Great Power Long Sky

"Did Li Lu donate all the money to Yamanouchi Village?"

In the political commissar's office, Xu Hailiang looked at Fang Zhenwei with extreme surprise.

Fang Zhenwei nodded and said, "Yes, he asked me in advance, saying that the people of Shannei Village saved his life, and this is his way of giving back to them."

Shannei Village is the village where Li Lu was rescued by Niu Jun after his J-6 Modified fighter jet No. 101 disintegrated in mid-air.

"This kid did a good deed but kept it from me." Xu Hailiang shook his head.

Fang Zhenwei said, "Li Lu hopes to use our group's name to jointly build a primary school in Shannei Village."

"I have contacted the local government. Shannei Village has several hundred households and is a fairly large natural village, but it is also very poor. The current primary school has very poor facilities, and the children's school environment is not good."

"Li Lu suggested an idea: to call on everyone to donate money and make Shannei Village Primary School a long-term beneficiary. This is a good thing; even if you hadn't contacted me, I would have talked to you about it."

Upon hearing this, Xu Hailiang nodded repeatedly and said, "Children are the future of the country, and our army has an unshirkable responsibility. Political Commissar, I fully support this matter. Just tell me if there's anything I can do."

Fang Zhenwei laughed and said, "I'll take care of this. You focus on your training."

"Okay, I'll personally... donate one month's salary first, including the lever fee," Xu Hailiang said.

Fang Zhenwei was taken aback. "Shouldn't you go back and discuss it with your family before making a decision?"

Xu Hailiang waved his hand dismissively, "No need, I can make up my own mind about this little thing."

Fang Zhenwei nodded, knowing he could see through it but wouldn't say anything.

No pilot is unafraid of his wife. Due to the nature of his profession and various confidentiality regulations, "home" is like a hotel to these people who fly planes in the Air Force.

They can't take care of the elderly, and they can't look after the children. The wife has to shoulder all the household chores. In the family, they are the ones who have no initiative.

It's not that I'm afraid, but rather that I'm "afraid".

Li Lu donated all his money, a total of 68610 yuan!

This was all his savings.

In the 1990s, this was a huge sum of money, enough to buy two brand-new 212 Jeeps!

In the countryside, this money could build a beautiful three-story villa.

The old man has a pension and allowances, so he lives a worry-free life. Li Lu is a single man with nowhere to spend his money. In addition, his frighteningly high flight hours bring in extra charges. It can be said that Li Lu is the most "water-draining" pilot in the 7th Air Regiment.

Sixth Brother issued a call for donations to help students, and the officers and soldiers responded enthusiastically. When the station leaders learned of this, they also issued a call within the station to do this together with the 7th Air Regiment.

In a short period of time, more than 200,000 yuan in donations were raised, which is more than enough to renovate the Shannei Village Primary School.

Just when Li Lu thought the matter of cutting up the P-3 was settled, the Air Force Headquarters of the Military Region forwarded a notification document from its superiors.

"Comrade Li Lu, a pilot of the 6th Squadron of the 2nd Flight Group of the 7th Air Regiment, caused an unnecessary dispute during combat readiness duty due to inadequate flying skills. The 7th Air Regiment is hereby strictly ordered to strengthen its training. Other units should take this as a warning. This is hereby notified!"

The acting squadron leader did not have an appointment document and was not a formal position.

Upon seeing this bizarre report, Li Lu was left speechless, unsure whether to laugh or cry.

He could guess that the higher-ups first praised his achievements, and then issued this so-called criticism notice, which was purely for show.

Xue Shuang said sternly, "Comrade Li Lu, your flying skills are worrying. You need to strengthen your training!"

"Yes, yes, yes, my training level is too poor. I will definitely strengthen my training in the future, continuously improve my flying skills, keep in mind the goal of winning as soon as I take off, and truly pull the stick hard to defend the motherland's airspace!" Li Lu nodded hurriedly and patted his chest to express his determination.

Chen Qi and the other pilots couldn't help but burst into laughter.

Not to mention the 7th Air Regiment, looking at the entire 3rd Air Division, there are very few people with flying skills better than Li Luqiang. You can tell just by looking at the average annual flight hours.

The above is clearly just a pretext for dealing with Shiba Inu Country.

"Comrades! Great news! Great news!" Hong Lin rushed in, waving excitedly, "The Flying Leopard is here! We're borrowing a Flying Leopard from Hainan Airlines, and we're about to land!"

Li Lu suddenly stood up. "Little Lin, if you give false information, I'll teach you a lesson!"

"Sixth Brother! It's absolutely true! The duty room just received the notification!" Hong Lin said, patting his chest.

Li Lu waved his hand, "Let's go take a look!"

The group rushed out of the brigade office, squeezed into two 212 jeeps, and sped towards the control tower.

It's finally here, Li Lu was filled with emotion.

In the early 1990s, the Air Force rejected the JH-7 and opted to import the Su-27 instead. The Navy funded the JH-7 project to continue, and it finally entered service in 1992.

No one expected that the Su-27 would encounter a series of problems after it arrived, while the JH-7, a completely domestically produced fighter jet, is very easy to use.

Naval aviation bases are all located along the coast, as are many air force bases. Fundamentally, the naval aviation force itself was formed by transferring entire coastal units from the air force, and many naval aviation regiments have never even changed their uniforms.

Before the Air Force resolved the issue of localizing the Su-27, the Naval Aviation's equipment level was superior to that of the Air Force.

The Air Force may look down on the JH-7, but its advantages are undeniable.

With a maximum range of 3650 kilometers and a maximum combat radius of 1650 kilometers, it can cover the entire South China Sea from Hainan Island and bring the prosperous western region of Shiba Inu into its combat radius from Shanghai!

It has a maximum takeoff weight of 28.5 tons and a maximum payload of 7 tons.

In terms of maximum payload, it is already on par with early models of the H-6 bomber.

Most of the parameters of the JH-7 exceed those of the Air Force's current fighter jets, except for the Su-27.

The 7th Air Regiment is mainly responsible for air and sea defense operations, and the range of its fighter jets is a very critical parameter.

To strike the enemy, one must first have the ability to reach the target area.

Li Lu's thinking was ahead of its time. He believed that the future air force would not be limited to fighting for air superiority on the battlefield and defending the homeland, but would develop towards system-of-systems warfare, which meant having a strong ability to strike ground and sea targets.

Air superiority fighters alone are no longer sufficient to meet the needs of future battlefields.

Given the inability to participate in the test flights of Project 10, seeking an aircraft suitable for low-altitude sea-skimming penetration is the most realistic option.

Only the JH-7 fighter-bomber is suitable, nicknamed the Flying Leopard.

Li Lu wanted a Su-27, but the Ninth Regiment wouldn't lend it to him.

The 9th Regiment sent a maintenance team to the Su-27 that made an emergency landing at Donghai Air Station. They stayed there and waited for the Russian technicians to come and repair it.

Li Lu and his group ran to the flight control tower, where Xu Hailiang sat in the command position, ready for action.

The officers and soldiers in various positions, including radar operators, weather forecasters, map plotters, and signalmen, are more serious and dedicated than ever before.

Li Lu walked over and sat down next to Xu Hailiang, and the plotter handed him the aeronautical chart.

The routes on the aeronautical charts were marked by plotters using red, blue, and black oil-based pencils. A batch of two JH-7 fighter-bombers had approached to within 10 kilometers of the East China Sea airfield.

Not all pilots can serve as air traffic controllers; they must have command qualifications.

Among Li Lu's batch of pilots and the two batches before and after him, he was the only one who obtained command qualifications.

With a faint roar of aircraft engines, two JH-7 fighter-bombers appeared over the airfield and began to perform a four-turn maneuver.

After flying through four turns, one of the JH-7s descended, flew past the remote navigation beacon, and established a standard glide path for landing.

Fighter jets don't need to make four turns, but for the crews of these two JH-7s, the East China Sea airfield was an unfamiliar one. They needed to make four turns or circle to figure out the positional relationship between the two navigation beacons, which were far and near, and follow the instructions of the tower controller to land.

Xu Hailiang issued the instructions succinctly.

The first JH-7 fighter-bomber aligned itself with the runway and began landing. After passing the nearby navigation beacon, the beacon reported that the aircraft's landing attitude was good.

The signalman, using binoculars, followed and observed the JH-7. Once he saw that both the front and rear landing gears were down, he loudly reported, "Landing gears down!"

Xu Hailiang immediately informed the pilots of the JH-7 fighter-bomber.

The rear landing gear of the first JH-7 touched the runway, kicking up a plume of blue smoke. After the front landing gear touched the runway, the parachute compartment on the fuselage above the engine nacelle deployed a drag chute.

After the JH-7 taxied off the runway, the second JH-7 began establishing a landing path and flew meticulously according to Xu Hailiang's instructions.

Two minutes later, the second JH-7 landed successfully.

The signalman, a fourth-year soldier, thought with some regret that the landing gear of both planes had been successfully deployed, but he had lost his third-class merit award.

If even one landing gear fails to deploy, the signalman will promptly report it, and the commander will immediately order the aircraft to go around. The signalman will be awarded a third-class merit on the spot.

The signalman's job is to observe whether the aircraft's landing gear has been successfully deployed and positioned.

Of course, he only thought about it quietly in his heart and dared not say it out loud.

Aircraft are an important asset of the military, and the JH-7 is the most expensive domestically produced fighter jet!

Two JH-7 fighter-bombers transferred from the 16th Naval Aviation Regiment successfully parked in their temporary parking positions.

Li Lu rubbed his hands together and stood up. "Commander, I'll go greet them!"

"Okay, have the cooks prepare a feast. Make sure to provide adequate support for our brother units. The political commissar and I will participate," Xu Hailiang said.

"yes!"

Li Lu strode away from the control tower, and Xue Shuang and the others quickly followed.

They haven't even seen the JH-7 in person yet.

The JH-7 was a completely new aircraft for the pilots of the 7th Air Regiment, and also a completely new aircraft for the maintenance support team.

To ensure the proper maintenance of this aircraft, Sergeant Peng Fei personally led a team of ten elite maintenance personnel.

When Li Lu arrived at the parking position, the political department had already taken away and settled the two crews from Hainan Airlines, while Peng Fei and his team stood next to the JH-7, scratching their heads, looking at a loss for what to do.

"What's wrong?" Li Lu walked over and asked, puzzled.

Wang Bicheng pointed to the fuel filler neck of the JH-7 and said with a wry smile, "This aircraft is too high, the refueling hose can't reach it, we have to wait for the refueling truck to come over."

Li Lu was dumbfounded and looked at it carefully.

Hey, it really is.

The JH-7 is 6.57 meters tall!

The J-7 is only 4.1 meters long!

The fixed support facilities on the tarmac were deployed according to the J-6 and J-7 aircraft, but when they encountered such a tall aircraft as the JH-7, the refueling hoses couldn't reach it!

Li Lu looked at the JH-7 and realized how big the aircraft was when he saw it up close!

Judging by sight, the JH-7 is at least 8 meters longer than the J-7! That's about the length of a bus.

Xue Shuang, Chen Qi, and the others stared at the JH-7 with wide eyes and dumbfounded. Their first impression was that it was big, their second impression was that it was really big, and their third impression was that it was damn big!

Compared to the J-7 next to it, the J-7 looks like a child's toy!

"My goodness, this plane looks even bigger than a Su-27!" Xue Shuang exclaimed in amazement.

Li Lu nodded repeatedly and said, "The JH-7 is 22.32 meters long, while the Su-27 is 21.94 meters long. Moreover, the Su-27 is only 5.93 meters tall. However, the Su-27's wingspan is 2 meters larger than the JH-7's."

"The maximum takeoff weight of the JH-7 and the Su-27 is about the same, with the Su-27 being only a little over a ton heavier."

Chen Qi asked in surprise, "Sixth Brother, how do you know so much?"

Li Lu glanced at him and said, "I told you to read more books, but you've become quite ignorant, haven't you?"

Chen Qi looked embarrassed.

Looking at the JH-7 fighter-bomber, Li Lu nodded repeatedly in satisfaction. "This is a genuine heavy fighter jet. I have even more confidence in the tactical tests!"

"Old squad leader, you guys study it and figure it out first, then tow the plane to the hangar and wait for the Hainan Airlines maintenance personnel to come before making a support plan."

Peng Fei immediately replied, "Okay, I'll arrange it right away. However, the hangar... can't fit this thing!"

……

Well, the airfield's hardware facilities simply cannot accommodate the JH-7.

There's no other way but to leave it outdoors for now.

Li Lu thought for a moment and said, "Let's contact the airfield. If all else fails, we can build a tent with a steel structure. This aircraft is very valuable, and we can't just leave it in the open forever. Besides, we have to return it after we're done using it. If we make it too miserable, Hainan Airlines will have something to say."

Peng Fei said, "You'll have to coordinate this. I don't have much of a relationship with Station Chief Wu Jinzhong."

"Okay, I'll coordinate. Let's go meet with the Hainan Airlines crew first." Li Lu waved his hand and led the pilots away.

Inside the guesthouse, Fang Zhenwei personally received the four members of the Hainan Airlines crew.

The JH-7 is a two-seat, twin-engine fighter jet with a tandem configuration. Each crew consists of two pilots: the pilot in the front cockpit is responsible for flight operations, while the pilot in the rear cockpit is responsible for navigation and weapons operation, with a clear division of labor.

After Fang Zhenwei left, Li Lu and the others came over.

The four Hainan Airlines pilots responsible for this transfer flight and the training mission are all very experienced.

Since they were all pilots, after a brief exchange of pleasantries, Li Lu and his group couldn't wait to ask for his advice.

After talking for more than 30 minutes, the Hainan Airlines crew needed to rest.

After leaving the guesthouse, Li Lu and the others walked towards the government building, their spirits somewhat dampened.

Li Lu sighed, "People who fly good planes are arrogant, but damn it, it's frustrating."

Chen Qi echoed, "Yeah, you see, when they talk, their nostrils are pointing to the ceiling, and they seem to be looking down on us."

The exchange went smoothly, but the Hainan Airlines crew clearly didn't take Li Lu and his colleagues who flew first-generation and second-generation aircraft seriously.

Li Lu said indignantly, "Their lever fee is also 120 yuan, exactly the same as Su Liangqi's."

Xue Shuang was taken aback. "No, when did you ask?"

Li Lu said, "While you were talking to that squadron leader, I quietly asked the young cabin crew member. Did you know that naval aviation personnel receive resupply on long-range flights?"

"Air support?" Chen Qi's eyes widened in surprise.

Li Lu's eyes were full of envy as he nodded and said, "Yeah, that kid said flying beyond the first island chain is considered open sea, and in the South China Sea, flying to the Spratly Islands is considered open sea. It costs seventeen yuan an hour."

"They often go out for four or five hours at a time, and that costs a lot of money."

"They're all pilots, and they often fly to distant seas. They even have an extra flight allowance. It's really frustrating to compare yourself to others."

Everyone nodded in agreement.

Li Lu once again exclaimed with emotion, "Building a powerful People's Air Force is a long and arduous task, comrades! Keep up the good work!"