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

Chapter 430 The Unsettled Sakhalin Island

Near Sakhalin Island, the USS Kitty Hawk carrier strike group.

On the sea, the wind and waves were quite large. A C-2 Greyhound transport plane, guided by a Fresnel lens, approached the aircraft carrier's landing area.

With a short, stubby fuselage, a high-wing monoplane, two propeller engines, and a unique four-bladed vertical tail, it is otherwise no different from the E-2 carrier-based early warning aircraft, except for the lack of a large disc on the top.

That's right, this is a transport aircraft modified from the E-2 early warning aircraft platform, specifically designed to transport supplies to aircraft carriers. It can carry more than ten tons of cargo at a time, and its flight speed is faster than that of a helicopter. Since entering service in the 1960s, it has been the most loyal mail carrier for US carrier strike groups.

Boom!
The wheels slammed onto the deck and continued to slide forward, catching the arresting cable. The enormous impact made everyone in the cabin want to leap forward, but they were restrained by their seatbelts.

"How are you all feeling, teachers and students? The landing of these carrier-based aircraft is always very powerful," Ben Richie asked with concern from inside the cockpit.

"It's alright. Have we arrived?" Liu Weiguo, a teacher from the Department of Electronic Engineering at Northwestern Polytechnical University, asked. Although it was the first time everyone had experienced this, they were already mentally prepared.

Arresting landing devices? What's so special about that? Our Department of Mechanical Engineering at Northwestern Polytechnical University has already built several arresting landing devices. We can easily hook onto aircraft weighing over ten tons!
"That's right, everyone has landed on the USS Kitty Hawk, the most powerful aircraft carrier in the U.S. Navy. Currently, the carrier is sailing in waters 100 kilometers east of Sakhalin Island. You..."

"We need a separate compartment on the bridge that no one can enter without our permission. This compartment needs to have portholes to meet our antenna requirements. In the process, we may encounter electromagnetic interference, and various radar equipment on the aircraft carrier may need to be shut down... These conditions have been discussed in advance. Have you made the arrangements?"

"Of course everything is arranged! My captain's cabin is for your use!" A voice rang out from below: "Hello, I am Captain William Bollinger. Welcome, friends from the East!"

Soviet aircraft carriers, with island superstructures as large as amphibious assault ships, always prioritized comfort; officers of all ranks wanted to live on board. Carrier-based aircraft? It didn't matter; the Soviets simply called these warships heavy aircraft-carrying cruisers.

American aircraft carriers, on the other hand, have small island superstructures, leaving as much deck space as possible for carrier-based aircraft.

The island superstructure needs to house the air bridge, navigation bridge, and even the command bridge, as it needs to accommodate various equipment. Therefore, there isn't much space left for personnel to live in.

The largest of these is the Fleet Commander's Suite, which has a living room, a private bathroom, and an area of ​​nearly 100 square meters. His living room also has a corner sofa and a large table, and he usually holds meetings here.

The captain's living quarters were only about fifty square meters, with a sofa, a table, and a private bathroom, but there were no partitions.

The carrier air wing commander and pilots were not allowed to come up; they all lived on the lower deck of the island superstructure.

The first mate also lived on the island superstructure. The room, about ten square meters, was filled with a bed, a desk, and a wardrobe.

The fact that the captain is willing to vacate his room for the guests shows how much he values ​​them. After all, even if their fleet were to launch EA-6B electronic warfare aircraft, they would still be unable to eavesdrop on the Russians' radio communications.

This is only possible by relying on more advanced Eastern technology!

Although Sakhalin Island is only about 40 kilometers from the island nation's mainland, the most important issue now is the salvage operation at sea! It is clear that the passenger plane crashed in the waters east of Sakhalin Island, and the salvage vessels are also in the waters east of Sakhalin Island. The US aircraft carrier group has moved here to better monitor the other side's communications.

Of course, there are dangers involved. After all, it's only 100 kilometers from Sakhalin Island, and planes from the island could take off at any time, and missiles could fly over at any moment. This is an extremely dangerous sea area, but...

We absolutely cannot let the Russians salvage any useful wreckage, even if it means an accidental discharge of a weapon!

“Mr. Bollinger, thank you for your support. Now, please have your people move all the equipment we brought into your room,” Liu Weiguo said.

If it were anyone else, they would be overjoyed to be on an American aircraft carrier and even have a chance to enter the captain's cabin. But Northwestern Polytechnical University students are born with a kind of pride and would never be flattered just because they are here. We were invited by the Americans, and we are here to help the Americans solve problems that they cannot solve!
The large ships stood tall and walked onto the island superstructure, followed by boxes of equipment carried up by American soldiers.

In the captain's cabin, the top-secret documents had been cleared out, leaving only some furniture. Students from Northwestern Polytechnical University began to get busy, setting up various equipment and extending antennas out through the portholes. Ten minutes later, they turned on the power.

Complex waveforms appeared on the computer screen.

Inside the fleet commander's suite.

"Hmph, they'll never know that we've installed hidden cameras to monitor their every move!" William Bollinger said with a chuckle.

"Yes, we should find a way to keep this equipment for us to study. And, it would be best to keep all these people here too!" Fleet Commander Thomas Muller said. "These are our most valuable assets, our best talents. They should be going to America!"

“Yes, we must perform well during this time and demonstrate the strength of the United States, hoping that they will stay because of it.” William Bollinger nodded.

"They're conducting... real-time spectrum analysis!" Just then, Joseph Oko, the fleet's electronic warfare expert sitting in front of the monitor, suddenly shouted, "This means the other side is using frequency-hopping radios. How is that possible? With Soviet technology, it's impossible for them to have mastered frequency-hopping technology!"

The camera was pointed directly at the large table in the captain's cabin. Three Loongson computers were already placed on it as terminals. Based on the wavy lines on the screen, Ao Ke knew that this was RTSA, or Real-Time Spectrum Analysis, which was the first step in analyzing the frequency-hopping radio.

"Could their tools analyze our U.S. military's frequency-hopping radios?" Mueller also became worried.

The technology of the East is too advanced. If they can decipher the US Navy's frequency-hopping radio in a short period of time, then... wouldn't that mean that the US military's radio communications will no longer be any secret?
terrible!

"We probably won't have that capability in the short term. If we upgrade our system, for example, by changing the frequency hopping order every day, it should be impossible for the other side to crack it. After all, just keeping up with the frequency hopping order is not easy, and it takes a lot of time... Wait a minute!"

Oko's eyes widened as he stared at the screen. The dotted lines represented the frequency hopping of the target, while the solid lines represented his own frequency hopping. These two lines... seemed to have overlapped, which meant... the other side had deciphered the frequency hopping pattern of the Russian frequency-hopping radio?
This...isn’t this too fast?
"Oko, what's wrong?"

"I'd like to zoom in a bit..."

This was dangerous, but he had to do it. As the image zoomed in, he saw the specific data on the other person's screen.

“Fifty hops per second is just the most basic frequency hopping setting. Our technology can already reach over a thousand hops per second.” Oko breathed a sigh of relief.

"A thousand times? That means they only need twenty times the time to analyze it?" Muller was still uneasy.

"No, no, the difficulty increases exponentially with the number of frequency hoppings. To put it simply, it's an exponential relationship. It would take them a whole day to analyze our system. We only need to switch once a day to ensure absolute security."

Müller finally breathed a sigh of relief; thankfully, Eastern technology wasn't that incredible.

Wait, why is Oko still frowning?
"what happened again?"

“They’re decoding, which means that the Russian frequency-hopping radios also have their own encoding capabilities!” Oko said. “This means that their radios are digital.”

Frequency hopping is the easiest for digital radio stations, but it's also possible for analog radio stations. With the technology of the Russians, it would be quite an achievement if they could even handle frequency hopping for analog radio stations. I never expected it to be digital, and it even has encoding!
This will make it much harder to interfere with the Russians' radio communications in the future.

They can only interfere with one frequency band at most, and even that might not be enough, because the signal being transmitted is coded!

"So, in other words, we absolutely have to get our hands on this set of equipment from the East?"

"Yes, that would be best!"

Ben Richie's expression grew increasingly grim: "Gentlemen, I want you to know that the Easterners are our friends and have many collaborations with us. You cannot use force, otherwise..."

Seeing how greedy these people were, he was very worried. What if they wouldn't let the Easterners leave? Even if the people could leave, what would happen if they left their equipment behind?
The US Navy doesn't care, since it doesn't really concern the Easterners. But... Lockheed has many collaborative projects with the Easterners! These people were invited here themselves, and if they don't get back, the Easterners will definitely vent their anger on Lockheed!
"Of course not, we'll give the Easterners plenty of benefits." Muller rolled his eyes at Ben Richie. What are you thinking? As the fleet commander, I'm a competent politician; how could I make such a basic mistake?
"Ben Rich, could you help us take the food in and chat with them while you're at it?"

"Ok."

He also wanted to see just how advanced the electronics technology in the East was, and now was a good opportunity.

"Wait, they've already finished decoding!" Oko exclaimed, his eyes widening in surprise. "That's incredibly fast!"

Even with American electronic technology, decoding would take three to five hours, and that's with fifty jumps per second. Now, the Easterners can complete the decoding in less than ten minutes. Their computers... are incredibly fast!

"We absolutely must get our hands on this equipment! Oh, and where's the listening device? Play some sound quickly, let's hear what's being shouted inside!"

The external speaker was connected, and the sound of a radio call came through. Compared to old-fashioned radios, there was no crackling sound, and the call was very clear.

"Volkhov calling base, Volkhov calling base, the US carrier strike group is still nearby." "Understood. You need to keep the US carrier strike group firmly occupied so we can search the Sakhalin jungle. Those Americans still think it crashed in the icy ocean. Don't they realize that with our capabilities, we can't possibly salvage it from the cold ocean?"

Everyone was stunned when they heard the news.

What? The plane crashed on Sakhalin Island? What... what do we do?
If something crashes into the sea, that's international waters. Retrieving something from international waters depends on your own abilities!

The Russians have salvaged American F-14 fighter jets, and the Americans have salvaged Russian nuclear submarines. When they are discovered, they at most just slink away. But when they land on land, it's a different story!

Thomas Muller frowned: "Send this message back to the White House immediately and let those people have a headache!"

He can make decisions about salvage operations at sea, but what about on land?
The White House.

“Only the F-117A stealth fighter can accomplish this mission,” Weinberg said. “We need to mobilize two Nighthawks now. After two aerial refuelings, they can fly directly over Sakhalin Island, bomb the target, and then return.”

Early stealth aircraft were difficult to deploy. After all, the stealth coating on these aircraft was extremely delicate and could not be deployed overseas. It wasn't until the Gulf War in 91 that the F-117 was first deployed to Saudi Arabia.

"This... seems dangerous, doesn't it?"

“If we don’t blow those wrecks to smithereens, it will be even more dangerous,” Ronald said. “I think we need to develop a plan immediately. By the way… have our reconnaissance satellites located the wreckage on Sakhalin Island?”

“No.” William Casey shook his head. “We’ve deployed three satellites, taking pictures every half hour, but we still haven’t found it. It’s all primeval forest there, and at this time of year, there’s a thick layer of snow that blends in with the aircraft’s color, making it very difficult to spot…”

"report!"

At that moment, someone walked in: "We've overheard a conversation between the Soviets; they seem to have confirmed that the wreckage landed in area 13..."

We can't find it ourselves, but the Russians can!
Where is Area Thirteen?

"I don't know, we're still monitoring them."

"Yes, once we obtain the specific location information, we'll take action immediately!"

As the sun gradually set, on the island superstructure of the USS Kitty Hawk, Liu Weiguo and his students were still carefully operating the machinery and meticulously carrying out their mission.

dong dong!

Hearing the knock on the door, Liu Weiguo looked up: "Who is it?"

“Professor Liu, it’s me.” Ben Richie said with a smile, “You’ve been working here for four or five hours, haven’t you eaten yet? I brought up some Asian dishes from the officers’ mess on the aircraft carrier, I hope you like them.”

"Oh, thank you for your hard work. Come in."

I opened the lunchbox, and the dishes inside... As a native Easterner, I don't recognize any of them.

"what is this?"

General Tso's Chicken.

"I thought it was sweet and sour pork, but this chicken is actually drizzled with broth! What is this?"

There's a bed of cauliflower underneath, and a few pieces of meat on top...

"Mongolian beef can also be called beef stir-fried with broccoli."

Is this really Eastern cuisine? Even comedians reciting dish names never include this combination of beef and broccoli, right?

“I recognize this as a mixed stew. Legend has it that when Li Hongzhang visited the United States, he entertained American guests. After they finished eating, they still wanted more, so he put all the leftovers into a pot and stewed them together, and that’s how this dish came about.”

As Liu Weiguo spoke, he picked up a fork, speared a piece that looked like pork belly, put it in his mouth, and the next second...

puff……

Liu Weiguo couldn't hold it in and vomited, luckily right in front of the trash can by the door.

"What...what kind of meat is this? It smells so fishy."

"It's just regular pork."

"Impossible, absolutely impossible! Even wild boar meat isn't this bad!"

The environment shapes the people. When Eastern recipes are brought to America, even if you follow them exactly, you still can't make dishes that taste like the East!

The reasons are varied. For example, the ingredients are hard to find, and even if they are found, the taste is not right. Take the basic meat, for instance. In China, the meat is scalded with a white knife and brought out with a red knife. The blood is put into a basin, mixed with flour and meat scraps, and the resulting pig's blood buns are incredibly fragrant.

Where are the Americans?

They used an electric baton to kill the pig instantly, then started cutting up the meat. Without the bleeding process, the meat was incredibly greasy.

Commander's room.

Everyone was curious as they watched the performance of the Asians on the screen.

"What happened? The Chinese food at Restaurant Number Three is absolutely amazing! We love it, so why..."

"They're really picky. It seems Ben Richie's task won't be easy."

Just then, sound came from the speakers again.

"Found it, area 13, aircraft tail wreckage successfully discovered."

The tail section, where the black box is located!

Everyone tensed up. Where exactly was this Area Thirteen? Even Soviet military maps didn't show it!

"Great! Protect the scene. The heavy equipment has been deployed and will definitely arrive by daybreak tomorrow. We're going to take the entire tail section with us! Let's see how the Americans can argue now!"

Before dawn tomorrow... that's a really tight schedule!

"Really? Then we'll wait at cabin number eighty-seven! That was close! It was only a hundred meters away. If that cabin had collapsed, we would have had to camp out in the wilderness tonight..."

and many more!

House number eighty-seven!

The Russians built some small huts in the primeval jungle to provide temporary accommodation for personnel. These huts were marked on military maps, so they could find them! And the tail of this plane was only 100 meters away from hut number 87!

A 908 kg bomb can cover it perfectly!
"Quickly, report this news to the White House immediately!"

(End of this chapter)