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

Chapter 520 The Eastern delegation has arrived, and so have the Russians?

June, 1985.

Le Bourget Airport, northeast of Paris.

This airport usually has very little passenger traffic, and it only comes into its own during each airshow.

It's the same this time.

There are still a few days until the airshow, but the participating manufacturers have already arrived and set up their exhibition areas, making the venue very lively.

“I heard that the East will also be participating in the airshow this year,” Graham Warwick said.

“Yes, we don’t know if they will bring their fourth-generation fighters, but whether they do or not, our YF-23 will definitely be on display,” Bob Sandsky said.

Since Dongfang publicly unveiled its fourth-generation fighter jet, the entire industry has been shaken!
After quickly finishing his work at Northwestern Polytechnical University, Bob Sandsky returned to the United States.

In this short period of time, they had already made a wooden model, and then... took the wooden model of YF-23 to the airshow.

That's right, it's a wooden model!
Right now, their YF-23 has reached this stage; the all-metal prototype is still being assembled.

Even so, we still have to come to the exhibition and tell the world that the most advanced fourth-generation fighter jet, although it is a bit behind in progress in the United States, has absolutely powerful performance!

As they were talking, the roar of airplanes filled the sky. They looked up and were immediately stunned.

The Eastern delegation has arrived!
Flying at the forefront is the JF-17 Thunder fighter jet, which is currently the main combat force exported from the East. Its overall design is conventional, and it follows the route of cost-effectiveness, making it the cheapest third-generation fighter jet in the world!

The raised edge strip was particularly eye-catching.

Flying behind the JF-17 is the Q-5, this outdated second-generation fighter jet, which has surprisingly been brought along again?
Even if it had performed well on the battlefield before, it was still too outdated!
Behind these two aircraft were two two-seater aircraft with a cockpit layout that was low in the front and high in the back, clearly trainer aircraft. The one in the back even had a leading-edge extension wing, which looked very trendy.

Behind that is a four-engine transport plane, which looks just like the Russian Il-76. Is this... the latest strategic transport plane developed by the East?
It seems there are still some new things in the East!
They promised to bring the stealth aircraft, but I haven't seen it flying. Could it be that it's inside this transport plane?

Behind this plane is a passenger plane!
This passenger plane is very large. From the fuselage, it looks like a twin-aisle wide-body passenger plane, very similar to the Super Cruiser. However, the wings are of a conventional structure, and the engines are mounted under the wings!

This is a modified version of the Sonic Cruiser passenger plane from the Eastern Airlines!
The cruising speed is lower, but the fuel consumption rate is lower! It's said that this aircraft has received far more orders than the supersonic cruiser!

The Boeing staff looked at the passenger plane, their minds filled with countless curses. These Asians were going too far!
They agreed to work together on the supersonic cruiser, but they secretly developed a conventional layout version as well, and even stole a lot of business from Boeing!
Now, the Eastern Airlines is a strong competitor! Airbus is also envious and is developing a similar aircraft, but it will take several more years before it is ready.

In recent years, the market has been almost entirely dominated by the East.

These planes are all here for the exhibition!
With a roar, the plane landed and, guided by ground staff, headed east toward its own exhibition area. Staff from other exhibition areas also dropped what they were doing and rushed toward that direction.

Being in a good position gives them an advantage; they are the first to see the fourth-generation fighter jets from the East!

Despite being strongly invited to participate, the airshow organizers still gave Dongfang a peripheral exhibition area. After all, they didn't spend any money, so having an exhibition area at all was already a good thing.

The cabin door of the passenger plane opened, and Qin Liang stepped off, looking at the blue sky and white clouds above him, feeling very happy.

Over the years, he has rarely traveled abroad, as his superiors fear that something might happen to him.

However… he can still come to this airshow. He can stay in the exhibition area throughout the entire event and even sleep on the plane at night. Even if someone wants to cause him trouble, they can't openly make a move at the airshow.

The only downside was that I didn't bring my wife.

Yang Duo'er's belly was getting bigger and bigger, making it inconvenient for her to walk around, so she consciously didn't come along.

However… Yang Duo'er's company staff in Paris came here in advance to help with the preparations. The beautiful Ms. Roxanne stood below with a smile, waving to Qin Liang.

"Principal Qin!"

"Roxanne, thank you for your advance planning here."

"You're welcome. I heard that Ms. Yang is pregnant. Congratulations!"

Qin Liang smiled and said, "Yes, so thank you for your hard work on the European affairs."

"It's not hard work. Northwestern Polytechnical University's products are all profitable! By the way, I've already rented a hotel for you. Once you're settled in, you can..."

For some reason, Qin Liang felt that Roxanne's gaze towards him was strange!

Paris is a city famous for its romance, but romance is nothing more than having sex with a clear conscience. As long as the atmosphere is right, you can roll around in bed anytime.

Qin Liang nodded: "Thank you. Most people need to stay in hotels, but I'll stay on the plane."

what?
Roxanne's eyes were filled with disappointment.

"We need to get to work quickly; the entire exhibition area needs to be set up..."

Qin Liang looked around and saw that countless people had already arrived. Their eyes were all fixed on the transport plane.

The Y-20, a project overseen by Tang Changhong, has finally been ready to take flight and be seen by the public after years of refinement!
Previously, the largest transport aircraft in the East was the Y-8, which was an improved version of the An-12. It had a maximum takeoff weight of 60 tons and a maximum payload of 20 tons, making it a medium-sized transport aircraft.

This single transport aircraft is clearly insufficient for the needs of the Eastern military. After all, strategic transport aircraft are the cornerstone of a major power, and their basic requirement is a carrying capacity of sixty tons, which is just enough to transport a main battle tank.

In the Soviet Union, similar Il-76 transport aircraft were in mass production, with an annual output of more than fifty!
Our Eastern Y-20 transport aircraft will also need to be mass-produced in the future!
This time we need long-range supply transport, so we can bring this aircraft to show the world that we also have transport aircraft of this caliber! Of course, if anyone takes a liking to it, we can sell it, after all, it's just a transport aircraft, not a combat weapon.

The rear cabin door opened, and with the efforts of several maintenance personnel, a large object was being pulled out of the cabin.

The first thing to appear was the nose of the aircraft; its angular shape made everyone hold their breath.

Stealth aircraft, it really is a stealth aircraft!

Looking at the cockpit again, the air intake at the back... is very similar to that of the J-20.

The Easterners really did bring the J-20 over!
Countless eyes were fixed on it, especially the French, who were already thinking about how to use their home advantage to acquire the technology of this aircraft...

and many more!

These wings...

It's not a canard. Although the wing needs to be removed after it's installed in the cabin, the cross-section clearly shows it's a regular wing connection point.

The rear fuselage and tail section are now visible, making it even clearer that... there's only one engine?

The onlookers were all quite curious.

This plane...

Judging from its size, it's not a heavy fighter jet; its length is only about seventeen meters...

What does that mean? Could it be... that the Easterners have a brand new fourth-generation fighter jet?
This is... way too outrageous!

Developing one stealth aircraft is already quite impressive, but now, a second stealth aircraft has actually emerged?
The people at Northrop were a bit confused. What... what's going on?
“Wait, the texture… this is a wooden prototype,” Graham Warwick exclaimed in surprise.

No wonder it was brought over by transport plane; it turns out this aircraft was a wooden prototype!
The Frenchmen were instantly disappointed.

They wanted to acquire the stealth aircraft technology from the East, but unexpectedly, the Easterners actually sent over a model!
This is too much!

You promised to bring a fourth-generation fighter jet, but all you brought was a model? And it wasn't even the J-20, but a completely new one?
The Frenchman felt cheated, but now that the Easterners had arrived, he couldn't just turn them away. Models... models have their uses, right?
The cabin of the Y-20 is over 20 meters long. A wooden prototype of the J-35 was placed at the back, while a real helicopter was crammed in at the front!
With its rotor and tail folded, this is a shipborne helicopter.

When the helicopter was towed out, many people stared wide-eyed: Was that a Black Hawk?

No, no, it's a bit different from the Black Hawk. It has five rotors and a two-piece windshield. This... is probably a brand new helicopter from the East?

Those in the know have already identified the specific model: Z-20!

The Easterners brought their helicopters!

In the field of ten-ton class helicopters, the American Black Hawk is the benchmark. Now, this benchmark is about to have another competitor!

The Z-20 helicopter from the East is of the same class as the Black Hawk, but it's cheaper! What's more, it's already widely used in the Eastern military, its reliability is not an issue, and there are even dedicated attack helicopters for it.

By the time the Z-20 is released, the major components will be mostly complete; what follows will be just some models.

For example... take out the models of the Long March 2 and Long March 3 rockets and place them in a prominent position. Although they are not scale models, they still look spectacular.

Inside the passenger plane's cargo hold, things were being moved out, and the entire exhibition area was being set up rapidly.

This Easterner...

"Mr. Qin, may I ask why you didn't bring the J-20 fighter jet with you?" Old Henry, the person in charge of the airshow, walked over and looked at him with a complicated expression.

“Mr. Henry, our J-35 is also a fourth-generation fighter jet. We promised you that we would bring a fourth-generation fighter jet, and if we didn’t promise, we would bring the J-20. Anyway, we have more than one type of fourth-generation fighter jet. Moreover, the most important thing is that the air show is not only for displaying advanced equipment, but also for selling it. Our J-20 cannot be sold, but this J-35 is aimed at the international market.”

What?
Old Henry's eyelids began to twitch involuntarily.

These guys still want to sell fourth-generation fighters!
If this plane is sold, the Rafale will be impossible to sell at all!

Old Henry looked rather grim; he regretted inviting the Orientals over.

Do you have air shows?

"Of course, our JF-17 Thunder fighter jet will put on a spectacular show."

The low-end aircraft is the JF-17 Thunder, and the high-end aircraft is the J-35. The East is going to dominate the international military aircraft market!

Old Henry's feelings were even more complicated.

Soon, the news reached Dassault Systèmes.

Marcel Dassault's expression was complicated. After a long silence, he finally spoke: "Do you think we should also cooperate with the East and ask them to design a stealth morph?"

The Rafale fighter jet hasn't even had its maiden flight yet, so there's still time to make changes!
Although this will be slower than the progress of the typhoon, ... without a stealthy shape, it seems like it really can't survive.

If they don't benchmark themselves against the J-35, won't they have to compete with inferior aircraft like the JF-17 Thunder in the future? That would be utterly shameful!

“No, Father, Dassault Systèmes will never ask others to design fighter jets for us. That would be a disgrace!” Sergey Dassault shook his head: “Back then, we couldn’t lead the Typhoon project, so we withdrew voluntarily. The government wanted to take us over, but we withstood the pressure. Dassault Systèmes has always been independent and autonomous!”

Marcel Dassault sighed: "Yes, we have always been independent. We... still have to rely on our own strength to improve the Rafale and modify its shape to match that of a stealth aircraft."

It absolutely has to be changed!

But... do they have that capability?
They have absolutely no technical reserves!

“The typhoon was able to quickly complete its stealth transformation mainly because it used the computer equipment and software from Northwestern Polytechnical University. Should we… purchase equipment from Northwestern Polytechnical University?” Olivier-Dassault finally spoke up.

Dassault Aviation doesn't just build fighter jets; it also operates in other industries, such as vineyards and computer-aided design.

Dassault Systèmes specializes in making CAD software. A few years ago, their computer-aided design software was a hot commodity in the international market!

And now, they actually want to purchase from the East? That's absolutely self-defeating!

But... there's nothing we can do about it. The Eastern computers are just so good! They have high-end configurations, run fast, and work perfectly with their own software...

Even with a finite element analysis method, the segments produced by Eastern computers are much smaller than those produced by Dassault! Naturally, the calculations are more accurate.

Marcel Dassault nodded: "Since the East is so advanced, let's import it from the East. At this airshow, use multiple cameras to photograph that aircraft from multiple angles. It would be best to have a scanner to scan the entire exterior..."

"Yes, got it!"

Their Rafale is being modified to be a stealth fighter, mainly by changing the nose! As long as they transplant the nose of the J-35 onto it, they can claim it has stealth capabilities, just like the Typhoon, it's no big deal!
Thump thump thump... Just then, someone ran in.

"Mr. Dassault, we've just received word that the Russian delegation has arrived!"

This is a new beginning!
For years, Soviet warplanes had only met on the battlefield. When people heard that the Russians were going to participate in this airshow, they were skeptical. But no one expected...

The Soviets really came!
Following the sensation caused by the arrival of the Eastern delegation at the airshow, the arrival of the Soviets caused another sensation.

This is not just about displaying a few aircraft; it represents a major shift in the world situation. Since taking office, the map has been trying to ease relations with the West, representing the West's aggressive stance, which is finally about to change!

Participating in this airshow is yet another testament to my efforts!
Bourget Airport.

Qin Liang looked up at the fighter jets that were landing.

The fuselage is wide, with strakes extending from both sides of the nose to the rear, blending perfectly with the wings. The uniquely nacelle-style engine nacelles under the fuselage are particularly distinctive.

With its front higher than its rear, the fighter jet resembles a large bird, with the pilot riding on its head.

The Russians are here to show off their mobility!
I wonder if there will be a chance to promote their ejection seats?

The sky-blue Su-27 landed first, followed by the smaller MiG-29.
The Russians have sent us their most advanced fighter jets!
Since they didn't want to fight, they decided to use their absolute strength at the air show to show everyone that the Soviet Union was powerful!
pity……

The era of pursuing mobility alone is over!
"Principal Qin, this Russian plane is really impressive," Old Tu couldn't help but say from the side.

"Yes, their maneuverability is top-notch, but unfortunately, it's completely useless against our modern weapons," Qin Liang said. "Besides, they're just here to show off. Their planes are destined to fail in the Western market, so there's nothing to worry about."

There are people who are interested in the Su-27, but the Russians won't sell it. The MiG-29 is available for sale, but its performance is too poor; its short range alone will deter many potential customers.

The sky-blue Su-27 slid into the exhibition area, and it was... right next to the Eastern exhibition area!

From Qin Liang's perspective, he could even see the pilot remove his oxygen mask, unfasten his seatbelt, open the cockpit canopy, and then climb out of the plane.

This is... Pugachev?
Viktor Pugachev, a meritorious test pilot of the Sukhoi Design Bureau, wanted to be a pilot since he was a child. After graduating from high school, he entered the Yeysk Aviation School and became a flight instructor. In 1977, he entered the test pilot school, which had the best test pilot team in the entire Soviet Union, and he grew very quickly!
In 1980, Pugachev joined the Sukhoi Design Bureau, and in 1982, he began test flights of the T-10, the prototype of the famous Su-27!

Now, he is Sukhoi's best test pilot. Coming here... is he going to perform the famous Cobra maneuver?

That amazing skill, touted by countless military enthusiasts, is actually only useful for suicide.

The MiG-29 also glided over, followed by the Il-76 which slowly descended.

Bringing a transport plane over means preparing logistics, maintenance personnel, spare parts, and so on. After all, if a fighter jet flies for an hour, it needs to be maintained on the ground for several hours!
So, two very similar-looking airplanes ended up in the same frame!
The tail hatch of the Il-76 opened, and Simonov strode out, glanced at the Eastern exhibition booth, and when his gaze fell on Qin Liang, he gave a bright smile.

"Principal Qin, we meet again!"

Is this guy deliberately showing off his relationship with Northwestern Polytechnical University in front of Westerners in order to sow discord between Northwestern Polytechnical University and the West?
(End of this chapter)