Chapter 451

Chapter 451: The Flying Pilot

“Ah! An astronaut?”

Chen Haiqing’s voice sounded shocked at first, then he laughed heartily, congratulating Lin Mo, “Congratulations! So you are now an astronaut? That’s a huge leap! You have to treat us! Let’s have Australian lobsters, big abalones, the largest ones!”

Chen’s playful requests were well-practiced, always aiming for the extravagant.

Lin Mo replied unkindly, “There’s no need to treat anyone; I got eliminated. I’m directly OUT!”

Receiving a harassing call in the middle of the night and still expected to treat? No way!

“What? Really? Are you joking? What kind of person does the Aerospace Department have if they kick you out? Are they looking to recruit gods? No, I must find a chance to complain about them.”

“Don’t, don’t! They had their reasons for eliminating me; my oxygen consumption was too high, affecting the cabin’s volume and the oxygen replacement rate.”

“Tsk tsk tsk! You believe that reason? I’m impressed! How about this, I’ll help you contact someone; since the domestic space center doesn’t want you, I’ll reach out to a foreign space agency. I guarantee to get you up there. You can visit the International Space Station for a change; but with the Americans’ NASA recently grounding their shuttles, you will need to take the Russian Soyuz spacecraft. You might even get to wear a spacesuit for a spacewalk! The ticket isn’t that expensive—$20 million. I’ve heard that out of ten aspiring astronauts, only one can actually go to space. Spending a little money is better than sitting around. After taking that trip, even if you’re not officially an astronaut, you can at least say you went to space. With your credentials, they might even give you a discount! At least you could skip the initial adaptability training costs.”

Chen Haiqing rambled on about getting Lin Mo into space. In his view, as long as Lin Mo could learn to pilot a spacecraft, he was essentially an astronaut, no need to go through the China Aerospace Center’s hoops.

“Stop! That costs too much! I can’t afford it! I still have to build my airplanes! Just tell me, what do you need?”

Lin Mo couldn’t latch on to a free national space flight, and he wasn’t about to spend over a hundred million RMB on space tourism.

The International Space Station was just another place to him. After playing with the simulator of the space shuttle and spacecraft, Lin Mo didn’t see what was so fun about working in a space station filled with electronics. It was merely an experience for ordinary people.

After going through the Astronaut Selection, the concept of “space travel” no longer held the mystery it once did for Lin Mo.

Besides, if he had that kind of money, he would rather spend it on that money-consuming fighter jet. The current manufacturing budget had reached a new bottleneck, and if he didn’t place an order for the radar system soon, this “monstrous” machine would still be a headless fly.

Getting Lin Mo back on topic, Chen Haiqing finally remembered the important matter, setting aside the bill for a banquet or space trip, and raised his voice a notch, “About the Paris-Le Bourget International Aerospace Exhibition I mentioned before, National Defense Star and several domestic aircraft manufacturers like Shenyang Aircraft Corporation and Chengdu Aircraft Industry Group have received invitations. We urgently need a strong pilot to impress! You promised to help me when you came to be a test pilot, and now the exhibition is just around the corner. I have been trying to contact you but couldn’t find you anywhere. I thought you were dead! I heard you called the company a few days ago, putting you in touch with the Aerospace Department. I finally managed to reach you today! If I couldn’t reach you again, I would have to come find you personally.”

“Congrats! You got the ticket while I got kicked out! You have to treat us, a big one!”

Lin Mo quickly countered with a sharp tongue.

The Paris-Le Bourget International Aerospace Exhibition is the largest, most prestigious, and historically significant aerospace exhibition in the world. By getting an entry ticket, National Defense Star Aerospace Company showed that it had gained recognition in the industry.

“The National Defense Star exhibition team arrived in Paris a week ago to set up. I have to go tomorrow since the exhibition opens the day after. If you don’t come, you’ll really miss out! Where are you? I can send someone to pick you up.”

Chen Haiqing calculated the time, thankful to have reached Lin Mo just in time.

A top ace pilot and an ordinary pilot coming together for a test flight makes a world of difference.

If the product quality has a top demonstrator who can elevate worthless zircon into eight stars of Russian diamonds, it will undoubtedly boost the promotional effect.

Lin Mo was startled. He didn’t expect the Paris-Le Bourget International Aerospace Exhibition was about to open. It was impressive that Chen was keeping such close tabs on his phone; otherwise, he would have likely missed fulfilling his earlier promise to help.

It appeared that Chen Haiqing’s extensive network was still less effective than that of the Aerospace Department. Back when he went to the South China Sea to avoid trouble, Chen was able to track him, but now, during his time at the aerospace training center, the level of confidentiality imposed by the Department was surprisingly strict. The all-capable Chen hadn’t managed to find out about Lin Mo going for astronaut selections.

“Uh, I’d like to help, but I’m away on a mission! It will take at least a day to return, and I also have to take leave, so I doubt I’ll make it in time.”

Lin Mo felt troubled; he was in Russia, getting back to the domestic base via a ground-effect vehicle. From there, following the secure route, flying to Paris—it was very likely to delay everything.

Because the two squads couldn’t go directly from Russia to the Night base, they risked exposing its location.

“Then where are you? I’ll ask the local military to send a private plane to get you. We can cover the transportation costs.”

Chen Haiqing began to panic; this exhibition was a matter of life and death for National Defense Star. If they struck a success, they would earn recognition to stand alongside major players like Chengdu Aircraft and Shenyang Aircraft, gaining some international prominence, and perhaps even international orders.

International orders represent real riches! Selling what is essentially garbage as gold, and if the price isn’t doubled, it would feel like a loss. Compared to selling to domestic aviation divisions, that’s essentially selling one for the price of four with hefty profits, plus advisory fees for training, maintenance guidance, and parts supply, which creates a continuous revenue stream.

Exporting a fighter jet could yield profits as much as five times the jet’s retail price until it reaches its end of service and is scrapped.

Buying a fighter jet may only be the small portion of the expense, while maintaining it is definitely a costly venture. The Indians who bought the Su-30MKI found the cost of replacing the vector nozzle unbearable and had to cut down on flying training hours. It was more cost-effective to buy several J-8s from China than to let the British ones collect dust.

“I’m in Russia!” Lin Mo lowered his voice and quietly disclosed his location, which was already against the rules.

“Russia? What are you doing there?” Chen Haiqing exclaimed, “Are you fighting the Old Russians? Oh no!” He quickly pressed further with concern, “Are you at war with Russia?”

“What are you talking about? It’s just an exercise! You know how it goes.” Lin Mo hurriedly clarified to dismiss Chen Haiqing’s worries, then added, “How about I go directly from Russia to France? It’s actually quicker and saves me the hassle.”

As it turns out, crossing the Ural Mountains leads directly to Europe, moving through Russia straight to France would be closer compared to departing from China.

Chen Haiqing pondered a moment, then had a light bulb moment, “Hmm! That’s an idea. But how will you get there without a passport? Are you going in as military personnel? That seems somewhat feasible. I’ll contact the Russian exhibitors, like Sukhoi, and see if their pilot team is departing soon. If it’s timely, they might be able to take you along. Any entry procedures can be sorted out later. The restrictions are mainly for law-abiding citizens. I’ll hang up now and wait for my news. Don’t run back into a mobile signal dead zone; it would be tragic! As a shareholder of National Defense Star, your performance here can really make a splash for us.”

“Hey, hey, what aircraft will you be displaying?”

Lin Mo quickly asked as he noticed Chen Haiqing was about to hang up.

“The J-11 and J-14 are in the initial stage; the production permits we received are limited. I have to go now…”

The actions of Squadron Three and Squadron Four took full advantage of the timing—heavy snow and nighttime presented the perfect cover for their offensive. However, during their retreat, they faced obstacles from the falling snow. After resting for a night, as the sun rose in the east, they wiped their faces with the fresh snow that had fallen overnight to invigorate themselves before resuming their journey with the spoils they had collected.

The new snow smoothed the ground, stretching out in a vast white field. Though it was soft and made walking difficult, the soldiers with skis had their own tricks. They added wooden boards to each box and dragged them along with ropes, still working in pairs, moving no slower than walking would have been.

Soon, when they reached the position of the ground-effect vehicle "Bamboo Dragonfly," they found Old Pan and his crew cooking a large pot of food and steaming hot breakfast, waiting for them.

The huge carrying capacity of the ground-effect vehicle was more significant than that of a helicopter. Its digital information platform and warning aircraft could even accommodate cooking equipment, transforming it into a temporary military station. The aircrew group, including Old Pan, was fully capable of supporting the logistic needs of nearly a hundred personnel from both squads.

The wooden boxes were loaded onto the “Bamboo Dragonfly,” and after a rest, the two squads began to board the ground-effect vehicle, at which point the communication device on the "Bamboo Dragonfly" emitted a beeping alert. Old Pan, seated in the pilot’s seat, answered it.

“This is Pan Rongyong. Yes, yes, okay, I understand. I’ll transfer you right away!”