Chapter 143

In 1958, according to one of the 156 items agreed upon with the Soviet Union, construction began on a modern fighter jet production factory on the farmland and marshland of Huangtianba, Huangyang District, Chengdu, code-named State-owned Factory 132; in the early stages of the factory, development of the Fighter-5 Jia began, then came the Fighter Teach Five, and after that, the Fighter-7 project

Although they had experienced the withdrawal of Soviet experts along the way, and the drawings provided were incomplete, the Eastern aviation personnel, using their fervent enthusiasm and diligent hands, stubbornly completed the production work of the J-7.

Of course, during that special period, output was low and quality possibly somewhat lacking; until the situation was righted, the factory resumed normal production and operation, and product quality improved considerably.

After the country opened its doors, Factory 132 began reforms; after all, the nation needed to develop its economy, the military had to endure, and military orders were drastically reduced, so Factory 132 produced motorcycles, electric refrigerators, and even car seats.

Of course, the main business remained building aircraft; as long as the aircraft could be sold, everything would be solved! To sell aircraft, Factory 132 even renamed itself Chengdu Aircraft Company, after all, using a corporate name made it easier to negotiate cooperation with foreign companies.

At that time, Chengdu Aircraft was completely different from what it would become later.

Everyone arrived at Chengdu Aircraft, and naturally the first thing was to enter the production workshop.

"I never expected that on New Year's Eve, your workers would still be busy on the production line!" Mahadi looked at the scene before him and couldn't help but sigh.

Old Tu also felt moved in his heart: "Right, we had actually stopped work yesterday, but you came, and we specially called everyone back—this perfectly shows how busy Factory 132's tasks are!"

"Yeah, we'd also like to take a break, but the orders are too many, we can't keep up with production, so we have to work overtime. Our factory is now running three shifts, continuously producing." Old Tu said: "Over here there is a J-7 aircraft about to be completed; let me introduce you to the differences between our aircraft and the MiG-21."

More than ten people came from the Capital, most of them laymen, with only one military officer, Mustafa, who, looking at the aircraft, couldn't help but say: "This aircraft is slimmer than our MiG-21."

The MiG-21 has many variants; the model introduced by the East back then was an early type, the MiG-21F-13, belonging to the first production batch. In Soviet hands, few were produced; later continuous improvements led to large-scale exports of the MiG-21MF or MiG-21bis. To accommodate more fuel, they made the fuselage bulky, making the aircraft look especially bloated.

The Eastern aircraft before us looks even slimmer.

"Exactly! It looks more beautiful than the aircraft produced by the Soviet Union." Qin Miao nodded: "France's Dassault once said that a beautiful aircraft is certainly a good one, and our aircraft fits this characteristic!"

Beside him, Old Tu let out a sigh of relief, having Qin Miao there meant we didn't need to boast!

"Was it the Soviets who made the aircraft thicker in order to carry more fuel?"

"Exactly. In fact, that design was mistaken; we can completely increase range by carrying large auxiliary fuel tanks, and on the battlefield, dropping the auxiliary tanks lets us shed the burden and fight lightly."

"Would carrying auxiliary fuel tanks affect other payloads?"

"This old guy really knows his stuff!"

On the MiG-21, the inner side of the wing houses the landing gear retraction mechanism, so weapons can only be mounted on the outer wing; each side has only two hardpoints, and if one is used for an auxiliary fuel tank, only one hardpoint remains!

"Of course not. On our aircraft, each wing can have three hardpoints installed underneath; one can carry a 480‑liter auxiliary tank, the other two can carry missiles, and adding a 720‑liter auxiliary tank on the fuselage gives an external fuel increase of 1.5 tons, which is sufficient for such a small aircraft."

Old Tu's heart gave a sudden jolt; "Comrade Qin Miao, don't talk nonsense!"

Early J-7s could hardly carry auxiliary fuel tanks; when improved to the J-7II, a 720‑liter auxiliary tank was added under the fuselage, greatly increasing range, but… an auxiliary tank on the wing had never existed before.

"This isn't something you can just say lightly; adding a hardpoint requires increasing strength, and also conducting flutter and other tests—you think it's easy to flap your lips, but do you know how much work we have to do?"

Qin Miao certainly knows that, but to sell the aircraft, we must change! Foreign air forces are worldly, especially having seen Western equipment, and they will make many demands; when the time comes, it's better for us to make the improvements proactively rather than wait for customers to request them.

With 2 tons of internal fuel and about 1.5 tons of external auxiliary tanks, the J-7's range could nearly double! If we also switched to a fuel‑saving engine…

Cough, cough—better not mention the engine; after all, the J-7's engine is a real pit…

"Hmm, this fuel configuration should be sufficient." Mustafa nodded.

"The biggest problem with Soviet‑made fighters is their poor avionics; therefore, the East cooperated with Marconi Company, introducing a batch of equipment that enhances the J-7's performance—for example, installing a flat display enables heat‑seeking aiming of the aircraft gun."

Firing guns in the air is not that easy; both sides are maneuvering rapidly, and the projectile, due to gravity, follows a curved trajectory—the higher the elevation angle at firing, the greater the curvature of that curve, a point on which anti‑aircraft machine gunners and anti‑aircraft artillery crews have the most say.

So how can we hit accurately?

The engineers invented a standard procedure.

First, it takes three to ten minutes to warm up the aiming device, then visually judge the enemy aircraft type, turn the wingspan knob to perform ranging, then pull the selector lever until the moving reticle appears, press the stabilizing button to accelerate gyroscopic precession, then estimate the elevation angle and lead angle, placing the reticle above and ahead of the target, release the stabilizing ring, shrink the reticle until it encloses the target……

Is that it?

No, this has only just begun!

Next, we still need to track well, wrap well, stabilize well……

In the midst of fierce air combat, by the time all these actions are completed, one's parachute would probably already have opened!

Therefore, as technology developed, the West came up with heat‑seeking aiming, leaving everything to the computer to calculate; the pilot only needs to look at the flat display in front of him, and as he flies, the curved trajectory of the gun‑shell will follow his motion—just point the gun barrel at the target and then fire!

This is the sophisticated aircraft‑gun heat‑seeking aiming device!

As late as the early 1980s, aircraft guns remained extremely important in air combat; equipping the J-7 with an improved gun heat‑seeking aiming device could greatly boost combat efficiency!

Mustafa nodded: "Good, good, good, our Yituo needs a fighter with this technology!"

Done?