Chapter 622

Chapter 622: Extreme Speed

“Damn it!”

Old Pan dropped his teacup and rushed out of the hangar.

As he reached the door, a strong wind hit him, and he quickly shielded his eyes. He saw a shadow on the ground rapidly shrinking, as if something was ascending quickly into the sky.

“What is that?”

Ignoring the wind and sand that blurred his vision, Old Pan squinted and looked up at the sky.

A pure black fighter jet appeared in his sight, boldly extending its unique forward-swept wings, forming a pentagon with the nose and tail.

It looked like a gigantic black diamond embedded in the sky.

The tail’s tri-vector nozzles were spraying hot exhaust downward, whipping up gusts of wind. The semi-transparent suspended cockpit featured small jet chambers flashing light blue flames, continuously adjusting the aircraft’s center of gravity while producing a tremendous roar as it propelled itself rapidly into the sky.

The pulse detonation engine wasn’t a particularly challenging technology to achieve, possessing a simple structure, small size, outstanding performance, wide applicability, low cost, and usability at zero speed.

The insights gained from the space center were more than enough for Lin Mo and Gold Coin, nearly equating to a complete engine design plan acquired for free. The detonation’s initiation, control, and maintenance techniques were now mature.

If they didn’t pursue excessively high performance and focused on miniaturization, the gold giant dragon alone could produce the engine, which was significantly simpler than a turbojet.

Two small multipurpose pulse detonation engines served as maneuvering auxiliary power for the “monstrous” jet, performing remarkably well while offering both PDE (air-breathing) and PDRE (self-oxygen supply) modes to accommodate flight in low-oxygen environments.

“This is not scientific!”

Old Pan gazed at the sky in shock, unable to contain his voice.

That aircraft, damn it, it really flew! It really flew!

How could this be possible?!

How could it be so fast? This was completely unscientific.

With just one person’s finances and technical prowess, a never-before-seen fighter jet was created, not only featuring forward-swept wings but seeming to also be a vertical take-off and landing model. What was that flashing blue light?

The roaring sound produced by the aircraft was incredibly unique; he had never heard an engine roar like this before.

“Gold Coin, get ready to enter supersonic mode!”

Lin Mo began to push the throttle, starting the countdown to activate the pulse detonation auxiliary engine behind the cockpit.

The “monstrous” jet had a designated plug-in space for the gold giant dragon, eliminating the need to take several seconds to integrate like other fighter jets. By simply taking the watch off his wrist and touching it to a special metal plate, he could instantly connect to all parts of the aircraft, even linking to the operating system, greatly reducing the time needed for Gold Coin to assist in controlling the craft.

Only with Gold Coin’s cooperation could this fighter jet unleash its full capabilities.

The Void Magnetism suddenly unfurled, enveloping the entire aircraft. The 21-ton body felt light as a feather, as if it could be blown away by a gentle breeze.

The two pulse detonation auxiliary engines, primarily responsible for supporting vertical takeoff, gradually extinguished their flames. At the instant the detonation thrust disappeared, the aircraft, fully supported by the Void Magnetism, only slightly sank before being propelled forward by the powerful thrust of the adjusted twin engines.

In the air, transparent conical air currents were visibly compressing behind the fighter jet.

Bang!

Accelerating for less than fifty meters, a circle of pure white sonic boom clouds erupted ahead of the aircraft, tearing through the sound barrier as the jet emitted a terrifying scream, pulling a high angle straight toward the sky.

The instantaneous 12G overload would have crushed an ordinary person into mush, but for a Dragon Knight’s physical fitness, it posed nearly no pressure, and the “monstrous” fighter jet remained perfectly intact.

“What generation is this thing, anyway? Can someone tell me?”

Old Pan, covering his ears, felt like his eyes were about to pop out. Half in shock and half trying to fend off the deafening noise, his mouth dropped open, and his jaw nearly fell.

The fighter jet, which he was so familiar with while it was in the hangar, astonished him as it took to the skies, making him feel as if he had never known this aircraft at all.

In the blink of an eye, the pure black fighter jet vanished from Old Pan’s sight.

“Big event, big event! I need to report this to the higher-ups quickly!”

Old Pan didn’t stop to greet the aircrew members who were arriving for work; he turned and ran.

In the past, having a fighter jet that couldn’t fly just sitting in the hangar would have been acceptable, merely serving as a large model for display.

But now that it could ascend and showcased such outstanding performance, it meant rapidly forming combat capabilities. As an advanced air strategic attack force, this significance was entirely different.

The achievements the Night Special Forces would gain from participating in the military competition would likely not compare to the fighter jet that burst out of the hangar early that morning.

This was a game-changer! The Night would explode, the Air Force would explode, the General Equipment Department would explode, and the Aviation Industry Group would explode.

However, Lin Mo didn’t care about any of these matters. The proud Dragon Knight only focused on destruction and battle; other trivial matters would be dealt with by someone else.

He was only concerned with the carnage before him, indifferent to the chaos behind.

He was a carefree Dragon Knight, the kind that got into trouble everywhere.

On the horizon, a whitish light appeared. At an altitude of 10,000 meters, due to the curvature of the Earth, the sunrise was visible even earlier than it was on the ground. In the sky filled with crimson clouds, a red sun leapt from below the horizon, illuminating the heavens and the earth with endless golden light.

The “monstrous” aircraft offered an almost completely transparent cockpit, providing excellent visibility. With a long, dual-seat golden film transparent metal cockpit overlay, both sides of the craft allowed a clear view of the ground below simply by bending down.

Only the gold giant dragon could provide this high-strength transparent metal, allowing the spacious cockpit to have minimal visibility limitations in any direction.

Inside the canopy, special liquid crystal display materials could transform into screens according to Lin Mo’s needs. He didn’t plan to rely solely on the Light Mirror Technique; if battle energy were to deplete too much during combat, it would be problematic.

The Electro-Optical Distributed Aperture System (EODAS) combined with the Electro-Optical Targeting System (EOTS) formed tactical functions similar to the Light Mirror Technique, which, in combination with the screen-style cockpit, could significantly conserve Lin Mo’s battle energy during combat.

Moreover, Lin Mo also equipped a full-cover outer shell for the canopy, preventing anyone outside from seeing inside while enhancing defense capabilities. The electro-optical system would automatically display an integrated internal display screen through this outer shell.

This was somewhat like a simulator but allowed for enlarging visuals in any specified direction or tracking and warning displays of targets. In cloud battles or chaotic combat, it was easy to identify targets, improving human visual capabilities through digital technology.

"Calling Air Traffic Control Bureau! This is the ‘Dragon Knight’! I have activated my verification ID."

"I am Officer 009423, received your verification code ID; identity verification successful, ‘Dragon Knight’, are you flying? I can’t see you!"

"The aircraft is in stealth mode. I need to request a flight path. Just a round trip will do, a straight line is best."

"No problem. You need to give me a signal source; otherwise, I can’t track you!"

"Alright, please note that the signal band is…"

Domestic air defense phased array radar couldn’t locate the “monstrous” jet, but Lin Mo didn’t need to deploy a half-wave dipole metal rod like the J-18. He simply emitted electromagnetic waves instead.

“I see you! The signal is strange. Automatic response identification system linked; I can’t recognize your aircraft model. Do you have weapons attached? If so, please send the list.”

“The aircraft model is confidential; you don’t have the clearance to know. The fighter jet is in an empty state and has no weapons attached.”

“Record complete. Please check the temporary flight path assigned to you. Please maintain communication! Automatic navigation assistance has been arranged.”

“Thank you! Received the flight path; I’m taking off now.”

Flight path approval is essential. If the flight route intersects with another aircraft, it could be disastrous. In the unknown airspace ahead, flying in the sky is much more dangerous than on a highway; even hitting the brakes would be useless.

The “monstrous” jet circled in the sky at 1.1 times the speed of sound and immediately plunged into the designated flight path.

Throttle fully released, the F119-PW-100 vector thrust engine erupted with a powerful force of 2×173,400 newtons, equivalent to 35.4 tons of thrust. With the addition of the gold giant dragon’s Void Magnetism, the aircraft felt nearly weightless. Meanwhile, the micro pulse detonation engine below the cockpit reignited.

The speed suddenly skyrocketed.

Full throttle, Lin Mo aimed to achieve the jet’s maximum combat effectiveness in a real environment.

Mach 2!

Mach 3!

Despite the airflow cooling, certain hotspots on the exterior of the craft reached temperatures of 220 degrees Celsius. The special body design naturally maintained external temperature control, while the internal heat conduction and cooling systems kicked into gear. Utilizing the thermoelectric conversion technology sourced from Henghai Defense, excess heat was converted into stored electrical power to supply the radar and other systems. This alone made the “monstrous” more advanced than most fighter jets in the world.

The temperature in the cockpit remained a steady 20 degrees Celsius, and the radar screen already scanned all flying objects in a 400-kilometer radius ahead, making it easy to identify a safe flight route.

The fighter jet was racing at a frenzied speed at an altitude of 15,000 meters, so fast that the ground could not even be visually locked onto.

Mach 4!

Just after breaking through four times the speed of sound, a piercing alarm sound from the threat warning system erupted inside the cockpit.