Chapter 303: Blueprint for a Ten‑Thousand‑Man Air Force

2:00 PM, the base conference room.

A long table is covered with aviation maps and design blueprints, and three‑view diagrams of the Kunpeng and Hunting Falcon hang on the wall. Chen Feng sits at the head seat, while Lin Huaimin, Zhao Xuecheng and the other base officials sit on either side.

"Today's demonstration was a success," Chen Feng begins, "but success is not the end point, it is the starting point. Chief Engineer Zhao, please outline the production plan first."

Zhao Xuecheng stands, walks to the wall, and points at the drawings with a pointer: "At present, the Kunpeng can be produced at two units per month and the Hunting Falcon at four. But this is the low‑rate output of the trial production phase. If we go full‑scale with sufficient raw materials and workers, producing eight Kunpengs and sixteen Hunting Falcons per month poses no problem." (This assumes no full industrial prioritization.)

"What about worker training?"

"The aviation technician training school has already run three sessions, graduating six hundred students, which basically meets current demand. If we need to expand production, training must begin six months in advance."

Chen Feng nods and turns to Lin Huaimin: "Director Lin, tell us about your expansion plan."

Lin Huaimin opens a thick file folder: "According to the President's directive, the Air Force Preparatory Department has drafted the 'Blue Sky Plan.' The goal is to build a professional air force of ten‑thousand Scale within three years."

He flips to the first page: "Total personnel: twelve thousand. Among them, three thousand pilots, six thousand ground staff, and three thousand command, logistics, and technical support staff."

"Three thousand pilots?" Zhao Xuecheng exclaims, "We don't even have three hundred right now!"

"Hence the need for training," Lin Huaimin says. "I plan to set up a three‑tier training system: a basic flight school for fundamental piloting skills, an intermediate school for type‑specific training, and an advanced tactics academy to produce commanders and elite pilots. Over three years, graduating one thousand each year will meet the target."

Chen Feng asks, "And the aircraft? How many planes are needed for three thousand pilots?"

"Based on the front‑line, second‑line training, and third‑line reserve ratios, we need at least twelve hundred combat aircraft," Lin Huaimin says, "including four hundred bombers, six hundred fighters, and two hundred reconnaissance and other special‑purpose aircraft."

A sharp intake of cold air hisses in the conference room. Twelve hundred aircraft, in an era when most nations' air forces field only a few dozen planes, is an astronomical figure. (Aircraft were truly used militarily only after World I.)

"Where does the money come from?" the logistics director asks, "A Kunpeng costs four hundred thousand Lanfang dollars, a Hunting Falcon one hundred fifty thousand. Twelve hundred units, plus spares, ammunition, Fuel, airport construction… the total budget is at least two hundred million Lanfang dollars."

"Last year our total defense budget was only one hundred twenty million," someone adds.

Everyone looks at Chen Feng.

Chen Feng remains unruffled, pulls a document from his briefcase: "This is the Finance Ministry's latest forecast. This year, Lanfang's total foreign trade will exceed one billion Lanfang dollars, and fiscal revenue will reach three hundred fifty million. Of that, profits from trade with Germany, weapons sales, and technology licensing will together surpass one hundred twenty million."

He slides the document to Lin Huaimin: "The first‑phase air force budget—fifty million Lanfang dollars—has been approved. It will be disbursed next week."

"Fifty million…" Lin Huaimin's hand trembles.

"But this fifty million is not for you to squander," Chen Feng says gravely, "I want results. First, within one year, train one thousand qualified pilots. Second, within two years, the Kunpeng and Hunting Falcon achieve initial combat capability. Third, within three years, I want an air force that can win battles."

He stands, walks to the window, and watches the planes on the runway: "Gentlemen, you may think I'm mad. Spending so much, building so many aircraft, training so many people. Why?"

He turns back: "Because in future wars, air superiority is naval supremacy, is land supremacy, is victory. Whoever controls the sky controls the battlefield."

"But President," a engineer whispers, "the current aircraft are at most reconnaissance or bombing; how much impact can they really have?"

Chen Feng walks back to the table, pulls out a sheet, and begins sketching.

"This is the current battlefield," he draws two parallel lines to represent trenches, "the two sides face each other across a few hundred meters, with machine guns, barbed wire, artillery—no one can break through. Stalemate."

He adds a plane diving from the sky: "But if we had a hundred Hunting Falcons, and before the assault precisely destroyed the enemy's artillery positions, machine‑gun nests, and command posts?"

He sketches a swarm of planes: "If a hundred Kunpengs dropped three hundred tons of bombs behind enemy lines, destroying railway hubs, armories, and supply depots?"

He puts down the pen: "The stalemate is broken. The attacker can advance, the defender can only retreat. That is the value of air power—it turns a two‑dimensional battlefield into a three‑dimensional, from flat to volumetric."

The conference room falls silent. Everyone contemplates the scene.

"But that's still not enough," Chen Feng continues, "Aircraft launch from land bases with limited range, covering only within three hundred kilometers of the coastline. What if we need to control farther seas? What if we must project power into the deep ocean?"

He looks at Lin Huaimin: "Director Lin, bring that out."

Lin Huaimin retrieves a sealed kraft paper bag from the folder, breaks the seal, spreads the drawings inside onto the table.

It is a ship design, but unlike any existing vessel—it has a flat deck, no turrets, the island superstructure on the right side, and rows of small aircraft drawn on the deck.

"Is this..." Zhao Xuecheng leans in, "the aircraft carrier the President mentioned earlier?"

"Correct," Chen Feng says, "the Lexington‑class aircraft carrier design proposal. Standard displacement thirty‑six thousand tons, speed thirty‑three knots, capable of carrying ninety aircraft. It carries no guns; its weapons are the planes themselves."

He points to the drawing: "With such a ship, our air force can operate at sea. Far from land, we can seize air superiority, escort the fleet, bomb enemy ports, and block shipping lanes."

Everyone is shocked. The concept is so ahead of its time it borders on incomprehensible.

"President," Zhao Xuecheng swallows, "can we actually build such a ship?"

"We can't build it now," Chen Feng says, "but we can prepare. I have asked the Ministry of Industry to launch preliminary research: catapults, arresting wires, elevators, hangar designs, aviation Fuel storage… all these subsystems must begin pre‑studies. Simultaneously, we need a dedicated carrier‑borne aircraft—smaller and lighter than the Hunting Falcon, capable of taking off and landing on a short deck."

He looks at Lin Huaimin: "That's why I demand a ten‑thousand‑person air force. Future carriers will need massive numbers of pilots. One carrier with ninety aircraft requires at least one hundred eighty pilots (two per plane), plus reserves. What if we have six carriers? Eight?"

Lin Huaimin's eyes light up: "Then we need five thousand, even eight thousand pilots!"

"So we start training now," Chen Feng says, "In three years we will build an air force capable of operating both land‑based and carrier‑borne aviation. By then, Lanfang will truly possess deep‑sea combat capability."