immediately concedes defeat, and the human has no idea what happened.

That's how the Dark Sword drone works. As soon as the opponent makes a move, it can predict the opponent's next move and then counterattack step by step.

However, the Dark Sword UAV also has a major flaw: due to its airframe design, its internal fuel is insufficient to sustain it. In long-range combat, especially when WVR combat is required, the internal fuel is consumed rapidly, and its endurance is not as good as Liu Jun's twin-engine heavy fighter.

After thinking for a moment about how to counter these Dark Sword drones, I realized that the only way was to utilize the J-15T's excellent production capacity and endurance to tow the Dark Swords, consume fuel, and repeatedly pull them together, ultimately winning by controlling the internal fuel consumption.

It's not that he can't take a chance; the most important thing in air combat is to use your own advantages to suppress the opponent. *Click!* Closing the thick technical manual, Liu Jun glanced at the clock on the table. It was almost 10 PM. He went to the washroom to quickly wash up and then lay down on the bed to fall into a deep sleep.

Two days passed quickly. On the third day, as the sun rose in the east, Liu Jun changed into his new anti-G suit and walked toward his fighter jet in the hangar.

"Major Liu, your machine is ready."

"clear."

Ground crew used a trailer to transport the J15T to the elevator. Liu Jun and the J15T stood on the elevator, and as the yellow warning light came on, the elevator slowly rose towards the deck.

With a clang, the elevator locked, and the deck trailer clamped onto the J15T's landing gear, pulling the Flying Shark into the deck's maintenance area.

The maintenance crew quickly pushed the ammunition cart to the Flying Shark to load the ammunition, while Liu Jun went up the boarding stairs and sat in the cockpit.

The pods filled with small-diameter missiles are mounted on the pylons below the air intakes of the J-15T. The fuselage continues to be fitted with cannon pods, the inner wing pylons are fitted with air-to-air missile dispensers, the outer wing pylons are fitted with PL-15A missiles, and the wingtip pylons are fitted with two standard PL-10 air-to-air missiles.

As soon as the instruments were powered on, Liu Jun immediately felt that this J-15T was an upgrade from the previous one. The cockpit canopy was completely digital, sensors were installed inside the fuselage skin, and the lidar on the bow had also been upgraded, with faster search speed and a wider range.

The radar only has a receiver and no transmitter, which is probably to facilitate IFF identification.

In short, it completely changed the design concept, abandoned everything that existed, and was a weapon specifically designed to deal with alien civilizations.

After refueling was completed, the ammunition electrical connections were normal, and there were no problems with the external skin, the J-15T was moved into the launch position, and the nose landing gear was connected to the electromagnetic catapult.

This was Liu Jun's second time experiencing electromagnetic catapults. Looking outwards at the ship's hull, he noticed that unlike the Fujian ship's wide deck, the Sichuan ship's deck was smaller, and the wingtips of the J15T were about to protrude from the flight deck.

In the maintenance area behind Liu Jun, two Dark Sword UAVs were also being loaded with ammunition. They did not carry any medium- or long-range missiles; all of them were small-diameter missiles. After the GSH30-1 cannons they carried were loaded, the maintenance crew removed the fuel lines, and the two Dark Swords entered takeoff preparation.

Before takeoff, Liu Jun conducted a final inspection of the aircraft.

Under the rising sun, the orange-yellow sunlight shone on the deck of the Sichuan aircraft carrier. The twin vertical tails of the J15T moved left and right, and the ailerons moved up and down, exuding an eagle-like aura. The aircraft carrier awaited the opportunity to launch its catapult.

Amidst the surging waves, the ground crew found an opportunity to eject. With the "go" gesture, Liu Jun placed his hands on the canopy, and the J-15T, propelled by the electromagnetic catapult, was launched off the deck with a whoosh. He then quickly took control of the aircraft and pulled back on the stick.

The J15T took off from the deck, dipped downwards, and then flew nose up toward the rising sun.

(End of this chapter)