Munitions Empire

As a fighter pilot, Wang Hai is truly very fortunate. All his fantasies and hopes about aerial combat have been realized by the engineers of the Tang Empire, or rather by Tang Mo, the chief designer who understands the future direction of air combat technology development.

This is not an exaggeration. Wang Hai even feels that the fighter jet with this double-delta wing aerodynamic layout he's flying is the pinnacle of fighter jets.

Of course, he has never piloted a fighter with a better aerodynamic layout, simpler control, and heavenly maneuverability like the SU-27 and SU-30 series, so he thinks the J-7 is the easiest fighter jet to handle in the world.

In fact, even the F-16 can easily dominate the representative of the second-generation fighters, the MiG-21, in dogfights. Although the aerodynamic layout of the J-7 is better than the MiG-21, it still hasn't broken away from the original design framework, so it naturally can't have the excellent low-speed performance of third-generation fighter jets.

Compared to the previous J-6 fighter jets, the J-7's control is more stable, which is already a huge improvement.

The second-generation fighter jets have not only improved in speed, but their radar, their electronic systems, and everything else... have undergone qualitative leaps.

This is just the performance improvement of the aircraft itself. It should be noted that the Air Force of the Tang Empire has now opened the Heavenly Eye!

With the support of early warning aircraft, the operational efficiency of the J-7 has more than doubled! Its problem of short radar detection distance has been solved, and its short range and loitering time shortcomings have also been significantly compensated.

With the command and dispatch of early warning aircraft, the J-7, a small aircraft derived from the MiG-21 front-line fighter jet, has finally begun to play its role in its true design domain!

Yes, any weapon has its exclusive combat domain, and with the domain's support, they can potentially exhibit amazing combat power; otherwise, they would become exceedingly fragile.

The ideal combat environment for the MiG-21, or the J-7, is intercepting invading aircraft from a forward field airport under complete ground or air command and dispatch, relying on an impressive number to exhaust some of the enemy's "front-line fighters."

If the early warning radar command system is suppressed, then the J-7's weaknesses of short range and poor radar will be exposed, turning it into pure cannon fodder.

But if the command system is perfect and the radar guidance is not suppressed, it can leverage its agile and swift advantage, approach the enemy to initiate an attack, and rely on excellent maneuverability to seize the initiative, potentially trading one-for-one or two-for-one to weaken the enemy's aerial assault capabilities.

This is why, in North Vietnam where the radar cannot be entirely suppressed, the MiG-21 can hold its own against the F-4 Phantom, but after being suppressed by electronic warfare, it is not even considered cannon fodder.

"1 o'clock direction! 1 o'clock direction! Two enemy aircraft approaching! Speed approximately 700 kilometers per hour! Identified as jet fighters!" The voice of the duty dispatcher from the early warning aircraft sounded in the headphones.

Wang Hai pressed the communicator and responded to the command: "Patrol 01 understood! Heading for interception immediately! Heading for interception immediately!"

After speaking, he gently rocked his control stick, the flaps of the J-7 he was piloting slightly released, the fuselage tilted, and the nose pointed towards the 1 o'clock direction.

"Follow me! Enemy aircraft spotted!" While increasing the engine's output, Wang Hai reminded his wingman. After the wingman replied with "Understood," he followed Wang Hai in completing the course adjustment.

The flames from the exhaust nozzles of the two aircraft became more intense as they charged one after the other towards the direction indicated by the early warning aircraft. After approaching the target, they both activated the small radar housed in their nose cones one after the other.

The J-7 does have radar installed in the nose's intake cone. This intake cone extends slightly outwards at high altitudes and speeds, thus marginally extending the radar's detection range.

However, such a small diameter makes it impossible to install a radar with sufficient power, so no matter what, the radar detection capability of the J-7 is really quite "poor."

In the 1990s, after installing foreign radar systems, the Eighth Battalion of Rabbit's home country fired a missile during an exercise, hitting a target 15 kilometers away, marking its first possession of "beyond-visual-range" combat capability.

Hence, one can imagine the range of the air-to-air missiles equipped on the J-7: it is indeed a missile, but its range is only slightly longer than a cannon.

If missiles like the later R77 or AIM-120 are handguns, and cannons are daggers, then at most, the J-7's air-to-air combat missiles could only be considered something like darts.

However, darts are still darts, and they can always fly farther than a dagger. Moreover, although this thing can only hit close-range targets, it can still be considered somewhat like a Xiao Li Flying Dagger.

"Radar on! Target detected!" Through the black sunglasses, Wang Hai saw the target's blip on his radar screen.

The new helmet and oxygen mask are similarly uncomfortable, yet they are much more scientifically designed than the previous ones. Besides goggles, there is an extra pair of sunglasses to shield from sunlight, which is very useful at high altitudes.

"Distance 10 kilometers! I see them!" The wingman monitored both the radar and his downward diagonal position.

"Target spotted! Lock them! Lock them! Tail them! Tail them!" Engaging in a dive, Wang Hai shouted orders loudly.

Infrared combat missiles have certain requirements for launch; they must lock onto the enemy aircraft's tail. Only this way can the infrared missile recognize the opponent's exhaust heat and accurately pursue it to hit the target.

The two Qin Army 183 fighter jets apparently also discovered the Tang Army aircraft. Recently, they have already lost dozens of aircraft, so they've become extremely cautious. Upon seeing the Tang Army aircraft approaching, the two 183 fighters immediately began to accelerate and started making abrupt turns.

The roaring sound of engines echoed in the sky as Liu Guozhu looked up from the ground and saw the Tang Army fighter jets completing the tailing maneuver.

Recognizing their own aircraft is easy; the triangular wings of the J-7 are much more solid-looking than the swept-back wings of the Qin Army's aircraft.

The four aircraft rolled and maneuvered in the sky, the scene seemed very stalemated. Just a few seconds later, a swift white smoke trail shot out from beneath the wings of the trailing Tang Army aircraft, quickly connecting to the tail of the Qin Country aircraft.

Subsequently, a huge fireball exploded at the tail of the Qin Army aircraft, which then dragged a long trail of black smoke and plummeted toward the distant horizon.

"Beautiful!" Seeing the friendly aircraft elegantly pull aside to pursue the remaining Qin Country fighter jet, Liu Guozhu softly praised, his face full of envy.