Great Power Fighting Falcon

Toulon Military Port is very famous. It is not only the largest military port of the French Navy, but also the core area of ​​French naval equipment manufacturing. The shipyard where the Dai ship is built is located here. This facilitates the maintenance of the Dai ship. After all, the ship spends more than half of the year in the shipyard.

France's defense industry R\u0026D system is the most complete among European countries, especially after the launch of Dai Jian, the French have very strong self-confidence in this regard. After all, they did what the British and Germans couldn't do.

How awesome are they?

In the 1980s, we worked with several other major European countries to develop the Eurofighter fighter, which is now the Typhoon fighter jet. Because the French needed to board ships and have nuclear strike capabilities, they quit midway and started anew, and later developed the Rafale fighter jet. , even better than the Typhoon fighter in some aspects.

Therefore, this country cannot fight wars, but it still has a way to develop national defense weapons and equipment.

The carrier-based aircraft training base affiliated to the naval base is not large in scale. In terms of area, it is only the size of an ordinary second-class air force airport in China. However, Li Zhan and others quickly saw the difference. The fertile soil naval flight training base feels very empty, as if fighters and pilots are crammed into a large wasteland for training. Although the Toulon carrier-based aircraft training base is small, it feels like a It's like a small but well-functioning precision instrument. All work follows the plan. It looks messy but is actually very organized.

Several Rafale M two-seat carrier-based fighter jets were conducting flight training, while carrier-based helicopters were constantly taking off and landing nearby, apparently conducting their own training at the same time. With so many aircraft packed into a small place, the training plan is progressing in an orderly manner, which is very demanding on the capabilities of each unit.

The command and coordination ability alone is evident, reflecting the rich experience of the French navy officers and soldiers. It is difficult to achieve this smoothly without decades of accumulation.

Sitting in an open-top light bus, Monet introduced the situation of the training base and the Rafale M carrier-based fighter jet they wanted to show off most in English with a heavy accent. Rafale, Typhoon, and Gripen are known as the top three among Europe's third-generation aircraft. The French believe that their Rafale is ranked first, so they naturally want to brag about it.

"Our Rafale is an all-round fighter. It can do air combat, ground strikes, and drop nuclear bombs. As long as it can do what a fighter can do, it can also do what a fighter cannot. The Typhoon fighter cannot do it. They focus too much on air superiority performance. In terms of application development, it is It's completely inferior to our Rafale."

"Egypt, Qatar, and India have all expressed their willingness to purchase a total of one hundred Rafale fighter jets, which fully demonstrates that the performance of our Rafale fighter jets has been recognized and sought after by many countries."

…

Monet boasted vigorously, and those who didn't know thought he was a sales representative of Dassault. It is impossible for China to buy Rafale, especially after the J-10C, which is not inferior to Rafale, comes out. In fact, even if it wants to buy the French, it is not afraid to sell it. Helicopters can also be said to be used for non-combat missions such as commuting, but no matter how you modify fighter jets, they cannot change the nature of combat.

"Today we have a group of young men who have just launched their solo flights doing air combat training. Let's go around for a while and later go to the control tower to watch their training. Maybe this will be of some help to the Chinese Navy in its early stages." Monet also There is no hiding or holding back, just speaking out directly. This is the difference between front-line military personnel and diplomats.

Li Zhan glanced at Mo Ren'an, who blinked, and Li Zhan spoke confidently and boldly, "Colonel Monet, we clearly mentioned in the study and exchange requirements that we hope to be able to contact the Rafale fighter jets, just like As you said, the Rafale M fighter is a very excellent carrier-based fighter. The aircraft's combat capabilities may completely surpass the Super Hornet, but it is certain that the Rafale M may not be as good as the Russian Sea Flanker..."

"No, no, no! Major Li, this is wrong." Monet was quite happy to hear Li Zhan's previous words, but he couldn't help it when he reached the last sentence. This is an evaluation that completely ignores the facts. What about our Rafale M? Maybe not as good as the Russians' stupid and thick sea flankers!

Monet waved his hand seriously and said, "Yes, your second point is very incorrect. Of course I know that you have built the Sea Flanker, but please believe me, the Rafale M is the best carrier in the world." fighter."

"As you have learned, we are Kaihai Flanker, and practice is the only criterion for testing truth. In addition to the instruction manual in your hand, I can only understand Rafale M through your oral introduction. I think this is very important. Insufficient." Li Zhan raised the thin instruction booklet introducing the Rafale series of fighter jets in his hand and said with a smile, "We hope to fly the Rafale M fighter for a few laps to increase our understanding of the aircraft, and at the same time, it is also a good opportunity for you. A deep level of learning in a very mature training model.”

Monet is in his forties and has never encountered anything before. Besides, such a request is not an impromptu request from China. They have already submitted the request, but the attitude from above is not clear yet.

He blinked and said, "Gentlemen, let's go to the control tower first. There will be a wonderful aerial confrontation exercise next. I believe you can experience the unparalleled maneuverability of the Rafale M."

This old boy is obviously not a simple-minded person. He is naturally responsible for entertaining the foreign team.

Is the Rafale M really inferior to the J-15 as Li Zhan said? Obviously not. Li Zhan and others were quite shocked when they saw this fighter with their own eyes. You really can't deny the scientific research capabilities of the French. Dassault, which is always unconventional, has not settled down in the Rafale series of fighter projects, and can still see some designs that are very different from other fighters.

For example, the canopy that opens to the right side. In the eyes of Chinese pilots who are used to opening the canopy backwards, this design is like - what the hell is this design?

There is also an air inlet. It looks like the air inlet of the Mirage-2000 was moved downwards, and then two smooth grooves were cut out of the cylindrical fuselage, and then the semicircular air inlet was pinched into The oval shape is inserted into the groove and seems to be integrated with the fuselage, but don't the French know that doing so will not help reduce the front RCS area of ​​the fighter plane at all? However, the aerodynamic shape must have been optimized.

The most important thing is that the air intake is still an ordinary air intake, not a clam air intake.

From the aerodynamic layout point of view, the Rafale series and the J-10 series are the same, both canard aerodynamic layout, which looks more coordinated than the Mirage-2000 with a pure delta wing aerodynamic layout. However, the Rafale series is a twin-engine medium-sized fighter jet. The C-type used by the Air Force has a maximum take-off weight of nearly 25 tons, while the J-10 is a single-engine medium-sized fighter jet with a maximum take-off weight of only 19 tons.

The biggest interest of Li Zhan and others comes from the Rafale M carrier-based fighter, because this fighter may become the main carrier-based fighter of the Indian Navy in the future. Therefore, everyone unanimously put the experience of the Rafale M carrier-based fighter jet at the top of the communication list, and other learning and communication content including the training mode were placed in a secondary position.

After arriving at the command tower, Morean took Monet aside to talk. Morean had studied at the Armed Forces Defense Academy in France and was fluent in French. He was also familiar with many officials at the Armed Forces Defense Academy, so At this time, various chats and friendships began. If the pilots can experience the Rafale M carrier-based fighter jet, this trip will be worthwhile.

After chatting for a while, Morenan, the military attaché and Monet left together, probably to coordinate the implementation. This made Li Zhan, who was observing secretly, secretly happy for a while, so much so that he looked at the blond and blue-eyed man who took over the commentary role from Monet. The eyes of the very tall female captain, who was a head taller than Li Zhan, softened a lot. The female captain, who was nearly 1.8 meters tall and had an upturned front and back, gave Li Zhan a wink, which made Li Zhan feel that the French were so frivolous. .

The proportion of female soldiers in the French army is quite high. Less than half of the positions in the command tower are held by female soldiers. Among them is a fat black aunt who is estimated to be in her forties. She is also in the approach control seat. Her command is orderly and straightforward. Very neat.

The person in charge is a white-haired lieutenant colonel. Although he has white hair, he is about the same age as Monet. The promotion of military ranks in the French army is not based on years. It is similar to that in the US military. It is possible for a captain to remain a captain for the rest of his life. Their military ranks are very meaningful. Importantly, there will never be a phenomenon of lower-ranking officers commanding higher-ranking officers. The military ranks in our army have no sense of existence. It is not unusual for a major to command a lieutenant colonel, because a major can be the deputy regiment and the lieutenant colonel may only be the main battalion.

Lieutenant Colonel Baifa attaches great importance to Li Zhan and the others. He has obviously received the order from his superiors a long time ago. He even asked Zhang Xueyang politely. If there are no other questions, they will start air confrontation training for new pilots. Zhang Xueyang's military rank is Li Zhan. The tallest among the four.

This made Li Zhan and others feel flattered, and they also deeply felt the most direct impact of the rapid development of the army after the country became strong.

In recent years, France has increased its cooperation with China in the economic field, so the economy is developing pretty well, so their military spending can still be guaranteed. After all, nuclear-powered aircraft carriers are not that easy to maintain. It is a country that claims that the sun never sets no matter what. We couldn't even afford conventional aircraft carriers, so we bit the bullet and built a nondescript "Queen Elizabeth" class, which was claimed to be multi-purpose but was actually an amphibious assault ship. No, there was a shortage of funds just after the construction of the second ship started.

With sufficient military spending to ensure that national defense forces can continue to develop, this is a clear proof right before our eyes - apart from China and the United States, what other country dares to train carrier-based fighter pilots on such a large scale? The French are one of them. At this time, they are still thinking about building a follow-up ship to the Dai ship. Because of the frequent problems with the Dai ship, they are seeking to build a new nuclear-powered aircraft carrier to replace the Dai ship.

But despite this, Li Zhan still noticed some details of the decline of the French army. For example, what they considered to be large-scale flight training was actually a training using four Rafale M two-seat carrier-based fighter jets. This was not the case in the Chinese Air Force. , it is simply an extremely routine operation in the navy.

Entering 2011, the intensity of flight training of the Air Force Aviation and Naval Aviation suddenly increased to a very terrifying level. In the past, the headquarters would like to send several working groups to watch the transition of the formation regiment, but now more than ten or twenty fighter planes are transitioning. Training has become so commonplace that it’s so much that you can’t help but feel numb.

It seems that life in capitalist society is not easy.