Munitions Empire

The Qin Country pilot piloting his own TA-183 fighter jet was a bit panicked. He witnessed his lead aircraft being easily shot down by the Tang Army's plane without knowing how it happened.

Logically speaking, they were all elite pilots honed on the battlefield, with a significant number of accumulated flight hours, so they shouldn't be so fragile.

Due to being underpowered, he could only occasionally spot the enemy fighter pursuing him through the rearview mirror in the cramped cockpit. He swayed left and right out of habit, preventing the Tang Army pilot from locking onto him.

Based on his experience, it wasn't an easy task for the opponent to easily lock onto him and start strafing with machine guns.

In over two years, Qin Country pilots accumulated rich aerial combat experience during the Shu Country War, possessing ample combat experience, and none of them were novices.

Yet, despite this, their recent losses were still mounting to a troubling extent, enough to make the Qin Country's air force commanders doubt themselves.

Because they lacked sufficient reference data and intelligence feedback, Qin Army commanders could only continue deploying elite 183 model fighters, hoping to gather intelligence on the Tang Nation Air Force's secret weapon through constant engagement.

Much intelligence indeed got compiled: including reports of Tang Army possessing a new triangular-winged aircraft which appeared to outperform the swept-wing planes in maneuverability.

Upon closer inspection, the wings of the Tang Army aircraft were not standard delta wings but rather a variation of a double-delta wing, a very excellent design granting the J-7 superior maneuverability compared to the MiG-21 fighter jet.

According to the intelligence known to Qin Army pilots, this quick and highly-manageable jet fighter is very tough to handle, but what is even harder to tackle is that the Tang Army seemingly also had a peculiar weapon.

Indeed, based on reports from some ground observation posts and ordinary soldiers, they saw with their own eyes a kind of "turning" rocket capable of easily hitting Qin Country's planes.

This intelligence puzzled the Qin Country Air Force commanders, as they had no concept of what air-to-air missiles truly were.

Judging by their experience, Tang Army's aircraft should have been equipped with better targeting systems, but not using machine guns in aerial combat seemed like a fantasy to the Qin Country high command.

The Qin Country pilot piloting the TA-183 fighter jet once again tilted his control stick, altering his flight direction, hoping to evade the Tang Army aircraft's lock-on by slipping past the aim window.

However, unknown to him, the Tang Army pilot closely trailing him had already powered the Thunderbolt air-to-air missile mounted under his wing, its guidance head locked onto the Qin aircraft's burning exhaust.

To the infrared guidance head, that heat source was the most irresistible thing on Earth: the Great Tang Empire had invented infrared guidance devices long ago, only revealing them now after other countries had equipped jet engines, while also working to improve the first-generation infrared guidance heads' flaws.

In fact, the Tang Army's infrared air-to-air combat missile was no longer easily distracted by the sun; it had developed some intelligence to disregard the distant heat source of the sun.

Of course, it was also unlikely now to turn around and attack the Tang Army's own aircraft... If that couldn't be guaranteed, Tang Mo wouldn't equip his air force with such missiles.

Without optical warning devices, when pilot Wang Hai's aircraft locked onto and fired the infrared-guided air-to-air missile at the Qin Army aircraft, the Qin Army pilots remained oblivious.

He had no idea he was being attacked, meanwhile waiting for the bullets from the machine gun behind him to narrowly miss his aircraft.

Isn't avoiding bullets coming from behind, maneuvering the plane to evade enemy strafing, then rolling to dodge and seeking an opportunity to counterattack the basic form of aerial combat?

But while he waited painstakingly, he suddenly caught a glimpse from the corner of his eye of something swiftly approaching him.

It was a smoke-trailing black dot, approaching rapidly, and after he altered his flight trajectory, it followed with even more intense maneuvers, lunging behind him from a bizarre angle.

The next second, he felt something suddenly push him forcefully from behind, shrapnel pierced through his engine, his aircraft, and through himself as well...

It was a proximity fuse, designed to increase destructive power; the air-to-air missile wouldn't explode upon direct impact but when close enough to detonate the warhead.

Countless bits of shrapnel formed a tremendous metal storm, engulfing the Qin Country fighter jet ahead, the entire aircraft's tail instantaneously turned to fragments, followed by the wings.

The Qin Army pilot, unequipped with an ejection seat, was disoriented by the violent shake the moment it exploded, losing control of his plane before he could comprehend the situation.

Blood gushed from his abdomen, shrapnel penetrated the bulletproof steel plate behind him, unbeknownst to him, only the cockpit remained of his plane.

Averting to dodge the falling debris of the Qin Army aircraft, Wang Hai secured his second victory of the day, with his wingman consciously letting him have the kill, as this ace has become a legend within the Tang Nation Air Force.

Everyone discussed when Wang Hai would shoot down his 200th enemy plane, a daunting record that left many daunted.

Gazing at the "fuselage" spiraling into a crash in the distance, Wang Hai's face bore utter satisfaction as he inched closer to the goal of 200 enemy planes shot down, a truly good news.

"Enemy plane has been shot down, I can't see it on the radar," came the voice of the early warning aircraft dispatcher through his earpiece, "Congratulations."

"Thank you!" Wang Hai replied politely, he and his wingman were climbing, both TA-183 fighter jets were already burning flames on the ground.

Qin Country's ground command center still hadn't received any intelligence because they couldn't hear their pilots' varied reports.

The electromagnetic interference was just too severe, yet risking their lives to fly into battle proved the Great Qin Empire pilots' bravery.

Unfortunately, this was aerial combat, where courage alone wasn't enough. Dominating this blue sky required technology and indispensable courage... Regrettably, the courage-only Qin Country pilots were facing the technologically superior and courageously invincible Great Tang Empire pilots!