Back in 1978, I was admitted to Northwestern Polytechnical University.

Chapter 189 The Aircraft Carrier of the Crying Nation
Before we knew it, it was September, and the new semester was about to begin!
Countless students who entered Northwestern Polytechnical University (NPU) immediately saw the brand-new building of the Aeronautical Engineering Department and were filled with envy. However, teachers from other departments confidently assured them that their department's building would soon be under construction as well, and that NPU was not short of money.

As for Qin Liang's story, it quickly became a legend. Senior students sang his praises to the skies, calling him the number one genius at Northwestern Polytechnical University.

But... where is Senior Brother Qin Liang?

At the entrance of Class 5381, freshmen often appear, their curious eyes gazing at this magical class. Some even timidly ask the students inside, especially some female students who come with great admiration, yet they can never find Qin Liang.

Qin Liang had no time to see the achievements of his younger schoolmates. He boarded a brand-new Y-10 transport plane, fully loaded with the research team and technicians from Factory 132, and headed to the Weeping Country.

Many people say that the United States is on the other side of the earth to our east. Strictly speaking, this is not correct. If you were to go through the Earth's core and look directly at it, it would be South America. If we take a specific city, such as Hangzhou, it would be facing the Land of Tears.

Therefore, the distance is far!

It's over 10,000 kilometers to the United States and over 20,000 kilometers to the Weeping Country. No passenger plane can fly across such a distance in one go, so direct flights are impossible. In later generations, the East did not establish direct flight routes with the Weeping Country either, and transit was the only option.

There are many transit routes. To be on the safe side, I first flew from the East to Pakistan, then to Africa, and finally, in one go, to the Land of Tears!
If we only have the Y-10 transport aircraft, we only need to make one stop along the way. The key is that we also have the Super-7 fighter jets!
The subsequent large-scale shipments will definitely be shipped by ship. This first one needs to be flown over for a demonstration, so that the crying country can quickly pay the second installment, since they haven't paid much in deposit.

Long-haul flights also demonstrate the excellent performance of the Super-7. After completing this 20,000-kilometer flight, who would dare to say that the Super-7 is not mature?

The Weeping Country, Bad Congonia Naval Air Base.

The sea breeze blew fiercely, and the blue and white striped flag with the sun fluttered in the wind.

Beside the airport runway, a group of people stood still, dressed in crisp military uniforms, shielding their eyes from the sun as they looked eastward.

The roar finally came, and a large passenger plane resembling a Boeing 707 appeared in their field of vision, which immediately excited them.

The Y-10 is here!
Wait, there are five contrails, and behind them is... a small plane! Super 7 is here too!

Anaya exclaimed excitedly, "They're here! They're finally here! With these planes, our navy's strength will be greatly enhanced!"

“Yes, if these aircraft are easy to use, our air force should buy a batch!” Juan Domingo Pérez de Cuéllar said from the side.

In the Crying Kingdom, the navy holds a higher status than the air force. After all, the air force's mission is to assist the navy in gaining air superiority at sea. Moreover, Anaya and Castelli are staunch friends, while De Cuéllar is much weaker.

Hearing his words, Aranya nodded: "I think it's possible, the key is raising funds..."

In short, if the country has money, it will buy supplies for your air force; if the country doesn't have money, then you'd better wait and see!
In any case, the needs of the naval air force must be met first!
With a roar, the two planes landed one after the other. Manager Liu straightened his suit and was the first to step off the plane: "Mr. Anaya, we meet again. This time, we have brought you our most powerful fighter jets, which are powerful weapons for naval attacks!"

“We’ve been waiting ever since we placed the last order,” Anaya said with a broad smile. “Now, the first aircraft has finally arrived! We can’t wait to see its impressive performance in naval attacks!”

"Of course! If you need it, we can start preparations for an attack on the sea right now!"

"Okay, let's begin right away!"

Exhausted, Old Wang disembarked from the Super 7. Flying for so long was a major test for him. Of course, the most important thing was... he needed to find a toilet as soon as possible!

However, what follows is none of his business. There was more than one test pilot on board this time. Lu Guotang was sitting on the Y-10, full of energy. It was his turn to take the field!

The maintenance crew quickly took their positions and unloaded the missile boxes from the Y-10's cargo hold. After disassembling them, the red and white missile bodies appeared before everyone.

"Flying fish?" De Cuéllar asked.

"No, no, this is definitely not an Exocet missile, this is a C801 anti-ship missile produced in the East!"

The models used domestically all start with "Eagle Strike," while the export models need a new name, so that they are different from the models used by later manufacturers online and offline, and can be sold separately.

Looking at the young man who had spoken, De Cuéllar asked curiously, "What's the difference?"

"Of course, the difference is huge!" Qin Liang continued, "In terms of the warhead, our warhead is equipped with the most advanced onboard radar, and the antenna uses a flat panel slot, which has a search range that is 50% greater than that of the Exocet missile! The onboard computer is also the latest model, which can process data much faster... Simply put, once it's on our radar, it's doomed! By the way, what do we use as target ships?"

Planar slotted antenna! A technology that Europe hasn't yet mastered! It's already ubiquitous in the East, even on missiles!
"May 25th".

What?
Qin Liang didn't react: "What?"

"The outside world may not know that this day is our National Day, so our aircraft carrier is named after this date."

No, no, of course I know it's the name of an aircraft carrier, but... you actually used an aircraft carrier as a target ship?

"Gentlemen, our missiles are all real, not training missiles!"

"Couldn't it be programmed in advance to self-destruct at a certain distance?"

"Yes, it's possible, but..."

If something goes wrong and your aircraft carrier is sunk... we can't afford to pay for it!

"We believe that only on May 25th can we truly simulate the target, and with advanced radar equipment on board, what we need to do is have a real confrontation. We might even release radio jamming..."

"Okay, then we need to remove the missile's warhead first."

At this point, Qin Liang understood. After all, the hypothetical enemy was the British, who had aircraft carriers, the Invincible-class, which were about the same size as the Crying Country's, making them perfect for simulated combat exercises.

The other passengers on the same flight were deeply impressed. This was the style of a first-class power; after a long flight, they immediately conducted exercises. It was fortunate that their side was well-prepared, otherwise they would have been caught off guard. If we delve deeper, it's also possible that the other side wanted to use this method to deliberately test the Super-7's operational capabilities.

Let's show them the high-intensity combat capabilities of the Super 7!

Everyone quickly got to work.

Liu Qingmei, who came along and was in charge of anti-ship missile technical support, asked, "Liangzi, how should we choose the self-destruct time?"

"The last three seconds."

"Three seconds? Wouldn't that still result in a collision?"

"That's right, if they want to play, let them play something thrilling and exciting." Qin Liang smiled. Anyway, it's not like our aircraft carrier is being used as a target ship. Let them play like this!
“If we remove the warhead, the center of gravity of our missile will change, and we’ll have to find a replacement.”

How about filling it with half a bag of flour?

Half an hour later, two anti-ship missiles were mounted on the inner heavy-load pylons of the Super-7, two pointed missiles were mounted on the middle pylon, and two round-nosed short-range air-to-air missiles were mounted on the outermost pylon. Combined with an external fuel tank under the fuselage, the entire aircraft looked menacing.

"What is this?" De Cuéllar asked, pointing to the milky-white missile with the words SD-10 sprayed on it.

"Idiot Ten... cough cough, Lightning Ten, medium-range air-to-air missile."

The domestically produced copy of the Skyflash missile project was named the PL-10 missile. It uses a dual-pulse engine and its range is doubled. This copy of the original missile was named Lightning-10 and was mainly intended for export, since the Air Force didn't really care about it anyway.

Medium-range air-to-air missile! The air force and naval aviation personnel of the Crying Nation were stunned when they saw this missile.

"Your side also possesses such advanced air-to-air missiles?"

"Well, this missile is still under testing, so it's just a model on display," Qin Liang said. "We expect that in another year or two, after all testing is completed, your company can officially purchase it. Of course, you are one of the earliest customers to support our Super-7 project, so we will only sell it to you at cost price, a maximum of two hundred thousand US dollars per missile..."

"Shouldn't this be included in our aircraft purchase contract?" Anaya said, somewhat dissatisfied. "We've already bought so much equipment, and you still want more money?"

"The procurement contract at the time included our anti-ship missiles. We can give away these short-range air-to-air missiles directly, but medium-range air-to-air missiles are really not an option. Gentlemen, these missiles are currently the most advanced in the world, with overall performance far superior to the Sparrow missiles used by the Americans," Qin Liang said. "Not only are they resistant to jamming, but they also have look-down and fire-down capabilities. If the target is a piece of junk like the Sea Harrier, it will be a one-hit kill!"

Upon hearing the word "sea harrier," everyone present felt a surge of excitement.

Britain has long been in decline. Although they have carrier battle groups, they are only light carriers like the Invincible-class. The Sea Harrier vertical takeoff and landing fighters operated on them are rubbish in performance, lacking even medium-range air combat capability. They can only launch short-range air-to-air missiles, and their low flight speed makes them easy targets.

“Okay, we’ll buy it. We’ll buy a batch after your medium-range missile completes all its test launches!” Anaya nodded.

"Well, this missile will certainly not disappoint you. Now, is your carrier strike group ready? Please tell us the exact location..." Anaya smiled and said, "Well, it's in the waters near Falkland Islands, but the exact location will have to be determined by your reconnaissance."

Sure enough, none of the buyers in this world are easy to talk to! Qin Liang thought to himself, thankfully this Y-10 had been equipped with a complete airborne radar, and the radar antenna was larger, with a longer search range. We Easterners are true to our promises in business; what we promise, we deliver!
"Alright, then our Y-10 will take off first for reconnaissance!"

"We demand to ride the Y-10 together!"

"Of course, no problem. This aircraft is the first multi-functional transport aircraft built for you. It can refuel in the air, conduct maritime search and rescue, and transport personnel and equipment..."

"This used to be the business class area, but it has now been converted into the control and command center for the air and sea search radar. The radio equipment here can directly communicate with our Super-7 fighter jets. Of course, data link devices can be added later as needed." Qin Liang led everyone into the cabin and began to introduce the aircraft.

"Excellent, excellent! How far can this radar search for targets on the sea surface?" Anaya asked with great interest.

"Well, we'll find out once we take off and try it out."

Four Spey engines started up in succession, and with a roar, they took to the sky and flew straight toward the vicinity of the Falkland Islands. This island is only more than 500 kilometers away from the Crying Kingdom, but it is controlled by Britain, which is more than 10,000 kilometers away. For the Crying Kingdom, this is an absolute insult.

Thousands of meters in the air.

"Attention, prepare to activate the nose radar! PDS mode!"

A bright line appeared on the display screen.

"Because the radar is located on the nose of the aircraft, we can only search the area 65 degrees in front of the nose. PDS mode can only obtain target location information and cannot obtain any other parameters. However, in this mode, our radar has the longest search range," Qin Liang explained to everyone.

Pulse Doppler Search (PDS) is one of the most commonly used modes in airborne radar and represents the most advanced radar technology.

As they stared at the screen displaying the fan-shaped scan, a group of officers from the Weeping Kingdom widened their eyes.

The next moment, some bright spots appeared on the screen.

"Three waves of targets detected. Two of them consist of a single target, likely ordinary merchant ships. Only the target located in the southern waters of the Falkland Islands has a very large echo signal; this should be the fleet we are looking for."

"They discovered it so quickly!" The people of the Weeping Kingdom widened their eyes.

Anaya swallowed hard: "That one hundred million dollars was absolutely worth it!"

Carrier battle groups are behemoths at sea, but the ocean is even bigger! Therefore, the first major problem in naval warfare is how to detect the enemy!

During World War II, the navies of the United States and island nations frequently launched maritime patrol aircraft to search for each other's traces in the vast ocean. This was a combination of luck and perseverance. During the Cold War, reconnaissance satellites were introduced, but finding target carrier groups was still not easy. This was because the photos taken by reconnaissance satellites required the analysis of intelligence officers. If one were to take photos of the vast ocean, the number of intelligence officers needed would be astronomical.

It wasn't until later, with the advent of artificial intelligence, that the ability to automatically identify and search for aircraft carrier formations at sea became easier.

Of course, for the current crying country, having maritime patrol aircraft makes searching for targets much easier. If the other side wants to take back the Falkland Islands, it will have to stay within a hundred kilometers of the islands, because that's the combat radius of the Harriers there!

This maritime patrol aircraft can find its target simply by pointing its nose at the waters around the Falklands!
Wow, that's incredibly fast!

“We only have the target’s location information. How do we determine the target’s specific parameters?” De Cuéllar asked.

"That's easy. Now that we've determined the direction of the target, let's fly in that direction and then switch to PDSTT mode!"

PDSTT, Pulse Doppler Single Target Tracking Mode, is a mode in which the radar beam hits the target, resulting in the strongest reflected signal and the most information obtained!
As you switch modes, the data is displayed on the screen.

"Target distance: 200 kilometers, location..."

"Gentlemen, let's double-check with your side. If it is indeed your carrier strike group, then we will call in the Super-7 fighter jets for takeoff!"

Anaya nodded: "Okay, not bad. Next, let's enjoy the amazing performance of the Super 7 fighter jet!"

The air base in Patagonia.

"Y-10 maritime patrol aircraft calling Super-7, Y-10 maritime patrol aircraft calling Super-7, target detected, location coordinates..."

"Super 7 received!" Lu Guotang, who was already sitting in the cockpit waiting, received the message, quickly entered the target coordinates into the airborne navigation system, and then, with the help of ground crew, closed the canopy and started the engine.

Next, let's see how Super Seven performs!

With the roar of the engine, the Super 7 taxied and took off in one smooth motion. Although it was fully loaded, it only taxied for less than a kilometer before taking off into the sky.

Ground radar was also closely tracking the aircraft, and almost everyone was waiting for its spectacular performance.

Waves rise and fall on the sea.

It's summer in the Northern Hemisphere and winter in the Southern Hemisphere, so never post on social media about vacationing in the Southern Hemisphere in the summer; you'll only embarrass yourself instead of showing off.

Winter in the Land of Crying is also extremely volatile.

A fierce wind swept through the sea, and the waves surged. The May 25th, with a full load displacement of nearly 20,000 tons, was also rocking back and forth in the waves.

On the aircraft carrier's bridge, Captain Guillermo held onto the handrail, his body swaying from side to side with the bridge.

"What terrible weather."

"Yes, in this kind of weather, our aircraft carrier simply can't launch A4 attack aircraft." Carrier Air Wing Commander Garcia also looked helpless. "This is not suitable weather for fighting. By the way, will the Easterners really come?"

"We received a message from the air force base half an hour ago that the Super-7 fighter jet has taken off. If they haven't flown to the wrong location, they should be about 200 kilometers away from our aircraft carrier now."

"Two hundred kilometers? Then why didn't our radar detect anything?"

"Well, who knows? Maybe they flew in the wrong direction? After all, they've never been to this area before, so it's understandable if they flew in the wrong direction."

The sky, on the Y-10 aircraft.

"Using the curvature of the Earth to evade enemy radar detection at extremely low altitudes is already a very common method. For adversaries without advanced carrier-based early warning aircraft, this method is a sure kill."

"That's right, your pilots are very skilled. They switched to low-altitude flight when they were 200 kilometers away from the target. That altitude should only be about 100 meters, right?"

"Yes, the waves are a bit high today, so we'll fly at an altitude of about 100 meters first. When we're about 100 kilometers from our target, we'll lower the altitude to 50 meters and fly the last few dozen kilometers... Of course, I also believe that your pilots are capable of this..."

One hundred meters is already quite low for a fighter jet. At this moment, in the cockpit of the Super 7, Lu Guotang was calmly piloting the plane forward. The sea was crashing in, and the giant waves seemed ready to crash over at any moment and smash his plane to pieces, but... he didn't care.

Actually, this kind of weather is better because... there are no seabirds!
The airborne inertial navigation system showed that he was getting closer and closer to the target, 150, 100... He pushed the control stick again to descend, 50 meters!
The lower the altitude, the closer the enemy's radar will detect you!
Ninety, eighty, fifty...

Finally, we reached the designated location! Lu Guotang engaged afterburner, and with the roar of the tail engine, he pulled the control stick, and the fighter jet began to climb rapidly—two hundred meters, three hundred meters, five hundred meters!
When he climbed to an altitude of 500 meters, he pushed the control stick and began to dive. Inside the nose of the aircraft, the flat panel slotted radar antenna emitted strong electromagnetic waves, scanning the entire sea area and immediately detecting several echoes.

When his fighter jet once again descended to an ultra-low altitude of fifty meters, the onboard computer had completed all the firing parameters calculations and input them into the missile. At this point, the distance to the target was only thirty kilometers.

emission!

Two C801 missiles detached from the wings and began to fall. When it was 20 meters above the sea, the rocket engine at the tail ignited, and two plumes of white smoke appeared on the sea surface. It continued to descend to 15 meters and, under the cover of the waves, flew toward the target!

Lu Guotang glanced at the two bright lines on the sea, pulled the lever and steered. Mission accomplished, time to return!

Yun-10.

“Low-altitude penetration over the sea is a common tactic. Although it can covertly approach the enemy, it also makes it impossible to locate the target. Therefore, at a suitable distance, it is necessary to create conditions for the airborne radar to lock onto the target by pulling up and diving. The shorter this time, the lower the risk of exposure, but the higher the requirements for the airborne equipment.”

“Indeed, your technology is truly advanced. The entire process from pull-up to dive takes only about ten seconds. Even if the enemy radar rotates six times per minute, it can only detect it once. By the second time the radar turns around, the target has disappeared, and they will only think it is clutter.” De Cuéllar exclaimed with great emotion, “Choosing equipment from the East was the right decision! Our air force should also purchase a batch of Super-7s!”

"Now, I don't know if the fleet has detected these two incoming missiles." By now, Anaya was starting to worry. Although he had come up with the whole plan, he also hoped to catch the fleet off guard. However, thinking that the fleet belonged to him, he felt a pang of heartache and didn't want to be hit, otherwise it would mean that their navy was too weak!
　PS: The illustration is of an aircraft carrier on May 25th.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)