206: Glimpse some clues

Meanwhile, after the crowd gradually dispersed, a thin figure approached Xu Ning.

"Xu Ning, no, Ning Ge... I mean, Lao Xu..."

"Just say what you need to say," Xu Ning replied, while trying to recall information about this group member.

This was Li Yan; although they weren't in the same class, they knew each other because they were from the same hometown. However, since graduation, they had barely kept in touch.

"Lao Xu, do you think the J-7 modification you guys developed can really be put into actual combat?" Li Yan asked, staring at the development drawing on the table, his eyes shining with anticipation.

Suddenly, Xu Ning remembered that Li Yan's father was a pilot. "Impossible."

He answered frankly. Hearing this, the light in Li Yan's eyes instantly dimmed.

"We can do better."

"How could it be better?" Li Yan looked at the drawing in front of him in surprise.

His father was a J-7 fighter pilot, and he flew the relatively rare J-7C model.

Although this new type of fighter entered service two years ago, it sacrificed maneuverability in pursuit of all-weather combat capability.

When he went home for holidays, Li Yan often heard his father and his colleagues complain that the performance of this new aircraft was even worse than the old models.

Therefore, Li Yan felt that the improved version proposed by Xu Ning was already almost perfect.

"Of course, it can," Xu Ning said with certainty.

In fact, at that time, the first prototype of the J-10 was nearing completion, and domestic production of the Su-27 fighter was also being accelerated.

This meant that the future development direction of the Air Force was already clear, and it was no longer possible to widely adopt aircraft based on deep modifications of the J-7.

Even if this development could be realized, it would most likely only be used for export, replacing the position of the J-7MG in the original history.

As someone who knew the inside story, Xu Ning was very clear about this, so he positioned this project as a starting point.

From the current feedback, the effect is indeed good.

However, information about the highly classified Eleventh Project and Eleventh Project projects naturally cannot be revealed to major group members like Li Yan.

After a short break between classes, the defense continued.

However, after the impressive presentations by Huang Hongzhang's team and Xu Ning's group, it seemed difficult for other immature works to attract the audience's interest.

Professor Liu Yuanbo, sitting in the front row, felt a slight confusion.

During the tea break just now, he happened to overhear a few group members discussing that the research submitted by Xu Ning and others actually came from a certain research institute and was not their original work.

Based on the previous performance, Professor Liu did not completely agree with this view.

Both Xu Ning's statement and his teammates' professional explanations showed that they had a deep understanding of the entire project.

Simply plagiarizing others' work would clearly not achieve such a high standard.

However, considering that this report did indeed have theshadow of a professional institution, coupled with the importance of the content involved, even if there was only a very small possibility, Professor Liu could not ignore the existence of this possibility.

After all, how the group members perform is one thing, but if sensitive information is really leaked, that will be a serious problem.

That being said, if a major investigation were launched for that minuscule possibility, no matter what the outcome, several innocent group members would definitely be negatively affected.

Furthermore, Liu Yuanbo also had a small plan in his heart; he wanted Xu Ning to become his graduate student.

After class, Liu Yuanbo returned to his office, still struggling with this matter.

"Senior Brother, although your hair is thick, if you keep pulling it like this, be careful you'll go bald in the future," a pleasant voice interrupted his thoughts at this moment.

Liu Yuanbo was Du Yishang, Academician's student, and had only recently started to be solely responsible for projects. Because he was not old, everyone affectionately called him Senior Brother.

"Junior Sister Yao, aren't you busy researching the new wing of the Yun-7-200? Why do you have time to come find me?" He turned his head and saw Yao Meiling standing at the door.

"Du Tutor is back at school today, aren't you going to see him?" Yao Meiling said, leaning against the door.

This sentence made Liu Yuanbo's eyes light up. He thought of a good idea: he could ask Du Yishang, Academician to help clarify the truth of the matter.

With Du Tutor's influence, a phone call to the 601 Institute could easily solve the problem.

"Let's go, I have something I need Du Tutor's help with," Liu Yuanbo said, grabbing the research materials submitted by Xu Ning's team from the table and quickly leaving the office with Yao Meiling.

Not long after, only the teacher and student were left in Du Yishang's office.

"Xiao Liu, you didn't just come to see me, did you?" Du Yishang sat down and pointed to the documents in Liu Yuanbo's hand. "What did you bring? Are you giving me a new task?"

"Nothing can be hidden from you," Liu Yuanbo said with a smile, placing the documents on the table. "This is a small group project from our class's aircraft development course."

"The result of the development? I remember you usually invite Li Guang and the others to review it together," Du Yishang opened his thermos cup but found the water was cold, so he handed it to Liu Yuanbo and asked him to help change the hot water. "Are there any different opinions this time?"

Liu Yuanbo poured the water and handed it back: "No disagreements, we all think this assignment is particularly outstanding."

"Really? Let me see," Du Yishang's interest was piqued, and he opened the first page of the development description. "An upgraded version of the J-7?"

Seeing this, Du Yishang smiled, recalling the days when he participated in the J-7 surveying and mapping work when he was young. "To dare to challenge the development of a supersonic fighter jet, the younger generation is truly formidable."

Liu Yuanbo was silent; he had no confidence and didn't know where to start.

This development was far from being just bold.

When Du Yishang turned to the third page, his brows furrowed, and he even put down the thermos cup in his hand.

By the fourth page, the Old Professor had already picked up a red and blue pencil and began sketching on a blank piece of paper next to him.

About half an hour passed, and Du Yishang raised his head, his face full of surprise: "Is this really the work of an undergraduate student?"

"This is the reason I came to you..." Liu Yuanbo then briefly explained the situation to Du Yishang, as well as his concerns about the possible background behind this work.

He also mentioned that afterwards, he verified that one of the group members, named Old Wei, worked at the 316 Military Factory.

"Indeed, some clues can be seen from this development..." Du Yishang mused, "But that was thirty years ago. After the 316 Institute completed the basic imitation work of the J-7, it transferred the subsequent development tasks to other research institutions."

Du Yishang's words clearly indicated that, according to reason, the 601 Institute should not have a continuous improvement project for the J-7.

"How about this, I'll verify the situation again," Du Yishang hesitated for a moment, then picked up the red phone on the table and asked Liu Yuanbo to wait outside first.

A moment later, he beckoned Liu Yuanbo to come back.

Liu Yuanbo returned to the office and saw Du Yishang leaning back in his chair, holding his reading glasses in one hand and the development report in the other.

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