185: Chapter 185 The Attitudes of the Three Parties

"How could it be like this?"

Sasaki found it hard to believe.

"It's a long story. The Huaxia people are too cunning. I will report this in detail to Base Camp when we return."

"Then what about us???"

"Withdraw from the relevant airspace immediately. Leave the rest for the superiors to handle. We have done our best."

"Alright, I will issue the order immediately. Koizumi Ichiro, did you also encounter Huaxia's new fighter jet on your side?"

"Yes, a terrifying fighter jet! It almost sent our two aircraft out of control just by using its engine wake. What a terrifying acceleration ratio! Sasaki, when we return, we must report this information to Base Camp as top secret to alert them."

As Koizumi Ichiro recalled the details just now, a sense of fear still rose in his heart.

The island nation's aircraft formation came and went quickly. In just a few minutes, the blue sky that was previously filled with fighter jets was now left with only Wang Wei's Flying Dragon Squad and Su Wen's JJ-16 formation.

Wang Wei returned to Su Wen's side, and they prepared to continue patrolling for a while before returning to base.

"Wang Wei, what happened just now? I think I saw one of the little devils' planes crash."

"I just gave them a taste of my exhaust wake. Who would have thought they would crash? It's not like we haven't encountered a stall spin before; any pilot with a little experience can recover from it. I can only say the little devils lack skill; you can't blame me."

Wang Wei said casually.

"Haha, no problem, that's satisfying. Say, are you heading back to the South Huaxia base? I'll come to see your Flying Dragon after landing; I can't wait."

Su Wen had basically been a quiet spectator throughout the whole event. Although he didn't know the specific combat performance of the carrier-based aircraft, he had been completely conquered by seeing their close-quarters dogfight with the F-35s just now.

"I'm afraid that won't work. We have to fly back to the Yanjing base. The carrier-based aircraft are still in the test flight stage, and this mission is part of the experiment."

"Oh, that's a pity."

As the two were chatting excitedly, the early warning aircraft in the rear sent a command. The content was simple: return to your respective bases immediately, no delays.

After bidding each other farewell, Wang Wei and Su Wen flew back to their respective formations and then headed towards the land.

...

Inside the Yanjing Air Force base combat command hall, Chu Ge and Commander Li stood up, and warm applause erupted throughout the hall.

After greeting everyone, Chu Ge walked out with Commander Li.

"Academician Chu, the carrier-based aircraft are truly perfect. Can you speak to the big leaders and spare some for our Air Force too?"

Commander Li had this thought the moment he saw the perfect performance of the Flying Dragon Squad. Although he felt it was a bit difficult, he still had to try. Perhaps if he put in the effort, he could turn a bicycle into a motorcycle?

"Uh, this... to be honest with you, Commander Li, I now doubt whether the aerospace carrier can even reach its full capacity."

While speaking, Chu Ge recalled the expression on Academician Chen's face that day; he was clearly frightened by his quote.

"What do you mean?"

"The price is too high. I roughly calculated it, and just the bare aircraft alone would cost 1 trillion huaxia currency."

"..."

"No, Academician Chu, how many aircraft does a full complement of the aerospace carrier consist of?"

"500."

"500? My god, Academician Chu, are you planning to fight Star Wars? We've successfully developed the JJ-20A stealth aircraft for some time now, and we have less than 200."

Commander Li almost jumped on the spot. It was no wonder he was surprised. According to the number Chu Ge reported, the Air Force could forget about these carrier-based aircraft.

"However, the final plan still needs to be decided by the military leaders. I think it's not impossible to allocate a batch to the Air Force for homeland defense. Commander Li, don't be discouraged just yet, haha."

Commander Li nodded after hearing this, his eyes instantly lighting up. He grabbed Chu Ge and insisted on going for lunch, though it was unclear if it was because he had been complained to by Academician Chen, or because he was shocked by the overwhelming performance of the Flying Dragon Squad.

Things were calm and peaceful on Chu Ge's side.

The two factions in the island nation, however, were in a chaotic mess.

First was the US RC-135W reconnaissance aircraft stationed in the island nation. It was the first to withdraw among all the participants. While Wang Wei and the others were still competing, it had already landed. Once on the ground, the aircraft was immediately towed into a large hangar.

US experts took over the aircraft; they needed to find the cause of the system failure in the shortest possible time.

The reconnaissance squadron leader, John Hunter, was pacing anxiously below.

He was waiting for the experts' conclusion to report back. This was supposed to be a good show today, but at the critical moment, the reconnaissance aircraft under his jurisdiction had a problem, and he instantly became the target of everyone's blame.

"Colonel John, it looks like our radar system was subjected to some kind of strong electronic attack, similar to electromagnetic radiation."

An expert who was conducting the inspection poked his head out and shouted to John.

"Are you sure?"

"I'm sure. The only thing uncertain now is what type of electronic attack it was."

After obtaining the information he wanted, John Hunter turned and left. The base officials were still waiting for his incident report.

The US side was investigating quickly, but the island nation had many more troubles to face.

The first priority was searching for and rescuing the pilot of the crashed fighter jet. The crashed fighter jet also needed to be located and then salvaged.

They needed to confirm some situations, at least to determine the cause of the plane's crash, rather than just relying on the one-sided accounts of a few pilots.

Then there was the reconnaissance aircraft that accompanied the mission; it had been disabled at the same time as the US one, so it had also withdrawn early.

Finally, there was the protagonist of all today's events: the issue of the Flying Dragon Squad's new fighter jet.

The former matters were naturally handed over to the relevant personnel at the Yonaguni base, while the situation regarding the new fighter jet was elevated to the level of classified intelligence, thus requiring higher-level Self-Defense Force officials.

The island nation's military was still somewhat efficient; they understood the detailed sequence of events that occurred today in the shortest possible time.

Base Defense Commander Miyamoto Ichiro immediately rushed to the official residence of the highest-ranking Self-Defense Force official. The Defense Ministers of the Navy, Army, and Air Force, as well as relevant staff officers, were still waiting for his news there.

"Commander Miyamoto is here? Take a seat; we have been waiting for you for a long time."

The Ground Self-Defense Force Chief of Staff spoke coldly. Miyamoto Ichiro belonged to the Navy. It was no secret that the Navy and Army of the island nation had been at odds since ancient times.

Even during wartime, they could cause jokes where each acted as their own king; this was considered a major chronic disease of the island nation's military.

"Yes, regarding the missing pilot, we are still..."

"Commander Miyamoto should know that our military meeting this time was not convened for your missing pilot, so please get straight to the point. Our time is precious."

"Regarding Huaxia's new fighter jet, only the F-35 participated at the time. The F-35 was not equipped with a camera function, so we did not leave any image intelligence. According to the recollections of the pilots participating in the operation."

"This type of fighter jet has several characteristics: First, speed. It can maintain ultra-high-speed cruising for a long time, and can even fly at Mach 3. As for whether this is its maximum speed, we do not know."

"Second, stealth characteristics. And it's very strange: according to our F-35 pilots, it did not possess stealth characteristics at the beginning, but it was able to become stealthy during the engagement. If the facts are as he said, it means that this aircraft has new coating technology."

"Third, the engine. We seriously suspect that Huaxia has already applied Controllable Nuclear Fusion technology to aviation engines."

Miyamoto Ichiro finished what he had to say in one breath, then turned his gaze to the Army Chief of Staff. He knew that this person would be his opponent in today's meeting.