Great Power Long Sky

It was almost noon, and the sunlight was getting increasingly intense.

Winter has resolutely departed, and the brief spring will soon pass, with the hot summer becoming the dominant season of the year.

Feng Liang and Xu Hailiang strolled toward the JH-7 parking tarmac, gazing at the tall and imposing fighter jet from afar.

Seeing this, Xu Hailiang couldn't help but sigh, "The JH-7 is a good aircraft, and our air force should purchase some. Just the fact that it can fly far and carry a lot makes it very worthwhile."

Feng Liang said in a deep voice, "With such a small budget, if we choose the Su-27, we won't be able to buy the JH-7. Everyone wants as many as possible."

He paused, then said, "The joint military exercise command added the task of supporting the 3rd Army Group's amphibious landing operation to the 7th Air Regiment, which was completely unexpected. Indeed, the JH-7 is very suitable for ground support missions."

Xu Hailiang said, "The premise is to gain air superiority on the battlefield. The JH-7's air combat capabilities are hard to describe in a few words."

Without even flying it, Xu Hailiang knew from the technical parameters that the JH-7's air combat capability was not even as good as the J-7E, which was not an exaggeration at all.

The high-wing aerodynamic layout was never designed for air combat.

The J-7E has very strong air combat capabilities, even surpassing the Su-27!

As they talked, the two arrived at the tarmac, where Li Lu and Gu Chen handed over the aircraft to the maintenance crew and waited for the arrival of the two leaders.

Feng Liang walked up to Gu Chen and asked bluntly, "Chief of Staff Gu, was Li Lu the one who operated the entire flight just now?"

Gu Chen nodded with a bitter smile, "Yes, this student of his is practically trying to outdo me, his instructor. In my opinion, there's no need to train him anymore; Captain Li is perfectly capable of going solo."

Feng Liang frowned. "Isn't that a bit of an exaggeration?"

"It's not an exaggeration at all." Gu Chen nodded seriously.

Having spent some time together, Feng Liang understood Gu Chen's personality. He was a very meticulous person who rarely spoke in absolutes.

Even Gu Chen believed that Li Lu had already completed his apprenticeship, which meant that Li Lu's flying leopard piloting skills were indeed up to the requirements for solo flight.

Li Lu quickly said, "Sir, the weather is nice this afternoon. Why don't I go solo for a bit this afternoon, with Chief of Staff Gu giving guidance from the rear cabin?"

With Gu Chen in the rear cabin, there's nothing to worry about.

Feng Liang nodded and said, "Chief of Staff Gu, everything will proceed according to your instructors' plan. I will fully cooperate."

"Yes, I understand," Gu Chen said.

The JH-7 is a two-seat fighter jet. Even if Li Lu obtains his JH-7 flight qualification tomorrow, he will still need to wait for the second pilot to complete his conversion training.

Of course, theoretically, one person could fly a JH-7, but that would be an extreme case.

Li Lu's ability to complete the modification training in the shortest amount of time means that a spot can be quickly freed up, and this benefit is obvious.

There are only two JH-7 fighter-bombers in total, and they can only train two people at a time. With the atmosphere of impending war becoming increasingly intense, efficiency is extremely important.

Li Lu hoped that the two JH-7s could be of great use in the large-scale military exercises. If the 7th Air Regiment had enough pilots capable of flying this type of aircraft, he could even ask his superiors to coordinate some more JH-7s.

The 7th Air Regiment was tasked with securing air superiority in the No. 3 airspace and supporting the 3rd Army Group's amphibious landing operations. The difficulty and workload of this mission were immense.

A mere twenty-odd aircraft is woefully inadequate; we must certainly strengthen our forces before the fighting begins.

With a little time left before lunch, Li Lu removed his flight gear and went straight to the airfield headquarters to find Station Chief Wu Jinzhong.

The issue of the JH-7's parking hangar has not yet been finalized, which has a significant impact on the aircraft's daily maintenance.

Furthermore, these two JH-7s were borrowed from the 16th Naval Aviation Regiment. They need to be returned after use. If they are returned with peeling paint or other damage, it will affect the relationship between the brother units.

Wu Jinzhong is a difficult person to deal with.

Everyone says that Fang Zhenwei is rigid and inflexible in his work, but Wu Jinzhong is even worse.

Xu Hailiang didn't like dealing with Wu Jinzhong, and in the 7th Air Regiment, only Li Lu could talk to Wu Jinzhong.

Therefore, this arduous task fell to Li Lu.

The air corps entered a state of combat readiness, and the airfields were no exception.

When Li Lu arrived at the stationmaster's office and knocked on the door, he looked up and saw Wu Jinzhong sitting behind his desk, flipping through documents. He was wearing a training uniform and carrying a bullet pouch, with a leather pistol holster on his back. There must be a pistol in the holster, and there must be live magazines in the magazine pouch.

This is the requirement for Level 1 combat readiness—guns and ammunition must be integrated.

"Report! Station Chief Wu!" Li Lu strode in.

Wu Jinzhong looked up and smiled, saying, "Flight training is incredibly busy, how come you have time to come here?"

"Look at what you're saying, can't I come to see you, sir?" Li Lu said with a chuckle.

Wu Jinzhong continued to look down at the documents. "No one comes here unless they have a reason. I know you well; you're the type who won't get up early for nothing."

Li Lu wasn't embarrassed at all, and chuckled, "My dear stationmaster, do you really think I'm that much of a snob?"

Wu Jinzhong closed the file, looked at Li Lu with a smile, and said, "Alright, you're not a snob. So, what do you want?"

This question put Li Lu in an awkward position.

However, he was thick-skinned after all. He stuffed the white work gloves he was holding into his pocket, then took out two packets of Yuxi cigarettes from the other pocket, walked over with a smile, and placed them in front of Wu Jinzhong.

Li Lu said with a smile, "The money has all been donated to schools in the mountains. As a second choice, you can just make do with Yuxi cigarettes."

Wu Jinzhong looked helpless, pointed to the chair, and said, "Don't give me that. I just like ink painting and have little interest in tobacco and alcohol."

"I can't get you any ink paintings in this desolate wilderness, my dear stationmaster," Li Lu said with a grin as he sat down, then turned serious. "After the exercise, I'll ask my classmate to find you a masterpiece!"

Wu Jinzhong waved his hand and said, "Is it about the hangar? I can't handle this. The JH-7 is a naval aircraft, you know what that means? These two aircraft are not in the 7th Regiment's order of battle."

"The higher-ups allocate funds according to the established staffing levels, one radish per hole. If these aren't in the established staffing levels and there's no corresponding funding, how am I supposed to fix them?"

Wu Jinzhong was clearly not shirking responsibility; it was simply the rule.

In order to support the training and maintenance of two JH-7 fighter-bombers, the 7th Air Regiment had to transfer resources from the J-6 and J-7 fighters. Luckily, they used the same fuel, otherwise they would not know where to get aviation fuel.

This is a bit like the recruits in boot camp.

Before being awarded ranks, the new recruits are not officially part of the military. In this case, their food allowance has to be "deducted" from the veterans' allowance, including both recently discharged veterans and those who remain in the military.

Anyone who has served in the military knows that new recruits in basic training have an exceptionally good appetite; thirty or forty of them can easily eat up the entire food allowance for a company.

The JH-7 uses a turbofan engine, specifically the well-known British Spey series, which has excellent fuel economy. To put it bluntly, it is much more fuel-efficient than a turbojet engine.

However, the JH-7 is a large fighter jet and a twin-engine aircraft. Even disregarding other factors, its fuel consumption per unit of training time is definitely higher than that of the J-6 and J-7.

Li Lu was well aware of these circumstances.

He said, "It is precisely because of these regulations that I came to find my fellow townsman from Guangdong, the generous and righteous station chief, Colonel Wu Jinzhong, the senior station chief. When our brother unit encounters difficulties, my senior station chief will definitely not sit idly by and will definitely find a way."

Wu Jinzhong said seriously, "You don't need to flatter me. The Donghai Air Station is at the regimental level, and your 7th Air Regiment is also at the regimental level. We are equal in rank and independent of each other. I'll take care of my own little territory, and you two take care of your own things. Everyone will be happy."

If it were someone else, they would probably turn around and leave after hearing these words.

But Li Lu is different. He understands Wu Jinzhong, and secondly, he has a somewhat stubborn personality.

In short, he's thick-skinned.

For the airbase, the flight regiments are like a revolving door; today it's this regiment stationed here, but tomorrow an order might come down and a different regiment will be sent over. The airbase itself won't change; it'll be here once it's built, and it will remain here in the future.

The Donghai Air Base is quite special. It is not under the command of the 3rd Air Division, but rather under the Logistics Department of the Air Force of the Military Region. It is a backbone air force base along the coast.

In other words, Wu Jinzhong was under the command of the Air Force Logistics Department of the Military Region, not the 3rd Air Division, so his position was quite extraordinary.

The reason is simple: the East China Sea Air Base has the capability to support all active-duty aircraft of the Air Force, while many other air bases currently only have the capability to support a single type of aircraft.

Based on this, Li Lu did not intend to discuss the rules with Wu Jinzhong, but rather to talk about feelings and the actual situation.

He laughed and said, "Station Commander, regulations are regulations, and specific situations are specific situations. I won't go into how difficult the 7th Air Regiment is, but right now, the entire unit is in a state of full combat readiness, and those two JH-7s will definitely be put to use."

"In a real combat scenario, would it be better to leave those two JH-7 fighter-bombers exposed to the enemy for bombing, or to find a way to hide them?"

Wu Jinzhong didn't say anything; he listened.

If an aircraft is bombed at an airfield, it's a problem with the airfield's support capabilities.

You could even say that the responsibility for an aircraft on the ground lies with the airfield, but once the aircraft is in the air, that's the responsibility of the flight squadron.

Li Lu picked up a pack of Yuxi cigarettes, opened it, took out a cigarette, lit it, and continued, "Find a suitable location, build two helipads with steel structures, cover them with camouflage netting, and lay some necessary pipelines. You, sir, can easily handle this small matter with a little effort."

"Do you know how much it costs to build a helipad using a steel structure?" Wu Jinzhong asked.

Li Lu shook his head honestly, thought for a moment, and said, "Our group will contribute 10,000 yuan."

Wu Jinzhong suddenly laughed, then shook his head and sighed.

Li Lu said, "Station Chief, good fellow villager, please help me out. Although our two units are independent of each other, we are one unit in wartime, don't you think?"

Wu Jinzhong waved his hand and said, "Alright, alright, we're going to have a war soon. You should save your money for something nice to eat. Consider the two hangars a gift from Donghai Air Station."

Li Lu slapped his thigh excitedly, "I knew it! We fellow Guangdong natives are just so awesome! Thank you, sir! Thank you, sir!"

He got up and started to leave.

"Wait a minute!" Wu Jinzhong shouted, pointing to the opened pack of Yuxi cigarettes, "This pack doesn't count anymore, give me a different one!"

Li Lu chuckled awkwardly, then magically pulled out another unopened pack of Yuxi cigarettes from his pocket. He walked over and replaced the opened pack with the new one, saying, "You have sharp eyes, you knew I was carrying cigarettes."

"Keep the ones that have been demolished as well," Wu Jinzhong said.

Li Lu was taken aback and had no choice but to put down the already opened bag of Yuxi cigarettes he was holding. As he walked out, he said with dissatisfaction, "Everyone says our Donghai Station Chief is a miser, and I think it's absolutely true. I'm leaving, Wu Laokou!"

Wu Jinzhong laughed and cursed at Li Lu's retreating figure, "Get the hell out of here, you bastard!"

……