Chapter 1047 A new form of air combat!
2003, March 6.
Hao Jing, Yan Liang.
The weather is fine.
For an airport like Yanliang, which mainly caters to aircraft manufacturers and flight test institutes, it is rare to see such a "spectacular" scene.
After all, even if multiple models are tested here, considering the command department's capacity, it is almost impossible for multiple aircraft to take off at the same time.
But today, the situation is completely different.
On the tarmac, dozens of support vehicles and hundreds of ground staff are busy conducting various inspections and preparations for more than a dozen aircraft of different types before takeoff.
In addition to the most conspicuous Air Police 2000, there are also 4 J-11B/BS, 4 J-10A/AS and 3 J-7A.
Based on the current production speed of China's military aircraft, this is almost all the new aircraft delivered in the past half year from August last year to now.
Without exception, all are equipped with data link receiving antennas during production, so they can be incorporated into the command system of the early warning aircraft.
As for those produced earlier...
There is no other way, we can only wait for the mid-term return to the factory and install them again.
As for those older models earlier than the J-8C, they are limited by the basic hardware level and there is no possibility of carrying out this transformation.
Obviously, these eleven aircraft will serve as "friendly forces" in today's test flight to test the communication, control and command capabilities of Air Police 2000.
At ten o'clock in the morning, following the flight commander's order, the first Air Police 2000 aircraft slowly slid out from the tarmac and came to the waiting area to prepare for takeoff.
Due to the low climb rate and speed of large aircraft, and the wake turbulence during takeoff that may affect subsequent aircraft, for efficiency reasons, the other 11 fighter jets will take off 15 minutes later.
On the other side, for the first time today, Chang Haonan and others did not wait at the control center of the tower to watch the test flight as usual.
Instead, it appeared next to a communications vehicle on an SX2190 chassis.
Since we already have data links and relay communication airships, adding a ground terminal in addition to the 11 aircraft to check the situation is also a matter of piggybacking.
As a result, Chang Haonan, Wang Xiaomo and others became the first lucky ones in China to directly witness the information-based air combat...
Half an hour later, 12 aircraft completed their assembly in four predetermined airspaces - —
In order to test the effective range of data link relay communications to the maximum extent, three types of combat aircraft were arranged in three airspaces about 80-100 kilometers apart.
The J-10 and J-11 each flew in the same direction at an altitude of 8,000 meters, roughly forming a straight wall in the air to simulate the interception of air targets in an entire area.
The JH-7 cuts in from another direction below 1,500 meters, simulating ground attack aircraft operating at low altitudes and interfering with ground targets on the battlefield.
Air Police 2000, which serves as a command post, hovers alone about 120 kilometers away from the first three.
Considering that the AIM120B that our army mainly faces only has a range of 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, as a high-value target, early warning aircraft will also have their own dedicated escort fleet.
But this is a test after all, not an exercise, and the Chinese Air Force currently has only 11 fighters equipped with data links, so there is no need to waste it on simulated escorts...
……
The targets that the early warning aircraft will detect are a group of J-7B fighter jets taking off from an airport in the northwest——
Although its own performance has fallen behind, thanks to its clean and simple appearance, the MiG-21/J-7 The RCS is not too big without the wing mounts.
Compared to a target drone whose target features are too small, the corner reflector is too obvious, and cannot fly too high or too fast, sometimes it is a better test object.
Chang Haonan even thought about whether to refer to the American QF4 and QF16 target drones in the future and convert a batch of retired J-7s into professional unmanned target drones.
This can even be used for live-fire testing...
In short, for a mechanical scanning radar with the technical level of the 1473/1493 in the 1990s, it may have to be 150 kilometers away from the target, or even closer, to stably detect the two incoming J-7 twin formations.
This distance is naturally sufficient for firing medium-range projectiles, but it is too short if you want to control the overall situation in advance.
Furthermore, the scanning range of the nose radar is also very limited, and is only effective in a cone-shaped area of approximately 40-60° directly ahead of the heading.
For example, right now, the two four-machine formations at the front are facing exactly this situation.
Because before taking off, they did not receive the specific direction information of the incoming target, and they are currently only searching generally towards the west.
In the cockpit of one of the J-10s, the lead pilot Xu Wenzhao was scanning the left and right sides of the aircraft.
Although he knew that it was impossible for those MiG-21s to break into positions within his visual range, as a Chinese pilot, he was used to fighting alone or with several aircraft of the same type.
In this case, it is simply impossible to avoid detection blind spots.
Therefore, always paying attention to the situation around him has become a habit engraved in his bones.
If the flight plan does not allow it, he will even roll every once in a while to observe the blind spots below and behind the aircraft.
As for the big guy following behind, of course he knew it was powerful in theory, but he didn't have any particularly practical feeling.
"Qinling Squadron, report your respective situations!"
Xu Wenzhao habitually said to the radio.
During this test, the HF radio station used for long-distance communication was strictly required to only receive and not transmit, so it was unable to communicate with the early warning aircraft or the other two fighter groups.
However, in order to ensure basic flight safety, UHF radio stations used for short distances are still fully usable. Soon, the deputy squadron leader and two wingmen responded respectively, but no target was found.
This result was not what Xu Wenzhao expected.
After all, if four planes are lined up in a row and pointed in the same direction, the radar search range is actually not much different.
This made him feel a little awkward.
I even want to direct my four planes to fan out to cover about 180° in the northwest direction.
Of course, this is clearly not allowed in the flight plan.
"Squadron Commander, we have been in the mission airspace for more than ten minutes, but we haven't even detected the shadow of the target..."
The voice of Duan Su Hao, the wingman weapons controller, came over the radio. Voice:
“Is it possible that the early warning aircraft has detected the target, but because the high-frequency radio is turned off, it cannot notify us?”
As no one in this flight With the rear seat ballast in effect, he did have reason to be bored.
Xu Wenzhao lowered his head and glanced at the multi-function display.
No target appeared on it.
"Before takeoff, the technical staff said that the targets detected by the early warning aircraft will be directly shared with our aircraft..."
He did not give a direct answer, but elaborated a little bit. A circle.
However, Duan Suhao still felt something was not right:
"But if this is the case, even if the target has not entered the detection range, at least the 11 aircraft on our side should be able to display it... But now there is nothing?"
This question, The hearts of the four pilots sank.
Because they have to constantly pay attention to the flight situation, they don’t have much time to think about this.
But after being reminded by Duan Suhao, they all felt that what he said seemed to make sense.
If the data link is really that magical, it should at least let us know where the 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 in itself -
In order to obtain the experimental group and the control group at the same time in one test flight The group's data, data link and command system will be turned off by default and will not be remotely enabled until a specific time.
And just right.
This "specific time" is now.
Just when Xu Wenzhao raised his head and was about to say something again, Duan Suhao's excited voice suddenly came:
"Report to the squadron leader, the monitor is responding!"
The former lowered his head subconsciously, I found that on the multi-function display that was empty just now, more than a dozen symbols of different shapes appeared slightly unexpectedly.
Almost instantly, he judged the meanings of those symbols.
A hollow diamond shape undoubtedly represents an early warning aircraft.
Four solid dots and four triangles represent two different types of friendly fighters.
Three hollow inverted triangles, the height displayed after selection is only 2300, indicating that they are the three JH-7A.
Then, the remaining four T-shaped marks flying at high speed on the side of our formation are undoubtedly...
"My formation is in the direction of 270, 200km, two batches, Four targets! "
He shouted on the radio almost instinctively.
Then prepare to assign interception missions to the four aircraft of this squadron.
However, before he could even say his next sentence, the information on the multi-function display increased again——
Eight dotted lines appeared on eight of his own fighter jets and four between "enemy planes".
If you look carefully, you will find that there are exactly two corresponding to each enemy plane.
Moreover, they are all the closest.
Xu Wenzhao's order was stuck in his throat——
He suddenly realized that even the first sentence he just shouted could only serve as an emphasis, not a command.
Because the information on the monitor is far more accurate than what he conveys through his voice.
As for the more complicated command commands, he didn’t even have the chance to shout them out...
Although his whole body was wrapped in a heavy flight suit, Xu Wenzhao still felt like it at this moment It’s time to get chills down your spine——
It’s completely a dimensionality reduction blow!
Don’t mention that there are four J-7s on the opposite side.
Even if the same model and quantity of fighter jets and early warning aircraft are used, the efficiency and accuracy of the traditional command method will still be crushed by this new combat form...
(End of this chapter)