Start with a blacksmith shop.

Chapter 156 Participation

This was supposed to be a routine test flight, but the current situation is not quite the same.

Now his fighter jet has become part of an exercise in the Eastern Theater Command. It's unclear whether it's part of the Blue Team or the Red Team.

Just as he was thinking about how the plane could play a role in the exercise, Cui Tianzhi walked up to him.

"Kid, tell me what kind of ammunition your machine gun uses, so I can get you some laser beacon ammunition."

Otherwise, if your plane only has cannons but no ammunition, you won't be able to mark the targets you hit during the exercise.

Hearing Cui Tianzhi's question, he understood that this was something they had discussed before coming. They were very optimistic about using an exercise to test the waters during this test flight.

"My machine gun has a 20mm caliber, and it was designed specifically for domestically produced ammunition."

Don't worry, just send over the domestically produced 20mm ammunition. My machine gun is more than capable of firing it.

The fighter jet also needs twelve missiles, because the aircraft's bomb bay can hold twelve missiles.

"Since we're going to fly this time, let's go all out and conduct the test like a real combat scenario!"

Upon hearing this, Cui Tianzhi immediately made a phone call to the side. After finishing the call, he returned to Li Zhenhua's side and asked about his doubts.

"Kid, I understand you want machine gun ammunition, but that means you've installed two cannons on your fighter jet."

But what do you need missiles for? I don't see any external hardpoints on the wings or fuselage. Without hardpoints, missiles are useless.

And hey, this plane you made this time is really fat! Fatter than the American F-35.

From the front, it looks like a fatter version of the V-35 flying by, and even thicker than the V-35's nose.

Faced with Cui Tianzhi's complaints, he was powerless to refute them; after all, what he said was true.

But if we're talking about where to hang missiles, his plane actually does have one.

Instead of answering his question directly, Li Zhenhua shouted towards the cockpit.

"Lieutenant Wang, Wang Zhifei, could you please open all three of Fei's ammunition magazines?"

After shouting, he pointed to the belly of the plane and then to Cui Tianzhi.

"Commander Cui, look at the fuselage of the plane, isn't that the ammunition bay? There's a bomb bay on each side of the fuselage, capable of holding two missiles each, making a total of four."

The one under the fuselage is large enough to carry eight missiles.

In total, that makes twelve missiles.

Cui Tianzhi followed the direction of his finger and looked over, where he saw that the bomb bays on the belly and sides of the nose of the plane were all exposed.

This scene left Cui Tianzhi and everyone present stunned. The way the magazine cover opened directly reminded them of the magazines on the Weilong.

Now, this drone is increasingly resembling a smaller version of the Dragon drone.

As he watched it slowly, Cui Tianzhi suddenly realized that this was basically a Wei Long with baby fat!

To use a popular phrase these days, airplanes are gradually becoming more like dragons.

The Mighty Dragon is twin-engine, and so is this one. The Mighty Dragon has three bomb bays, and so does this one. Apart from the significant differences in size, the two fighter jets share many design similarities.

Cui Tianzhi and the others carefully examined the aircraft's bomb bay, and couldn't help but feel deeply moved.

With such a payload and a cannon, even if its range is a bit short, it's not a problem.

As they were talking, the laser beacon ammunition that Cui Tianzhi had contacted by phone was delivered.

There were ten large boxes in total. Three of them contained ammunition for aircraft cannons, and the other seven contained various types of missiles.

First, the cannon ammunition was removed; each box contained a total of 250 rounds of loose ammunition.

The people on site immediately sprang into action, opening the cannon magazines on both sides of the nose of the machine gun and loading the shells one by one. There were a total of 720 rounds of ammunition, but it would take a while to load them!

After opening the cannon ammunition, he ignored it and focused all his attention on the remaining boxes.

He applied for a total of twelve missiles, because he calculated the payload based on smaller missiles.

If it were replaced with a PL-15, the entire fuselage bomb bay could only carry four missiles.

The same applies to the side missile bays, but they cannot be changed here, as the side missile bays are originally intended for short-range missiles.

All seven boxes remained unopened, and two of them contained Thunderbolt 15.

The other boxes contained two types of small missiles, some empty and some empty.

He looked at them one by one, and after thinking it over in his mind, he finally decided how to mount the missiles.

First, there are the side weapons bays, where he chose to house four short-range air-to-air missiles. Next, in the belly area, he first installed the PL-15 missiles, placing them on either side of the internal weapons bay.

Then, he inserted three small air-to-ground missiles into the space between the two large missiles.

At this point, the aircraft's payload capacity was truly determined: it could carry both air-to-air and ground attack missiles.

In addition, there are cannons, which can be used not only for dogfights but also as ground attack weapons.

The cannon has a total ammunition capacity of 720 rounds, including two medium-range missiles, four short-range air-to-air missiles, and three air-to-ground missiles, for a total of nine.

When Li Zhenhua loaded all the ammunition into the ammunition compartment without closing the hatch, everyone present looked at the plane and understood why it was so bulky.

Now, not only Cui Tianzhi was giving him a thumbs up, but the naval representative who came with him was doing the same, and when he looked at the plane, his eyes revealed a possessiveness.

The look in their eyes was as if they were eyeing their own possessions, as if they wanted to pocket them and take them with them right now.

During the lull in loading ammunition, it was already past 11 a.m., almost the entire morning had passed, and the plane was still parked on the ground.

There wasn't even a chance to go up into the sky, and we didn't even know if we could fly today!

But that's how exercises are; the battlefield is ever-changing, and at this moment, we can only wait for the right opportunity.

Just as he was still thinking, Ichisei, dressed in pine green, rang his phone.

Li Zhenhua watched from the side, guessing that the plane should have a chance to be deployed, but he wondered what mission it would be assigned to.

Just as he was thinking about it, the leader hung up the phone.

"Is the plane ready to take off now? And what is the flight range?"

He answered the question immediately and recited these data.

"The aircraft has a total range of 1600 kilometers, and its combat radius is about 800 kilometers. This aircraft is also a bit small, so its range is also a bit short."

The planes have just been loaded with ammunition and are ready to take off and fight at any time!

After hearing the answer, the man nodded and then said.

"Let's take off now. Our mission is to destroy a Second Artillery Corps convoy that is currently moving in a certain location."

As soon as the mission was assigned, everyone on site immediately got to work. The bomb bay doors were closed, and the machine guns were retracted back to the sides of the nose.

The crew drove a tow truck to pull the plane onto the runway, while Lieutenant Wang, the test pilot, was in the cockpit ready for takeoff at any moment.

Once everything was ready, the chubby chicken, remotely piloted by Lieutenant Wang, took to the sky.

Soon the plane disappeared from everyone's sight, and no one could see it flying away again.

This is everyone returning to the cockpit, where a live feed from the fighter jet's forward view is displayed outside.

This also allowed the leaders present to determine the aircraft's location using radar.

Soon the aircraft arrived at the exercise area and flew toward the target according to the guidance.

But at that moment, the fighter jet's radar was in range-finding scanning mode, and the enemy aircraft appeared on the radar screen.

Judging from the distance between them and calculating the time of their encounter, Lieutenant Wang also believed that the other side had not yet noticed him.

After making the judgment, he immediately piloted the plane to climb to higher airspace.

He wanted to test whether the other party had noticed him; avoiding them would be the best option.

At a distance of less than 100 kilometers, Lieutenant Wang's plane ascended to an altitude of 18000 meters.

In a very short time, he passed over the other person's head.

As expected, their stealth capabilities were excellent; the enemy had no idea that enemy aircraft were passing overhead.

After passing the enemy aircraft, Lieutenant Wang did not turn around to give chase, but continued flying towards the mission objective.

When the plane was 50 kilometers away from the target convoy, it immediately descended from an altitude of 10,000 meters.

As the two sides closed in, the bomb bay under the aircraft was opened, and three air-to-ground missiles were ready to be launched.

Lieutenant Wang unlocked the missile launch program in the cockpit and then pressed the launch button.

The missile extended from its bay; the moment the pylons released the missile, it began to descend, followed by the activation of its engine.

The missile shot out suddenly, hurtling towards its target at a speed exceeding Mach 1.6.

Three missiles were launched in one go, making the fighter jet lighter.

However, the three missiles that were launched, under the correct guidance, soon struck the convoy.

Three laser beacon missiles struck near the convoy, and the entire convoy was immediately thrown into a daze.

The leader, who was sitting in the command vehicle, angrily ripped his hat off his head and clutched it in his hand.

"Damn it, ask the Air Force what's going on, how are they doing their air defense!"

We were wiped out so pathetically without even firing a single shot, and now I don't even know who to turn to for help.

After saying this, the leader got out of the command vehicle somewhat reluctantly and walked towards a missile that was stuck in the ground and smashed to pieces.

Squatting on the ground and looking at the missile's design, I realized it was an air-to-ground missile.

The missile's range wouldn't be too far, so he started searching his mind for a launch platform, but after a long search, he couldn't think of one that fit the current situation.

Lieutenant Wang, having completed the launch mission, was now on his way back.

On his return flight, two Z-10 attack helicopters were flying towards the direction of the destroyed convoy.

Their figures also appeared on Lieutenant Wang's radar. At that moment, Lieutenant Wang looked at the targets displayed on the radar.

The opportunity was fleeting, and Lieutenant Wang made his choice immediately.

(End of this chapter)