The military-industrial scientific research system of the academic master.

2003, April 3.

Hao Jing, Yan Liang.

The weather is fine.

For an airport like Yanliang, which is mainly used for aircraft manufacturing plants and flight test institutes, such a "spectacular" scene is rarely seen.

After all, even if there are multiple models being tested here, considering the command department's capacity, it is unlikely that multiple aircraft will take off at the same time.

But today, the situation is completely different.

On the tarmac, dozens of support vehicles and hundreds of ground crew members are busy carrying out various pre-takeoff inspections and preparations for more than a dozen aircraft of different models.

除了那架最显眼的空警2000以外，还包括4架歼11B/BS，4架歼10A/AS和3架歼轰7A。

At the current production speed of Chinese military aircraft, this is almost all the new aircraft delivered in the past six months from August last year to now.

Without exception, all of them are equipped with data link antennas during production so that they can be incorporated into the command system of the early warning aircraft.

As for those produced earlier...

There is no other way, I can only wait until the mid-term return to the factory to install it.

As for those older models that are earlier than the J-8C, due to the limitations of the basic hardware level, there is no possibility of such transformation.

Obviously, these eleven aircraft will serve as "friendly forces" in today's test flight to test the communication, control and command capabilities of the KJ-2000.

At ten o'clock in the morning, following the order from the flight commander, the first KJ-2000 aircraft slowly slid out from the apron and arrived at the waiting area to prepare for takeoff.

Because large aircraft have lower climb rates and speeds, and their wake turbulence during takeoff may affect subsequent aircraft, the other 11 fighter jets will take off 15 minutes later for efficiency reasons.

On the other hand, Chang Haonan and others did not wait in the control center of the tower to watch the test flight as usual today.

Instead, it appeared next to a communications vehicle with a SX2190 chassis.

Anyway, we already have data links and relay communication airships, so adding a ground terminal in addition to the 11 aircraft to check the situation is also a side job.

Thus, Chang Haonan, Wang Xiaomo and others became the first lucky people in China to directly witness the informationized air combat...

Half an hour later, 12 aircraft assembled in four designated airspaces.

In order to maximize the effective range of data link relay communications, three types of combat aircraft were arranged in three airspaces approximately 80-100 kilometers apart.

The J-10 and J-11 flew in the same direction at an altitude of 8000 meters, roughly forming a straight wall in the air to simulate the interception of air targets in an entire area.

The JH-7, on the other hand, cut in from another direction below 1500 meters, simulating a ground attack aircraft operating at low altitude and blocking the battlefield against ground targets.

The KJ-2000, serving as the command post, hovered alone about 120 kilometers away from the first three.

Considering that the AIM120B that our army mainly faces has a range of only about 70 kilometers and the no-escape zone is even shorter, this position can basically ensure the safety of the early warning aircraft itself.

Of course, in actual combat, the early warning aircraft, as a high-value target, will also have its own dedicated escort fleet.

But this is a test, not an exercise, and the Chinese Air Force currently has only 11 fighters equipped with data links, so there is no need to waste time on simulated escort...

……

The target that the early warning aircraft was going to detect was a group of J-7B fighter jets that took off from an airport in the northwest.

Although its performance is outdated, thanks to its clean and simple appearance, the RCS of the MiG-21/J-7 is not that large when it is not mounted under the wing.

Sometimes, target aircraft are better test subjects because their features are too small, their corner reflectors are too obvious, and they cannot fly too high or too fast.

Chang Haonan even thought about whether he should refer to the US QF4 and QF16 target aircraft in the future and convert a batch of retired J-7s into professional unmanned target aircraft.

This can even be used for live ammunition testing...

In short, for a mechanical scanning radar like 1473/1493 with the technology level of the 90s, it may be necessary to be 150 kilometers away from the target, or even closer, to stably detect the two J-7 pair formations attacking from the opposite direction.

This distance is certainly enough for launching medium-range missiles, but it is still too short if you want to control the overall situation in advance.

Moreover, the scanning range of the nose radar is also very limited, and is only effective within a cone area of ​​approximately 40-60° directly in front of the heading.

For example, now, the two four-aircraft formations in the front are facing such a situation.

Because before taking off, they did not receive any specific information about the target's location, and were currently only searching roughly towards the west.

In the cockpit of one of the J-10s, the lead pilot Xu Wenzhao was constantly scanning the left and right sides of the aircraft.

Although he knew that those MiG-21s could not penetrate into his visual range, as a Chinese pilot, he was accustomed to fighting alone or with several aircraft of the same type.

In this case, detection blind spots are simply impossible to avoid.

Therefore, paying attention to the situation around him at all times has become a habit ingrained in his bones.

If the flight plan did not allow it, he would even roll every once in a while to observe the blind spots below and behind the aircraft.

As for the big guy following behind, he knew in theory that he was very powerful, but he didn't have any particular practical feeling about him.

"Qinling Squadron, report your respective situations!"

Xu Wenzhao spoke into the radio as usual.

During this test, the HF radio used for long-distance communications was strictly required to only receive and not transmit, so voice communication with the early warning aircraft or the other two fighter groups was impossible.

However, in order to ensure basic flight safety, the UHF radio for short-distance use is still fully usable.

Soon, the deputy squadron leader and two wingmen responded separately and no target was found.

This result was not unexpected by Xu Wenzhao.

After all, with four planes lined up in a row pointing in the same direction, the radar search range is actually not much different.

This made him feel a little awkward.

He even wanted to command his four planes to spread out in a fan shape to cover an area of ​​about 180° in the northwest direction.

Of course, this is clearly not allowed in the flight plan.

"Captain, we have been in the mission airspace for more than ten minutes, but we haven't even detected the target's shadow..."

The voice of the wingman weapons controller Duan Suhao came from the radio:

"Could it be that the AWACS has already detected the target, but because it has turned off its high-frequency radio, it cannot notify us?"

As the useless rear seat ballast in this flight, he did have reason to feel bored.

Xu Wenzhao lowered his head and glanced at the multi-function display.

There was no target on it.

"Before takeoff, the technicians said that the targets detected by the early warning aircraft would be directly shared with our aircraft..."

Instead of giving a direct answer, he went around in circles a bit.

However, Duan Suhao still felt something was not right:

"But if that's the case, even if the target hasn't entered the detection range yet, at least our 11 aircraft should be able to show up... but now there's nothing?"

This question made the four pilots feel depressed.

They didn't have much time to think about these things because they had to keep an eye on the flight situation.

But after being reminded by Duan Suhao, they all felt that what he said seemed to make some sense.

If data link is really that magical, it should at least let us know where our friendly forces are, right?

But now the multi-function display is empty...

In fact, what they don't know is that this is part of the test itself -

In order to obtain data from both the experimental and control groups during a test flight, the data link and command system will be turned off by default and will not be remotely activated until a specific time midway.

And just right.

This "specific time" is now.

Just as Xu Wenzhao raised his head and was about to say something again, Duan Suhao's excited voice suddenly came:

"Captain, the monitor is responding!"

The former subconsciously lowered his head and found that on the multi-function display, which had been empty just now, more than a dozen symbols of different shapes appeared abruptly.

Almost in an instant, he determined the meaning of each symbol.

A hollow diamond, undoubtedly representing an early warning aircraft.

The four solid dots and four triangles represent two different types of friendly fighter jets.

The three hollow inverted triangles only show an altitude of 2300 after selection, indicating that they are the three JH-7A fighters.

Then, the remaining four T-shaped marks flying at high speed on the side of their formation are undoubtedly...

"My formation is in direction 270, 200km, two batches, four targets!"

He shouted into the radio almost instinctively.

Then he prepared to assign interception missions to the four aircraft in this squadron.

However, before he could even utter the next sentence, the information on the multi-function display increased again -

Eight dotted lines appeared between the eight friendly fighter planes and the four "enemy planes".

If you look closely, you will find that each enemy plane corresponds to exactly two lines.

Moreover, they are all the closest.

Xu Wenzhao's order got stuck in his throat.

He suddenly realized that even the first sentence he just shouted out could only serve as an emphasis rather than a command.

Because the information on the display is far more accurate than what he conveys through voice.

As for more complicated commands, there was no chance for him to even shout them out...

Although his entire body was wrapped in a heavy flight suit, Xu Wenzhao still felt a chill down his spine at that moment.

It’s a complete dimensionality reduction attack!

Not to mention that there are four J-7s on the opposite side.

Even if they were using fighter jets and early warning aircraft of exactly the same model and number, the efficiency and accuracy of the traditional command method would still be crushed by this new combat form...