Great Power Long Sky

At 15:05, the weather report indicated that the weather would change from sunny to cloudy at 17:00.

Normally, today's live-fire target practice would be stopped immediately, and the rest would be carried out after the weather improves.

Current weather forecasts cannot be accurate to the minute, even for such a small area as the local airspace. They also cannot provide very precise and detailed predictions; errors are inevitable.

The clouds in the sky and the waves on the sea are like waves; they may not change for half a day, but they can also change drastically in the blink of an eye.

By the time meteorological departments see or detect the dark clouds rushing in with the wind, or the wind speed suddenly increases, it is already too late.

Nobody wants to take any risks in just two hours.

but!

Today is different from any other day!

The troops have been upgraded from Level II to Level I, and all personnel and equipment have entered a wartime state. Today's live-fire target practice is not routine training, but a pre-war training exercise with a specific context!

The enemy won't wait for good weather to attack you!

Xu Hailiang gave the order without hesitation: seize the two-hour window and complete the live-fire target training for all nine members of the tactical test team.

That leaves Li Lu. At his speed, he can finish within an hour, after all, he's known as the fastest shooter in the group.

It can establish attack routes quickly, aim quickly, fire quickly, and disengage quickly—it's fast everywhere.

At 15:15, Zhang Fei took off in a H-5 target drone, and five minutes later, Li Lu took off in a J-7E fighter jet, number 037.

That's right, the tactical test group used J-7E fighters for live-fire target practice today. However, due to Deputy Division Commander Feng Liang's requirement, only J-6 fighters could be used for free air combat training.

In fact, the J-7Es of the 7th Air Regiment entered service not much earlier than the Su-27s of the 9th Air Regiment; they were new aircraft in themselves.

Moreover, the J-7E will gradually replace the J-6, and this process will not be slow.

Under these circumstances, using the J-7E for advanced training is inevitable.

The J-7E fighter jet No. 037, piloted by Li Lu, was equipped with 60 rounds of cannon ammunition, a privilege reserved for him as the leader of the tactical test team.

Of course, the evaluation criteria are the same.

The H-5 target tower has already released its steel cable and is flying in a large circle at an altitude of 3,000 meters, just waiting for Li Lu.

Li Lu was indeed fast.

After climbing to an altitude of two thousand meters, he made a smooth, large-radius turn and climbed directly to Zhang Fei's rear hemisphere.

"Attack route established at Dongsanguai, aiming point good, requesting permission to fire!" Li Lu quickly checked everything and asked the control tower for instructions.

His words could be heard by the flight crew, and by everyone involved in ensuring the success of this flight mission, enabling them to keep abreast of the situation of the aircraft in the air.

Xu Hailiang looked at the plotting board. The positions of the two aircraft were correct, Li Lu's nose was pointing correctly, and the aiming point was correct.

He decisively ordered, "Fire at Dongsanguai!"

"You may fire, understood!"

Li Lu replied, disengaging the firing safety, slightly manipulating the control lever, pressing the aiming ring against the target bag, calculating the lead directly from experience, and adjusting the aiming point accordingly.

Without the slightest hesitation, he decisively pressed the launch button.

"Knock knock knock knock!"

Five shells were fired.

At first glance, it seems that Li Lu did not control the force and timing of pressing the launch button properly, resulting in five shells being fired instead of three. In fact, his move was not simple at all.

The J-7E's cannon has two modes: single-shot and burst-fire. When using single-shot mode, it usually fires 3-5 rounds. The number of rounds fired depends entirely on the pilot's feel.

Theoretically, the more shells fired in a burst, the better, provided that the dispersion of these shells is very concentrated, or that a line of shells is fired to block a larger lead, thus increasing the probability of hitting the target.

Li Lu had this shooting ability; he had shot several times to create a horizontal line, which was a dotted line formed by the hole that the shells pierced in the target bag.

This move is absolutely brilliant; it's even more powerful than dense scattering, and its practical value is even greater.

The reason is simple: if the aiming point is not accurate enough, the five shells fired will basically not hit the target. If it is a line, the margin for error is higher and the probability of hitting is greater.

Li Luneng has two exceptional skills: one is his incredibly accurate aiming, and the other is his incredibly accurate trajectory of the shells he fires!

Abbreviated as "Erzhun"!

The most outrageous thing is that Li Lu can control the number of shells fired at a time at will!

You could say you can have it whenever you want.

As for why burst fire is used instead of continuous fire, the answer is simpler.

Single shots have a higher probability of hitting the target, while the probability of hitting the target with continuous fire is not proportional to the rate of ammunition consumption.

There were only two or three hundred shells in total, and you fired over a hundred of them at once, so there was no need to fight any more battles.

It's important to understand that there's a lot of preparation work required for a fighter jet to fly once. Even with simplified wartime procedures, no fighter jet can fly a second time to participate in the same battle.

The amount of ammunition a fighter jet can carry determines how long it can fight, which is why the requirements for payload capacity have become increasingly stringent throughout the development of fighter jets.

After firing the shell, Li Lu immediately disengaged, but instead of completely disengaging like the others, he slightly turned his nose to form an angle of about thirty degrees with the H-5 target towed drone piloted by Zhang Fei.

This avoids accidental clicks.

"Drag the target machine, prepare for the second firing at Dongsanguai, that's all," Li Lu called out to Zhang Fei directly.

With the basic conditions established, direct communication between the target-firing drone and the target-towing drone can save a lot of time.

Zhang Fei replied, "The target towing machine is ready. Over."

"clear!"

Li Lu directly established the attack route, determined the aiming point, and repeated the firing action. The whole process took no more than fifteen seconds, and the second shot ended.

Then came the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth times, each one faster than the last, each time so precise and so dazzling, like fireflies in the dark.

After six rounds of firing, all thirty shells hit the target bag without missing a single one; at least from Li Lu's perspective, it appeared that all of them were hit. The firing distances ranged from 150 meters to nearly 500 meters.

Among the new generation of pilots, only Li Lu can achieve this firing range.

The specific hit situation needs to be assessed after the return flight, as the shooting film is the sole basis for judging the shooting effect.

Li Lu was preparing to request permission from the control tower to continue advanced firing, a routine he always performed.

Suddenly, he saw the target bag fly away, along with the stabilizing parachute.

The steel cable suddenly began to thrash wildly through the air like a runaway python. Li Lu saw that the cable nearly hit the tail fin of the target tower several times.

This is an extremely dangerous situation.

There are usually two possibilities for a steel cable to break: one is that it was accidentally hit by a shell, and the other is that the steel cable has experienced metal fatigue.

Li Lu was confident that his shooting skills would prevent him from hitting the steel cable, not in the past, and certainly not now.

Then there is only one possibility: the steel cable has experienced metal fatigue.

Without the target bag and stabilizing parachute, the steel cable becomes a completely uncontrollable, frantically sweeping steel python, posing an extremely serious threat to the towed target aircraft in flight, and even more dangerous to the towed target aircraft and the ground when it lands.

If the target shooting machine does not avoid it in time, it may also be hit by the steel cable.

That thick steel cable swept across wildly, capable of even cutting a fighter jet in half.

To solve this problem, the steel cable must be detached from the target towing machine.

The problem is that the steel cable and the hydraulic winch on the target towing machine are rigidly connected, so the operator on the target towing machine cannot drop the steel cable in the air.

Li Lu immediately called Zhang Fei, "Target drone! The cable has snapped, it's out of control, stabilize the aircraft!"

Zhang Fei had already sensed it, and the hydraulic winch operator immediately reported it to him.

He said in a calm voice, "Understood, control tower. The target drone is requesting to land according to procedure."

Before Xu Hailiang in the control tower could reply, Li Lu suddenly said, "Let me try to break it. Landing with the steel cable on is too dangerous."

Xu Hailiang swallowed his words and quickly asked, "How confident are you?"

Li Lu judged the crosswind speed by the amplitude of the steel cable's sway and said, "Thirty shells are enough."

"Okay! Give it a try, but be careful!" Xu Hailiang immediately approved Li Lu's idea.

Landing with an out-of-control cable is extremely dangerous. Even a well-maintained cable with a target bag and a stabilizing parachute is very dangerous, let alone an out-of-control cable.

Li Lu called out to Zhang Fei, "Tow the target drone, adjust the heading to 180, and turn right on my command."

Zhang Fei replied, "Heading 180, turn right on command, understood."

The H-5 target towing drone slowly turned, its nose gradually pointing due south. During this process, the steel cable swayed wildly and erratically.

After the H-5 target tower completed its turn, the steel cable swayed less.

Li Lu's method had some effect—making the H-5 target drone fly into the wind.

His mind was frantically calculating the most suitable entry point and aiming point, like a supercomputer.

The steel cable was thick, but at this distance, it was just a dark line. Hitting a line was already difficult, let alone a line that was constantly and erratically moving.

Li Lu's eyes scanned the steel cable like a phased array radar, calculating the range of its movement and finding the densest area—that was the aiming point.

He steered the ship south, following the H-5 target tower.

To achieve greater accuracy, you must shoot at closer range.

He slowly closed the distance between himself and the steel cable until he was within a hundred meters.

At this moment, Xu Hailiang realized how Li Lu was about to strike, and he quickly reminded him, "Dong Sanguai! Be careful of the cutting risk!"

Li Lu followed the H-5 target towed aircraft, and the timing for firing was when the H-5 target towed aircraft turned right. After this maneuver, Li Lu's nose was facing the right wing of the H-5 target towed aircraft, and he was going to shoot the steel cable from the right wing of the H-5 target towed aircraft.

but!

If you do that, J-7E No. 037 will be in danger of being cut head-on by the steel cable!

Even just cutting off the vertical stabilizer would have caused the J-7E No. 037 to go out of control, especially considering that the vertical stabilizer of this fighter jet had just been repaired.

Li Lu said calmly, "I can handle it. Target tower ready, I'm moving into attack position!"

"clear!"

Li Lu gave the order, "Turn right!"

Zhang Fei immediately steered to the right, and the steel cable continued to swing south due to inertia, at which point it was in a relatively stable state.

Li Lu suddenly accelerated, quickly closing the firing distance to fifty meters, an extremely dangerous firing distance, as the steel cable would entangle the J-7E No. 037!

He opened fire.

All thirty shells were fired.

Starting from the tail of the H-5 target tower, the steel cable snapped at a point about ten meters in...