Great Power Long Sky

The troops' second-level retreat continued until January 20th.

There were seven consecutive days of high-intensity deployments to handle air incidents.

The atmosphere in the relevant sea and airspace is becoming increasingly tense. The 7th Air Regiment has issued an emergency order to all officers and soldiers on leave to return to their posts, in accordance with instructions from higher authorities.

A special train carried a batch of military supplies, including aviation kerosene and weapons and ammunition, along a dedicated railway line.

As required, the 7th Air Regiment kept two squadrons of aircraft fully fueled and armed, ready to engage in combat at any time.

The troops maintained this state of affairs until February!

February 17th, the next day is Lunar New Year's Eve.

In previous years, no matter how tired or difficult things were, the officers and soldiers would be allowed to have a good New Year. They would take turns on combat readiness duty, and everyone could experience the joy of the Spring Festival.

This year, however, an order was passed down through the ranks to every level of the military.

Xu Hailiang immediately convened a meeting of the leadership team and specifically requested that the tactical testing group attend.

At the meeting, Xu Hailiang, shaking the order document in his hand, said, "Following orders from higher authorities, at midnight on the 18th, our regiment will make a first-class retreat."

"This order came from headquarters and covers troops throughout the southeastern coastal region, as well as some inland troops, including the army, navy, air force, and Second Artillery Corps."

"Comrades, headquarters has decided to conduct a large-scale joint amphibious landing exercise in March, with live ammunition."

"Our regiment must immediately switch from peacetime training to wartime training. Specifically, our regiment will carry out live-fire exercises for air combat and strikes against sea and islands."

"Li Lu".

"Here!" Li Lu stood up.

Xu Hailiang said in a deep voice, "Of the two subjects, your tactical testing group is at the forefront. Now there's no time to proceed slowly according to plan. You must immediately come up with a training plan and promote the free air combat training methods and sea and island strike training methods determined by the tactical testing group to the entire regiment!"

"My demand is that you must provide at least two company-level units!"

Li Lu answered resolutely, "Yes! We will complete the mission without hesitation!"

After the meeting, Li Lu approached Xu Hailiang and made a direct suggestion, "Commander, the 16th Naval Aviation Regiment is also within the scope of this mobilization order. If Gu Chen and the other three return to their units, those two JH-7s will only be mascots. Should we communicate with the Naval Aviation to leave them behind and temporarily reinforce them for me?"

Xu Hailiang immediately nodded and said, "I will report to the division and make this request. There shouldn't be any problem. The JH-7 is the main weapon for striking targets at sea and islands, and it can't be left to gather dust in the hangar."

"That's right," Li Lu decided in his heart.

The two JH-7s can play a very important role.

The distance from the East Sea Air Base to that island is only a few hundred kilometers, yet the JH-7 can take off fully loaded with ordnance—nearly seven tons of ammunition!

Two aircraft were deployed in one batch, carrying a total of fourteen tons of ammunition.

For army units conducting amphibious landing operations, air support could be absolutely powerful and prevent massive casualties!

That's probably the amount of ammunition needed to open an attack channel!

The tactical significance is too great.

Neither the J-6 nor the J-7 can compare – the ground attack munitions delivered by one JH-7 are equivalent to those of a squadron of J-6s!

At this moment, it was a moment when fighting could break out at any time. Naval Aviation readily and quickly agreed to the Air Force's request and immediately issued an order requiring Gu Chen and others to temporarily return to the command of the 7th Air Regiment.

Xu Hailiang immediately assigned these four people to the tactical test team. At this point, the tactical test team flight team had nine pilots, including Li Lu.

Li Lu can now command as many aircraft and pilots as a flight squadron.

On the morning of New Year's Eve, the tactical test group began its first live-fire aerial training exercise. Li Lu, Zhang Fei, and Zhao Chaoyang took turns assisting in command from the control tower and took turns taking off to participate in target practice.

Today's live-fire exercise was personally commanded by Xu Hailiang, and Fang Zhenwei was also present, sitting there with a serious expression.

Current aerial target practice is still the same old method.

However, it is also an extremely dangerous form of live-fire aerial combat.

The specific implementation process is as follows: H-5 light tactical bombers are usually used to tow the steel cable for takeoff, with the target bag and stabilizing parachute at the end of the steel cable.

After takeoff, the operator in the cabin released the steel cable to a length of more than 200 meters, and then the target towed aircraft flew level along a fixed route.

Simply put, it's like moving a ground target into the sky.

After the fighter jets responsible for live-fire exercises take off, they must enter from the rear hemisphere of the target tower, carefully and gently maneuvering the aircraft to maintain relative motion with the target tower in the same direction and at the same speed, and then enter the effective firing range at a slightly higher speed.

However, the fighter jets responsible for live-fire exercises did not simply follow directly behind the target towing aircraft, but were positioned at an offset.

Once within effective firing range, the fighter pilot must bank inward to form an offset attack path with the target drone, pointing the nose of the aircraft towards the aiming point. At this point, the fighter pilot can fire at the target bag based on their judgment and immediately disengage after firing.

This process is quite demanding, requiring excellent coordination between the two pilots in the air and high aiming skills from the fighter pilots.

Improper operation could lead to accidental damage to the target towing machine or break the steel cable. The broken cable would swing wildly in the air and could easily become entangled in the target towing machine.

Any improper operation could lead to a fatal accident.

The process of retrieving the steel cable by the target towing machine is also very dangerous. It is necessary to first fly over the field at low altitude and slowly, and then the ground must confirm that the steel cable and the target bag are in good condition before the target towing machine will use a hydraulic winch to slowly retrieve the steel cable before it can land.

Similarly, if the steel cable cannot be retrieved or the target bag is shot down, the risks during the recovery and landing process will become very uncontrollable.

In short, the entire process of live-fire target practice, from takeoff to landing, is extremely dangerous and requires the utmost caution.

The reason why both regimental commanders, Xu Hailiang and Fang Zhenwei, were stationed at the control tower was for this reason.

Gu Chen and the other three also came to observe. The most powerful indicator of a person's true level of air combat capability is the results of live-fire shooting.

No matter how beautiful or excellent the flight maneuvers are, they are meaningless if you can't aim accurately and hit the target.

Xue Shuang and his fellow pilots, who were among the first to participate in live-fire exercises, successfully completed the target practice. Xue Shuang achieved the best result, hitting the target 20 times, which exceeded the excellent level.

In short burst mode, 3-5 shells are fired at a time, for a total of 30 shells. Each sortie has 6 opportunities to enter the flight path, and hitting the target every time is already considered an excellent performance.

Xue Shuang averaged 3.3 hits per shot, exceeding the excellent level by 0.3 hits.

This is the live-fire assessment standard of the 7th Air Regiment, which is higher than that of many other units.

At 10:45, Li Lu and the other pilots in the second batch were ready, with Li Lu being the last in line.

Those who towed the target drones were all veteran pilots, and among the new pilots who could fly the H-5 bomber, Li Lu was the only one. He had to fly the H-5 to ensure that the others could complete the firing, and finally Zhang Fei would lead a new pilot to fly the H-5 to ensure that Li Lu could fire.

The 7th Air Regiment has two target-towing drones converted from H-5 bombers.

In fact, the People's Air Force had drones as early as the 1970s, mainly used as target drones for air defense weapons. However, these things were expensive, and with limited funding, even the Ninth Regiment, which considered itself the pride of the nation and was the first to fly a Su-27, could not afford them.

The people in front of him completed their shooting successfully, and Zhang Fei, the veteran, achieved a score of 25 hits, the highest in the entire regiment.

Of course, Li Lu hasn't fought yet.