The Thirteenth: The Heroic Eagle Spreads Its Wings

  Zhejiang southern region, a certain naval aviation base.

  At 6:30, Major Liang Guoxiang had already gotten up and washed up. After completing a 10-kilometer morning run, the major went to the officers' cafeteria for breakfast, then returned to his dormitory to take a hot shower, and arrived at the base duty center on time at 7:30 to sign in. Due to some trouble on the road, Liang Guoxiang didn't arrive at the tactical command center until after 8 o'clock.

  "Liāng Gē, long time no see! You're five minutes late today." The one who came to greet him was Dí Bó Qīng Shàngwèi, he is Liáng Guó Xiáng's partner and navigator.

  "The car broke down on the road and needs to be taken in for repairs over the weekend."

  "Is your luck that bad?" Di Boqing smiled and pulled out a photo. "Look, it's my newborn son. Doesn't he look just like me?"

  After taking the photo and examining it carefully, Liang Guoxiang shook his head. "It doesn't look much like him, more like his mother."

  "Really? Others say so too, son looks like mom, good fortune in the future."

  When he saw Di Baoqiang's excitement, Liang Guoxiong also burst out laughing.

  "Brother Liang, help me come up with a name for my son."

  "Why should I be the one to take the name?"

  "Help me out, and when the kid grows up, I'll have him call you Uncle."

  "Alright, then during holidays and festivals, shouldn't I prepare an extra red envelope?"

  As they spoke, the two of them burst out laughing happily.

  Liang Guoxiang was overjoyed when his partner, Di Boqing, had a baby. They have been partners for 12 years since they joined the army together. Even back in flight school, they were already flying partners. It's not easy to stick together all these years. Now, among Liang and Di's batch of pilots, many have switched partners, some have changed careers to civil aviation, flying large passenger planes, earning high salaries, and getting two days off a week. Those who stayed behind aren't incompetent, nor do they lack family or despise money; it's just that they can't bear to leave the military camp where they've lived for over a decade, their comrades with whom they share every dawn and dusk, and the fighter jets they love.

  "Attention!"

  At the shout of the guard, Liang Guoxiang and Di Boqing immediately straightened their bodies.

  "Hello, boss!"

  A casually dressed senior colonel walked in, who was none other than Brigade Commander Nie Xinping.

  "Everyone, today's training is cancelled." Nie Xinping stopped in his tracks at the door. "The duty squadron will immediately enter combat readiness and board the planes within 15 minutes. If there are new orders, I will issue them directly through the tower."

  Nie Xinping had just left when the tactical command center suddenly became a flurry of activity.

  "It seems like something big is happening today."

  "Come on, hurry up and change your clothes."

  Liang Guoxiang and Di Boqing were the first to leave the command center and went to the pilots' locker room.

  Because of long-term stationing in the Haiphong front line, the air force unit where Liang Guoxiang was located had always been in a state of war readiness. After receiving orders, they could take off and carry out tasks within fifteen minutes.

  Ten minutes later, Liang Kuo-hua and Tieh Pu-ching climbed aboard the Su-30MKK fighter jet numbered 711.

  This is the most advanced multi-purpose fighter of Hainan Airlines, Liang Guoxiang and Di Boqing have flown more than 1,500 hours on this type of aircraft. In Hainan Airlines, Su-30MKK mainly performs maritime strike missions, and the main subject of regular training is also maritime attack. However, this time, the aircraft carried by Liang Guoxiang and Di Boqing were all air-to-air missiles. The other eleven aircraft of the same type that were pulled out of the hangar one after another were also equipped with air-to-air missiles.

  "Brother Liang, what kind of wind is blowing today? We're actually being tasked with air defense operations, are we all supposed to change careers or something?"

  "What's all the fuss about? Check your electronic devices."

  With the help of ground personnel, Liang Guoxiang and Di Boqing quickly completed the pre-takeoff inspection. Finally, Liang Guoxiang also paid special attention to the oil gauge. The internal fuel tank was fully filled, plus three large auxiliary fuel tanks hung on the inside of the wing and under the belly, according to the execution mode of air-to-air combat mission, the combat radius can reach 1,500 kilometers.

  What is this?

  Liáng Guó Xiáng was also very puzzled. Could it be that a remote air-to-air combat training had been arranged at short notice?

  The fighter was towed to a holding position before takeoff and stopped, the electric cart used to help start the engine on the ground did not leave, indicating that it could receive a takeoff order at any time.

  Liang Guoxiang glanced at his partner in the rearview mirror and found that Di Boqing was also observing the situation inside the base.

  About fifteen minutes later, a large early warning aircraft with a radome on its back drove out of the hangar and was towed to the end of the runway.

  "Brother Liang..."

  "I've seen it, no need for nonsense."

  As the four turbofan engines roared to life one by one, the hundred-plus-ton early warning aircraft slowly accelerated down the runway before lifting off more than a kilometer from the end of the runway, rising into the sky like a giant goose.

  "Flight 711, this is Tower, clear for departure."

  "Control tower, this is 711, over!" Liang Guoxiang and Di Boqing responded simultaneously.

  As the two high-thrust turbofan engines roared to life, two streams of scorching hot air shot out from the nozzles at the rear of the plane. Liang Guoxiang pushed the throttle to its maximum setting until the engines reached their maximum output power before releasing the brakes. The thirty-odd-ton fighter shot forward like an arrow, covering more than five hundred meters on the runway before exceeding a speed of three hundred and thirty kilometers per hour. As Liang Guoxiang pulled back on the control stick, the plane's front wheels lifted off the ground, and it shot into the sky like lightning.

  Behind the 711 fighter, another eleven fighters also took off one after another.

  "Seven one one, this is tower, switch to channel four, accept command from Air Command Center."

  "711, roger that, channel 4, receiving command from Air Command Center." Di Boqing said while adjusting the communication channel. Taking advantage of the fighter still climbing, he asked his partner in front: "Liang, do you think this is a drill?"

  "Maybe it is, maybe it isn't." Liang Guoxiang also muttered to himself in his heart. "Don't ask so many questions, quickly contact the other fighter jets and assemble them according to air combat mode."

  Soon, the 12 fighter jets formed four diamond-shaped formations. The lead aircraft in each formation were all dual-seat models, and Liang Guoxiang's No. 711 fighter jet was both the leader of this formation and the overall leader of the four formations.

  It was found that the leading warning aircraft had been flying eastward all along, and Liang Guoxiang became even more puzzled.

  Eastward lies the vast ocean, a combat radius of 1,500 kilometers, enough to fly out of the First Island Chain. Is this really not an exercise?

  "Before flying over the ocean, the warning machine sent an order. '711, this is Airborne Command Center, change call sign now. Repeat, change call sign now.'"

  "Air Command Center, this is 711, receiving new orders. Repeat, receiving new orders."

  "'Falcon'?" The voice of Di Boqing came from the headphones, "What's this codename?"

  "Operation code name." Liang Guoxiang exhaled slowly, "Re-check electronic equipment, radar simulation run."

  "Looks like someone's gonna have a bad day today." Di Boqing didn't dare to be careless and immediately started the radar in simulation mode to check if all the main equipment was working normally.

  "Hawk", this is "Eagle's Nest". Turn heading to 105, speed 1100, altitude 4500. Be aware of southwest direction.

  Liang Guoxiang and Di Boqing immediately looked southwest, where more than a dozen fighter jets were flying towards them in the sky above the sea.

  "It's Old Hong's Flying Leopard!"

  Flying in, it was a squadron of "Flying Leopard" fighter jets. Each "Flying Leopard" had four anti-ship missiles under its wings, two air-to-air combat missiles at the wingtips, and three large auxiliary fuel tanks on the inner side of the wings and belly. The flight altitude of the "Flying Leopard" was less than 200 meters, and the speed was definitely over 1,000 kilometers per hour.

  "Old Hong" mentioned by Di Boqing is their senior fellow Hong Xueliang in the aviation school, who is now a colonel and commander of a certain fighter bomber regiment of Hainan Airlines. At that time, when they were studying at the aviation school, Hong Xueliang served as the instructor of Liang Guoxiang and Di Boqing, and led them to complete their intermediate flight training.

  Arriving behind Liang Guoxiang, the "Flying Leopard" formation also turned its course to 105 degrees.

  Two fighter jets flew in formation, one in front of the other and one higher than the other, heading east at maximum cruising speed.

  Because the situation indicator light was red, indicating that the fighter had entered combat status, all fighters were not allowed to break radio silence before receiving orders, so Liang Guoxiang and Di Boqing could not communicate with their seniors.

  As time ticked away second by second, Liang Guoxiang's mood became increasingly uneasy.

  In front of us is the Ryukyu Islands, if we enter Japanese airspace, we will definitely encounter fighter jets from the Japan Air Self-Defense Force. Looking at this formation, it's definitely not a routine training exercise, nor are they going to attack military bases on the Ryukyu Islands. Otherwise, the "Flying Leopard" should be carrying air-to-ground munitions, not anti-ship missiles.

  Are they going to "harass" the US-Japan fleet that is exercising in the waters around Okinawa?

  If it's just "harassment", the intensity is a bit too strong. Twelve "Flying Leopards" and forty-eight C-802 anti-ship missiles are enough to take down an aircraft carrier.

  Of course, it is necessary to first break through the air defense network of the US fleet.

  Twelve Su-30MKKs can at most take on twelve F/A-18E/F carrier-based fighters, and the "Washington" aircraft carrier has at least twenty-four air superiority fighters. In a real fight, it's not certain how much of an advantage they would have.

  Maybe it's just to scare the Americans a bit.

  The more he thought about it, the more uneasy Liang Guoxiang became, because that will was written during the crisis that shocked the world three years ago.

  "Hawk", this is "Eagle's Nest". Four suspicious targets have appeared at one o'clock, intercept immediately.

  "Roger that, 'Hawk' understood." After finishing the sentence, Liang Guoxiang switched to another communication channel, "Team 1 and Team 2 follow me, Team 3 and Team 4 continue to cover 'Flying Leopard'."

  Six Su-30MKK fighter jets made a light turn in the air and flew northwest.

  "Bo Qing, have you received the target data?"

  "Four F-15Js, fighter jets of Japan's Air Self-Defense Force, did not intercept fire control radar signals, and the enemy aircraft did not turn on their radar."

  "Keep an eye on the situation!"

  At this time, the fire control radar on the six Su-30MKKs was not turned on, and all target data were transmitted from the early warning aircraft behind through the tactical data link.

  Because the command center in the air did not issue a firing order, Liang Guoxiang could not use the fire control radar on the fighter plane to illuminate the Japanese fighter planes and provide shooting data for the medium-range air-to-air missile.

  Maybe it's just a confrontation and won't lead to a fight.