131: Chapter 131 Conducting Tests on the Combat Performance of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

After concluding negotiations with Colonel Suman, Li Yi returned to the Riviera Hotel.

There were only two things waiting for Li Yi now: one was the 300 million barrels of oil and 90 billion cubic meters of natural gas paid for by Syria's new purchase order, for which he needed Major General Zaha to notify him when they were ready. The other was the 350 million barrels of oil paid for by Iran's new purchase order, for which he needed Colonel Suman to notify him when they were ready.

Only after Major General Zaha and Colonel Suman confirmed the time could Li Yi go to collect the oil and natural gas. Other matters, including the oil and natural gas that needed to be paid for by previous orders from Saudi Arabia, Syria, and Iran, would not begin until next month.

Therefore, Li Yi had nothing to do for the time being, so he decided to return to Pengcheng. After teleporting back to Pengcheng No. 1 via the Multiverse Arms Trading System, Li Yi returned to the house he had left for more than half a month.

For the next period, Li Yi lived a very leisurely life in Pengcheng. He would go out for morning tea, do some shopping at the mall, relax and have fun at private clubs, and rent a yacht to go fishing at sea. He did whatever was relaxing and didn't need to worry about anything.

Li Yi was generally very low-key and had no intention of being high-profile. After all, as an arms dealer, it was not appropriate for him to appear in public and be exposed; if he were exposed, it would cause big trouble.

...

After learning that Qatif Air Force Base was filled with 500 UAVs, Major General Faye immediately took his officers and soldiers directly to Qatif Air Force Base.

Looking at the "Sky Dragon Mark I UAV" in front of him, Major General Faye looked it over from top to bottom, then ordered his officers and soldiers to clear an area and began to take off one "Sky Dragon Mark I UAV".

As the operating officers and soldiers became familiar with the basic operations of the "Sky Dragon Mark I UAV", they quickly made all the necessary preparations and began to launch a "Sky Dragon Mark I UAV".

The "Sky Dragon Mark I UAV", having taken off, circled over Qatif Air Force Base once before flying directly south to begin testing the UAV's combat performance.

Major General Faye saw that the images captured by the "Sky Dragon Mark I UAV" were very clear. It could scan various terrains at high speed and use high-resolution photographic equipment to capture clear ground images of both stationary and moving targets.

Therefore, the "Sky Dragon Mark I UAV" was very qualified in terms of intelligence reconnaissance. As long as a few more UAVs were deployed on the battlefield, it would be possible to basically grasp most of the battlefield intelligence, become familiar with the enemy's activity signs, and make it easier to make analysis and judgments.

Major General Faye also had the operating officers and soldiers select a military weapons test site and used the air-to-ground missiles and bombs that came with the "Sky Dragon Mark I UAV" to attack some targets at the test site.

After testing, the "Sky Dragon Mark I UAV" could lock onto ground targets for precision strikes. The deviation distance was very small; basically, once a target was locked, it could not deviate from the bomb's explosion range.

Since the "Sky Dragon Mark I UAV" could conduct precision attacks, it seemed that the use of fighter jets would be replaced quite a bit in the future. Directly conducting precision strikes via UAVs could also reduce casualties and provide the troops with stronger and faster attack capabilities.

During the UAV's range test, Major General Faye only allowed the operating officers and soldiers to test a flight of 500 kilometers before ending it, and then ordered the "Sky Dragon Mark I UAV" to return directly to Qatif Air Force Base.

Major General Faye also had the officers and soldiers test the combat performance of the "Tianlei Type IV Anti-Aircraft Missile", using the returning "Sky Dragon Mark I UAV" as a target and using the "Tianlei Type IV Anti-Aircraft Missile" to shoot it down.

Although this would mean losing a "Sky Dragon Mark I UAV" and a "Tianlei Type IV Anti-Aircraft Missile", worth nearly over 10 million US dollars, this was closer to actual combat and allowed the operating officers and soldiers to better understand the combat performance of the "Sky Dragon Mark I UAV" and the "Tianlei Series Anti-Aircraft Missile".

As the "Sky Dragon Mark I UAV" flew closer to Qatif Air Force Base, the "Tianlei Type IV Anti-Aircraft Missile" quickly locked onto the target, and at Major General Faye's command, an anti-aircraft missile was launched directly.

After the anti-aircraft missile left the launcher, it lunged directly at the "Sky Dragon Mark I UAV". The UAV attempted to evade in time, but the "Sky Dragon Mark I UAV" was, after all, too slow in flight speed and could not escape being locked onto by the anti-aircraft missile; it was quickly shot down by the "Tianlei Type IV Anti-Aircraft Missile".

Major General Faye saw the combat performance of the "Tianlei Type IV Anti-Aircraft Missile". Because of its fast flight speed, once it locked onto a target, there was basically no possibility of losing it. It could catch up to the target in a short time, and the subsequent explosion left the target with no chance of escape.

Major General Faye was very satisfied with the anti-aircraft capability of the "Tianlei Type IV Anti-Aircraft Missile". He was also very interested in the other models of the "Tianlei Series Anti-Aircraft Missile", but did not continue to launch them for testing.

He would wait until Saudi Arabia conducted military exercises in the future to test them, or simply deploy them to various oil and gas fields and borders to put them directly into actual combat, intercepting incoming enemy UAVs or missiles.

Major General Faye also had the pilots test the flight performance of the "Eagle Mark III Multi-Role Jet Fighter" and the "War Tiger Mark II Jet Bomber".

Based on the provided flight data, the pilots familiarized themselves with the various performance aspects of the fighter jets and understood the basic operations.

Since the operation of the "Eagle Mark III Multi-Role Jet Fighter" and the "War Tiger Mark II Jet Bomber" was relatively intelligent, one could say it was "foolproof" operation. The computer system simplified many operations, and the judgments required by the pilots were also much reduced.

Various operating instruments in the fighter jet's cockpit were highly integrated. Pilots did not need to face hundreds of different buttons and interfaces to judge the status of the fighter jet; they could directly monitor the current status of the fighter jet's various equipment on only a few operating interfaces, reducing many things that needed to be memorized.

It could be said that the "Eagle Mark III Multi-Role Jet Fighter" and the "War Tiger Mark II Jet Bomber" greatly reduced the requirements for pilots, and the time needed to train qualified pilots was greatly shortened.

During the test flights over the following few days, the pilots also experienced the simplified aircraft operation. Whether it was the "Eagle Mark III Multi-Role Jet Fighter" locking onto an aerial target for an attack, or the "War Tiger Mark II Jet Bomber" bombing a ground target, the computer system could provide the final decision.

This allowed the pilots to make decisions faster and have more energy to focus on the flight of the fighter jet and the changes in the battlefield situation, which was good news for the pilots.

It was just that the payload of the "Eagle Mark III Multi-Role Jet Fighter" and the "War Tiger Mark II Jet Bomber" was still a bit low, and the missions they could execute were relatively few, so for Saudi Arabia, their practicality was not very high.