Chapter 122
Our Discord Server: https://discord.gg/PazjBDkTmW
Chapter 122: He is Declaring His Existence to Us!
Considering the audience on the ground, Lin Mo had to lower the surprise and stealth of his attack method. However, those in the know could still see that this J-10 had combat experience.
The fire control radar began to lock on, and Lin Mo’s J-10 quickly swayed left and right, entering a serpentine maneuver. After activating the Light Mirror Technique, the accuracy of the onboard cannon skyrocketed. This was also the confidence Lin Mo had in using the cannon like a sniper.
The J-10 executed a large left-right evasive defensive maneuver with an enormous overload. Was this merely a defensive tactic? The simple and unadorned movements were obviously not as visually appealing as acrobatic flights.
To the untrained eye, it looked like a spectacle, but those well-versed in tactics couldn’t help but leap from their seats at the unorthodox maneuvers not confined to textbook tactics.
It was incredibly rare for a combat pilot to take the field personally. This was not just a representation of a nation’s air force capability; it hinted at much more information that the spectators could hardly imagine.
Professional military personnel on the ground began to express their astonishment. The serpentine maneuver likely served to avoid surface anti-aircraft fire or enemy aircraft on their tail. However, what surprised them was the continuous cannon fire—the shots landed precisely, regardless of the J-10’s position, each round leaving behind a lightly trailing white smoke as it struck the target on the ground. The first target was hit with surgical precision, completely hollowed out, with not a single bullet landing outside the target’s sandbag wall. The accuracy was as if the cannon had been equipped with a sniper scope.
Following that, the second target a hundred meters away burst with a fearsome explosion as well. The 23-millimeter steel-core armor-piercing rounds effortlessly tore apart the orange cardboard box, red dye splattering alongside shredded newsprint and the bright flash of gunpowder, announcing the cannon’s ferocious firepower.
The third target also fell victim to the aircraft’s fierce firepower. The fourth target met the same fate. Then two black dots with long white trails dove straight down from the sky. The fifth and sixth targets exploded almost simultaneously in balls of fire, deafening explosions and shock waves sending larger clouds of smoke and dust into the air. Camera flashes sparkled like stars, snapping every violent destruction of the targets, capturing rapid continuous shots.
The perfect blend of attack and defense tactics must have come from the minds of only the most skilled Dragon Knights, those daring enough to engage in close-range combat. Most pilots would struggle to see or even lock onto targets amid the severe shaking and physiological limits of high G-forces, yet Lin Mo moved with the grace of flowing clouds, delivering each bullet to the center of the white chalk circle no matter what maneuvers he executed.
While the ground watched in awe of the J-10’s fierce attack, Lin Mo pressed a few buttons on the cannon-launching controls, only to find no response from the cannon beneath the aircraft—it had run out of ammunition.
There was still one target empty on the ground—how embarrassing!
In a split second, Lin Mo had a flash of inspiration and quickly began a complex set of operations. Everyone on the ground could see the seven targets spread across two kilometers; the first six targets had all burst open precisely, provoking waves of gasps from the crowd.
The J-10 still charged toward the seventh target but surprisingly did not fire. As it approached, the nose lifted high, the tail dipped, and the speed brake deployed at a sharp angle, the loud roar suddenly silenced.
What was the J-10 planning to do? Was it experiencing a malfunction? Almost everyone was startled by the aircraft’s odd behavior and stood up from their seats.
As if losing speed, the J-10 suddenly plunged down. Just when everyone thought it would crash to the ground, the engine erupted with crimson flames, propelling the fighter jet upwards again. The powerful tailfire blasted directly onto the seventh target, with temperatures close to 2000 degrees Celsius capable of melting steel, instantly destroying the entire target, just like a rocket shooting into the sky. The J-10 then lifted its nose vertically, soaring ninety degrees straight into the blue.
One could even see the smoke and clouds swirling around the J-10, reminiscent of a mystical cloud of strength lifting the aircraft higher.
The Pugachev Cobra maneuver?! Did he dare to perform such a maneuver at such a low altitude? This pilot must be insane!
If delayed by even a second, he would have crashed to the ground, becoming the biggest joke of the entire show, a laughingstock within the global pilot community.
Surely others present shared the sentiment of Ibrahim Muhammad from the Egyptian procurement team.
However, if he didn’t become the biggest joke and instead succeeded, the impact would be unimaginable. One thing was certain: the pilot triumphed, the J-10 triumphed, and the Chinese triumphed.
Risks and rewards always coexist; the greater the risk, the greater the reward.
"Ibrahim, did you see that? The Cobra maneuver! He dared to shut down the engine at this low altitude; this guy is either a genius or a madman!" Dawood shouted, waving his fist at the J-10, which had completed its attack and began to ascend, his face flushed with excitement. "Yes, yes, that’s it! My ideal fighter jet! It’s simply incredible! Did you see? My God, it’s perfect! We need it, Klim!"
"I saw it, Dawood. The Cobra, the classic tactical maneuver originally created by Viktor Pugachev using the Su-27. It theoretically works to take out the last target with the tailfire, but I cannot believe someone has actually pulled it off," said Ibrahim Muhammad, who admired technical victories, reluctantly acknowledging the J-10’s extraordinary capabilities in making a low-altitude Cobra maneuver seem like a miracle, having inherited the super maneuverability of the Su-27. The high temperature of the tailfire was lethal; my goodness, how did this pilot even think of it? No one could have imagined using a jet engine’s tailfire as a weapon—an astounding 2000 degrees, which is far more terrifying than a flamethrower!
"Is this the capability of Chinese combat pilots?" mused Klim Aziz, the leader of the Egyptian procurement team, shivering with realization before affirmatively stating, "Absolutely not an ace pilot, no, not at all! Remarkable!"
The precise cannon strikes, simultaneous hits from rockets, low-altitude Cobra maneuver, and tailfire attacks combined to create a dizzying sequence of assaults that overwhelmed anyone’s ability to react. If faced with such unexpected and fierce attacks on the battlefield, it would forever haunt the enemies’ nightmares.
"The scalpel above Baltiysk!" Dawood suddenly commented thoughtfully.
"The scalpel above Baltiysk?" Ibrahim Muhammad replied, puzzled by Dawood’s sudden reference.
The scalpel above Baltiysk, on September 13, 1987, the Soviet Union’s famous Su-27 cut a large hole in the engine of a Norwegian Air Force P-3B on the right wing, showcasing a near-cold weapon-style close attack that became a legendary case of aerial collisions in history.
"Is he declaring his existence to us? Yes, he is demonstrating to us!" Klim Aziz said, glancing at the excited audience not far away.
"Demonstrating?" Ibrahim Muhammad, almost like a parrot, was perplexed by the two men’s strange conversation, each becoming more abstract in their statements.
"Ibrahim, that pilot is showing off to us, declaring the existence of the J-10! I think we should seriously consider the J-10; you saw it—it’s indeed an excellent fighter jet," Dawood said to the bewildered Ibrahim Muhammad.
Ibrahim Muhammad’s mind replayed the precise gunfire and the miraculous low-altitude Cobra maneuver executed by the black-grey J-10. While the pilot’s stunning skills surely played a part, the fighter jet’s performance guaranteed the execution of those techniques. He spread his hands, reluctantly admitting, "Uh, okay! I admit the J-10 is an outstanding fighter jet!"
Seeing two individuals with opposing opinions finally reach an agreement was rare. Klim Aziz, a respected figure within the procurement team, said, "Let’s go approach the Chinese suppliers later to see what prices and services they can offer. By the way, we need something better than that black-grey J-10!"
Clearly, the black-grey J-10 had left a significant impression on Klim Aziz in that brief moment.
What a tragic tale of a misfired bullet chain! If it weren’t for his quick thinking, it would have been a huge embarrassment. The foreigners wouldn’t know that he had run out of ammo; they would only assume the fire control system had malfunctioned. Lin Mo speculated that this was entirely different from the actual developments.
One had to admit that the organizers’ temporary plan succeeded spectacularly. The impressive live-fire demonstration not only captured the hearts of numerous civilian spectators but also appealed to those looking to procure fighter jets to protect their nation’s airspace.
In front of the J-10’s exhibition area, a crowd of foreigners with large noses and blue eyes, black skin, or Central Asian features quickly surrounded it, several translators almost overwhelmed by the sheer volume of inquiries.
Using aviation jargon, it described how the brain encountered too much information in a short time, causing a brief episode of "intellectual regression."
Though they could not guarantee that every aircraft they bought would achieve such precise firepower as witnessed, at the very least, they had witnessed the J-10’s combat capabilities. As long as it could perform that much, it was enough. The live-fire demonstration had unveiled the J-10’s potential, and with its high cost-performance ratio, what could be more compelling?
