Great Power Long Sky

Over the East China Sea Air Base, Su-27UBK No. 07 had just completed a series of rolls and immediately followed it with a barrel roll.

After the aircraft's speed decreased from 800 kilometers per hour to 700 kilometers per hour, the fuselage immediately leveled off, the twin engine exhaust nozzles suddenly enlarged, and the afterburner was obviously engaged. The speed rapidly increased, and a huge roar reached the control tower.

"It's supersonic..."

Someone murmured something, breaking the silence in the control tower.

Deputy Commander Chen's expression was serious, but his eyes gleamed with excitement.

When the plane took off violently, he questioned Vasily and confirmed that it was Li Lu who was piloting the aircraft, not him.

Russians can be unconventional in their methods, but when it comes to the safety of other people's flights, they tend to follow the rules.

Li Lu took off and climbed at a high angle of attack. Before everyone could even process what he had done, he immediately performed all the basic maneuvers, followed by the advanced maneuvers. He only had the post-stall maneuver left to practice.

This doesn't seem like the first day he's been flying a Su-27 at all; he gives the impression of a seasoned Su-27 pilot who has been flying for many years!

After completing the supersonic flight, Li Lu piloted the plane back to base. This time, the landing was even faster and smoother, exuding a sense of aggression.

It wasn't until the two drag chutes were deployed and the No. 07 Su-27UBK slowly taxied into the taxiway and headed towards the apron that the people in the control tower realized that Li Lu had completed the Su-27's modification in just two flights, totaling less than an hour of flight time.

"This is called modification training? It's more like recovery training," Chen Qi whispered to Xue Shuang. "Even when Sixth Brother modified the Flying Leopard, he wasn't this fast."

Xue Shuang remarked, "The standards of difficulty that we consider applicable to geniuses are not."

Chen Qi exclaimed, "Yes, Sixth Brother is a role model for us all!"

Meeting summary.

Vasily, as the Russian chief flight instructor, gave Li Lu the highest rating in his conversion training assessment.

For him, this was one of the most outstanding achievements of his career—Li Lu was someone he mentored, even if it was only for a few days!

There's nothing I can do; my apprentice is amazing.

Gao Wei's feelings were the most complicated.

It took them more than half a year to complete the basic flight training for all members of the 9th Air Regiment, and another half a year to basically achieve combat capability.

Li Lu had only flown for an hour when he had already reached the threshold of combat capability!

Those aerobatic maneuvers are the basic elements of forming combat power. If you can't fly aerobatic maneuvers, you can't fight a war. Who the hell can't take off, land, fly level, turn, and turn around?

Given Li Lu's astonishing talent, he may only need a few days of flying to be fully proficient in piloting the Su-27 fighter jet in combat.

The problem is comparison. Gao Wei compared himself to others, to the pilots of the 9th Air Regiment—there was no comparison…

They're not even in the same league.

Without a doubt, Gao Wei was convinced and completely impressed.

After the meeting, Deputy Commander Chen smiled and said to Gao Wei, "Regimental Commander Gao, let's leave that two-seater Su-27 in the 7th Regiment. You guys coordinate it so it doesn't affect training."

Gao Wei had no objections whatsoever and answered decisively, "Please rest assured, Commander, the Ninth Regiment will resolutely complete the conversion training of the new fighter jets on schedule!"

"Okay." Deputy Commander Chen nodded slightly.

Li Lu was surprised by this unexpected joy and quickly said, "Thank you, Commander! Thank you, Ninth Regiment! Thank you, Regiment Commander Gao!"

"Alright, you all go out first. I'll talk to Xiao Li," said Deputy Commander Chen.

Everyone left the meeting room.

"Come sit here," Deputy Commander Chen said, pointing to the chair next to him.

Li Lu quickly went over and sat down.

Deputy Commander Chen said, "Three things. First, Project No. 10 has entered the critical stage, and the day of its maiden flight is not far away. After the maiden flight, there will be intensive combat test flights. I have already recommended you to the Air Force Command."

"Project Ten? When will it have its maiden flight?" Li Lu suddenly perked up.

He was eager to see the J-10, knowing that it used a completely domestically produced fly-by-wire flight control system, and wondered how it compared to the Su-27's longitudinal quadruple redundancy simulated fly-by-wire plus lateral mechanical transmission system.

Even with their vast technological foundation, the Russians still managed to mess up a fly-by-wire flight control system. With our weak foundation, how can we possibly produce anything that works?

Deputy Commander Chen said, "Within two years."

When Chinese people predict a timeline for something, if they say it will happen within two years, it will definitely happen within two years; it's more likely to be earlier or very rarely later, especially for a nationally critical project like Project No. 10. In the past decade, the significance of Project No. 10 has been comparable to that of the atomic bomb project!

Within two years...

It was already March 1996, which meant that the J-10 should have made its maiden flight before April 1998.

Two years is neither a long nor a short time, but we must seize every minute.

Deputy Commander Chen said, "The second thing, Xiao Li, have you forgotten about exploring tactics for countering stealth aircraft?"

Li Lu's mind flashed with Chen Hai's suicide note, his expression turned serious, and he said in a deep voice, "Commander, I think about this every time I go to sleep. The tactical testing team has never stopped exploring tactics to counter stealth aircraft."

"Good." Deputy Commander Chen nodded slowly. "The F-14, F-15, F-16, F-18, and all other third-generation fighter jets in the world are not our ultimate goal."

"Fourth-generation fighters, the American F-22 and the fourth-generation stealth fighters that other countries are developing, these are our ultimate adversaries."

Li Lu felt a deep respect for veteran pilots like Deputy Commander Chen.

When they were in their prime, they flew J-5 and J-6 fighters. Li Lu's generation flew J-6 and J-7 fighters. It's not to say that my country's fighter jet program completely stagnated, but it can still be said that for a considerable period of time, the development was extremely slow.

At this moment, the Chinese Air Force is already two generations behind the strongest U.S. Air Force.

If it were other countries, or even some people in their own country, they would probably adopt a "surrenderism" approach—the gap is too big to catch up with, so they might as well just follow along.

But in the military, in the hearts of veterans like Deputy Commander Chen, they dared to think about using second-generation fighters to fight fourth-generation fighters!

This is not a joke, but reality.

Some people choose to give up in the face of reality, while others choose to fight tooth and nail at all costs.

Furthermore, I firmly believe that in the near future, I will have what you have, and I may even have what you don't!

Even in the poorest, most difficult, and most backward times, the People's Army under the leadership of the Communist Party has never lacked strong self-confidence!

This is a vision, a vision that transcends the realm of technology, a vision as vast as the universe, where infinite imagination is transformed into infinite power and wisdom!

Li Lu's mood suddenly calmed down, as if his mindset had been elevated to a new level because of Deputy Commander Chen's words.

He said calmly, "Sir, when our sixth-generation... fifth-generation fighters make their maiden flight, the Americans will probably have already dismantled the F-22 production line. They are like a rabbit's tail; they won't last long."

At present, the fighter jets are classified according to the four-generation system of Europe and the United States. We have not yet formed our own classification standard. The J-10 is currently a third-generation fighter jet, but it will be classified as a fourth-generation fighter jet in the future.

Meanwhile, Russia had already adopted a five-generation classification system, and the Su-27 was classified as a fourth-generation fighter jet there.

Deputy Commander Chen immediately smiled and said, "Good. The most important thing in doing things is to have confidence. I have full confidence in the scene you described and hope to see it with my own eyes in my lifetime."

"Sir, you can even experience the cockpit of a fifth-generation fighter jet!"